Who Butchers Your Deer??

[Mayfly]

  I shot my first deer in 1995. After years of not having anywhere to go and being too young I finally found a spot. We had been squirrel hunting on 20 acres near Taylors Falls every fall. A friend knew the landowner for years and they were more than happy to let us come up and enjoy the land. We finally decided to ask if we could deer hunt on the land and permission was granted. During the summer and fall leading up to the deer season we did our homework and studied the area for deer sign and movement. After months of doing detective deer work we finally picked a couple spots to hang stands. On opening morning at about 8am, just before my feet froze off, a doe came down the trail just as I had planned. I took one shot and I had my first deer in the bag.   

      After field dressing the deer, dragging it out and bringing it home, I had no clue what my next step would be. I knew I had to get it butchered but I had no clue where I was going to have that done. After a little searching I found a guy who was doing it out of his garage for $55.00. It sounded like a fair price to me so my Dad and I dropped the deer off that night. After a couple hours they had the deer all packed up and ready to go.

      Year after year I bring my deer somewhere to get butchered. Over the years the price has also risen. This past weekend after I shot my deer I made a few calls and the going rate is about $100.00 for a basic cut. It was $100.00 that I just didn’t want to spend this year considering that my hunting partner was going to do his in his garage for free and offered to help me with mine. I accepted the offer and we decided to butcher the deer a few days later.

      I arrived two days later expecting to get dirty. I have heard horror stories about butchering deer so I planned for the worst.

      The process was well planned out. When I arrived there was a large table all cleared and cleaned, knives laid out, grinder and slicer ready to work and two deer hanging.

      I followed lead and we began skinning the deer. It wasn’t long and the skin was gone and we were quartering the deer. The quarters were brought to the table where we filleted the excess fat off and cut out chunks of meat to prepare for steaks, burger and roasts.

      Things were going very smooth and by the second deer I felt like an old pro. Between deer I had a chance to look at a few charts I found on-line describing where and what areas of meat where. It started making a lot of sense to me and went a lot smoother than I had expected.

      Two deer down and I felt like I have been butchering deer for years. If everything goes as planned I will butcher my own deer for the rest of my hunting years. If you plan to do it I think the biggest hurdle is preparation. Having the right knives, the area to do it and everything you need is the key to making this a success. Once the deer is skinned you can see the meat and cutting it out is pretty easy. I do suggest researching it a bit before cutting in but I am confident almost anyone can get this job done. Sure it’s easier to drop off a deer somewhere and pick up packaged meat three days later but this is truly part of the experience and if you have never done this I suggest giving it a try! Good Luck.

[Auggie]

 I have always done my own. Learned before I was old enough to hunt. I think it is part of the whole experience of the hunt. Good friends, good beer, and good times for the whole group! Seriously it is great thing for those that have not been brought up around it to try and understand the meat just doesn't come in a package. My son is 4, and already talks like an old pro.
It won't be long and he will be right in there with us, (starting at the bottom of course) wrapping and taping packages. I still bring my trimmings in and have brats, sausage, and some snack sticks made. I make some jerky myself but also have a guy that makes the best jerky in the state do a bunch too. We eat 3-4 deer a year and love every cut from steak to roast or burger.

[deadeye]

Being I grew up on a farm where we butchered our own beef, it wasn't a big deal to cut up a deer.  When it was just my sons, an uncle and me, we (by that I mean me) would cut up the two to three deer during the season.  The group expanded a while ago to include my brother, brother in law and a few others.  This along with being able to shot multiple deer resulted in me spending most of the season butchering deer.   We started taking them in to a local shop so I could spend more time hunting.  This year we took in five and I butchered two myself.  Weather also is a factor in what happens.  If it is warm, you usually don't have a lot of time to deal with a carcas.
Also, it's the easiest way to devide up the venison when you do not have one deer for each person.

[Auggie]

Deadeye,
    I used to have that problem too. Then one year I butchered all the deer and when the guys came to get the meat, I said "What meat?" I gave every last piece away other than what I wanted for my own family and the one or two that helped. Now EVERYONE gets together and joins in. And we have a blast!

[22lex]

Tim,

The person that got me hunting showed me how to butcher deer. My first deer ever harvested was on a September day when it was about 65 degrees out. We didn't have a choice at the time, and he let me de-bone the scraps while I watched him cut out the other stuff.

I've never taken any meat to a processor, and usually try to learn something new every year as far as sausage, grinding, and different recipes.

[beeker]

we always butcher our own deer. even if you don't shoot one you show up to butcher. otherwise no meat for you. we don't do our own sausage and jerky we bring the deboned meat in for that. just a time saver and we don't have the equipment for it. we lucked into some great knifes from an estate sale one year. the guy used to work at the SSP stock yards and had drawers of the good butchering knifes. everything from cleavers to deboners. got em all for 5$.

[Realtree]

We also butcher our own deer every year. My Dad worked at Hormel's in Austin for twenty some years so he is an old pro at this and has taught everyone in our party the in's and out's of getting the most out of the meat and how to be efficient in the process.

Like others have said, it is just an added part of deer camp for our group. We get together in one of our garages, turn up the propane heaters if necessary, turn up the radio and get to trimmin'. It is a great time that everyone who deer hunts should experience at least once. It's a great time for bonding and ribbing the guys who didn't shoot anything that year as well...

[Cody Gruchow]

i use to take mine in to be processed, but last year i took mine in to Von Hansens meats and they acually make you sign a waiver form, that they arent responsible if you get sick of the meat and etc because you dont get your own deer back, they just throw it on the pile, its about 50 dollars extra if you want your own deer back, well last year i paid the extra fifty and bought a butchering kit over the summer so i can do it myself this year, overall it went pretty well, wasnt as hard as i thought it would be, only problem i had with it was the mucus like tissue. so i am doing mine from now on, plus its cheaper this way.

[antlermass]

We have always butchered our own deer, cow, pig whatever it may be. It was a matter of saving money, and that's what you did, just butchered your own. We do mostly hamburger, steaks, roasts, and one day maybe attempt making sausage!   

We usually keep track and it takes 2 of us between 1.5 and 2 hours to do a deer and clean up.  Heck it takes a hour to drive to the butcher and back, by the time you drop off a deer and pick it up you spend 2 hours alone driving, just as easy to do it ourselves and we are saving the processing fee and getting our own meat back.

Guess I have to be pretty Thankful we can do this, I have never added it up how much it could cost us to bring the deer in to get processed, and with two hunting we would have probably 4-6 deer from start of bow season and end of muzzleloader. We would need a small fortune to process our deer!     

[BiggA]

I usually butcher my own as well. Just trial and error I dont really know what the good cuts are except the back straps so sometimes we eat some pretty chewy venison. The only question I have is i recently moved to a residential neighborhood so I dont have a place to dispose of the carcass. What do you all do with the carcass?

[Cody Gruchow]

i put it in 2 black garbage bags and toss them in the trash bin...not sure if your suppose to do it but i do

[22lex]

I usually butcher my own as well. Just trial and error I dont really know what the good cuts are except the back straps so sometimes we eat some pretty chewy venison. The only question I have is i recently moved to a residential neighborhood so I dont have a place to dispose of the carcass. What do you all do with the carcass?

If you know of someone who owns land out in the country, I usually throw the carcasses on a pile about 1/2 mile from my buddies house out in the open right next to a woodline (with the farmers permission) and we pick off yotes from a high vantage point when they come to the carcasses.

Otherwise I do what Cody does!

[The General]

I always take mine to Wick's in Kandiyohi.  I could never make it taste as good as they do.  Plus I figure if my time is worth anything I'm money ahead. 

[Outdoors Junkie]

My dad, cousin and friend are cutting up five deer as I type this message.  I had to come back to SD.  They agreed to do the butchering, since I have to travel nearly 900 miles to get to deer camp. 

[Go Big Red!]

Depends.  Two kids at home who haven't seen daddy in a few days makes butchering hard to do.

I have had EXCELLENT results @ Von Hansen's in Elk River.  Yes, it is priced higher than some places, but I get the basic cuts back quickly and have my trimmings run in the single batches.  They obviously also take care of the disposal too.

If I do cut my own, I donate the hide to one of those "hide boxes" (Who gets those anyways?) and then I dump the rest in the regular trash.

[dabahrden]

My dad taught me how to process deer -- he is still a lot faster at it but I do pretty good.  I take the trimmings in to be made into snack sticks.  Whe I have a little more time on my hands I plan on learning how to make my own summer sausage.

[beeker]

as far as the carcus goes... sawzall + garbage bag.... I can fit a fullsized deer into one black bag.

[Faceman]

We do all our own butchering. Have for many years now because it did cost so much to have a butcher do it and we did not get our deer back. I found a video on lline a couple of years ago on how to do it boneless and quickly. Tim posted the video on here a while back. It works great and it is the only way we do it now. We also make our own sausage, snack sticks, jerky and other little things. We have even made our own venison hams. MMMMMMMMM. We always try something new and adventurous. For sausages we have used our own recipes and some of the prepacked seasoning that come with cure and everything. They all turn out good and fairly easy to make. We use our grinder with sausage casings and just go to town. This year we made some snack sticks, summer sausage, pepperoni, balogna, jalepeno summer sausage, and jerky yet to come.

[stevejedlenski]

we usually bring them in, this year i brought them to my father-in-law and he did them. i made the steaks i got back last night and i had to eat 8 of them to make 12oz's.

i will be doing mine next year anyone have a good book or video on how to do it??

[22lex]

we usually bring them in, this year i brought them to my father-in-law and he did them. i made the steaks i got back last night and i had to eat 8 of them to make 12oz's.

i will be doing mine next year anyone have a good book or video on how to do it??

I've seen a couple videos on youtube, not exactly showing you where to take choice cuts from, but anything helps when doing it for the first time. Also I printed something out for a friend from an internet site a while back that gave a pretty good once-over of what to do. If I find it I will PM you and send it over in PDF.

My first I ever did by myself was a learning experience and alot of the meat went straight into the grinder  . I had a buddy show me exactly where, and how to cut the next time and I've been doing it ever since.

[Mayfly]

we usually bring them in, this year i brought them to my father-in-law and he did them. i made the steaks i got back last night and i had to eat 8 of them to make 12oz's.

i will be doing mine next year anyone have a good book or video on how to do it??

I've seen a couple videos on youtube, not exactly showing you where to take choice cuts from, but anything helps when doing it for the first time. Also I printed something out for a friend from an internet site a while back that gave a pretty good once-over of what to do. If I find it I will PM you and send it over in PDF.

My first I ever did by myself was a learning experience and alot of the meat went straight into the grinder  . I had a buddy show me exactly where, and how to cut the next time and I've been doing it ever since.

Hey Lex,

If you find that pdf post it on here. Just load it as an attachment in a post. Then we can all see it.

Thanks! 

[22lex]

I couldn't find the file, but I found a link to a great site that takes you from beginning to end of the butchering process with pictures. Seemed like a good tool to put up here, as long as it is ok with the admin.



http://www.eckrich.org/

[Mayfly]

I couldn't find the file, but I found a link to a great site that takes you from beginning to end of the butchering process with pictures. Seemed like a good tool to put up here, as long as it is ok with the admin.



http://www.eckrich.org/

It is very ok with us!

Thank you for posting!   

[Auggie]

we usually bring them in, this year i brought them to my father-in-law and he did them. i made the steaks i got back last night and i had to eat 8 of them to make 12oz's.

i will be doing mine next year anyone have a good book or video on how to do it??

8 steaks to make 12 oz. ! Steve you need to shoot bigger deer! Seriously, I prefer to cut every thing boneless. You should start by bringing a Ziploc bag into the field with you. Once the deer is field dressed cut the tender loins out and place them in the bag. Those two juicy chunks under the spine are the small portion of a t-bone steak if you are going bone less. Many people forget about them and let them dry out while the deer is hanging. The bag also gives you a place to put the heart. Even if you don't care for it, ground up it will add some meat to the sausage or burger bag. Hang the deer by its hind legs and get the skin peeled off. Remove the front legs and shoulder in one chunk. There is no bone to deal with just muscle. At our place the whole fronts are used for grinding. Just cut all the meat off the bone. Now trim the fat off the back if present. Then take your knife and cut along the spine down both sides of the back. Then at about a 90 degree angle to the cut you just made make another riding the top of the rib cage. You can now easily remove the back straps. Trim the rest of the fat and sinew with a fillet knife and cut the strips into desired thickness of your liking. With a good size deer you will end up with about 4-6oz. fillets cut 1" thick. These would be the large side of a t-bone. Now trim all the neck,ribs and other meat from the rib cage for grinding. Now get out your saw and cut that rib cage off. All you have left is the hind quarters. Split them down the center of the spine. On the inside of the leg in the center you will find the ball joint or hip socket. Make a cut from the ball to the next joint down the leg. Now cut all the way around the bone on each end of your first cut and you will have all of the choice meat off in one large chunk. The rest of the hinds should be used for grinding. Out of this large chunk you will be able to easily see the different muscle groups. Trim them apart. Be sure to trim all the fat you can. Slice into steaks or leave larger chunks for roast or jerky if you so desire. This should get you a good start. If not watch a video and most of what I said should become crystal clear.

[stevejedlenski]

well those "steaks" came off a 185+lb deer so i dont think that was the problem
if i get another this year this will all help, thanks

p.s. auggie, how much of your deer do you grind 70% jk 

[stevejedlenski]

I couldn't find the file, but I found a link to a great site that takes you from beginning to end of the butchering process with pictures. Seemed like a good tool to put up here, as long as it is ok with the admin.

this is a great site, with this and a 4 part video i saw on you tube i feel like i can do a half-way decent job next time i get a deer.

[HUNTER2]

I've butchered many deer, but now I just bring them in and tell them what I want. Much easier. Last time it was Glenwood locker and this time it will be Wick's.

[Auggie]

well those "steaks" came off a 185+lb deer so i dont think that was the problem
if i get another this year this will all help, thanks

p.s. auggie, how much of your deer do you grind 70% jk 

To be honest Steve, all I keep from my deer anymore are the back straps and loins. The rest is ground for sausage and brats or cut for jerky! So your 70% is pretty accurate, it might be more
I raise a few head of elk and we prefer it over venison!!!!