Tips for processing your own deer

[Highland Lofts]

I never paid to have a deer cut up and have shot a lot of them when I lived back there in New York.
It pays to get the hid off of the deer as soon as posible, if you hang it and wait to skin it off you have twice the amount of labor & time to get it off. Plus it cools down faster.
We use a preasure treated 2x8 hung up between two trees with three cables attached to hang three deer at the same time.
It is probably moumted about 10 feet off the ground, and we use the gambles that Harbor Freight sells. They come with a set of pulleys, use rope in them that fill up the room other wise the thinner rope jumps the pully and jams it up.
Plus the gamble is split in to two pieces. We have three of them and had them welded together.
We hang them from the hind quarters
We let them hang a couple of days and start out cutting the back straps off to proccesd. We cut tjem into 4 to 5 inch pieces and then freeze them
Everything gets vacum sealed and marked. What it is and dated. For the price of one deer cut up you can go buy a vacum sealer and the rolls of vscum seal bags. The vacum sealer machine will.last for years, we buy the double vacum seal rolls out of walmart. I'm sure you could get them.cheaper online.
A vacum sealer machine is priceless for long term frezzer storage.
Freezer burned meat is garbage.
Next to cut up is the front quarters. One at a time. I cut them up at my brothers place. They hang out back and are out of sight from the road. And they can be pulled up high enough so any stray dog or coyotes can not reach them.
I pick up plastic buckets from the Price Chopper bakery to use to put the quarters in, to put the cut up meat in, put the scrape & bones in.
When empty wash them good and bleach them for the next one.
The hind quarter are the last to cut up. We use a cordless sawzall to cut legs off and break the deer down.
We keep it in the suburban while out in the field in case a deer needs to be broke down out in the woods to get it out of the woods.
My brother bought a nice size meat grinder that makes grinding the deer up.

We have two dehydarators to make deer jerky. All of the little odds & ends get cut thin and ate used for jerky.
We have the jerky shooter that processes ground meat. I don't like that jerky at all.

Once we get a deer we make jerky every day.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Daniel
Where are you located in New York?
If you are close to Broome/Chenango County you could come over to my brothers place and see how we go about cutting deer up. You are welcome to try any part of the deer cutting operation from taking parts off of the deer to cutting steaks, roast, cube meat, jerky meat anf cube meat for stew or to grind.

If you get one you can bring it over and we can help you cut yours up & vacum seal it for you.
Troy should be up to my brothers place for a while getting out hunting and visiting. And we should be getting together with Bert from Binghamton

I still need to get a airline ticket and hope they don't screw up air travel.when it's time to fly out there in November.

If you have an extra day and went to try hunting at a new place we can get together for that as well.

It's all good, Bert got a doe at my daughter's place last deer season.

 

[buck460XVR]

Edit 2: y’all, thanks for your advice! The idea here is to keep the whole process as far under $100 as possible, that means buying as little or as cheaply as possible. If I spend close to $100 I might as well just go to a processor.

What? You only gonna shoot one more deer in your life? Good equipment is why you pay $100 a deer to have it cut up. Good equipment is an investment for years to come. Ain't like you're gonna buy a new grinder every year. Buy a good one and it will outlast you.Get a good one and you'll find yourself using it for things other than processing venison. I use my grinder all the time for making pork sausage outta pork butts/shoulder when I find it on sale for $.99 a pound. I'll buy 30-40# worth and grind it all at once. Half I'll make into Italian and the other half into plain or breakfast sausage. Beats the heck outta the $4 a pound stuff at the grocery store and with only half as much fry-off. Buying it like that is even cheaper than buying a whole hog. Same goes for after Thanksgiving and turkey goes on sale for $.49 a pound. I'll buy three or four big turkeys and grind them up. Takes a little time, but it's cheap meat and it's good. A good grinder will make or break your ground meat. Invest in something good, even if it's a hand powered one. Mount it well so it's secure. Good knives, cutting boards, paper/tape dispensers, vacuum sealers....none of them go bad. All can be used for other things other than butchering deer. Butchering your own means you know what you are eating. You know it's your deer. You know there's nuttin' in those freezer bags you do not want to put in your mouth. none of that can be said when you have someone else butcher your deer. If you spend $300 on a grinder, you'll never need another and grinding meat will not be a chore. Butchering itself is a chore. You have a carcass and trimming to get rid of. You need to process on a table/counter that will not give you a back-ache. You nees to develope a process that will keep the meat cool until you are ready to cut it and you need to keep it cool as you cut-it. Letting the hind-quarters get up to room temp while you cut it up will make freezer life shorter and will diminish taste....and not in a good way. I use a cordless sawz-all for quartering my hanging deer for bringing inside to cut up. You should be able to cut up a quarter quickly enough so that it stays cool. You also have to develop methods that will not cross-contaminate the meat as you process it. More to it than just putting a knife to it.

 

[daniel craig]

Daniel
Where are you located in New York?
If you are close to Broome/Chenango County you could come over to my brothers place and see how we go about cutting deer up. You are welcome to try any part of the deer cutting operation from taking parts off of the deer to cutting steaks, roast, cube meat, jerky meat anf cube meat for stew or to grind.

If you get one you can bring it over and we can help you cut yours up & vacum seal it for you.
Troy should be up to my brothers place for a while getting out hunting and visiting. And we should be getting together with Bert from Binghamton

I still need to get a airline ticket and hope they don't screw up air travel.when it's time to fly out there in November.

If you have an extra day and went to try hunting at a new place we can get together for that as well.

It's all good, Bert got a doe at my daughter's place last deer season.

View attachment 929169

I appreciate the offer! I hunt out in Ontario county.

 

[daniel craig]

What? You only gonna shoot one more deer in your life? Good equipment is why you pay $100 a deer to have it cut up. Good equipment is an investment for years to come. Ain't like you're gonna buy a new grinder every year. Buy a good one and it will outlast you.Get a good one and you'll find yourself using it for things other than processing venison. I use my grinder all the time for making pork sausage outta pork butts/shoulder when I find it on sale for $.99 a pound. I'll buy 30-40# worth and grind it all at once. Half I'll make into Italian and the other half into plain or breakfast sausage. Beats the heck outta the $4 a pound stuff at the grocery store and with only half as much fry-off. Buying it like that is even cheaper than buying a whole hog. Same goes for after Thanksgiving and turkey goes on sale for $.49 a pound. I'll buy three or four big turkeys and grind them up. Takes a little time, but it's cheap meat and it's good. A good grinder will make or break your ground meat. Invest in something good, even if it's a hand powered one. Mount it well so it's secure. Good knives, cutting boards, paper/tape dispensers, vacuum sealers....none of them go bad. All can be used for other things other than butchering deer. Butchering your own means you know what you are eating. You know it's your deer. You know there's nuttin' in those freezer bags you do not want to put in your mouth. none of that can be said when you have someone else butcher your deer. If you spend $300 on a grinder, you'll never need another and grinding meat will not be a chore. Butchering itself is a chore. You have a carcass and trimming to get rid of. You need to process on a table/counter that will not give you a back-ache. You nees to develope a process that will keep the meat cool until you are ready to cut it and you need to keep it cool as you cut-it. Letting the hind-quarters get up to room temp while you cut it up will make freezer life shorter and will diminish taste....and not in a good way. I use a cordless sawz-all for quartering my hanging deer for bringing inside to cut up. You should be able to cut up a quarter quickly enough so that it stays cool. You also have to develop methods that will not cross-contaminate the meat as you process it. More to it than just putting a knife to it.

I’m not arguing the logic. You can’t spend money you don’t have though.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Ontario County is a little bit of a drive. Probably two hours or so. About the same as Troy.

 

[Hookeye]

I hunt small ground, so try to take out a shoulder.
Backstraps and rear quarters yields most of what is usable.
Do not like deer burger.

So my options this yr are (last yrs deer sucked).............shoot and pull straps and hams, leave the rest in field.
Or haul the whole thing to a processor and say I want X amount of summer sausage, donate the rest.

Now if I do take a young doe w bow early, I might take that one home to maximize.
Old buck............summer sausage only.

 

[Kingcreek]

I've processed 50 or more deer over the years. These are my basics.

CLEAN and COOL your meat. The quicker you can cool it down the better but keep it clean. A 200 pound Illinois whitetail buck will fit in a 128qt marine cooler with room for ice if it's quartered and blackstraps removed. I prop one end up and open the drain plug so melt water can run out. If it takes me a couple of evenings to finish its not a problem.
DO NOT USE PLASTIC TRASH BAGS! They are coated with nasty chemical releasing agents and sometimes pesticides etc. scraps to toss ok but don't let them touch your meat!
SHARP knives. They don't have to be the most expensive but they have to be sharp. A boning knife and a skinner will handle it all. A butchers meat saw is also nice but not required.
Dollar store DISH TUBS. Several of them for keeping cuts separate until wrapping (vacuum sealing is far better). I use them when grinding and mixing meat and even use them in the chest freezer to help keep it organized.
Have a friend or two or three? It goes faster and it's more fun if you get together and set up a "disassembly" line. And it's even better if you can share a grinder, vacuumed sealer, sausage stuffer etc. I started out with a vac sealer and my hunting buddy bought a grinder. I eventually bought a bigger better one myself. I wore out my first vac sealer and bought a commercial grade one. The equipment has paid for itself many times over in the money I've saved.
I have plastic folding tables and I put them up on gallon paint cans for standing height. I set up one for cutting, one for wrapping and grinding.

 

[.308 Norma]

Have a friend or two or three? It goes faster and it's more fun if you get together and set up a "disassembly" line. And it's even better if you can share a grinder, vacuumed sealer, sausage stuffer etc. I started out with a vac sealer and my hunting buddy bought a grinder.

Absolutely! I never have found cutting and wrapping meat to be great fun, but processing a deer or two is kinda fun when my wife, our daughter and her husband, and a couple of our grandsons are all in the "disassembly line." Especially when the deer are the one(s) our grandsons shot.

 

[Kingcreek]

Absolutely! I never have found cutting and wrapping meat to be great fun, but processing a deer or two is kinda fun when my wife, our daughter and her husband, and a couple of our grandsons are all in the "disassembly line." Especially when the deer are the one(s) our grandsons shot.

30 years ago when I married my wife she said she didn’t care if I hunt but she didn’t want to “see it soaking in my sink”.
Then she found out it tasted pretty good if handled properly. Then she started cooking wild game. Then she would hunt with me a little bit and actually hold a leg while I dressed the pronghorn buck she shot.
She still won’t help me butcher or process unless it’s just to tie the string on the sausage coming out of the stuffer.
I’ve got a granddaughter that will roll up her sleeves and help with anything since she was 11 years old. We turn it into an anatomy lesson.

 

[Daveboone]

First priority is keeping the meat cool and clean! that is the priority for quality eating. Cool as soon as possible, keep the cavity clean, Hang asap to help cool.
If I shoot a deer in warm (say...> 40) I will likely have a butcher do the deer if I wont get to it in a day. Rather get it taken care of then risk the animal.
Clean is the most important first consideration....I usually have a roll of construction plastic sheeting around (cheap and durable). Start with anticipating needing a bunch of table space, and keeping it cleared. Cover with the plastic sheeting and whatever nearby surfaces dust etc. could come from. Keep the work area cool.I have very good luck double wrapping my venison in freezer cling type wrap THEN putting it inside freezer ziplock bags for durability (label with date).Preplan also and install someway of hanging the deer...makes the handling much easier and cleaner, preferably set away from your processing area...hair flies all over.

 

[daniel craig]

It goes faster and it's more fun if you get together and set up a "disassembly" line.

It’s kind of about the self reliance part for me too. Sure it would go faster with friends (gotta have friends too lol) but the first few I do, I think I’ll do on my own, just to see if I can.

 

[Buzznrose]

Lots of great info here for sure, and I have nothing to add on prepping or freezing that hasn’t been covered.

But y’all are missing one absolutely outstanding method of processing and preserving deer meat for an extended time...canning the meat.

Canned deer meat is essentially cooked stew meat. And it is so versatile and easy to use. You can whip up stew, soup, and a ton of other dishes very fast and easy. We used to just pour it into a sauce pan with frozen peas/carrots, heat it up, and serve it over rice, potatoes, biscuits, etc. The meat just falls apart, much like a good pot roast.

Basic recipe is chunks of deer meat, salt, pepper, and a bit of water or vegetable stock. But you can add whatever...garlic, onion, red pepper, herbs, etc.

Stores for well over a year in your pantry. Great for camping trips too!

Yeah, a bit of effort involved, but the time you spend canning it is easily made up from the time saved with an already cooked soup/stew/gravy base that is table easy in 5 minutes.

Here is a simple recipe...plenty more on the inter webs.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/117537/easy-canned-venison/

 

[.308 Norma]

Then she would hunt with me a little bit and actually hold a leg while I dressed the pronghorn buck she shot.

Now you've done it - you've gone and made me jealous! It been so long I can't remember when my wife or I last drew a pronghorn tag. And I love slow cooker "antelope" (pronghorn) stew!

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Imho, you gotta know when to quit, or you will be spending more time than you should on cuts that wont be very satisfying.

Having butchered well over 100 deer, I can attest to Mr. Farmers advice.
When in doubt throw it out.