Butchering your own animal

[Billy]

My friend had a bill of over 800 dollars from the butcher for a nice size mule deer buck. I've decided to butcher the doe I got yesterday myself. It was about a three mile pack out so she is already divided by quarters, a bag with the back straps and another bag with some neck and scrap meat. The tenderloins are in the fridge already

I've got the meat rinsed and dried and hanging in the shed as I work next three days and the temperatures look ideal. My sister who is a chef recommends hanging for a week. Anyone have any advice or experiences they would like to share? Recipes for hamburger etc?

 

[Evan B]

How long will depend on the outside temp. If it gets warm, you're cutting soon.alsondong want it to freeze. I remember we typically hung for 3-4 days.

 

[flybill]

Invite us over and we'll help you butcher it and eat it of course.. my friend has her waygu cattle butchered once or twice a year.. everything comes out to about 95 cents / pound.. more if they want the hide or head.. seriously

 

[nwbobber]

I would only hang it until the rigor mortise starts to recede. Shove your thumb into the hindquarter every day, and when it softens up a bit it's time. The best venison burger I ever had was mixed with beef plate for the fat which is basically the belly of the cow.... think beef bacon. I do a few briskets on the smoker a year and if you saved the fat from trimming them up pre smoke, that would make great burger too. Pork fat is good, but doesn't keep as long. On a deer not an issue.
It's ridiculous what butchers charge for wild game these days, I think you are on the right path. And without a saw you might as well leave all the bones in the woods.
Try to trim off as much of the tendon and silver skin as you can, and cut the meat almost freezing. That way it is stiffer and easier to get good consistent slices.

 

[Denwor54]

My experience is let hang for 5 days as long as the weather cold. Wipe if down with vinegar and water. As far a butchering goes I save the prime cuts and the rest is burger and breakfast sausage and us pork fat. I also will make some jerky.

 

[Grayone]

My friend had a bill of over 800 dollars from the butcher for a nice size mule deer buck. I've decided to butcher the doe I got yesterday myself. It was about a three mile pack out so she is already divided by quarters, a bag with the back straps and another bag with some neck and scrap meat. The tenderloins are in the fridge already

I've got the meat rinsed and dried and hanging in the shed as I work next three days and the temperatures look ideal. My sister who is a chef recommends hanging for a week. Anyone have any advice or experiences they would like to share? Recipes for hamburger etc?

Hang it a week. Yes

You will actually see the muscle mass slump/sag when it is ready.

 

[DimeBrite]

Get a big roll of butcher paper! I like venison jerky way more than the greasy summer sausage the butcher makes.

 

[TicTokCroc]

Save and dry out the leg tendons if you ever want to make your own sinew backed bow, and hide glue.

 

[Jake Watrous]

Anyone have any advice or experiences they would like to share?

All the advice I was going to/could give has been said or you probably already know it. So here’s some you probably won’t hear elsewhere.

My grand-uncle, the retired WDFW game warden, once hit a buck and threw it in the back of his truck…in early September. Drove straight home, parked in the car-and-a-half garage, and shut the door.

We kids ran out to come help butcher it, and it woke up. Uncle Muck killed it with a claw hammer while Uncle Duck held onto its neck to slow it down. We hid under the truck.

Don’t do any of that.

 

[Coomba]

If you're going to do this on a seasonal basis invest in a good 1 HP grinder.

 

[Draketake]

@Billy,

$800.00 seems way too much. Anyone else on here recently had a deer butchered? If so what was that price?

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

Bob

 

[Jim F.]

Don’t do any of that.

Dispatching a deer in an emergency situation is not easy while using a hand-held tool. in my case, it was a knife and a seemingly miraculous rising from the dead. All 200# of young, extremely strong & physically-fit me was severely out-gunned.

 

[DimeBrite]

Imagine the cost of getting an elk processed by the butcher these days! Probably worse than new tires for your $100K electric pickup.

 

[Coach Potter]

I haven’t paid a butcher in 20 years...processing your own meat is work but it’s not complicated. I have hung them as long as 18 days and as little as processed it the next day. I never let the meat get wet…even if it gets dirt or hair on it. Moisture is the enemy but I understand the temptation to “wash and dry” the carcass. I used to spray the carcass with vinegar but haven’t for a long time. I have used a fan in the space it’s hanging when the temps are warmer. I hang my meat off my squat rack in my garage.

You can filet anything that looks bad on the outside. I would suggest using a filet knife for most of the work.

 

[Coach Potter]

Also…you don’t have to grind all your burger at the same time. I have prepped meat to be ground and froze it in gallon freezer bags. A freezer bad is about 7-8# of meat. When I would run out of burger I’d thaw a bag and grind it with some beef tallow. I have a small grinder that attaches to my wife’s KitchenAid mixer. I wouldn’t want to do 100# with it but 8-10# at a time no sweat.

If you like steak, there is WAY more steak in a deer than the blackstrap. All of those big muscle groups in the hind quarters can (I would say should) be steaked. Separate the muscle groups and cut them however you like. If it looks like it could be a steak it should be a steak…JMO.

 

[Chadk]

Also…you don’t have to grind all your burger at the same time. I have prepped meat to be ground and froze it in gallon freezer bags. A freezer bad is about 7-8# of meat. When I would run out of burger I’d thaw a bag and grind it with some beef tallow. I have a small grinder that attaches to my wife’s KitchenAid mixer. I wouldn’t want to do 100# with it but 8-10# at a time no sweat.

If you like steak, there is WAY more steak in a deer than the blackstrap. All of those big muscle groups in the hind quarters can (I would say should) be steaked. Separate the muscle groups and cut them however you like. If it looks like it could be a steak it should be a steak…JMO.

This is exactly what I came to say. All of it. KitchenAid mixer grinder attachment as well. I steak as much as possible. The rest is burger. I stopped using bacon and pork as it just didn't taste as good after a few months in the freezer.

Speaking of grinding burger, cube up in small chunks, remove silver skin, tendon, anything white basically. Then before grinding with your beef fat (or no fat - lean ground venison is still tasty, just use a little olive oil) put the cubed venison on a cookie sheet (multiple if needed) for about 15-20 minutes. You want it firmed up - not fully frozen, but on the way. Grinds sooooo much better this way.

 

[Chadk]

This is a good article on how to hang and age your venison. I've done it a few different ways, and really hate the hard crust that forms and having to cut off so much meat. Anyone have any tricks for this to save more meat? One approach is the not skin the quarters until after it is aged. But that's not always possible.

Dry Aged Venison: How and Why People Do It

If you've ever wondered about dry aged venison game meat, here are the advantages.

www.wideopenspaces.com

 

[Coach Potter]

This is a good article on how to hang and age your venison. I've done it a few different ways, and really hate the hard crust that forms and having to cut off so much meat. Anyone have any tricks for this to save more meat? One approach is the not skin the quarters until after it is aged. But that's not always possible.

Dry Aged Venison: How and Why People Do It

If you've ever wondered about dry aged venison game meat, here are the advantages.

www.wideopenspaces.com

In regard to the crust...if you don't like that crust you can leave the meat in your game bags right up until you go to butcher...as long as the bags are dry. I did this with my elk this year...it hung for 9 days. When I took it out of the bags to butcher it the meat looked exactly the same as the night, I put it in the bags.

I don't normally do that but the garage in our new place never dips below 55 degrees, so I hung the meat from a tree in our yard (perfectly acceptable in N. ID). I felt like it needed to be bagged if it was going to be outside...I don't know why I felt that way but that's what I did. Thats what we do with meat shot early on a long hunt.

 

[longputt]

Also…you don’t have to grind all your burger at the same time. I have prepped meat to be ground and froze it in gallon freezer bags. A freezer bad is about 7-8# of meat. When I would run out of burger I’d thaw a bag and grind it with some beef tallow. I have a small grinder that attaches to my wife’s KitchenAid mixer. I wouldn’t want to do 100# with it but 8-10# at a time no sweat.

If you like steak, there is WAY more steak in a deer than the blackstrap. All of those big muscle groups in the hind quarters can (I would say should) be steaked. Separate the muscle groups and cut them however you like. If it looks like it could be a steak it should be a steak…JMO.

Against my better judgment (maybe red wine promoted) I'll make a comment.

I've shot a couple of heard bulls that had zero fat (I mean coal black) and spent a lot time separating muscles to make steaks. I learned a few things:

1. If you can't keep the meat cold, you'll get feathered edges on all of your steaks. It needs to be stiff to get nice cuts (she said he said jokes inserted here!).
2. Freezing in bulk and grinding what you want to eat is better than grinding a lot of meat. Grind what you want to eat when you eat it. Coach is right on track here.
3. Binders can be needed to make burgers...try powdered skim milk instead of fat...It's a great binder but adds no flavor.
4. When in doubt add 12oz of bacon for each 3lb of game meat, grind and make burger...cannot lose! I think I lost a shoe in this mix! I don't like smoked bacon but that is a preference.

 

[Coach Potter]

No doubt that cutting warm meat is not awesome!