Processing a Deer

did i understand you right, $100.00 to have a deer processed? ++++ i certainly hope not. in these parts, it is $40-60.00 and everything but the pork to mix in the venisonburger is included. if you are paying the 100+, YES! there is savings to be had!. if you have ever butchered any medium sized animal, it is not all that hard. time consuming is what it is. but i am rather fussy too. unfortuneatly, this year, if i get one or more, they will have to be processed. i just cant do it anymore.

Not difficult at all. Know you will make mistakes and learn as you go. You can always make hamburger with your mistakes. After a few you will have it down. Keep in mind venison is not beef, trim off all that might look like fat, it is not. I bone all my deer so I do not have to deal with bone, sawing making chops etc. . A big part of making the job easier begins at field dressing. I get mine skinned and cooling within hours. Do not be afraid to wash off your meat while it is hanging. I mix a small bit of vinegar with water and wash the carcass down, cleaning the cavity of all pooled blood and around any bullet damage. Pick off all those stray hairs as well. You will get a lot of opinions on how to get it done, if you know someone who has done it, invite them over to watch and give you direction. Good luck

It's easy, but time consuming. It gets old after the first one of the season. Usually I skin, remove loins/backstraps, and cut the legs off in one night. Then I spend the next night or two cutting up the leg meat and packaging everything. The front legs really are the worst. They offer the worst cuts and take the longest to de-bone. Making burger really adds a lot of time to the process. Yeah, $100 is a lot to have a deer cut up also, I would call around around $60 is typical here in NY.

DIY'ing...

Dispatch 55126--The nicest aspects of DIY deer processing is that (1) You KNOW that all the meat is from your deer, and (2) you can cut it the way you want to use it, and package it in sizes appropriate for your family.

As noted above, it is work, but so is cutting yr own firewood, shoveling yr own snow, painting yr own house, doing yr own taxes. If YOU do it, then you know it was done right, or at least, you know upon whom to blame the mistakes! (Or with deer cutting, that'd be "misteaks," I guess! )

if you want the quickest way to butcher a deer, simply chop the back strap into roughly 8 inch long chunks, then pull the tenderloins out, and then with the rest of the meat do the following:

debone it all, and cut it down by muscle groups. if it looks to be the right size for a steak, cut it into say half inch thick slabs and instant steaks. otherwise cut it down into little chunks for either girnding or just turning into stew.

It's a pretty easy process just time consuming. Here is a rough chart I found that might help you out a bit.

www.askthemeatman.com/images/venisoncuttingchartopti36kb.jpg

DIY is for me, I have a good friend that is a butcher and he taught me how to debone a deer while it is on the gambrel. The only thing I have made is deer sausage and the only reason I don't DIY that is time consumtion. It's kind of like cleaning your own fish, just get in there, you will mess up some, but eventually you will get the hang of it. Mac

It is very time consuming but worth it to me as I'm very picky about how my deer is butchered.

Going to observe my roommate process our deer this year, if he can do it then it can't be that hard.

Hopefully I will be processing a deer this year. It will be my first time without my Dad's expertise and access to butchering space and equipment.

One question for all of you -- WHERE do you process your deer? What kind of table, do you have a sink handy, how do you clean up, dispose of carcass, etc.

Thanks! From the land of $100 deer processing (PLUS the cost of making jerkey).

It is very time consuming but worth it to me as I'm very picky about how my deer is butchered.

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+1.

I did one a coupla weeks ago on the kitchen table......took me about two and a half hours total......that included grindin' the burger. Almost like payin' myself $40 a hour.

When the kids were at home we would routinely put 10-12 animals in the freezer each year, cost was running about $100 each at the processor. Went out and bought about $800 worth of equipment to do our own...paid for itself the first year. Takes a little more time, but we are getting better quality as a result. That was nearly 15 years ago....a lot of savings.

Check this site,
http://www.eckrich.org/
seems pretty complete. Use the "Butchering" and "deboning" tabs, then select which part you want to try.

My father in law is a butcher and loves venison we did 7 deer in about 3 hours this year. Not includint grinding i wait till about january to do that when its to cold to do anything else.

Gusset plates, etc....

Dispatch 55126--If by "gusset plate" you mean those 8x18" plates with a couple hundred "nails," which are mashed into the 2x4's or 2x6's at the factory, then

I have a strong disdain for gusset plates

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I couldn't agree with you more--They are a cheapo, quickie substitute for a skilled carpenter with a hammer, putting in real nails where they're supposed to be.

Furthermore, as the spouse of a former firefighter, I know that they're not very fire-safe, either. In a fire, the whole plate heats up, the wood beneath it chars, and out pop all those "nails" as the truss collapses. Firefighters hesitate to even enter a building made with those, after it is more than a bit involved in the fire.

But to get to yr more immediate question: Can you hang a deer from such a truss for butchering? I'd be willing to try it for the short time the deer was being butchered. (That'd be what, a day or so?) After all, the truss has to be ready to handle a considerable snow load in the winter, plus some flexing with the wind, in more northerly areas, and we don't hear of them collapsing from snow load on a regular basis.

After you've tried it, please give us a field report. Include pix, especially if the truss fails! (I really would not expect that.)

As to

WHERE do you process your deer? What kind of table, do you have a sink handy, how do you clean up, dispose of carcass, etc.

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It hangs in the garage, or out in the barn if on the farm, and the fine work, wrapping, grinding, sausage making, etc, etc, gets done on the kitchen table. Obviously there's a sink handy for cleanup. The deboned bones, the tendons, etc, etc, get buried in the garden, deep enough so as not to get rototilled next spring, or just tossed on the manure spreader if out @ the farm. Either place, the dogs and cats make short work of any edible scraps.

I'm moved to add, that one of Jeff Foxworthy's lines about "You Might be a Redneck If..." is, "if your kitchen turns into a meat processing center at least once a year." Guilty and lovin' it!

Can I hang my deer from lightweight 2x4 triangle trusses made with gusset plates? I know their designed to take vertical gravity loads but what, if any load can the base horizontal 2x4 take?

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if you're talkin' commercially made trusses, they are constructed to carry the weight of 5/8 sheetrock from the bottom chords and the maximun snow load(if any) plus the weight of roofing on the top chords. Unless you hang a whole herd of deer from your garage trusses you should be fine. I would suggest hanging your deer close to where the web members are joined to the bottom chords with the evil gusset plates or to hang the deer from bracing bearing on more than one bottom chord. Hang multiple deer from more than one truss to spread the weight. 2x6 bottom chords can take much more weight than 2x4. The weight of the deer is relatively light compared to the pressure put on the deer/truss when skinning.......i.e. two 200 pound men pulling down on a 160 pound deer.


Iffin you've ever had to remove any of those evil gusset plates from a truss, you'd be amazed at how much they hold.