RE: tenderloin vs backstrap
 

Thanks, guys. I dunno if I will do all of the butchering this coming fall, but i will certainly remove the t-loins, etc. I may even do some deboning, as the butcher charges on the total weight I bring in. He makes damn tasty sausages, pepperettes and corned beef though. Maybe I will give it a go and just take the scraps to him. I want to be able to do it all myself, but I also do not want to waste anything or ****** a perfectly good deer.

RE: tenderloin vs backstrap
 

Stealthyone, Butchering is really quite easy, though time consuming at first. You should try it and save some $. Also making corned venison and pastrami are one of the easiest things to make, When I first started I bought a book called ,After your Deer is Down, by Josef Fischl, and Leonad Lee Rue III , Read it a couple times and followed the step by step pictures and viola , Next to perfect the first time, though I inter-change some of my own personal cuts. Like farmcntry said the worst is that you'll more hamburger. Also as skeeter said, a saw is really not neccessary, I use it to cut off the lower legs, the neck into soup bones, the spare ribs, and 3 cuts to quater it to more manageble pieces. If I wanted to I could eliminate a couple of those cuts by using my knife. To each their own. When I'm through the only bones in the freezer are the Ribs and Neck Bones. Saves alot of space. Good Luck

RE: tenderloin vs backstrap
 

One other way of looking at it is to separate the muscle groups. For example, the eye of the round can be removed from the hind quarters and used as a roast rather than part of a great big slab of a usually tough steak. There are really no set rules in butchering for specific pieces. You can call the shots on most cuts.

RE: tenderloin vs backstrap
 

sawbill, I used to think this way too, until recently, When I seared or fried the steaks in a cast iron skillet, then finished them off under the broiler. Couldn't believe how tender. I just got done individually wrapping and freezing about a dozen steaks 5/8-3/4" thick, for when the wife wants a meatless meal, for a change and I don't. Just take them out while they're still rare as they'll cook a little more while they sit.:) you can never under cook Venison as it can always be put back in the pan for 15 seconds or so.