Venison Butchering
When you bag a deer during deer season, you have two choices. You either take the deer to a meat processing facility, or butcher the deer yourself. A meat processing plant can charge up to a dollar a pound for butchering the deer into steaks, hamburger and sausage. You can do the same job in several hours and be assured that the deer you process is the deer you shot in the field. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Field dress the deer immediately after the kill. Make sure to let the deer bleed out before moving the carcass. Cut off the deer’s head in the field and either toss it with the rest of the offal or save it for mounting.
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Skin the deer. This task can be accomplished by using rope to hang the deer from a high tree limb to make the carcass more accessible . Use a sharp knife to separate the hide from the meat of the deer. Set aside the hide for tanning if desired.
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Cut the deer into manageable pieces. Remove the legs at the hips, and cut off the hooves with the meat saw. Remove the backstrap and cut the ribs away from the backbone. Remove the flank steaks from the ribs if desired.
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Chill the deer pieces. The chilling process makes the butchering easier, as the meat can be handled without as much slippage as it is when still warm.
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Use a sharp knife to remove the meat from the bones. The hams on the hindquarters make terrific venison steaks. Cut the largest sections of meat from the bones, and then slice as desired. Front quarters make good sized roasts and can be cut away from the bone or the bone can be left. Use the meat saw to cut the bone in roasts into the appropriate sizes.
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Remove any remaining meat. This can be cut up into stew meat or ground into hamburger or sausage meat with a meat grinder.
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Wrap the processed venison in butcher paper or in freezer storage bags, and freeze immediately for future use.
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Tips & Warnings
If you become an avid hunter, the investment in an electric meat band saw can save you hours of time.
Processing a deer can take anywhere from a day to an afternoon depending on experience. The process is faster if two or more people are working together.
Freshly killed meat of any kind should be transported for processing on ice and kept cold to keep bacteria from growing on the meat.
