Process yourself or pay someone to do it?
 

How many of you do your own butchering? As much as I enjoy getting out in the woods and harvesting a deer for me the real satisfaction comes from finishing the job myself. A good friend, more like a brother to me than my blood relation, got me into deer hunting and taught me the ropes from field to freezer. Going to a job so you can buy groceries is one thing but actually putting meat on the table for my family is a source of pride I can't get over. The real fun for me happens back at the shop with a roll of butcher paper. :happy0001:

I'm with ya. It took a few years to really hone my processing process. But, now, I can take a deer from hanging off the back of my truck to my freezer in about an hour and a half.

I still hate cleaning up the mess though. That actually takes longer than butchering the whole darn thing.

It all starts with a knife that will hold its edge throughout the whole process. So I make my own knives too. I have taken three deer from field to freezer with two knives and never sharpened once in between.

They will need a good sharpening after three though. I think I could force em to go four deer, but that is pushing it and then your butchering times start increasing.

Nick:)

i do my own, i taught myself how to do it, on my buddys first deer, then ive done it on all of mine, not once have i been to a butcher, im a meat hunter, and i like the fact that i have a smaller grocery bill when the freezer is full, and when you do it ur self you can put what you want where you want it, say this is for steaks this is for grinder, this is for stew and so on, but you get to do it UR WAY

Plus I know that the meat in the freezer is the deer I shot...not someone else's leftovers the processor palmed off on me.

i always process my own deer too! i feel that it is a part of the hunting experience. plus i think alot of butchers rip you off some. i also like to debone all the meat and get more fat and sinew off than what the butchers do.

I do my own as well.

i realized the 1st time my buddy sent his off...wasnt even the same deer meat..call me crazy, no i didnt do a dna test, but was easy to tell ...to me anyways....he didnt even get the quantity of meat he turned in.
besides i know how the meat was handled doing it myself...as i am very shy about accepting meat from others already..
i do it myself, i know where,when, what and who about it. no questions. and its cheaper...
.4 deer take bout 6 hours to get through processing. and the biggest thing is how long your hand can sling a blade.

I have always processed my own but this year I want to buy a dehydrator and make my own jerky. I have a 13 year old that has gotten quit good at the proccess himself and loves to sit down and enjoy the fruits of his labor. I may be back to this thread later this fall for some jerky recipes:s1:. God Bless you all.

I roll my own too. Started when I pulled up to a butcher shop and saw (and smelled) a 6x20' pile of deer moldering in the rain! And, on what deer I do shoot with a firearm, I use all copper bullets (Barnes TSX); they contain no lead and give AWESOME terminal performance.

Taught myself from a book. (After your deer is down), been doing my own for over 10 years now.

As a former meat processor I say "Good for you guys" that do process your own. Before my accident I processed deer for our VA Hunters for the Hungry program as well as individuals.
It still amazes me how many of those that pay a processor to do their deer think they should get 2 big coolers full of meat from a deer that dressed 125 pounds.
I actually had several accuse me of stealing their meat.
They don't realize that a deer doesn't have much meat on it to begin with. Once you remove the hide, bones, fat, sinew and any boody meat from the shot area, there's just not a lot left. I see these articles by so called "deer processing experts" and they claim you can get over 50% of the dressed weight in edible meat.
BULL $#!&
On a clean head or neck shot deer you get 25-30% lean clean edible meat.
If you get more than that then I don't want you working up my deer.

I hope I didn't offend you as that was not my intent. The incident that I was referring to happened to a friend of mine several years back. He took a nice doe, field dressed out to a little over 130#. He got her during BP season with a nice boiler room shot. The entry and exit wounds were behind both shoulders in the lower chest area, perfect heart/lung shot. When he picked up his 3 little packages of meat from the processor he was told it was due to all of the damage to the backstraps and tenderlions from a "high spine hit". Processor ate good for a few days on that "damaged" meat I bet! :confused0024:

No offense taken.
I think hunters should learn how to process their own meat, to me it's an important link in the chain of the whole hunting experience.
On the other hand...
From a processors point of view I loved working up deer for others, it was the easiest money I ever made. I could have a deer skinned, quartered, deboned and ready for wrapping in about 40-45 minutes. At $50 a deer I made some good spending money.

Found this video series showing field dressing, skinning and quartering a deer. The dude gets kind of frisky with the knife around the gut area but its the best quality video I've seen so far.

I did my 1st in 62 it was my 1st deer 4 pt. Have done close to 200 of them since then. As i get older my hands ache from arthur & cramp up in the damp n cold, i still do mine!

I've done hundreds - for myself and others. 90% of it is separating the large muscles from bone and trimming. If you can do that - the rest is easily learned.

My tips -

Never freeze meat with Sinew, silverskin, tendon or fat on the outside - always trim it before freezing.

Do not "wash your meat" before freezing. trim it clean with a knife.

If you don't have a place to keep a deer at the proper temp before processing - DONT AGE IT. If I ever feel I need to age the meat - I leave thaw it in the Fridge for about 5 days.

I like a filet knife after its boned out.

When trimming - "if in doubt - toss it" - this goes for bloodshot meat, bad cuts - end peices, etc. Nothing worse than opening up a package of clotted meat! That'll turn your family off to venison quick as anything!

FH

I process my own as well as all my family's and usually around 25 for other people who just don't have the time or skills.

Hunting has been in my Family as far back as i Can trace and so has Butchering including
Beef, Pork,Goat, and all wild game. To me its an important part of Hunting you cant complain if you do it yourself.