Lefty Pa

JL Im a new member I have a great little film clip on cutting deer. I cant up load it if you E mail I can send it.
lefty-pa

slugman

179lbs grossed 40lbs of meat ? Thats sad ....I cut up my own now after finding the butcher I took my deer to didnt always give you back "your" deer.

WNY Bowhunter

Cutting up a deer is not a very hard task. The best time to skin is when the carcass is still warm. Just cut around the joints on the legs, skin them up and go to town (its best to hang the deer up by the hind legs when skinning). After the hind legs are skinned down and you cut through the tailbone, just give a pull and the hide will slide right down to the brisket with little or no cutting needed. With a sharp knife and a warm deer I can have them skinned out in 10 minutes easily (that includes the time required to drink a beer).

As far as actually cutting up the deer goes...you're right, you basically end up with the backstraps, tenderloins and I usually cut the rest into stew meat/steaks and all the rest of the scrap goes into burger. Luckily for me, my family has a small slaughter house with a walk-in cooler and all the equipment needed for the butchering process (which is basically only a hacksaw, some knives, a meat grinder and a bunch of Zip-loc freezer bags). I have a rather large family so we usually butcher around 30 deer a year here and have done well over a thousand deer over the past 40+ years. Unfortunately, with the way this season has gone so far, the cooler has remained relatively empty. We usually let the deer hang in the cooler for 5 days-week before we cut them up (I have also just put the boned hinds and other meat in garbage bags and let them age in the refridgerator for the same amount of time). With a little practice, it shouldn't take too long to get a deer boned out and cut up. Last night I completed boned out two does by myself in about an hour. It probably took me about another hour and a half to cut up and package the 4 hindquarters/ shoulders/ backstraps. If we want hotdogs or meatsticks or whatever made, we usually just take them to one of the local butchershops. Other than that, I wouldn't dream of paying the $45-50 (average price here in WNY) to have my deer cut up.

White-tail-deer

My Dad, Brother and I hang and skin our deer in the garage. We usually like to let the deer hang 5-7 days to age the meat a bit. We even made bolt together (plywood with insulation) refrigerator big enough to hang three deer in. When the weather is to warm we put up the plywood and have a 5000 BTU air conditioner to cool the 5'Wx4'Dx8'H area. It works pretty well!!

davidmor

I cut up all my own deer too. After you do a couple, it gets easier. The first one definately takes the longest. If you are shooting several deer a year, it gets pretty expensive to pay someone to do it, and you are guaranteed to get all your own meat when you do it yourself. I just cut up a doe last night and with cleanup it took me around 1 1/2 hours to have it in the freezer. It goes even faster if I am just cutting it up to take in for sausage because I just cut chunks off, clean out the silver and fat and pack it up. Nothing fancy about it. I do have a huge plus on my side though, my wife lets me do all the de-boning, cutting, and packaging in the kitchen. It is so much nicer doing it in a clean place with running water. Of course, I have to do all the cleanup and that kitchen better be smellin' like bleach and cleaner when I walk out of it! All the skinning and quartering gets done in the barn.

JONES 1969

Ialways cut up my deer for the thrill after the kill will save that butchers cost for a new gun.

johnl

for me it's all part of the hunt you will get quicker with time and like someone else said buy a how to video also if you cut your own deer you know that you get your own deer

DUCKSTAMPEDE

Started doing it with my Granddad when I was 6. My job then was bagger. We hang them in the garage for 5-7 days depending upon temps. Then we would skin them-it is much harder to skin when they have cooled but my Grandfather preferred it that way-we would make the cuts around the hind legs and then two grandsons-one per leg would begin the pull while grandpa neatly made the holding cuts. Took all of 15 minutes to skin it that way. We then quartered it and carried it to the basement and cut it up there. He had 'cuts' for the steaks and roasts that he preferred and so that always took a little longer but never think we spend more than 3 hours from skinning to in the freezer. I do it that way today but I must tell you the stories I heard around that work from my Grandfather and Uncle were worth every dime of energy I had to put into it.