You'll get lots of different opinion posts on this topic.

I do all my own - and have for years.
Dont hang a deer for more than a day if its over 40. If its over 50 - processs it right away.

You can hang a deer hide on for several days - if the temperatures are 25-40 degrees and it is a good thing. But you can just as easily debone - and trim - and then age your lean deer cuts in a refigerator at a constant 37 degrees for 5-10 days. I prefer aging meat with no fat, bones, tallow or tendons to contribute their taste.

Sometimes I do this - other times I cut and freeze as soon as possible - and then take the meat out of the freezer several days before eating and let it "age" a few days after thawing.

FH

I butchered mine for the 1st time this year. It was fairly easy to do. All I needed was a fillet knife (I deboned everything). It was actually a pleasant experience.

Yea I know everyone is going to have there own opion cant wait to try it my self.

First off, you don't need a saw. You don't want bone chips in your meat and besides that it's another thing to clean. Farm Hunter is pretty good on temperatures and when to do it. I have skinned and deboned a lot of deer with in an hour of killing them. Just depends on the weather and cooler availability. I hang 'em, skin 'em and debone them where they hang. When I've got all the meat off I bust up the carcass with a big pair of limb loppers. As far as supplies, it depends on how you do it. I've started vaccum packing all mine. I don't mess with a lot of garbage meat anymore. I do my backstraps and steaks and make some stew packages. I just gather up a few pounds of good scrap and have someone do the sausage and stuff for me.

I know some ppl suggest letting it hang with the skin on and I couldn't disagree more. I have never been able to taste the difference between one that hung for a couple days and one that was butchered right away. I have always been told that the best thing to do is to cool the meat down as soon as possible. So when i get it home the first thing i do is spray the carcass clean with cold water, then skin it. When they are still a little warm you can almost peel them like a banana and the skin comes off nice a clean. Once they get cold and frozen, skinning them is long, difficult and tedeious. But that's just my 2 cents.

As for essential supplies most of the basics have been covered. If you can afford it I would strongly suggest investing in an electric grinder and a vacuum sealer. They will pay for themselves in a year of butchering your own and not going to the butcher. Plus they make everything so much neater and more convienent.