Actually I was being sarcastic about the being "less of a hunter" part. I was just throwing this topic out there as a different twist on the evergrowing elitist threads and posts around here lately. However .........there is some truth to it.

i plan to do my own deer when i get one but see no problem with someone taking it to someone

but what if one day god forbid there is no one to take it to say ww3 with todays world i would say it is more likely then not the lest we relay on outside source for food water heat and so on the less likely we are to survive alone and i do not mean outsourcing to china i mean each one of us outsourcing our food needs heat needs and water needs . i plan to be real on my self soon

i was close in NC had chickens a high mountain clean spring water feed creek a huge garden and i was walking distance to hunting land but since i moved back to Indiana all that is gone for now

I butcher at least one a year it takes me about 2 1/2 hours Skin-----> vac seal. I don't grind, I bag peices and trimmings for my killer chunky chilli. If I'm lucky enough to bag 2 in a day one usually goes to the processor who does a nice job for $65.

This year I used my truck to skin a deer and I gotta say I'm sold on the method!

If I'm fortunate to bag another I'm definitely going to can a couple quarts.

My dad and I butcher all of our deer, except one a year. We donate that, and get the entire thing processed into deer baloney, and each employee of the company gets a stick at christmas.

I am a former meat cutter, and we have a grinder, food saver, meat slicer, band saw, and 2 stainless tables, and when we get into one, we can have a deer completely processed from skinning to vaccuum packed in an hour and a half to two hours.

I've cut up so many G*dam* deer over the years that I never look forward to it anymore. I tried a few years in a row to have someone else do it - but I was never really happy with their cuts or how they were packaged.

So.......... I still cut up my own - but not anyone elses any more.,

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the last day of the last BP season a couple years ago.



fh

me too

Ok, first of all, I have to agree that when you are good enough to kill it, you should damn well be able to get your hands dirty and process it. Or at least know how to do it.
Second of all, I think being able to tell your guests at the dinner table that the meat they are eating comes from a deer you killed and processed and not from a butcher.( you best spare the gutting details )

Now, since I still have to go on my first hunt and I still have to lay down my first deer, are there any of you who can teach me how to skin and process a deer ?
Or should I go see a butcher ?

F.

I always process my own . i just view it as part of the experience of hunting.

Some I will and some I won't. It depends on where I am hunting.

I always donate at least onedeer every year for the Illinois hunters for the hungry program and those deer get dropped off whole to the processor.

There is also a processor close to where I hunt down south that does a great job and he is very cheap so I don't mind dropping deer off to him.

Plus....and I hate to say this....he does a better job than me too.[]

To answer a couple questions floated out there w/out stirring to pot any more

We wrap all the meat--burger, tenderloin, roasts, steaks etc-- in freezer paper. If you do it well it is quite airtight and when the meat is eaten up within 6-8 months as ours is there is no freezer burn. Plastic freezer bags are easier for beginning tho.

It takes 2 of us about an hour to hoist the deer up, skin and gut it, and then split it with a meat saw. We let it hang overnight when it is below 50 out (or cram it into the fridge in quarters if it is hot). When the meat is fully cooled, it will take us about 2 more hours to trim, cut up, grind, and wrap the meat. That is a timeline for a large buck with around 100 lbs of well trimed meat resulting. Smaller deer take less time.Three hours of work isnot much to me, however it can take longer when you hit the deer poorly...or even just through the shoulders.

my bad[&:]