I always have and always will. Hell I butcher my own hogs, cows, and chikens too. Once you do it a few times it's like riding a bike and it comes natural.

I always do my own and enjoy the process. I shot them and let them hang in the garage for about a week weather permiting. They are always tender and good tasting.

Always! Wouldn't have it any other Way.
Live it up! Doug

Only thing I don't butcher is chicken's, everything else I take care of from kill to freezer.

Of all yall that are doing it yourself do you have any good guides to look up to help a novice. I have done it myself and taken it in but the price here is just too much to handle now. 100$ for the basic cuts and that is with it already caped/skinned and gutted.

I've been doing it since I started hunting. Around the area I live in Chicago/Northern Suburbs there don't seem to be many processors within 45 mins so I really don't have a choice but i've never minded doing it myself so I'll stick with it. I think the more you do it, the better you get so now its pretty quick for me.

Last year i did my own, and will this year. Shelling out $80 per a deer hits the wallet really hard, specially if you bag a few deer in one year. If you harvest 2 deer a year and pay $150, you could of bought a good knife set, cutting board, table (if needed), hoist (if needed), and freezer paper you'll ever need. Then with the savings next year buy a grinder.

I do pay a local in my area to make SOME sausage.

For those looking for a good deer processing video, "Deer Processing - From the Field to the Freezer" by Kentucky Afield is a good video at a very reasonable cost. They do not cover doing your own sausage (smoking, etc.), but they talk about pretty much everything else. The video covers field dressing, skinning, de-boning, cutting, grinding, wrapping and labeling. For about $20 dollars when you include S&H charges, you get the video, a calendar and a 12 month subscription to Kentucky Afield Magazine. There are a few small clips of this video on YouTube. Here is their link for ordering.

https://secure.kentucky.gov/Mall/Sto...4cbb53d6d2387/

i have always done my own.its alot of fun and very rewarding.cant see paying someone to do it for me.
just take it slow and fallow the "seams". you will get the hang of it in no time.i dont do many roasts. lots of steaks and grind the res,for spagetti,tacos,ect.we eat some kind of wild meat at least 4-5 times a week.
2 years ago me and my cousin each shot a cow elk and a mule deer in idaho with our bows. quartered them in camp and drove home to reno. about a 9 hr drive from where we hunted. called my wife and asked her to get the kitchen "ready". got home and started to clean,cut,grind,wrap and vac. seal the meat. 10 hrs latter we cleaned the kitchen. that was a loooong day.i have always enjoyed butchering my own kills, but that day it was not very much fun at all.

Tips -

Bone out whole muscles 1st - follow the lines. When removing from the carcass - NEVER cut across the middle of a muscle - unless its a shank!

Once the whole muscles have all been removed - Trim all the fat, silverskin, and sinew off that piece 1st - then either freeze whole - Or cut into steaks against the grain.

If you are going to make Jerky - trim, then freeze muscles whole - and cut and trim your jerky when you are ready to make it. Its MUCH more fresh this way - than if you pre-cut your jerkey and then freeze it.

Never keep iffy meat. Much much better to error on the side of waste. When you thaw out a pc of bloodshot deermeat for dinner - it will turn you, your wife and your family off to venison. When preparing your own meat - the best thing you can say is that you inspected every piece before it was packaged. I never am wondering what I'll get when I thaw out deer for dinner - I expect it to be great.

I'm not a hamberg fan - so I have no tips for you there -