Nice little site.

[tbryan]

Seeing as i just got a deer, i was looking for directions on butchering and found this site. home.rochester.rr.com/sevendzero/

Might be helpful if you havent done it yourself like me.

[THE GOB-FATHER]

Once you start butchering your own deer, you'll never go back. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it and you'll be surprised at how much more meat you get when you do it yourself.... my suggestion to you is make sure you get what we call "the love buttons" out first and fry 'em up in the the fryin pan with some onion and garlic and green bell peppers while they're fresh... in my opinion they are the best, most tender part of the deer! In case you're wondering where they are located on the carcass, they're on the underside of the spine located towards the back end of the deer. They're two little strips that run parallel to the spine and should be located between the hips attached right to the bone of the spine. Mmm... now I'm gettin hungry!

[rjet]

we call the love buttons 'sweet meat' down here.

tbryan,

You can process your deer better than anyone else out there. Have learned a few tricks and no matter how old the deer is the meat taste the same and is as tender as a yearling.
I think the biggest part of the process (least for down south) is soak your quartered deer in ice water for anywhere from 3 to 5 days, drain the water once or twice a day and add more ice. Then when you are cutting it up, make sure and seperate the meat by muscle groups and get all the silver skin and muck off of the meat. It takes me around 3 hours to do the cutting after it has soaked but is well worth the time. Last year I had one done by a processor for the first time in my life and it tasted like the ones I did when all I did was quarter and freeze. Wasnt near as good as one that soaked in cold water.

[tbryan]

good deal rjet!! I'll give it a shot.

[turk2di]

Thanks for the heads up

[Phishy]

i never tried the ice water thing, then again normally it is cool enough up here to dry hang them. i feel aging is very important, some don't, i let mine hang for at least two days, longer if the weather is cooperative meaning down below freezing at night and never above 45 during the day, the warmer it is the quicker i cut up the deer, it doesn't take long to get too dry either

first off, get the tenderloins out from the inside, i'm amazed how many folks don't know about these, don't leave them in to age, they will dry up and half will go to waste, they don't need to be aged, tender right from the get go. I also save the liver and heart

I will agree once you start doing you're own you'll never go back. I learned through trial and error and a book (Time Life Series i think) another thing i did was rent a video after i had done it a few times and the learning curve went way up. Now if i'm in a hurry, meaning i more than one deer hanging to butcher, i can skin, quarter, bone, cut into steaks, and grind all the trimmings into burger, and wrap a deer in less than four hours, is it worth it to me? time is money either i pay somebody to do it for 75 bucks or i do it myself, i figure i'm making myself some money, almost $20/hour.

I have started saving one of the hind 1/4 and trimming it up for round steaks, just remove the lower leg portion and remove all the fat, sinew etc that you feel uncomfortable eating, leave the femur in and wrap the whole round in plastic, ie a couple grocery bags work great, then freeze it solid, take it to a butcher shop and have them run it through the band saw for round steak,i like mine about an inch thick, and then take the frozen slabs back home and wrap them yourself, call around before you do this, some want to charge you outrageous price while others might do it for free or for a nominal price.

care for the meat to be put into the freezer is also very important, I don't think just putting it into a ziploc and freezing it is a good method, I wrap mine in stretch wrap, then in freezer paper, this way i have found some steaks tucked away in the bottom of the freezer that were over a year old and still not freezer burned

there is a technique to the freezer paper that if you do it right, all you will need is one small piece of tape. Start in a corner of a square of paper, roll it about half way across on the diagonal, tuck the loose end into the center, then continue to the end of the diagonal, one piece of tape is all that is needed, mark it how ever you want, but at least put a date on it, i like to surprise myself and just put meat and the date on as a label, i never know if i'm getting a package of sirloin, or back straps, i always leave a few roasts as well, the NY Strip makes a great roast.

If i had the right equipment i'd make my own sausage as well, i think i might have to look into buying an attachment for the grinder,

hmm.. this got longer than i anticipated, all in all just do it and don't worry about screwing it up, you have to start somewhere and learn somehow, it helps to do it with another person, experienced would be good, but even if not, two heads together are better than one,

Good Luck

[midrivers]

We have done our own sausage, I like to make up a bunch of breakfast links with about a 60 to 40 mixture of Deer to Pork timmings with a bit of seasonings. MMMMMMMM...like the gobfather I too a getting very hungry! And butchering your own deer can take as little as 2 hours if you are just lloking for tenderloins roasts and sausage meat. Most places around here are charging by the pound. A mature buck can base price run over $140 for a basic processing fee, then they charge to remove and save the rack, hide, feet the whole nine yards.

[Webejonesin2]

I agree, once you have done it yourself, you will be hooked! My wife and i cut up my last one (03') it took us a while but sure was worth it. good luck.

[arkansasdon]

I my family has been grindin and stuffin deer sausage for ever, we have a certain recipe we use that has
Dryed Grannysmith Apples and toasted Walnuts and other ingredience and it's the best BBQ sausage ever , but our ratio is 50% venison 50% pork butt

We do another that has 7 yr old Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar and roasted Jalapeno Peppers , 50 % venison and 50 % pork butt, and we do that one too for grillin sausage
My mom's side of family is from Potter Wisconsin and they had a cheese factory called Thiel Cheese. I believe its under another name now. But we get the best cheddar to make that certain cheddar Jalapeno sausage