Processing gear or Support your local processor?

Get an electric meat grinder(Good one) and delete the vacuum sealer. If you buy a cheaper one they will constantly overheat. I double wrap in Saran wrap and then stick a bunch of packs in a 2 gallon ziplock bag. The zip bags are reusable. I bought a sealer when they were just getting started. I soon got rid of it. If you look at the adds for the heavy duty sealers, one of the sales pitches usually is "Will not overheat". If you are really trying to save money, get the hand grinder. I used one for years too. Once you get your own system going you will know what to buy in the future. Not everybody is comfortable with the same equipment. I just remember seeing the meat saw on your list. Bone everything out and use a hack saw to cut the rack and head off. You can use a hacksaw to cut the lower legs off until you learn how to use a knife on them. LEM has some good stuff. I bought one of their original heavy duty grinders. I had ordered parts the other year and I don't think they make the super weight housing anymore, but they are still good.
 
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I will buy one of the following; a hand cranked meat grinder, a smoker, or a dehydrator. Which of them should I invest in? Or what am I missing? I'm looking for food on the table with the lowest possible investment, and I know how to cook and cut.
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Jerky and sausage can be made in an oven or grill, in a pinch. Ground meat is not possibe without a grinder of some sort. Hand crank powered grinders are a LOT of work (I know from experience). If you plan on getting one, get a big one, that bolts to the work surface..... the armstrong powered one I have is a little Universal, and is a PITA to keep clamped to the counter when you get cranking on it .... and grinding the burger and sausage meat from one or more deer with that thing would wear a guy out ...... it's not bad at all ginding a pound or two to make dinner, but a 50 pound batch of sausage, especially after a day of skinning, quartering, cutting and wrapping? Nope.
 
I was given a vacuum sealer ..... it's OK, and works..... I just don't like the expense of the bags ..... Saran wrap and freezer paper work better (more durable, because kids will rummage in the deep freeze, not believing you that there is NO ice cream until they have moved everything just to be sure- plastic is brittle at no degrees Fahrenheit..... Freezer paper is not, and adds a bit of padding...... ) if you know how to use them.
 
Start with bulk sausage and graduate to a stuffer when and if you feel the need. You can build a smoker on the cheap also. If you are interested, I can share plans...
 
^^^

Sausage can be stuffed by hand, too .... not as easy as using a stuffer, but you can do it ..... (hint: a wide canning funnel helps).

The grinder is the must have thing. Then a stuffer.
 
Thanks! I got the vacuum sealer cheap years ago and never used it. I've got a good freezer in the basement. I was a line cook for about a decade and spent plenty of time grinding sausage with a solid commercial unit. Sounds like a solid home model is the way to go.

I guess I could dehydrate in the oven on low temps, and even make a smoker. Great advice, please keep it coming.
 
I guess I could dehydrate in the oven on low temps,
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I've been doing this for several years now .... it works, but ties up the oven for long periods ......

Q: "What's for dinner, dad? "

A: "Jerky stix."
 
For jerky, you can do it in the oven, but you really need the smoke to get that classic jerky flavor.

If you decide to build a smoker, your friends and family will crown you King!

Since you like to cook, google Len Poli sausage. Great recipes. Many are for stuffed sausages, but there are bulk sausage recipes too. For sausage kits or bulk sausage try Hi Mountain
 
Used to use the old Reynolds plastic wrap until they quit making it. Found a better one than Reynolds even. Great Value's_ premium professional strength plastic wrap found at Walmart. Never liked Saran wrap. Frankly: I hate the stuff.
Little trick I use when wrapping meat. Very lightly dampen a smooth kitchen counter or table surface with a clean wash cloth or paper towel & fresh water then stretch a piece of plastic wrap over the wet the length you need and cut it Plastic wrap stays put, & stretched, until you wrap by rolling (whatever it is) tight as a drum.
The light moisture the wrap picks up freezes also. So the wrap is less likely to come loose and allow freezer burn to form. I think Walmart's Plastic wrap works as good or better than a vacuum sealer after one catches on to the tightly wrapped plastic routine. The only thing I use my vacuum sealer for these days is cheese. Everything else is plastic wrapped then freezer papered wrapped once for short or long term storage.
 
BB, just to inform you the white patch IS a scent gland on an antelope. It's part of his protective alert system for the herd. Have you ever noticed that when ever an antelope is alerted to danger how that white patch of hair fluffs up, they do this to activate the scent gland and emit there scent, which is done to alert those antelope down wind that there is danger present.
 
I seal all my meat in vacuum seal bags. I have a Food Saver and it is great. I can seal up anything and it lasts. Putting 2 or 3 deer in the freezer each year to feed the family. We always buy them when they are one sale. Not very often but now and then you get a bag that doesn't seal correctly. I cut it open and reseal it. We use both the pre-made bags and the rolls to make our own.

We freeze all our meat that way...chicken, pork, duck, deer what ever.
 
I think the hang by the neck or by the gambrels is a purely subjective thing. Either that's how you learned or it's the way that works best for you. There is no real right or wrong, only what the one skinning/butchering prefers. I've done it both ways. Six of one/half a dozen of another.
 
Should I cut the hooves off before I hang the deer? I plan to skin it while it's hung. Then process, the timeline will depend on the weather. I'm willing to let the deer hang longer if we have cool weather. But again, I'm a novice looking for advice.
 
Should I cut the hooves off before I hang the deer? I plan to skin it while it's hung. Then process, the timeline will depend on the weather.
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Skin as soon as practical. You aren't doing the meat any favors by keeping the skin on. It does become a little easier to skin once the meat cools down enough to make the sub-cutaneous fat firm up.

For the hooves, as you skin it, skin down to the knee joint and sever the joint. No need for a saw - just use your knife to cut thru the ligaments and the lower leg will come right off. There are many good videos on youtube on how to dress a deer - both for hanging and for immediate processing.
 
This is an exaggeration...
Lucas MCcain said:
That whole white rump patch is one huge scent gland.
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So is this...
the white patch IS a scent gland
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While it is true there are glands located on the rump and are used to alert to danger, along with"fluffing" the hair, it does not mean that any special precautions or special care be used while skinning, nor is there any reason to hang by them by the head. Personally, I process 1-3 goats of my own per year and help with another 1-3 of friends per year. There is no doubt that goats smell musky and if not skinned asap and properly cooled they will have a funky flavor, but that is not due to any scent glands. I have had to discard cooked meat that was inedible because of not having the ability to cool or keep meat cool on extended hunts (in Oregon).

As I stated previously, any scent glands are removed with the skin. Scent glands are not subcutaneous, or under the skin. Therefore, running a blade under the skin, under a gland, does not risk any contamination of the meat. However, if you leave the hide on over night, or inhibit the meat to cool, you risk spoiling it.
 
Should I cut the hooves off before I hang the deer? I plan to skin it while it's hung. Then process, the timeline will depend on the weather. I'm willing to let the deer hang longer if we have cool weather. But again, I'm a novice looking for advice.
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Always skin any animal ASAP. I've gone without suppers many times over the years just to skin my late afternoon killed deer. That's how important I think it is to get the job done.
The longer you wait the harder it becomes to remove the animals hide.
In warm temps with humidity>a hide left intact. You chance the animals complete spoiling in two or three days. Overnight: if the animal hasn't been field dressed is a very real possibility.
Once the animals hide had been remove. Its meat will cool quickly.


The proper butchering way is to hang a deer by its rear legs. How you hang a deer also has allot to do with gravity. Hung by its neck. Loose hair will accumulate on its rear legs. And that's where you cut away some fur to help with field dressing. So that area is exposed to fur sticking. Picking hair after a skinning is a un-welcomed job for anyone. Another reason to hang the animals by its rear legs is having control of its intestines & stomach for those who dress their deer while its hanging.

How you make your starting cuts also makes a difference.
ALWAYS make your starting cuts from under its hide outwards. Do not cut thru the hair to its hide (by doing so you increase loose hair sticking to you and the deer.)

Easier to remove its front legs after its hung then before.

Advice to those who have little experience with skinning big game: Do not remove the animals rear legs until its skinning is complete.
You also need to remove the animals Esophagus.

FWIW: Buy yourself a good butchers skinning knife and a pair of decent cut resistant gloves.
Forschner, Mundial, A.G Russell. are all good brands to consider for a knife or two.
Then again don't pass up a good neighborhood garage sale. Reason: You may just find Grampa's carbon steel butchers knife there selling cheap.

BTW: Try using a sawall with a course 4" blade. It's a wonderful tool to have around when Quartering, cutting legs, and thru its neck bones with.
 
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I have a room in my house I can keep cool for hanging critters. We have hung as many as 9 deer at the same time. Normally we dont hang more than 6 before starting to butcher.

My family and close friends get together and they can hang their animals as long as they help butcher. I WILL NOT do it for someone.
A couple years ago we did 18 deer, 2 elk and a steer. Every night we'll cut about 3 deer. With our system it dont take long. My brother skins and quarters and brings the parts into the next room. 4 or 5 of us will cut it up into steaks, stew or hamburger.
Steaks and stew get vac bagged and the burger gets ran thru the Cabelas 1hp at the end of the night, and stuffed into tubes. Someone always donates some backstrap for the night and it goes on the old wood cook stove used to heat the mancave and turned into supper. When we're cleaned up, we sit at the bar or around the stove and drink some home brew or home made wine.

When it comes to making sausage, we also have a mixer and a stuffer like Rembrandt. A friend is coming over today and we're making 60lbs of summer sausage to throw in the smoker and a small batch of plum wine. Next weekend we'll put 30lbs of meat in the dehydrator. That will make 12lbs of jerky.:)
 
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