Do you do your own butchering?

JerryBobCo · December 2018

I've done it myself, and had the butchering done by a butcher/meat processor. I've even butchered a couple of elk. That's a big job.

This year, during our Montana hunt, we dropped our kill off at a local meat processor who had it ready for us before we left for home. He did a good job, although he put way too much sage in the breakfast sausage for my taste.

All things considered, I would just as soon pay someone to do it.

How about you?

earlyagain · December 2018

I have it done in Meeker. Pick it up on the way home froze solid in the wrapers.

One year, I did a deer myself. Layed it out on the meat bags on the kitchen table. Heard an ugly noise. Swamp cooler broke. Put it all away, multiple trips to home depot, multiple trips to the roof. Finally finished the deer later. Never again.

Zee · December 2018

Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t.

Fisheadgib · December 2018

I haven't paid someone to process a deer since I lived in Texas 25 years ago. We only got one a year so it was no big deal but here I try to get four to six a year so it adds up. I can skin and cut one up in about an hour and I don't mind doing it.

NN · December 2018

I did it myself

jaywapti · December 2018

Mostly I do my own butchering, a lot depends on the weather, if its warmer than 35-40 deg. I'll skin them out, cool them as much as possible and get them to a butcher.I dont hunt Speed Goats unless I have a big good cooler filled with ice beforhand, than I skin, butcher on the spot and pack them in the cooler.

JAY

Jayhawker · December 2018

I do all my own butchering...I know how I want my deer cut up and that means...no bones!
We bring our deer in from the field...hang them up, skin them and then gut them...dropping the gut pile into a bucket lined with a hefty bag. That ends up in the freezer for later use as coyote bait. Skinning them first keeps most of the hair off of and out of the carcass.

I can have a deer boned out and in the cooler in about an hour....

Then the wife and I reduce the major cuts, trim off all the fat and silver skin and package with a vacuum sealer. Actually, grinding burger for sausage is the most time consuming part of the operation....

JerryBobCo · December 2018

One trick I used to use for antelope was to skin and hang them as soon as possible, and bag them in a game bag. As soon as I got home, I would quarter them and put the quarters in a large cooler with ice. I would then pour salt over the meat, open the drain valve of the cooler, prop up the end opposite the valve, and put it under a shade. That allowed the melted ice to drain.

Every day I would add salt and ice. I could usually leave it like this for about a week until I had time to butcher it. I boned it out, too.

I would always return home on the day I shot the goat, so there was no overnight in the field stuff to worry about. Transporting with a bag of ice in the body cavity seemed to help, too.

Jeff in TX · December 2018

My father and my buddies father were both butchers at some point when they were growing up. What they could do butchering a deer, cow or hog was pure magic! Their work was flawless and every cut was perfect. They could follow the muscles and bones with precision. Apparently neither of us paid much or any attention to them growing up. If we do it ourselves we end of with a lot of bags called "parts"!

I pay someone as I'm really not very good at it. Heck I'd be lying if I used the word good in any part of it!

Jermanator · December 2018

Now that I got it figured out, it ain't no thing to do it myself. If I can help it, I will never take another animal to a butcher again.

Jermanator · December 2018

Wambli Ska said:

Never managed to hang on to his Kielbasa for any length of time.

snake284 · December 2018

I haven't used a butcher in 20 years or so. Not that the ones I used weren't good at it, but I always believe you never get your own or even part of your own deer. They get meat in and bone it out and fill orders. That bothers me because when I kill a deer unless I'm horn hunting I choose what I shoot for the best meat. I won't tell you I can do one in an hour. I think it takes me longer. I know my ex can do that, but I'm old. It probably takes me a couple hours to skin and quarter a deer. A hog even longer. I skin with the car. Then I gut, then I quarter. Then I put em in a 150 quart Igloo (No I don't have a Yetti YET!) Then ice 'em down and drain water off for about 5-6 days before I bone it out and put in plastic and freeze it. I can make sausage worth selling. That's my strong point. I smoke it for about 10 hours with Mesquite, Live Oak, and Pecan if I can find it, on a cold night then put the links in freezer bags and freeze it. That and breaded and fried is how we eat 90% of what I kill. I also use Wick Fowler's Two Alarm or nowadays False Alarm Chili Mix since Wick Fowler was kin folks. The only other way I cook deer is BBQed back strap and tenderloin.

snake284 · December 2018

Truthfully I don't know exactly what Kielbasa consists of. I know it looks and tastes a lot like what I make and these German's, Czechs and Polocks around here make. That's what I make and it tastes a lot like it. I'm thinking it's just the Polish name for German-Czeck Sausage. I know what we make down here is awful hard to beat. And add 40%-50% deer to domestic pork (we use pork butt roasts mostly) and it is fit to eat baby.

CaliFFL · December 2018

I do all of my butchering. Not just wild game. Chickens, turkeys, pigs, and the occasional goat. This year was my first elk butchering job. Same as a deer, only bigger.

Someone mentioned grinding taking the longest...I agree. Making sausage takes a while as well.

snake284 · December 2018

Jerm when you get a chance text me.

Six-Gun · December 2018

Usually depends on what part of the season I'm hunting. If it's early archery, I almost have no choice but to pay someone to process it. I have no cold storage to hang or work on the carcass, and temps can be way too high in that regard.

Mid-season, if it's cold enough, it's still a toss up as to how lazy I'm feeling and/or if I want specialty meats like sausage or sticks made.

Late season, when it's super cold and the garage will stay that way for days, I lose my excuses and will usually just gambrel the animal and do it myself.

Zee · December 2018

I gut/skin/quarter/debone/steak all my deer/pigs.

The only thing I have a meat market do is grind or make sausage out of whatever I want.

Used to grind my own. Lost a finger doing it. Now I have someone else do it. More time/cost effective.

bisley · December 2018

I'm not a great butcher, but I do it myself because it insures that the meat has been properly cared for, and that I will be eating the deer that I killed. The 'cuts' may not always be picture perfect, but it is clean, has not been left out in the typically warm weather for too long. The deer that I kill and prepare myself, never taste 'gamy.'

I skin and quarter it immediately, and get it into ice water, quickly. It stays there until most of the blood has leeched out, with the bloody water drained daily, and more ice added. After sloshing around in the back of my pickup for 5-7 days, it has the color of the fresh pork you would buy at the grocery store, and is the perfect temperature for butchering.

When you remove it from the ice water, the meat is firm enough to allow straight cuts, without the meat flopping around. Large pieces at room temperature are hard to cut properly, and keeping it close to a freezing temperature mostly eliminates that problem. Leeching out the blood eliminates most (or all of) the 'gamy' taste that a lot of non-hunting folks sometimes complain about.

My hunting opportunities have always been sporadic, so I'm never dealing with more than two or three whitetails in a year. Even if I shoot a couple of 'big' ones, it is not overwhelming, even with my marginal butchering skills. I have a medium quality grinder for sausage and hamburger, which I use for any meat that is not suitable for steaks or stew meat. I don't make any roasts, because deer roasts are hard to cook well, due to lack of fat. I cut the roasts up into small cubes for stew, and fry it with flour and pork fat before stewing it. I make very good deer stew.

If I were bagging larger animals, like elk, or lots of deer, I would probably have to pay a butcher, to keep up. If I didn't like how that was working out, or if it became too expensive, I would simply reduce my number of kills until I could handle all of the butchering, which I actually kind of enjoy.

For me, making my own ammo, preparing for a successful hunt, and taking care of the meat is part of the total experience, and very important to to me. If I can't do it my way, I just won't do it.

Jermanator · December 2018

I got the grinder attachment for a Kitchenaid mixer and it will grind through a deer in no time. Just make sure the meat is cold-- warm meat doesn't like to grind very well.

Zee · December 2018

cpj said:

Mine has an opening big enough to fit your fist in.

That’s how I lost a finger.

bullsi1911 · December 2018

I do the majority of the processing myself. Gut, skin and quarter the animal, and then process the tenderloins and backstraps into steaks. The parts that takes specialized equipment I outsource to a local butcher shop- grinding, stuffing sausage, smoking and dehydrating they do for me and do a GREAT job.

I am with a lot of people that the big deer processing places probably don’t treat the meat with the respect that I used to do when I did it all myself. Also, they might not get you your exact animal. But I have seen my local shop turn away hunters that bring in animals that he does not think are clean enough to bring into his shop.

Jermanator · December 2018

Normal people do not grind the whole deer. There are steaks and roasts to be had. Round steaks are super easy to do-- cut the bone out from the ham, then cut crosswise into steaks. One of my favorite comfort foods is venison swiss steak, and round steak works the best for that. I leave the shanks whole because they are a pain to bone out, then use them for soups and stews.

bisley · December 2018

Jermanator said:

Normal people do not grind the whole deer. There are steaks and roasts to be had. Round steaks are super easy to do-- cut the bone out from the ham, then cut crosswise into steaks. One of my favorite comfort foods is venison swiss steak, and round steak works the best for that. I leave the shanks whole because they are a pain to bone out, then use them for soups and stews.

I disagree. Normal people process meat according to their own personal preferences. I've known people who grind a whole (domestic) hog, because they love regular sausage and summer sausage, and they already have plenty of cured ham and fresh pork for roasts and chops. I also know people who grind feral hogs, because thy believe the chops, roast, and hams are too lean and tasteless, compared to domestic hogs. Most folks are not gourmet chefs, who want to jump through hoops to improve something that can be easily replaced with another cut of meat.

Northern whitetails may be fine for roasts, for a person who has a gift for enhancing plain, lean meat. But southern whitetails are smaller, and you will look long and hard in the southern states, before you find someone who thinks the roasts are worthwhile, except for stew meat. Most folks I know won't even tackle a domestic pork loin roast, preferring to fry it like chops or schnitzel. Sure, it can be done, but the success rate is not good enough to supplant the Boston Butts, or a good beef roast.

Tastes and circumstances are different, and 'normal' varies, from one place to another, with rural vs urban tastes being a big factor.

Jermanator · December 2018

Bisley-- While I do agree that there is no one good way to do it and that individual tastes and circumstances vary, I was primarily suggesting that Chris is not normal.

bisley · December 2018

Sorry - I certainly didn't want to hi-jack that observation.

Jermanator · December 2018

But seriously, it is all good as long as we aren't wasting anything.

bisley · December 2018

I treat a meat grinder just like I treat a chainsaw.

I just assume that it was invented to hurt people, and feel brave and courageous every time I defeat that intent.

Fisheadgib · December 2018

The first time the folks at my former hunting camp watched me butcher a deer, they stood around drinking beer and making fun of me for putting so much effort into salvaging all the meat. I was trimming the meat off of the neck and they were having a hoot and when I sawed the ribs off, they were almost rolling on the ground laughing. I was taught at a young age to never waste food and I couldn't stand to watch most of them butcher a deer as all they took were the hind quarters and backstraps.

Jay · December 2018

Jeff in TX said:

My father and my buddies father were both butchers at some point when they were growing up. What they could do butchering a deer, cow or hog was pure magic! Their work was flawless and every cut was perfect. They could follow the muscles and bones with precision. Apparently neither of us paid much or any attention to them growing up. If we do it ourselves we end of with a lot of bags called "parts"!

I pay someone as I'm really not very good at it. Heck I'd be lying if I used the word good in any part of it!

Same here. My dad worked in a meat packing plant when he was younger. He's very good at it. Unfortunately, he's also impatient and tends to just kick everyone out of his way and get to work. Therefore, I've never learned much about it. I'm not all that good at skinning and gutting, for that matter.

Jayhawker · December 2018

Skinning them while they are still warm makes that whole process a LOT easier....nothing I hate more than trying wrench the hide off a critter that's been hanging in the cold for a few days. I usually end up using a come-along to get that job done....

Fisheadgib · December 2018

cpj said:

I’ll try to save the ribs if I get one This weekend. I’ll cut them out in one big section. Zero chance I’m boning them out like I’ve watched my dad do. Call me wasteful, but it ain’t worth my time to separate the tiny amount of meat from the membrane and bone.

A sawzall makes it pretty fast and easy to take a deer apart. I cut each side in half and although there isn't much meat on the ribs, the four slabs are enough for a dinner for four people after a few hours on the smoker.

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