I'd like to echo the question that Michigan hunter14 asked. Where did those of you who process your own learn? My wife is after me to process my own this year. She's already looking at an upright freezer, meat grinder, vacuum sealer and a few other accessories. I think she has more faith in me than I do. Okay, how do I learn?

I pretty much do it 50/50, when doing hamburger and sliced loin I do it myself, cube steak and sausage I get my local processor to do, he is cheap enough and most of all very clean!!!, he doesnt take any deer in with the guts still in them so you dont have to worry about bacteria getting in your meat and spoiling it causing a nasty taste. If I could learn a good sausage resipe I would buy a smoker and do that myself also. As far as learning it Ive been around it for all my life, just sort of sank in!.

I process my own deer mostly because there isn't a processor within an hour of my house. Plus, it can get expensive and I don't like trusting someone I don't know to take care of the game as well as I would (refrigeration, contaminated surfaces, etc). I've only been hunting a couple of years and you get the hang of it pretty quickly. There used to be a great video put out by the state of Kentucky that showed exactly how to bone out a deer in just a few minutes. However, I don't think it is online anymore.

I'm different than most of the old timers I hunt with in that I bone the deer, except for the front shoulder, while it's hanging from the gambrel. It really cuts down on the volume of what you have to bring home. Once I get home, I just trim up the meat to clean it up and then divide it into portions before vacuum bagging it for the freezer. Backstraps I cook on the grill with marinade and bacon. The rumps usually get turned into jerky. The shoulder and scraps get cut 50/50 with ground pork shoulder to make sausage. The sausage is a lot easier than you would think. You just need a grinder and a stuffer.

Devil Dog,
I have pretty good recipes for Italian and Chorizo sausage if you're interested.

I pay $55 per deer for a local guy to butcher. But I don't get anything fancy. Just his "regular" package which consists of an assortment of burger, steaks, loins, roasts and backstraps. I would love to learn how to do it myself but I would prefer to be taught by someone. Not to mention I don't have the necessary tools here at my house. I imagine in the long run it will save me alot of $$$. Especially if and/or when either of my 2 boys start bringing home deer.

If you got it Ill take it! thanks

Cause you can save yourself alot of $$. Around here it's about $70 to have one processed.

I've got a WMV, but it's about 26 mb. Anyone know where I can uplolad it?

Are family does its own because with the total amount of deer we shoot is would get really $

Italian Sausage
5 lbs of half fatty pork shoulder and half venison shoulder, ground
1 cup cold white wine
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves of chopped garlic
1 Tb ground pepper
2 Tsp cayenne
5 Tb fennel seed
4 Tb paprika

Just mix it all up real good and let it sit for a little while. You can make it into patties if you don't have a stuffer. Experiment with other spices, but this should be a good start.

Had my first deer processed many years ago. Cost me $120. Have done my own since. 40+ deer. Many processors weigh your deer and calculate out how much meat you receive. They shut down their process for other animals and run only venison. If you order burger they make a bunch of it and package. You may receive meat from someone elses deer that hung longer than yours or if you spent allot of time doing a good job gutting and cleaning you wasted your time cause someone else may have receivedyou're venison.