I've been thinking about processing my own deer this year. I have, or think I have, all the tools required to do the job.

Anyone here butcher their own kills, or just general thoughts? TIA.

I butcher about half of my own kills. really how much you need depends on what you want to do with it. If you just want cuts of meat plus maybe some chuck meat for stews and such, all you need is a cutting board and a sharp knife.
tip 1: if you can cool the meat in something like a meat locker ahead of time that is the best way to go, makes it so much easier to handle and cut. thawed is too slippery and frozen is too hard to cut/numbs your hands. Our deer camp has a walk in meat locker so the best way we have found is to leave it hanging for a week or two and then butcher it, lets it get cold all the way through, and gives it a bit of dry aging if properly dressed before hanging it up.
tip 2: if you are going to do it on the kitchen counter, try to be finished before the wife walks in and sees.

Process my own every time. I don't want to pay $80-100 to get some gut shot 6.5 year old bucks meat, when I took the time to make a clean shot somewhere in the neck or head on a nice doe.

You really don't need many tools unless you are gonna get in to making ground meat/sausage. All you need is a sharp knife and a place to cut the deer up and package it. Vac sealers will allow you to save your cuts for much longer in the freezer than a ziploc.

Tip 2 is greatly appreciated.

Got a meat grinder, course and fine. Knife wise, I think I have it covered. Got a cleaver and saw as well.

I've done DIY processing for quite a while now. If you've never taken a carcass from quarters to final cuts I'd suggest enlisting the assistance of an experienced friend, or at least YouTube. it will greatly reduce the learning curve.

Another really helpful thing I've learned over the years is to put a plastic table cloth/drop cloth down on the counter top or table before I begin. Afterwards, all I have to do is roll it up and toss it in the trash.

I only process my own if I have an abundance of time, which is rare these days. I use my a family friends processing shop,and I am very happy with the results. Their ground brisket/venison makes some damn good meals.

Great tablecloth idea ... had never thought of that. Usually spend an extra 30 mins and a half a bottle of cleaner post-processing to clean up the crime scene.

OP, is your grinder electric or manual? I used a manual for a couple of years and it gets tiresome. Have an electirc now and would hate to process without it. I'd say invest in a vacuum sealer next and you're ready to rock and roll. The only thing I don't personally do is make my own sausage, the rest I process at home (steaks, strap, ground, etc). I freeze the trimmings that I want made into sausage and then take them to my processer at my leisure. This way I feel I am more able to control what parts of the venison actually make it into my sausage. Whether they do or not is an entirely different discussion.

Purely depends on my time available and general mood.....plus I really like Kuby's sausage.

Good advice so far

I have always processes my own deer. I just make hamburger meat and steaks now. Jerkey is easy to make, but very time consuming. When you get into sausage, your equipment cost goes way up.

I usually process 3 deer a year and grind all 4 quarters into hamburger meat. I have a small $75 grinder that works well doing one deer at a time, get a bigger one if you plan on doing multiple deer because cheap grinders are slower.

I add about 8-10% beef fat to the ground meat. Vacuum sealer works well for steaks, but I prefer freezer paper for ground meat.

Processing a typical hill country doe, I get about 20-25 lbs of ground meat, and 6-8 lbs of steaks from straps and tenderloins.

Costs about $4 total per deer and about 1.5 hours per deer.

Depends on time and available work space. If I can get to my best friends family meat house, then I'll hang it and cut everything out on their equipment. If not I'll quarter and cut the backstraps into steaks and let the local processor break down the quarters for sausage.

I process my own and typically grind everything except a few steaks and the loins.

I like mixing the ground with brisket to make hamburger. Good stuff.

Get at least a buddy and make an assembly line...it won't take too long. I vacuum pack the meat in foodsaver bags.

Process our own down to single cuts, we take our sausage meat to a family friend in Coldsprings along with our choice of pork/fat which he grinds and puts in bags for us, then we stuff and season our own sausage then smoke.

Growing up we would always pull out the straps and loins and then everything else went to processor and made sausage. Straps and Loins were cooked fried, and only fried. Once I got older and realized that there were some pretty solid cuts of meat we were basically throwing away, I repented and changed my ways.

Now I keep straps and loins and then most of the hind quarters for roasts, steaks and other cuts. Shoulders, neck and other trimmings go to sausage. If we have more than a deer or two then I normally take a hind quarter or two and do hamburger, and I let someone else grind it for me.

Like was mentioned above, chilled meat it the easiest to work with. On top of a good knife and cutting board, I have found that some kind of vacuum sealer is well worth the money. I have a foodsaver one and I like for the amount of meat we do.

Wife is Animal Science major and I use to work at a meat marker. My wife is the dirt and blood Nazi. We process our own deer but bring the trimmings in for sausage well after the season. As stated above, I do not want some else's venison.

Secret is to remove guts and skin and then chill the carcass ASAP. When processing remove as much fat as possible. Venison fat turns rancid faster than beef fat. Use very sharp knives. We have burned out two vacuum sealers so we now wrap in cellophane and then place in zip lock backs. We grind some venison but grinder is getting worn out after almost 10 years of cow elk to the mix.

We buy John Mettler's Basic Butching book for all new hunters. Great explanations and drawings. And watch lots of YoutTube videos. Steaks from the hams are great. Don't get intimidate and remember you are going to eat and crap the meat so don't worry about how the steaks and backstraps look.

Sounds like I'm the same as several of you. I do about 1/2 of it myself, and then take the other half to a local processor/friend/hunting buddy of mine to make spicy breakfast sausage, bacon burger, and some deer sticks. I cut all my own steaks/roasts, and do a fair amount of cubed meat for chili and stew. I take the neck steaks for fajitas. The rest I bone out and take it to the processor. Runs me about $1 a pound for those products.

Meat grinder attachment on kitchen aid mixer. Has worked well so far(on beef and turkey).

It gets gummed up quickly with home processed venison, due to the amount of fascia and silver skin that is typically not a problem for a bigger sole-use grinder.

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tip 2: if you are going to do it on the kitchen counter, try to be finished before the wife walks in and sees.

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When I read this, I imagined the Bonnie Situation.

We haven't taken a deer to the processor since I was a kid. Mainly cause my dad and I are cheap asses but more importantly we like knowing what's going in the ground stuff. We clean them in the field and then take them home where we hang them up in the garage and skin and quarter them up there. We'll place the quartered items in a cooler with ice and let them chill over night and then get to cutting the following day.

I keep the loins and tenderloins, maybe a few ham muscles. Everything else gets turned into deer burger.

I don't keep the ribs, back, or neck. I cut the loins out, cut the meat of the ribs, and my necks are usually all shot up.

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It gets gummed up quickly with home processed venison, due to the amount of fascia and silver skin that is typically not a problem for a bigger sole-use grinder.

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Good to know before I tried it and then had to explain to my princess why daddy is cursing at inanimate objects.

I process 100% of mine, but the only sausage I make is breakfast sausage. I keep the roasts whole, save the back strap and tenderloins, and grind the rest. My wife is obsessed with lean ground meat so I don't mix it with anything other than pork with the breakfast sausage. I don't have a vacuum sealer. We package everything in freezer paper and haven't had any issues with freezer burn out to a year.

I strongly believe that the way you handle the meat from the time that it is harvested to the time it ends up on the dinner plate effects how it tastes. I'm very particular about keeping everything clean and trimming all of the sinue and fat off at the time of field dressing/processing. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing exactly where your dinner came from.

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I strongly believe that the way you handle the meat from the time that it is harvested to the time it ends up on the dinner plate effects how it tastes.

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No belief necessary. This is an indisputable fact.

If you drag a bloated deer to the processor, drop it in the pile, then pay some stranger to do the most important job a hunter will ever do... You've cheated yourself out of one the best parts of hunting and killing.

My process that works great for me.


1.kill
2. Gut/skin
3. Hang in freezer for 2 days
4. De-bone/quarter>>into yeti
5. Keep on ice for 2-5 days
6. Pick the coldest day and process outside (to appease wife)
7. Grind everything except tenderloins and backstrap
8. Put in vacuum seal bags
9. Eat for a long time

Edit to say I have used a metal kitchen aid attachment for the last 3 deer and it has worked well. A good Trick is to add oil occasionally and take it slow. Also take time to let machine cool down so I don't burn it up.

This thread delivers. Two quick questions:

1. How in the world do all of you guys just happen to have walk in freezers to hang and age your deer before quartering? Forgot to add the walk-in freezer to our plans when we designed and built!

2. Slight change of subject - can you make some recs for hind quarter roast recipes? Started keeping a roast or two whole last year and in search of better recipes.

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This thread delivers. Two quick questions:

1. How in the world do all of you guys just happen to have walk in freezers to hang and age your deer before quartering? Forgot to add the walk-in freezer to our plans when we designed and built!

2. Slight change of subject - can you make some recs for hind quarter roast recipes? Started keeping a roast or two whole last year and in search of better recipes.

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My answers
1. Restaurant auctions
2. Crock pot

An old fridge in the garage works great for dry aging.

Making roast out of whitetail IMO, is a bad choice since there is no fat in it. But I cube some of what is not top sirloin and make stew meat out of it. Still lean but not as bad when cooked in a good stew broth with veggies etc.

Shave the roast & make Philly cheeaesteaks (w/ extra butter added).

Love venison roasts in the crock pot.

Process my own. Pretty easy considering I get 1 or 2 a year on average. Steaks/roasts/grind is easy. I have a LEM grinder that makes short work of even what I consider a lot of trimmings to grind. Last season I ground more than ever - i want to say it was 40+ lbs. Went through the grinder in probably 20 minutes tops, and that is with a disassembly and cleaning in the middle.

Hamburger grind (we use it the most - tacos, spaghetti, burgers), chili and pan sausage out of the grind. One day I will make an attempt at link sausage. Just havent worked up the nerve to give it a shot yet.

I like doing it because I control it from start to finish - the meat, how it is aged, how it is cleaned, how it is seasoned and how it is sealed and stored. I know it is my deer.

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Love venison roasts in the crock pot.

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The lack of fat really hurts it IMO. Inject with bacon grease then season and brown put in pot = money.

Well, yall convinced me. Ordered a dressing kit, really looking forward to processing my own.

But as someone else touched on, yall have walk in coolers??? I thought I was doing alright having a good fridge and deep freezer in the garage. Fml.

Which brings me to my next question: bow season starts on Sept 3rd(here in ga), so obviously way too hot to hang a deer sans walk-in, so...what should I do?

I have a large cooler on wheels, so I was thinking field dress and quarter asap, quarters on top of a good bed of ice in cooler, with cooler sloped drain side open and down...replinish ice as needed. Let meat sit 24 hours, then butcher?

That's about what we do at our place in south Texas when it's too warm to hang overnight

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We haven't taken a deer to the processor since I was a kid. Mainly cause my dad and I are cheap asses but more importantly we like knowing what's going in the ground stuff. We clean them in the field and then take them home where we hang them up in the garage and skin and quarter them up there. We'll place the quartered items in a cooler with ice and let them chill over night and then get to cutting the following day.

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My bad, wta. Reread thread and caught that I said pretty much the same that you already did.