Butchering your own
 

Just curious how many out there will be butchering their deer themselves this year. I'll start ... I definitely will be. I've read the tutorials, watched my wife's uncle do it and watched some other videos on it and figure why not - if I make some bad cuts, I'll just grind those up (unless their my fingers :D)

We've always done our own. One of my earlies memories was getting caught "boxing" a deer that was hanging in our garage. I saw the Rocky movie where he's training in the cooler and figured I might as well haha. Dad wasn't so happy. But my dad and I cut up between 5-10 every year. Between my grandpa, dad, my sister, my uncle and I. We get lots of butchering in. Just take your time, don't rush it. And follow your guides, it's an easy process. Good luck!
-Jake

I do my own as well

I have been cuting my deer up for awhile now. Once you have done a few it becomes almost second nature. I like doing it myself because i know im geting my deer and how it was taking care of after the hunt. I have heard a lot of horror stories about processing places

I did it myself last year and it came out just fine. Can't see paying someone else to do something you are capable of doing for free.

We do our own. Skinning, boning, burger, chip steak, sausage, etc. I just like knowing the meat I eat is my deer.

I started doing my own last year. Everything turned out fine, and it was actually alot of fun.

we do our own on my farm, 30 min per deer, walk in the park. We dont even gut usualy, just hang, cape to the neck, backstrap, loin, shoulder, ham, and done.

I have done my own for a few years now, and as several have said here, it ain't nothin to do.

I've always done my own, and, my friends bring theirs to me. Don't know no other way.:biggrin:

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 -

always have,always will. it's part of hunting. plus you know what your getting.............

Yep, Always have done my own. Doesn't take as long as you would think and I know that it is done right.:happy0001:


Mitch

Just remember, the quality of your meat starts in the field. Keep it clean and cool, and have a clean work area

I had a question for you guys and gals then. I started skinning my own deer two years ago, but still have a butcher process it. Do those of you that do your own processing... do you have a cooler to hang your deer in?

My biggest concern is that if I attempt to process my deer on my own that the lack of a walk-in cooler would be the biggest issue. Tips?

I will be following my uncles advice and do what they do when its warm (normally they hang it for a while cuz it is cooler where they are but its warm down here). After skinning, they remove the front legs, the backstraps, the tenderloins and the hams - everything from the hangiing carcass into a cooler. When done, wrap the sections in a moist towel and put in a fridge for 3 to 4 days. After the 3/4 days are up, butcher, package and freeze. If no fridge, just butcher, package and freeze the same day.

I got my garage fridge and freezer off of craigslist - $30 for the full size upright freezer and $40 for the fridge. I had to be actively looking, though, because they get bought up quick!

My dad was a butcher so we've always cut up our own deer. I think he probaly started back in the late 50's early 60's. He's 85 now so he doesn't hunt deer or help process them anymore, so my nephews and I do it all now. We'll probably never be able to do it as well as he did, but we manage pretty well. We don't make our own sausage yet, but we pretty much do everything else. I think fresh backstraps after boneing out a deer helps complete the season. I would want it any other way.

Debone the meat, and you will save a lot of room for aging the meat in a fridge.

deer jerkey :) yum!!

Never been a problem for me. Like said, get it cooled down quick in the field and as soon as you can butcher it and put it right in the freezer.

I might be cooling it in the way I keep it before butchering. The deer itself is a cooler, I put a bag of ice in the chest cavity until I can get to butchering it. Have had deer in the back of my truck away from home for days and the ice was still there when I got to butchering it, the meat is always hand hurting cold.

Remodeled a house years ago that was a meat market at one time. One of the outside walls still was part of that freezer. All they did was start with a frame and cover it with cardboard, add 3/4" wood
striping and another layer of cardboard until there was 6 layers. Cost nothing as you can get the card board free. I'm sure they just used Ice but anything will do.

I used to just let a local processor do it. He was VERY reasonable, VERY trustworthy, and frankly, I felt like I was helping him out in his retirement.
When he finally fully retired, all I can say is every other "processor" PALED in comparison.
Fee's kept going up every year (They HAD to skin the deer-for $$). Quality wen't down every year. Freezer bags opened in the freezer and ruined meat.
You never really knew who's meat you had anymore. You ASSUMED it was your's, but at times, when I picked up my finished product, the bags didn't feel as heavy as I knew they should be.

I finally had enough, and bought a used stainless work bench with a sink built in it, and an old hand grinder at an estate auction.
Been working my own up for years now.
Started about 8 others doing it themselves too. :)