The Butchering Thread

[Isaacorps]

This will be my first attempt at butchering my own, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. As you can tell from the pics, I have a lot to learn . (Not least of which is how to keep my garage clean) Oh well, experience is the best teacher. I was fortunate enough to shoot one that hadn’t seen it’s first birthday as to not be overwhelmed by the task at hand lol. Temps will be ideal this week and I plan to let her hang in the garage until the weekend before cutting her up. Thanks to @bowhunter1023 for pointing me in the right direction. Stay tuned

 

[Jamie]

looking good. can't ask for better weather for hanging a deer. get those tenderloins out asap so they don't get all dried out.

I cannot imagine NOT butchering my own venison. it's just an integral part of the hunt to me, and the meat is too important to me to trust it to any butcher.

 

[Bowkills]

And u get your own back diy . Most big shops around me mix all deer batches of summer sausage together so they are doing 100s of lbs at once which you can't blame them when 200 or more deer are hanging. So if you shoot a nasty older than the hills shoe leather whitetail butcher it yourself take deboned meat to the shop and you'll have nice tender ones mixed in the sausage.

 

[Isaacorps]

get those tenderloins out asap so they don't get all dried out..

Should’ve taken a “final” hanging pic. They’re marinating in the fridge lol

 

[Big_Holla]

Looking good so far!!

 

[OO2]

Looks good!
Something I have been considering after getting a buck I shot with a bow back with lead in the ground meat last year....

I’ll be sure to bug ya about lessons learned if I ever get one down, ha!

 

[giles]

Looks good!
Something I have been considering after getting a buck I shot with a bow back with lead in the ground meat last year....

I’ll be sure to bug ya about lessons learned if I ever get one down, ha!

That could explain the funky rack. I'd be willing to put money on it being on the off side.

 

[Dannmann801]

good stuff for sure

 

[Tipmoose]

And u get your own back diy . Most big shops around me mix all deer batches of summer sausage together so they are doing 100s of lbs at once which you can't blame them when 200 or more deer are hanging. So if you shoot a nasty older than the hills shoe leather whitetail butcher it yourself take deboned meat to the shop and you'll have nice tender ones mixed in the sausage.

This is precisely the reason I have never and will never take my deer to a processor.

 

[Bowkills]

One suggest since this is a first time butcher, and it could be due to the picture angle ( something I've since other people not do) when you skin your deer peel it way down closer to the head. There is a lot of meat on all sides of the neck. Peel as far as u can before cut it off.

 

[giles]

One suggest since this is a first time butcher, and it could be due to the picture angle ( something I've since other people not do) when you skin your deer peel it way down closer to the head. There is a lot of meat on all sides of the neck. Peel as far as u can before cut it off.

If you age hang them like I do, be careful doing this. When in doubt, throw it out. Serving someone some bad venison...wait a minute. Maybe this is why everyone loves my meat. I need to start serving bad venison, not the good shit!

 

[Big_Holla]

Latest advice I was given from the farmer up here (who butchered plenty of cattle over the years) was to hang it from the head for the first 24 hours (gutted) then hang from the hind quarters for the next couple days if possible. Back in the day, here in Michigan anyway, we used to always hang deer from the head no matter buck or doe. It wasn't til I hunted at my uncles there in Ohio and he said I was doing it all wrong and insisted I hang my deer from the hind quarters.

 

[Jamie]

I would argue that there is a big difference between commercially farm raised/slaughtered/processed beef and wild deer when it comes to butchering. I've never been able to comprehend why anyone would hang a deer by it's friggin' head. how in the world would you skin it to save the cape for a shoulder mount if it's got a damn noose around it's neck? I've read all the stuff about rigor mortis and why I shouldn't hang my deer by it's achilles tendons. half of the time a dead deer is in full rigor before it is even recovered. I've never been one to leave a deer hanging for more than overnight anyway, no matter how cold it might be outside, so the virtue of hanging it by the pelvis (i.e. the "tenderstretch" method) such that the the quarters are free to hang horizontally doesn't matter to me. I've done all of the experimenting with aging venison that I care to do, and have found that aging about 10 days from the date of harvest (usually about 7 days of that is wet aging of the completely butchered meat) is as good as anything else I've eaten/tried, and the least amount of effort and risk to the meat.

 

[Bowkills]

If you age hang them like I do, be careful doing this. When in doubt, throw it out. Serving someone some bad venison...wait a minute. Maybe this is why everyone loves my meat. I need to start serving bad venison, not the good shit!

? Neck meat is bad or what you saying????

 

[giles]

? Neck meat is bad or what you saying????

The way I do it, its borderline and not worth trusting.

 

[Big_Holla]

Sometimes that neck meat is a pain in the ass to clean up even for burger. Especially a smaller deer. I could see guys canning it though.

 

[Buckmaster]

Neck meat is burger mix after you remove every bit of white stuff.

 

[Jamie]

what's wrong with the white stuff?

 

[Bowkills]

i don't enjoy strong tasting venison. The neck meat of that button buck would cut like butter compared to a prime aged loin of a 4 yr old bruiser buck and would taste worlds better. I'll grind a neck of a tasty eater deer any day.

 

[Big_Holla]

This leads me to ask you guys how much trimming you would do on the neck meat for burger. Normally I'm trying to remove any white, silver, sinew looking stuff and at times the muscle in the neck are too thin to fillet that stuff off. Do you just grind it without much thought or what do you do with it in those situations? I have to think the regular processors just hack it off and throw it through the grinder.