In MountainDevil's post on "CVA Wolf Roars" there were a few comments about bringing deer to a butcher. My deer have never seen a butcher (although you might say the first one I cleaned was pretty well butchered).

Anyway, those comments brought to mind a very old post of mine about the meat yield from a doe. So I looked it up and put the link below for any new guys that may be interested.

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...10-lb-doe.html

I can remember as a child, being out in the garage with the men folk butchering deer. I was a wonderful time. They'd tell hunting stories, and drink a little beer or coffee while they worked. Tease those that missed, and tease us kids. We'd spread a 4x8 sheet of plywood over saw horses, then cover that with a tarp and then with news paper. And everyone had cutting boards, a couple knives, knife sharpeners, and large bowls for the scrap meat, and a pail for the fat and silver meat.

One group would skin the deer and cut it in quarters. Then the quarters were put to the cutters. And the kids carried the junk out in the tall grass and dumped the buckets. The dogs then got to run into the tall grass and fill their belly. (that was before vets told us dogs shouldn't eat meat scraps and bones).

All the men would butcher and the kids had to learn how, watching them. Some of the older kids got to take the silver skin off the meat. Then the older kids would carry it into the house where the women would wash the meat free of hair and blood, then it would be either wrapped or refrigerated for canning. Canned venison is something you just have to taste to appreciate.

I do all mine myself. I shoot too many deer to be able to afford paying to get them processed.

You call these roast???? Those hind legs are steak to me. Separating the muscles is also the best way to cook it. Great examples for sure.

Dang right I do Grouse.

Give this a try.

Take one of those top round or bottom round cuts. Stuff it with a half dozen cloves of garlic (cut in half lengthwise) by poking holes with a thin blade knife and pushing the garlic in at least and inch deep.

Sprinkle the entire roast with a liberal dusting of salt, pepper, onion powder, and Chipotle chili powder and rub it in.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil or vegetable oil over the roast and rub it to spread over all surfaces.

Dust the entire oiled roast lightly with all purpose flower, and let it sit for an hour un-refrigerated.

Now fire up the BBQ pit. Pile the coals on one side and add a handful of hickory chips. Put the roast on the other side, not directly over the coals.

Cook until the internal temperature reaches anywhere between 120 and 130 degrees, depending on your taste. (You do have a meat thermometer?)

Remove from the pit and let it sit at least fifteen minutes before cutting. Slice across the grain into 1/4" slices.

If you don't like it, check the obituaries `cause you're probably dead.

This close to deer season we should start another sticky (I kind of hate to even suggest that) for all the recipes for venison that we all have, I know I would love to have all of everyone's recipes.

I don't think that's a half-bad idea. The stickies here are a lot more useful than a lot of the stickies in other forums.

My crew has got it down to a science. From the time the deer hits the hanger to the time the carcass is in the bed of the truck to be disposed of is about 15 mins. I'm sure some would say there is meat left that is still good and I won't argue that. But we get all 4 quarters, backstrap and tenderloin. Never messed with ribs and rarely a neck. With the liberal limits in the east, meat isn't hard to come by so we get plenty of practice.

Of course there's some time after that where it has to be sliced but that's a streamlined process for us as well.

One tip we've found most useful is to slightly freeze the meat before you cut it up as that solidifies it a bit and allows you to cut it easier. No more trying to cut slimy jell-o. Of course, you guys in the North may not have to do that...

Semi's recipe is exactly the same as mine, except the chipotle (which I'll try soon).

I freeze pieces like top and bottom round whole. Can always cut into steaks later if that's how i want to cook them. They freeze and keep much better whole.

TNHagies
Nontypical Buck

Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 1,127

Never messed with ribs and rarely a neck.

You're throwing away a bunch of meat from the neck that is great for grinding up for hamburgers, chili, spaghetti and so on.
Just get yourself an inexpensive grinder for around 100 dollars and you'll be all set to make your own grinds. It takes some work, but you won't regret it, I promise you.