deer proccessing
 

is there a video or a link on how to proccess your own deer. what part of the deer is the best?

RE: deer proccessing
 

You can go on Youtube and find some basic videos on gutting a deer. I would reccomend talking to a fellow hunter who has done it before, and even possibly hunting with a friend or someone to see how it is done in person. In terms of what is the best part of a deer...one word: Backstraps. These are essentially the "filets" of venison. But seriously all the meat is good, when taken care of properly, and prepared in the right way.

RE: deer proccessing
 

are the backstraps the meat that is along the spine? do you have to freeze the meat to kill any bacteria?

RE: deer proccessing
 

Here is a link that has a good diagram of where the different cuts of meat come from on the deer. http://www.best-venison.com/processing.html In terms of killing bacteria....no it is not nescessery to freeze the meat to kill the bacteria. The deer should be gutted as soon as possible after the kill and the chest cavity proped open to promote faster cooling of the meat. You should not let the deer get warm at all...this will spoil the meat. Often keeping the meat cool is not a concern due to cool temperatures during the hunting season, but this is not always the case. Keep in mind that you will probably need to freeze most of the meat if it is not consumed soon after the deer is cut up so it wont spoil in the fridge. Hope this helps.

Tenderloins are the best!

Backstraps are second.:wink:

All the meat is good. Less disireable cuts can be turned into burger for chilli's, spaghetti sauces or sausages.

Trim the fat and silver skin off before storage.

Just remember. Deer meat is like computer data. Crap In = Crap Out.

Take time to keep the meat clean, trimmed well, no hair or dirt wrap real tight if using butcher paper and the end result will be fine table fare.

HA

there are a couple of good books out there that walk you thru how to process your own deer...one being gut it cut it cook it.

Gut it, skin it, quarter it, chill it, chop it. You'll need a gambrel, a couple good sharp knives, I reccomend a vacuum sealer. Once you have it skinned take out the inner loins or they might dry out on you. These are the lil fish on the inside up by the spine. BEST!!! then tha back straps off the back of the spine... just follow the lines from the neck along the spine to the ham, then go in along the ribs and get them loose. You'll have 2 longs sweet chunks that I would suggest for steaks... Cut off the front 1/4... there are no bony joints, just cut around em and they'll pop off. Most of the fron 1/4s go to burger. Take of the rear 1/4s... the front of the ham has a football shaped muscle (sirloin roast) these are good in the crock pot. The rest I burger... once you get it all taken apart you can get it into a cooler and it'll keep with some frozed ice jugs... don't let your meat get all wet with a bag of ice. You can keep it cold in there for a week or so if you don't have time to do it all at once.

To each his own but I give the tenders away on a deer, the backstraps are all mine though! I prefer rib eyes to filet on beef though...guess I am weird. All tastes good. When it comes to moose or elk I like the tenderloins better cause they are bigger and steak up real nice!

The best advice I can give is see if someone in your area processes game then go lend a hand and get taught hands on how to process. I learned by attrition through dad, uncle and grandpa. I have since taught many how to process game. Cutting it up is one of my favorite parts of the hunt, time to recall, laugh and enjoy the fruits of your passion. Eating it is the ultimate prize!

outdoor edge makes a couple of great videos, i have the Deer & big game processing, which goes from time of kill to cutting out the different cuts of meat ( 3 hours long)

& Advanced wild game processing-sausage. Teaches the way to make just about every kind of sausage out there. ( 1 hr 45 mins long ) they are really informative.

What?!? On our deer the tenderloins are out of the deer by noon and on the table for dinner!

I know right...always thought they were overrated. Grew up the same tenders out and on the pan or grill right away. Good but just not my favourite meat on a deer. I like elk and moose tenderloin but deer I'll trade backstrap for tenders any day of the week.

To me the tenderloins are top.. Just never enough of them on a deer.. or anything for the matter.. The loin or backstrap are only second to the tenderloin in my opinion.

Here's one of the three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tburA...eature=related


then there's this although not a vid. it's step by step.
http://www.bowhuntingtalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=11178

It's really easy once you do it a couple of times. I eat the tenderloins same day. Cut the backstraps into 2" thick steaks. Rear quarters are more steaks, roasts, stew meat, jerky. I separate the rear quarters top round, bottom round, sirloin, and the eye. Front quarters usually mostly get ground for burger maybe some jerky too. Neck goes for burger, Usually don't use the meat from in between the ribs, if I do it also goes for burger. Flanks go for burger. Hocks usually go for burger but are full of tendons etc. I do everything boneless. A good way to do part of your burger is to coarse grind it with 10-20% apple smoked bulk bacon (bacon cheeseburgers, breakfast sausage). The rest of the burger I grind with 10% pork fat. Never had any complaints. Actually people who claim to not like venison eat it and say they like it. A lot of the quality is in how the meat is handled and processed. I have let a deer hang anywhere between a few hours to 2 weeks depending on the temperature outside. Usually hang it in the garage to keep it out of direct sunlight. If you kill one when it is extremely cold, get that sucker skinned right away. If the hide freezes on your deer it is extremely difficult to remove. Also like others mentioned, when it is hot out, quarter it and get it in a big cooler of ice right away. But I leave the ice in the bags and put the quarters in trash bags (non-scented) to keep the water off it. You don't want the meat to soak in the water. Make sure you have some extremely sharp knives, it will really make the job much easier, especially when removing the fat & silver skin. Hope this helps.

PS - When cutting your steaks make sure you cut across the grain. That will make a difference bewteen tender and nearly impossible to chew. Also don't "overcook" your venison as it tends to dry it out and make it tough. Venison is naturally lean it will dry out very easily. I cook my steakson a very hot grill for only a few minutes. Rare to medium rare at most personally. I have seen people basically ruin a good piece of venison by over cooking it.