Meat processing

[UtahRob]

I must be getting OLD , the deer i got last night was the first one i ever took to a butcher .

 

[Batchief909]

I like cuttin' 'em up as much as shootin' 'em... 8)

 

[Semisane]

I haven't brought one to the butcher yet. No butcher will do as good a job as I do.

This is a 110 lb. doe.

Roasts from back legs.

Backstraps & tenderloins.

Stew & chili chunks from shoulders.

Neck (makes a great roast or soup).

Everything else is ground for sausage, burgers, or chili.

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[lane]

Very nice Semi 8)

We do all our own as well Usually around 14 deer a season :shock: :wink:

 

[frontier gander]

wow semi, im bringing all my deer and elk to you to cut!

 

[cayuga]

When I was busy working a couple jobs, I used to take them in. But now I just skin them first, let them hang if the temps are right, and quarter them to hang. Then I de-bone everything and cut from there. It seems to take me much longer then it used to now to butcher deer, but thats OK. I have time.

Although one year I had nine of them hanging at once. What a job. I got my three buddies and their wives, over on a weekend, a lot of beer (sharp knives and beer are dangerous) and we'd have a butchering party.

I was always going to ask.. when you guys shoot an elk in the field and have to pack it out.. do you just quarter it and try to carry a quarter out at a time or do you take the time to de-bone it before you carry it out?

When I got my elk many years ago, I had a guide with two boys and three mules. They did all the work while I sat and drank beer. (the butchering that is.. no beer when hunting)

 

[ronlaughlin]

I was always going to ask.. when you guys shoot an elk in the field and have to pack it out.. do you just quarter it and try to carry a quarter out at a time or do you take the time to de-bone it before you carry it out?

We let the distance of the pack determine the amount of bone we carry out.

Normally it takes me three loads to get an Elk out. One load is the front half without bone, plus the chops, and the tenderloin from the back half. The other two loads are the hind quarters with the bone in. I pay the price packing out the hind leg bone, because it helps me during the butchering; otherwise i sometime get confused making the cuts. Normally the Elk is okay laying out overnight, but longer than that mostly leads to problems with bear, raven, coyote, wolverine, lion, gray jay, and other critter.

Our boy has developed his own style of packing out an Elk. He takes the front shoulders with him when he heads out after the kill, by tying a rope around the knees and carrying them out with the rope behind his neck. This way he gets the rest of the animal out on two packs splitting the remaining loose meat from the front half, and the chops and taking them out with a hind quarter.

If the distance to the rig gets to be over 4 or 5 mile, we bone the whole critter, and try to have enough help so that one only needs to make one trip in and out. The longest pack i ever was involved in was about nine mile we guessed. There were two elk involved in that one, and i assure you, i wasn't involved in that kill.

This year the boy helped pack out a bull already, and that trip was 0.2 mile. Now that we have gps, we can drive around the mountain, and get to the dead Elk from another direction to make the haul easier. The gps makes finding the Elk the next day much easier also. The shortest pack ever was about 200yd, because we could drive real real close to the critter, but couldn't drag it across a creek. Now that was a good pack. The worst pack i ever did was carry a load across talus. That was a boy's first so we had to endure that with a smile.

I once killed an Elk, and tried to find my way back to the rig through good terrain, but could only find my way home through talus. I went to town and called the boy to come and help me. I didn't sleep very well that night, because all i could think of was walking on that snow covered talus with a pack on my back. The boy arrived in the morning with a grin, and then another fella arrived too. The boy quizzed me about where i had killed that elk, and we discussed the location in detail. Him, being younger, had hunted that country much more than i, 'cuz i have tried to hunt the easier walking country the past 10-15 year. That year i got tired of not being in Elk, so i went up into the rocks. Anyway he thought we would have an easy pack if we went in from the other side of the mountain, because i told him i could see the country on the other side from where the dead Elk lay. We got lost a couple of time going in, but with the three of us, the trip out was a breeze. My, My, i was relieved. We walked about 4 mile going in, and maybe 2 mile coming out. Years later the boy killed an Elk in nearly the same spot. It was a good pack because we had gps, and i waited in the truck listening to the radio whilst the youngsters hauled that critter out.

The worst Elk to get out are the ones we think are close enough to drag to the rig. These are the ones that should be quartered, but one just doesn't and ends up working much too much. Taking them out whole on a sled on snow sometimes works real nicely; depends on the terrain.

Easy packs are what we much desire, but they can lead to problems. Drinking whiskey upon getting the meat to the truck to celebrate the kill and the pack, near noon, doesn't usually end well, but always seem to happen.

 

[Lee 9]

My grandfather taught me to butcher 60 years a go, they don't do it the same way now and I find meat that's cut the old way much tenderer. Lee

 

[derfhunter]

Lee
Could you enlighten us on the old fashioned way?

 

[TJJ]

Looks like someone was a butcher in a previous life. I'll be taking my deer to you from now on, which way do I turn @ Shreveport?

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

I'm guessing the old fashioned way involved letting the deer hang for several days with the hide either on or off. I believe that this does make a difference in the quality of the meat. It makes it more tender and a better tasting meat. I just finished packing away our second deer of the season but it was too warm to let it hang in the garage so I let it age in the refrigerator for five days.

 

[Spitpatch]

I like cuttin' 'em up as much as shootin' 'em... 8)

That aint right!!

 

[saxman1]

I like doing it myself but have gone to the local butcher many times.

 

[johnpb]

I have a question for any one that processes their own meat. Do you trim all of the real fine coating of "silver"-like skin thats on the meat? I've been cutting my own meat for several years and was taught or shown how by a guy that said to cut all of that "skin" off. I've seen several guys on TV that have cooked venison that had the "skin" on it but was just wondering if it really hurts the meat or not. (Now I'm not talking about the silver skin thats on the backstraps.) I hope that I've described it right.

 

[Lee 9]

I'm guessing the old fashioned way involved letting the deer hang for several days with the hide either on or off. I believe that this does make a difference in the quality of the meat. It makes it more tender and a better tasting meat. I just finished packing away our second deer of the season but it was too warm to let it hang in the garage so I let it age in the refrigerator for five days.

+1 I put an air conditioner in the garage so I could cool it enough in warm weather[there is a bow deer out there now]
The other thing is the way its cut now days they seem to like to saw it an leave bone dust all over in it and they seem to have forgotten that you are supposed to cut 90 degrees across the grain of the meat.

 

[UtahRob]

they are letting my buck hang for 6 days before they butcher it then freeze it for two , then i will pick it up . The night i shot mine the temps dropped to 35 deg . But the forecast for the next few days was warmer and rain . That was another reason for me to take it to the butcher . I am thinking about making a small walk in cooler . 4'x4' x 8' . something i can hang a deer ior elk n and control the temp . The elk hunt is in the end of October and the first week of November and its normally from 20-40 deg then . The last elk i kept in my garage and it was 25-35 at night outside and 45 during the day , so we let it hang for 6 days , being it was a young spike bull that was more than enough and the meat was great .

 

[Semisane]

I have a question for any one that processes their own meat. Do you trim all of the real fine coating of "silver"-like skin thats on the meat?

Hey Johnpb, I'm one who tries to trim off just about all of the silver skin on venison - not that it hurts the flavor, but because it's "chewy" and (to me) makes the meat less appetizing. The real flavor killer on venison is fat. I make sure I get all of the fat off.

 

[cayuga]

I also take a filet knife and spend lots of time trimming all the sliver skin off. That filet knife is the slickest way to remove it. Like Semi said, it makes it tuff IMO. Also the fat has to go and I don't like bones in my venision. Another animal where fat is a big NO NO is bear meat. Bear fat might make a good patch lube but it is no good to eat.

 

[wayles]

Deer

Simi
That is one pretty cut up deer. Could not have done better myself.NICE
Wayles