Deer processing

Rembrandt all I can say is WOW:eek: that makes me jealous.

I live in the south and deer don't leave the woods without being field dressed. As far as cooling the meat I just make quick work and let mine soak in salt water for two or three days in the fridge changing the water everyday.
 
All part of the hunt !!!

I can't imagine dragging a deer in from the field that hasn't been field dressed. I don't understand that at all.
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By my measure, field dressing is just another part of the hunt as well as eating what you kill. I once saw about fifty deer on a concrete pad, waiting to be processed. Really hard to accept the various stages of gutten and ungutted deer. Some were alreddy starting to bloat. It really doesn't take long. .. ;)

I hang, and skin my deer head down. After skinning, I take a propane torch and sing off all the loose hairs. We let it hang for about three days, if weather permits. Then, while the deer still hanging, I cut off the major pieces. First the back-straps, Then front quarters, rib cage on up to the hind quarters. The last piece hanging, is one hind quarter which I save the ham to jerk out, in the summer. .... :)

We process each of the major pieces, into what we want which is mostly deer burger. We don't mix it with pork and prefer beef internal talo.

Be Safe !!!
 
As far as not field dressing, ironically the only deer I didn't field dress was also the largest I ever shot! Don't have an exact weight but the processor estimated the 8 point to be between 190-200 lbs. Unfortuately the area I was in had a bad coyote infestation problem early in the season, and I didn't want to draw them back to the area by leaving a gut pile. So I cinched up it's hind legs, made a big loop on the other end, and dragged that sucker about 250 yards to the truck. The processor was closing in about 45 minutes by then and it was a 30 mile drive. Barely got there in time!
 
I'm sure I would be the laughing stock of the county if I ever hunted deer in the South.:)

I know for a fact that anyone who ever loaded a deer into their truck without field dressing it in Wyoming would get laughed strait out of town! There isn't one game processor I know of in the State that would accept a deer with its entrails still attached!:eek:

Different regions, different ideas...I guess!
 
Wyoredman: Folks down here usually do a good job field dressing for the most part... but we also have a harder time keeping dirt and bugs (especially ants and flies) out of freshly dressed deer due to it being warmer during winter. In fact it was about 55 degrees outside (middle of January) when I took the buck. In my case I'm glad I held off giving the coyotes a snack because I shot a big doe in the exact same spot soon after!
 
I'm pretty sure my wife would flip her lid if I dragged a deer in the house and heaved it on the table.
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If a deer is skinned and quartered, it is very manageable on a kitchen counter or table. Bring one quarter at a time into the house, your wife will hardly notice.
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My wife noticed. This was 25+ years ago. Ever since, after field dressing they have either been butchered in the garage or gone to the processor. :D

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So I cinched up it's hind legs, made a big loop on the other end, and dragged that sucker about 250 yards to the truck.
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Did that once, but quite a bit further. Even though field dressed, I only got about half-way and couldn't move another step. I said to myself, 'risk the mount', put the loop around the front torso, looped it around the antlers, and dragged it the rest of the way with much less effort. I never imagined that dragging against the grain of the pelt would cause so much resistance in snow, but it sure did. It almost glided to the truck once I turned it around.:o
 
I wanted the mount (which is now hanging in my office) but the thought of turning it around did cross my mind! One problem was I was in a stand of oaks and dragging from the front the neck and horns kept catching every sapling within sight. The silver lining was it helped me convince the Mrs. that I needed a 4 wheeler!:D
 
horns kept catching every sapling within sight
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Enough said. I had maybe 200 feet of woods and then it was a fall plowed cornfield.

But back to the OP's question. Where I'm at in North Texas, it looks to be like $75 for processing to various cuts and 20 lbs of burger. I didn't ask, but I assumed it needed to be field dressed.

I guess I'm nieve, but until reading this post, I thought animals for eating were always field dressed. Now that I've moved from Iowa to Texas, I would think with the warmer weather that field dressing would be doubly important. Also, just for the taste of the meat, I want to get the vitals out and blood draining as soon as I possibly can. If I have the option, I'll gut and hang them in the field (before the blood can coagulate) while I go get the vehicle as close as I can. (I don't see a four-wheeler ever happening, but one of these years I really will get around to making a game cart. :rolleyes: ) Maybe it's in my head, but the meat I get hanging quickly (even if it doesn't hang as long) seems to taste better.
 
My hunting partner is a former taxidermist and even though I have gutted, skinned and cut up my own deer for many years, when I started hunting with Wayne I learned how much I didn't know about the whole process. That guy can peel a deer quicker and cleaner than anybody I've ever seen. He showed me the RIGHT way to 'get the guts outa that critter' with the least amount of mess and fuss.
We dress the deer where they fall, get them home ASAP, hang and skin them. We let them hang for a week or so (the temps here in N. Idaho during deer season are cold enough, generally, to allow this) before cutting them up. We trim all bloodshot meat immediately, get all the goo and other stuff that doesn't look like meat from the insides, hose them out and use a small propane torch to burn all the hair off of the meat. When butchering we trim ALL of the fat and sinews and that thin membrane that sticks to some of the meat. Wayne is meticulous about cleanliness and the overall handling of game animals.
Get the guts out immediately, skin as soon as possible, get that meat trimmed, clean and hairless NOW, hang for a week (weather permitting) and you will have the best venison you ever tasted.
I'm curious as to how many of us like deer liver and heart. I love liver but don't care for heart. Back in the old days lots of guys I knew ate the brains as well, but if I don't want to step in it I don't want to eat it.
 
Grandpa ate the brains, mixed w/ scrambled eggs.

Game and Parks advises against it, due to CWD concerns. They also advise against keeping any part of the spinal cord ..... I don't necessarily follw that.... I just avoid shooting unhealthy looking animals .... never seen any, though.
 
I'm curious as to how many of us like deer liver and heart.
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Have two livers and a heart in the freezer as we speak. Not for me but for a long-time 78yr old friend of mine that doesn't hunt anymore that loves them. He's been eating them all his life.

I usually try to deliver him a half dozen or so of each a season from the different hunters I know.

Far as field dressing game...always been done where the deer falls around these parts.

Short story...Bout 15 yrs ago, I was hunting an area that was known to be pretty rugged. To the point you didn't see many other hunters. And yes, there where some monster bucks running in that area.

Anyway, I'm way back in these foothills. About mid week, it's getting on '0 dark thirty' and I'm on my way outta there empty handed. Had only heard one shot all day and that was @ about 5 pm just before dark.
As I walking my roughly 2.5 mi. hike out by flashlight, I come across a guy (bout 60 or so) sitting on a log that looked pretty bad. He's wringing wet, face was sweaty and flushed as it could be and I could hear him breathing before I actually saw him.

I walked over to him asking him if he was ok and he stated he was just taking a break from dragging his deer. I looked over and saw a huge, un-gutted doe and asked how far he had dragged her. He had dragged this deer from the next ridge over. Also, after a bit more conversation, I find out this fella had just got outta the hospital for heart surgery not more than a month prior. :eek:

He didn't know how to gut his deer so we got it gutted and I start to dragging. Pulled the deer to the nearest road(about 3/4 mile), he stayed with deer and I go get my truck to load deer and him to get them to his truck.

Come to find out...he was with a hunting party of 7-8 more guys, two of which where his sons that didn't keep tabs on the poor SOB worth a dime.:mad: He had never been hunting before and just wanted to get out with the guys and he really didn't expect to shoot anything.
We pulled up to the camp and they all came walking over with beverages in hand laughing about the ole guy dragging the deer without gutting it. Too, they had heard the same shot I did and figured it was him that shot. Didn't even go to check on him at dark. :rolleyes:
My patience were a bit short and I told them if they had seen the shape their pa was in when he was found, they wouldn't be laughing.

Anyway, the ole guy thanked me alot and said he had learned that he should gut the deer before dragging out.
 
$75 dollars? The going rate around here (Pa.) at a legit Butcher Shop is now about $100 to $125 dollars. I helped kids I ran into gut their first deer. Someone has to show them if no one else is around. Grown ups I might help if they want to be involved in it. If they are going to stand there and watch, I don't think so. I absolutely believe the reason a lot of people say they don't like venison is because it was given to them by someone that did not take care of it after they shot the deer. As some previous posters already wrote, I too have seen some sad sights outside of butcher shops. I doubt that most hunters would treat a piece of beef the way they treat a dead deer. How about cutting glands off? I saw guys dragging deer that looked as if they took a chain saw to them just removing the glands. The Butcher cuts off the meat that is dried out or spoiled and then the hunter claims he got short changed on the meat. It is sad how much we hunters waste.
 
I am not quite as fast as this dude, but i do my own and usually right on the tailgate of my truck. Perfect height and the liner is as good as any cutting board I have ever used.
As for hair on the meat??? I have never had more than a wet paper towel at hand is needed when i get to the table with the big sections. All my skinning cuts are from the inside and before i start to peal the hide back i brush the seam.
And I love my vacuum packer!
 
I'm curious as to how many of us like deer liver and heart.
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I like heart. Liver unless its from a small fawn I won't eat it. Most deer where I hunt have Liver Flukes. Something not to appetizing to eat by accident. (resembles a blood sucker or leech) Easy to check a liver for flukes. Their just not my cup of tea in wanting to deal with is all. Although its been said Deer Liver Flukes are indeed harmless to man. (So they say.)

To check for Flukes. Clean a liver off as best you can in the field. Look for scaring marks on the deers liver Top & bottom sides. With a sharp knife slice open those scaring marks carefully as far as it takes to expose a fluke if there are any. If infected its your decision to leave that liver behind at the gut pile or take it with you.
 
I too am one that processes their own deer. 30 years ago after years of payin' thru the nose and gettin' meat back that was covered with hair and run thru the same bandsaw as Bubbas gutshot fawn, I started to butcher my own. Never knew how good venison could really be until I totally processed it by myself. I now do it all on the kitchen table with my sons beside me and the wife and DIL wrapping on the counter beside us. It has become an after hunt tradition with a pot of Chile made with fresh ground burger simmerin' on the stove till the table is cleaned and the tools are washed and put away. Jerky and sausage gets made as time allows and need for more dictates. Loins and steaks are cut right away, but meat destined for burger/sausage and jerky is boned and trimmed, but left intact and then froze till used. I've found that grinding venison fresh as it's needed keeps it tasting better than grinding it all at once and then freezing. Thawing it just slightly before grinding makes the grinder cut it clean without making mush outta it.


BTW....pickled deer heart is a Christmas tradition here at our house. It started 60 years ago with my mom and grandmother.
 
Gbro,

Thanks for posting that vid.

The guy is really impressive with a knife. Especially one with both side of the blade sharpened and being able to cut both ways(push and pulling knife) without re-gripping.
 
50.00 hamburger,cube.Back straps cut in half. 10.00 to skin 10.00 to gut.
sometimes its hard to skin & gut 3 or 4 deer after the evening hunt in the woods,hell IM old its hard to see.:rolleyes::D
 
tahunua001 said:
ive never paid to do it. deer are easy and even a very large buck can be completely processed in only a couple hours by two or 3 people that know what they are doing.
skinning: the easiest part of the process, all you need is a sharp knife, just peel the hide back and gently run the knife along the fold between the meat and hide to cut the sinews that hold the hide in place, if you skin it while it is still warm you barely even need a knife, you just get it started, grab the hide firmly and it peels rifle off with a little elbow grease.

legs:
large muscle groups are roasts/jerky.
small groups with low tendon/sinew/fat composition are hamburger.
small groups with high tendon/sinew are stew meat.


backstraps and tenderloins are steaks.

that's about all that there is on a deer, everything else can serve as cheap, high protein dog/cat feed.
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I like that.
 
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