Field dressing/butchering/cooking

[conw]

Hi,

I've never hunted deer but would like to do so. I'm just intimidated by the field dressing, and particularly the butchering, parts. Cooking I should be able to handle, but...could anyone link me up with a good guide to the above?

I'd like to know what equipment, size area, and skills I need. I sure as heck don't want to shoot a big deer and let it go to waste!

Conwict

 

[atomchaser]

This is a good dvd that explains how to field dress and butcher a deer. Worth the 13 bucks, IMHO.

http://fw.ky.gov/navigation.asp?cid=565&NavPath=C105C191

 

[Samuel Adams]

Most local meat packers or butcher shops will butcher and package your venison for you. Field dressing, on the other hand, is up to you.

 

[koja48]

Lots of resources out there to guide you in field dressing a deer. When I butcher a deer/elk/moose/etc., I place the quarters in the freezer for a bit to "stiffen-up" (makes slicing uniform thickness cuts much easier), then bone everything out (if I didn't already do that in the field), and carve away. After you do 1 or 2, you'll be a pro. Invest in GOOD knives! Keep the meat CLEAN when you do eviscerate an animal . . . I carry a couple knives in the field . . . one dedicated to the "nether regions" and the other for the general body cavity. You can do this . . . don't be intimidated, but DO research. Good luck! Venison is some prime eating . . . nothing like liver & onions or fresh backstrap in hunting camp . . .

 

[Samuel Adams]

. . . nothing like liver & onions or fresh backstrap in hunting camp . . .

One of our favorite things to do was to take the entire back leg (minus the lower joints and hoof) from the first deer taken, skin it, and throw it into a roaster with potatoes, onions, carrots, and a few choice spices, and let it cook all day while we hunt for more.

 

[Guido2006]

Some info:

Field Dressing and quartering made easy.

YouTube : Deer Field Dressing

Your best bet would be to learn how to field dress it (relatively easy and quick) and then take it to a deer processor. That saves a lot of hassle on your end and its all packaged up and no mess in your garage.

Doing that will carry you along until you can get some more info on butchering a deer.

 

[Nate C.]

Don't be intimidated. It looks harder than it is. I was in your same situation. After doing it a couple of times, it gets easier.

You need a good knife; a knife sharpener; a saw for the bones; a big cooler; ice; and ideally some running water and an A-frame or rope with a come-along to suspend the carcass while you are working on it. Get the guts and blood out of the body as quick as you can after shooting it. The quicker you can get the meat cooled down, the better. Now if it is only 10 degrees outside while you are working, you don't have to worry about part too much.

There are about a hundred different websites showing how to skin a deer, so I won't belabor that. Go to google and type in 'skin a deer'. I recommend quartering it out and letting a locker plant do the processing for you.

Main thing is, don't be intimidated. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Don't be careless--lots of folks cut themselves on accident.

 

[rangerruck]

meat cooled, as fast as possible, is the most important thing. For a deer, i would take at least two , razor sharp knives, and a simple sharpener.
if you have never done one, make sure there is someone there with experience, otherwise it will take you at least one hour or two, and that is too long, it needs to be cooling as quickly as possible.
you need running water to clean off hair guts, blood, etc., as well, or many buckets of water. Also bring along several pair of surgical rubber gloves, as it will get messy.
If you have a close by butcher, throw it in the back of a truck, throw some ice on it, cover it, and get it there fast!!!

 

[Bezoar]

unless you go on a purchased hunt, buy a deer to shoot on a game farm, butchering and skinning and gutting a deer is the easiest most enjoyable aspect of hunting you will experience.

rules when dealing with deer cutter-uppers
-do not have them make sausage/jerky products for you.
that is because they generally take the ugliest bloodiest bits of ALL the deers in their locker at the time, grind it all up and then make the meat product. that results in you NOT getting your own deer back as well as resulting in unsatisfactory meat products.

-also, dont have them grind it up, they do the same "take the bad bits from all the deer, grind, and split into portions.
Its the easiest way to make sure you get meat from the deer billy bob bob left in his trunk for 3 hours in 0 degree alabama heat before gutting

yum yum...

 

[mewachee]

Seneca Creek Productions Deer Processing 101
Seneca Creek Productions Quarter And De-Bone Big Game In The Field

There isn't a better set of videos. If you go to huntflix, you can watch them on you free trial period. These videos have good and healthy practices. As well as step by step - beginning to end demonstrations.

 

[mewachee]

Let me add one more thing. The "host" is a little annoying, but I want to make this very clear; these videos are for the beginner, and they are for the pro, if they don't think they know everything there is to know.

I have 9 different videos on this subject, but wouldn't recommend any over the ones I just recommended.

 

[IllHunter]

I'ts different in different places...

Up north,(Illinois,Wis,Mich.) gun season is usually cold and there are no worries or considerations regarding spoilage or flies. Just gut it before it freezes, which makes it easy to carry to your local butcher or processor.

 

[IllHunter]

More seriously,

get this book, it covers it all and is the best presentation I've ever seen on skinning. Using the truck to pull of the skin is soooo easy. If alone I use a winch or come-along and a golf ball works perfectly under the neck skin.

 

[lgbloader]

Venison is some prime eating . . . nothing like liver & onions or fresh backstrap in hunting camp . . .

Tell me about it... at camp, I like the liver (thoroughly cleaned and cut into small pieces) and heart (also cut into even smaller bite size pieces) with large pieces of onions and potatoes cooked in a cast iron pot over the fire seasoned with pepper and salt and green New Mexico chili on the side with some bread or tortilla. add a cold one to the equation and you are talking food of kings...

Damn, I cannot wait till the end of September!!!!

Cheers....

 

[Lon371]

Skinning a deer with a truck? I have never heard of that. I have seen the winch method. I found a link, for using a truck. Excellent Idea.
http://www.huntnfever.com/docs/skinningadeer.pdf

 

[isitdeadyet]

I never felt it was that hard of a job that a truck was needed. I tend to enjoy butchering up all my deer.