Butchering your own animal

[Millsfly]

youtube is your friend. It's not too hard once you get started. Usual mix of deer trimmings to pork fat is 4-1

 

[Chadk]

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.

I've tried leaving in the bag, only to wind up with crust + a lot of the bag sticking to the crust. I'm sure the type of bag, temps, humidity, etc all play a role. But was no help that time. I think I read somewhere that you can use plastic wrap - I could see that working.

 

[Billy]

I'm surprised how many don't rinse the meat. We always did. Pat dry or even just let air dry. Haven't had any issues. Seems the hunting population is split on this.

Went and checked the meat today. It's perfect between frozen and not. I may cut up the backstraps today and leave the quarters a few more days.

 

[nwbobber]

I always wash the meat off with a water vinegar solution. I don't want dirt on my food. Never had a problem with it. We always do it as soon as we get it home or wherever we can hang it up.

 

[Billy]

Tenderloins and a little Sriracha mayo...to die for!

 

[clarkman]

I shouldn't have read through this thread....now I'm thinking about hunting deer and elk! like I have time for that!

 

[Guy Gregory]

I am in the wash camp. I'm not interested in picking off blood, hair, etc. Once it's clean, I hang for 5 days or until I have time to do it. I bag even though it's late season, mostly so my wife doesn't have to look at it when she pulls in the garage.

I agree, steak what you can. The tenderloins of course, the sirloins as well, butterfly the small ones for little bitty breakfast steaks. Yum. Ribs/brisket not worth the time usually. I take the trimmings to the butcher and buy german sausage or pepperoni. Find one who uses your meat, there's nothing worse than biting into a sausage and getting a bunch of hair.

 

[flybill]

I shouldn't have read through this thread....now I'm thinking about hunting deer and elk! like I have time for that!

Me too!

 

[TicTokCroc]

There's a citric acid (yea me and citric acid again) solution you can buy or make yourself. You use it in a spray bottle on your game meat to wash off dirt/hair, kill bacteria and it keeps flies and yellow jackets off. Kind of the same principle as the vinegar. I am in the wash camp. But don't wash your fish...

 

[Billy]

Front shoulders cubed and bagged. I'm debating if I want to grind all at once or in increments depending on recipes I find. Seems you get a lot more meat doing it yourself. I got several of these for the front shoulders:

 

[O clarkii lewisi]

Nice work @Billy. Just curious about how many pounds of meat do you get off of a doe?

 

[Billy]

I think I'll get around 50 pounds give or take a few.

 

[Coach Potter]

It might be a little late for this but…rather than steaking your back straps…cut them into 8-10” pieces and cook them whole…cut them post cooking and they are WAY better IMO. Same deal with the tenderloins but leave them completely whole.

 

[Coach Potter]

Nice work @Billy. Just curious about how many pounds of meat do you get off of a doe?

Billy’s killing Mule Deer does and they are definitely bigger than a WT or BT doe...probably 10-12# finished product bigger.

 

[O clarkii lewisi]

And a better workout on the haul out!

 

[krusty]

And all of this is why I lost interest in hunting large animals a long time ago. A hunter from childhood, the 'enjoyment ledger' was becoming upside down.

I can well remember the day of hunting I came back to my truck skunked, and felt a distinct sense of relief that I'd bagged nothing, and didn't have a shitload of carcass preparation, butchering, and admixture ahead of me.

 

[flybill]

I think I'll get around 50 pounds give or take a few.

Heading over to help you... eat it!! Mmmmm... let's go fish and camp sometime... I'll even cook it!

 

[krusty]

Heading over to help you... eat it!! Mmmmm... let's go fish and camp sometime... I'll even cook it!

That's a slippery slope! Next you'll be eatin' store-bought meat.

 

[flybill]

That's a slippery slope! Next you'll be eatin' store-bought meat.

I actually get Waygu ground beef from a friend.. 3 or 4 lbs at a time.. She and her husband raise Waygu cows, maybe 10 or 12 and slaughter a few a year. They both eat carnavoire, especially him.. they have like 11 dogs, a donkey named Max, chickens, goats.. a real farm! And even a distillery on their property! Pays to know the right people..

But this thread and a few others make to want to go out and hunt a deer.. and maybe an elk someday...

 

[Jake Watrous]

And all of this is why I lost interest in hunting large animals a long time ago. A hunter from childhood, the 'enjoyment ledger' was becoming upside down.

I can well remember the day of hunting I came back to my truck skunked, and felt a distinct sense of relief that I'd bagged nothing, and didn't have a shitload of carcass preparation, butchering, and admixture ahead of me.

^ this. Even birds sucks (smell, boiling water, etc), though getting the last quack out of a duck is a little fun.

Fish, crabs, clams, and shrimp are so much easier to clean—crabs and clams ridiculously so.

I feel very fortunate to have a friend in Rockport who hunts and raises cattle and is willing to trade seafood for beef and game.