Deer processing

[jimbob86]

Grandpa ate the brains, mixed w/ scrambled eggs.

Game and Parks advises against it, due to CWD concerns. They also advise against keeping any part of the spinal cord ..... I don't necessarily follw that.... I just avoid shooting unhealthy looking animals .... never seen any, though.

[shortwave]

I'm curious as to how many of us like deer liver and heart.

Have two livers and a heart in the freezer as we speak. Not for me but for a long-time 78yr old friend of mine that doesn't hunt anymore that loves them. He's been eating them all his life.

I usually try to deliver him a half dozen or so of each a season from the different hunters I know.

Far as field dressing game...always been done where the deer falls around these parts.

Short story...Bout 15 yrs ago, I was hunting an area that was known to be pretty rugged. To the point you didn't see many other hunters. And yes, there where some monster bucks running in that area.

Anyway, I'm way back in these foothills. About mid week, it's getting on '0 dark thirty' and I'm on my way outta there empty handed. Had only heard one shot all day and that was @ about 5 pm just before dark.
As I walking my roughly 2.5 mi. hike out by flashlight, I come across a guy (bout 60 or so) sitting on a log that looked pretty bad. He's wringing wet, face was sweaty and flushed as it could be and I could hear him breathing before I actually saw him.

I walked over to him asking him if he was ok and he stated he was just taking a break from dragging his deer. I looked over and saw a huge, un-gutted doe and asked how far he had dragged her. He had dragged this deer from the next ridge over. Also, after a bit more conversation, I find out this fella had just got outta the hospital for heart surgery not more than a month prior.

He didn't know how to gut his deer so we got it gutted and I start to dragging. Pulled the deer to the nearest road(about 3/4 mile), he stayed with deer and I go get my truck to load deer and him to get them to his truck.

Come to find out...he was with a hunting party of 7-8 more guys, two of which where his sons that didn't keep tabs on the poor SOB worth a dime. He had never been hunting before and just wanted to get out with the guys and he really didn't expect to shoot anything.
We pulled up to the camp and they all came walking over with beverages in hand laughing about the ole guy dragging the deer without gutting it. Too, they had heard the same shot I did and figured it was him that shot. Didn't even go to check on him at dark.
My patience were a bit short and I told them if they had seen the shape their pa was in when he was found, they wouldn't be laughing.

Anyway, the ole guy thanked me alot and said he had learned that he should gut the deer before dragging out.

[Gunplummer]

$75 dollars? The going rate around here (Pa.) at a legit Butcher Shop is now about $100 to $125 dollars. I helped kids I ran into gut their first deer. Someone has to show them if no one else is around. Grown ups I might help if they want to be involved in it. If they are going to stand there and watch, I don't think so. I absolutely believe the reason a lot of people say they don't like venison is because it was given to them by someone that did not take care of it after they shot the deer. As some previous posters already wrote, I too have seen some sad sights outside of butcher shops. I doubt that most hunters would treat a piece of beef the way they treat a dead deer. How about cutting glands off? I saw guys dragging deer that looked as if they took a chain saw to them just removing the glands. The Butcher cuts off the meat that is dried out or spoiled and then the hunter claims he got short changed on the meat. It is sad how much we hunters waste.

[12GaugeShuggoth]

I'm curious as to how many of us like deer liver and heart.

I don't go for the liver, but I love me some deer heart.

Don't use any processors/butchers for my deer, do everything myself.

[Gbro]

I am not quite as fast as this dude, but i do my own and usually right on the tailgate of my truck. Perfect height and the liner is as good as any cutting board I have ever used.
As for hair on the meat??? I have never had more than a wet paper towel at hand is needed when i get to the table with the big sections. All my skinning cuts are from the inside and before i start to peal the hide back i brush the seam.
And I love my vacuum packer!

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

I'm curious as to how many of us like deer liver and heart.

I like heart. Liver unless its from a small fawn I won't eat it. Most deer where I hunt have Liver Flukes. Something not to appetizing to eat by accident. (resembles a blood sucker or leech) Easy to check a liver for flukes. Their just not my cup of tea in wanting to deal with is all. Although its been said Deer Liver Flukes are indeed harmless to man. (So they say.)

To check for Flukes. Clean a liver off as best you can in the field. Look for scaring marks on the deers liver Top & bottom sides. With a sharp knife slice open those scaring marks carefully as far as it takes to expose a fluke if there are any. If infected its your decision to leave that liver behind at the gut pile or take it with you.

[buck460XVR]

I too am one that processes their own deer. 30 years ago after years of payin' thru the nose and gettin' meat back that was covered with hair and run thru the same bandsaw as Bubbas gutshot fawn, I started to butcher my own. Never knew how good venison could really be until I totally processed it by myself. I now do it all on the kitchen table with my sons beside me and the wife and DIL wrapping on the counter beside us. It has become an after hunt tradition with a pot of Chile made with fresh ground burger simmerin' on the stove till the table is cleaned and the tools are washed and put away. Jerky and sausage gets made as time allows and need for more dictates. Loins and steaks are cut right away, but meat destined for burger/sausage and jerky is boned and trimmed, but left intact and then froze till used. I've found that grinding venison fresh as it's needed keeps it tasting better than grinding it all at once and then freezing. Thawing it just slightly before grinding makes the grinder cut it clean without making mush outta it.


BTW....pickled deer heart is a Christmas tradition here at our house. It started 60 years ago with my mom and grandmother.

[shortwave]

Gbro,

Thanks for posting that vid.

The guy is really impressive with a knife. Especially one with both side of the blade sharpened and being able to cut both ways(push and pulling knife) without re-gripping.

[BIG P]

50.00 hamburger,cube.Back straps cut in half. 10.00 to skin 10.00 to gut.
sometimes its hard to skin & gut 3 or 4 deer after the evening hunt in the woods,hell IM old its hard to see.

[Baylorattorney]

Originally Posted by tahunua001

ive never paid to do it. deer are easy and even a very large buck can be completely processed in only a couple hours by two or 3 people that know what they are doing.
skinning: the easiest part of the process, all you need is a sharp knife, just peel the hide back and gently run the knife along the fold between the meat and hide to cut the sinews that hold the hide in place, if you skin it while it is still warm you barely even need a knife, you just get it started, grab the hide firmly and it peels rifle off with a little elbow grease.

legs:
large muscle groups are roasts/jerky.
small groups with low tendon/sinew/fat composition are hamburger.
small groups with high tendon/sinew are stew meat.


backstraps and tenderloins are steaks.

that's about all that there is on a deer, everything else can serve as cheap, high protein dog/cat feed.

I like that.