nchawkeye

I bone mine out when I clean them...You can seperate the three main muscles in the hams, fillet out the backstraps, remove the shoulders and remove the inner tenderloins by making a small incision at the short ribs and sliding my knife between them and the backbone and pull them out, usually don't gut the deer...If someone wants a whole ham, I seperate the ball and socket joint with a good, stout knife...I only use a saw to cut the front legs off.

I use my wife's Kitchen Aid mixer, with a grinder attachment to make burger...Just thaw out the roasts, slice into strips and feed into the grinder as needed...If I want "cubed steaks" I slice the backstraps or ham roasts about 1/4 to 3/8 inch and pound with a tenderizer hammer, or batter and fry up as they are...

My main knife has about a 3 inch blade on it...I can skin and butcher with the same blade...I just use a large cutting board for slicing up roasts.

Alsatian

I like a sharp boning knife -- narrow bladed knife with a flexible blade, for getting the meat off the bone. I use a bone saw to take off the feet, but that is the end of my need for a saw. Actually, I also use the bone saw to cut free ribs and cut up other bones. I store these bones and later boil them to make venison broth which I freeze and use for various cooking purposes. If this is inconvenient for some reason -- like I am hunting a long ways away from home -- I may omit the saving of bones for making venison broth. I take out the backstraps and tenderloins whole, while others may use a saw to cut chops which include the backbone. I wrap my meat in heavy plastic wrap a couple of times and then in butcher paper, thus I have no need for a vacuum packer. I do like to work on a wooden cutting board but have used a plastic cutting board in the past. I hunt deer in Oklahoma, and the weather rarely lets me leave my deer hanging several days. The deer meat I get after hanging only overnight (let rigor mortis come and go) has tasted pretty good so I'm not inclined to pursue any special actions to age the deer longer.

I once cut up and packaged two pronghorn antelope in a motel room in Gillette, Wyoming. Anyone else ever cut up and package a game animal in a hotel room? Hey, I left the place clean when I was done!

On my elk hunt this year I am adding a digital scale so I can weigh meat pieces and cut them into meal-sized portions accurately. Admittedly this is an unnecessary elaboration, but the scale can be used for other purposes in our kitchen anyway.

Flix

I agree that a stainless table is not the best work surface as it will dull your blades. I like the idea of the poly surface and was inclined to find a big slab, but after thinking about it I think I'll find 2 or three that will cover my work surface but still fit in the dishwasher when I'm done. I know my poly cutting board in the kitchen comes out a lot cleaner that way!

The DVD Deer Processing 101 does a fantastic job of instructing/demonstrating the process of taking a deer on the ground and turning it into table fare.

-- FLIX