Meat Handling of Game Animals

[Rembrandt]

The casings I used for the bigger sausage are made from durable beef collagen which makes stuffing exceptionally easy. The flat collagen casings are non-edible but easy to peel-off the sausages when they are cooked/smoked.

I usually run the smoker around 120-140 degrees for several hours, then finish cooking the meat in the oven till the meat temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Below are sticks made with edible casings....good stuff.

[Mike1234]

...

[johnwilliamson062]

I see.

Those do look absolutely delicious.

[OkieGentleman]

What I was taught/shown was to buy some sets of shoe strings and put in my pocket when hunting game I was going to clean and eat. First thing when dressing a male animal use a shoe string to tie the penis so no urine could escape, if a female cut around the vagina and tie if off. Cut around the rectum and tie it off, then cut the throat and pull out the esophagus and tie this off. You have now sealed shut as well as possible the major sources of contamination to the meat. Now all you have to do is gut it without cutting a hole in something you should no cut a hole in. As to kooling down the meat and parting out the animal into eatable portions I have nothing to add to previous posts.

[1tfl]

OkieGent,

I carry couple of zip ties in my pocket for the same purpose as your shoe string. Zip ties are much easier and faster but just as strong.

[wizrd]

An outfit in Buffalo NY, the Sausage-Maker, Inc. has some of the best meat processing equipment you can find. They have a book on sausage making that is a "MUST HAVE" for anyone wanting to do all types of sausage. Proper sausage handling is very important, it is the most common way to end up with botulism type food poisoning. Have made a few batches of kielbasa using their products & recipes, it as the best I've ever had. They'll send you a free catalog, they're online.

[math teacher]

Cool the animal out as quickly as possible.
Clean immediately.
Skin ASAP.
Hang in a cool place.
Keep hair and dirt off meat.
Cut through as little bone marrow as possible.
Bone out the meat, saves space and improves flavor.
Remove and discard all fat. Fat and marrow make for gamey meat.
Double wrap steak pieces and freeze whole. Will keep much longer. Easy to slice perfect steaks while half thawed out.

[Mayor Al]

Today we finished slicing anf packaging the Missouri Hog Hunt Pork Bellies from our Hunt in September.
We did four 'batches' each taking a week to get thru the curing and smoking process.

We experimented a bit with the curing recipe to find the right balance of Surgar and Salt to get the final Bacon to our liking. Here are some photos of the final batch. We totaled our packages at about 30+ lbs of finished Bacon and "Scraps for Beans 'n' Things" !

I recommend this kind of home project on the less attractive parts of the Hogs we take...it sure tastes great now !

[jimbob86]

MMMMMMmmmmmm.........Bacon!

I am thinking I am going to be spending a bit of money on a better grinder, and a vertical stuffer ....... I made my own Summer Sausage this year for the first time, and though those stuffers look spendy, they'd sure take a whole lot of the PITA factor out of making sausage. A wood fired smoker grill is on the list, as well.

Anybody have a good source on wood fired smokers?

[wooly booger]

I have never killed a hog but i average 4 deer, 2 antelope and at least 2 elk every year and a bear if I am lucky.

I never field dress elk...they are just too darned big. I skin, quarter and bone the animal where it fell. I usually try to salvage the heart and it is easy to get the tenderloins by making a cut behind the last rib. Antelope are field dressed and quartered and go into the cooler asap.

I had a blacksmith make me a game pole that fits into my hitch receiver. It has a boat winch of it and is capable of hoisting a large bodied whitetail or mule deer. This works great for skinning and boning out game in the field as long as you stay legal. I package and grind my own meat as well. That way I know whose it is and how it was treated

I really like the idea of the pump sprayer. I have a 5 gallon plastic one that is going into my truck specifically for hunting this year.

[Husqvarna]

Cool the animal out as quickly as possible.
Clean immediately.
Skin ASAP.
Hang in a cool place.
Keep hair and dirt off meat.
Cut through as little bone marrow as possible.
Bone out the meat, saves space and improves flavor.
Remove and discard all fat. Fat and marrow make for gamey meat.
Double wrap steak pieces and freeze whole. Will keep much longer. Easy to slice perfect steaks while half thawed out.

does cool it out mean something else than cool down? it must be allowed to cool down gradually

if you skin it below zero and hang it below zero your meat will be chewy as hell, the freezing tences up the muscle fibres.

we often gut it in the field if the weather allows but during winter we will bring it back to our slaughterhouse (if it isn't shot up too much)

Wipe out the insides, if it is shoot up to much use a natural desinfective agent my mum makes some concontion of vinegar and i dunno her secret recipe :P, never wash with water unless you are in a sterile enviroment, water is moisture that bacteria likes.

Skin it above zero to further help the processing, after all the skin/fur is its natural barrier

I recommend vacuum sealing meat to, thinks it helps with tenderizing it

[wooly booger]

the optimum environment for leat processing and aging is low humidity and 35-38 degrees F. If you allow game to freeze on the ground or hanging, then thaw for butchering, the refreezing, it is going to be of much lesser quality. I personally like to get the hide off as soon as possible if the weather is warm and wrap the whole carcass in cheesecloth or a game bag and get in a cooler. In colder weather, hang in a meat locker or protected shed. Leaving the hide on is best for this situation.

[Doyle]

if you skin it below zero and hang it below zero your meat will be chewy as hell, the freezing tences up the muscle fibres.

For some strange reason, that problem never comes up down here in FL.

[Husqvarna]

how about spoiling the meat?

I assumed that was the reasons why the animals are seldom taken care of straight away on those run around with pitbulls shows just hogtie them and throw them on the pickup

just sometimes I wish I was born an american

[wooly booger]

I assumed that was the reasons why the animals are seldom taken care of straight away on those run around with pitbulls shows just hogtie them and throw them on the pickup

In FL and a lot of other places, hogs are live caught either behind dogs or trapped. They are then "finished" or fed out with corn or other grain type feed for a few weeks to add fat or sweeten the meat. Same as how cattle are finished in a feedlot.

[dalegribble]

hunting is more complex than pulling a trigger. the after care of game should be required in these hunting programs. i guess for them it is all about horns because they don't even gut the deer. i appreciate seeing the work after the shot. the proper care of the game animal even if it is just the gutting. i don't really expect the butchering of the animal, but that would also be nice to see occasionaly. larger animals may require skinning and quartering of the animal to get it home. even the capeing of the animal for a head mount would be a more responsible way to represent a hunter and the game he hunts.

[wooly booger]

You obviously haven't killed anything bigger than a whitetail if that. and by reading your text you expect someone like a guide to do all the work.

A hunter is crazy to gut an elk or moose when he can bone the entire animal out as well as cape it and leave the guts in the carcass. I bone everything including the neck and brisket on an elk without going into the body cavity except to get the heart and tenderloins.

[Jack O'Conner]

I started out helping my Dad and Uncles butcher wild game back in the 1960's and been doing my own ever since. My favorite butcher knife is a super sharp fillet model by Martiinni. Made in Finland. There are several good YouTube videos showing how to process deer into venison. Watch and learn.

Years ago, I made the mistake of butchering a large red stag on my own. I had about 8 hours into the job!

Jack

[Ruger480]

Just posting so I can find this later.

[Doyle]

Just posting so I can find this later. Good stuff here, thanks!

It's a STICKY - no need to search.

[Ruger480]

Its easier for me to just look through my old posts. Thanks though.

[mmwb]

Agreeing with most. Get it cooled as soon as possible. I've not found that aging elk or deer is necessary. Wild meat tends to be finer grained than beef and the aging isn't necessary to tenderize. Aging antelope can ruin it. Skin, bone out, and on ice soon after the shot. Then in the freezer as soon after that as one can. When boning a freshly killed animal out, don't cut across the grain of the muscle. This causes toughness. Once rigor has set and released, you can cut across grain with no effect.

Unless it is very close to a road, all of my elk get boned out. Most of my deer are far enough back as well. Otherwise they are quartered and packed.

I use Hi Mountain seasoning for jerky. Both the dehydrator and oven racks on lowest heat with the door cracked make for good jerky, though I prefer the oven made stuff a bit more.

I've used Cabela's summer sausage kits and it makes for excellent summer sausage. Mix in some chunks of pepper jack cheese and people will be knocking your door down to get some (if you make the mistake of sharing some in the first place!).

[artsmom]

A lot of times here in Nebraska, it gets pretty warm during spring turkey hunting, and spoilage could be a problem. My best solution for keeping a bird cool is to freeze water in some of the larger pop (soda) bottles, like the 16.9 oz. ones. After the bird is shot and gutted, shove one of the bottles in the body cavity. About 1-2 hours later, take that one out and put in another one. Keep the flies away and out of the sun, and that bird will keep all weekend with maybe 2-4 frozen water bottles. Never had a turkey go bad in the group, and that covers 60 or so turkeys

Same trick is used on deer when it is warm, but substitute a gallon milk jug full of water that is hard frozen. I've cut up close to 200 deer, since I have a lot of relatives who are all too willing to tag them and give them to me so they can go out and fill another permit.

[Mozella]

I'm not a hunter, but here's how my friends do it. They prefer to hunt in warm weather; who wants to be cold? They drink plenty of expensive whiskey. Then they shoot one of God's furry creatures and ask each other "What now"; answer: "Hell if I know. Who can butcher this thing? Answer: No me, I don't even have a knife."

What follows is a discussion about various poison glands, some parts which contain urine and poop, and at least a mention of a gall bladder, whatever the Hell that is.

Then they go in search of someone who can dress the dead animal. Sometimes they find someone and sometimes they give up and hack the animal into more manageable pieces by themselves Most often they use a 4-wheeler and drag the whole thing out of the woods, dump it in their pick up truck, and go in search of a business which advertises "We Butcher Deer". But since they know something about spoilage, they make sure to take care of business in 48 hours or less. You can't be too careful when it comes to spoiled meat.

Eventually they end up with their kill cut up into pieces small enough to go on the Weber grill and they cook one piece which most resembles a steak or pork chop. Of course it tastes like crap, so they grind up the remaining meat and make a huge pile of spicy sausage, the more spice the better.

Finally they have a huge BBQ party complete with warm beer and lots of home made sausage. They usually have hot dogs for the kids too and that's what I eat. If I don't see any ball park franks, I just drink the beer.

[Ocraknife]

Can anyone recommend any books that deal with field processing deer and hog? I don't mind taking it somewhere to process but I'd like to know what to do to preserve the meat in the field.

Thanks.

Okra