butchering a deer

[WOLVERINE-RIDER]

My dad was a butcher with safeway for 30 years and now he kills and cuts beef for a local farmer> I don't ever have to take my meat anywhere but to dad's house> Gotta love it. If we shoot an animal a long way back in the middle of butt f&^#k nowhere he bones it out on the spot and we pack less than half of what most would have to pack out. it's funny how a guy packs his hunting gear and it's mostly knifes and cheesecloth and steels and crap. Mine is calls and warmer clothes and more camo and dirty mags and stuff I really didn;t need but it was cool looking. He is since retired(sort of) and hopes to open his own custom game cutting shop in the near future in nanaoose bay.

[eaglesnester]

I d-bone in the field and take out just the meat. Leave the bones in the field for the wolves. I allow no hair to get on the meat, remove the organs carefully as well as the colon and urinary tract with bladder in tact. By doing this I can avoid potentially unsanitary conditions that I have observed at some meat processors (I was a health inspector in the US Navy). I also do not like the taste of bone dust or fat in my meat, it makes deer taste wild. When you process your own you know you do not have to worry about getting your own meat back. I just plain do not trust commercial meat cutters to process my wild game. Cheers and Happy Hunting: Eaglesnester

[Lingcod]

You don' t know what your missing if you don't properly hang and age your meat

[3kills]

wild game doesnt have to be hanged and aged....

[rollingrock]

Bones make good soup. I make most meat into jerky, some premium parts either go as steaks or bbq. No sausage.

[Blktail]

I butcher my own. It is really simple. Cut all the meat from the bone. Cut all the dirty or ugly pieces away and discard. Romove all fat, lymph, nerve and blood vessel tissue from what remains. Tie the big pieces into roast. Cut peices like the straps into steakk or roast. Prime trimmings are stew and the rest is burger or sausage meat. It easier than it sounds.

I have found that removing all traces of bone, fat, lymph, nerve and blood vessel makes the meat very mild, plus it will last beyond 3 years in the freezer if well wrapped. Bone in it is marginal past 6 months by my delicate palate.

[one-shot-wonder]

wild game doesnt have to be hanged and aged....

Care to elaborate?

I always have hanged and aged my meat.....

[3kills]

its good to hang it but u dont have to hang it as long...u can cut a deer after one day of hanging....

[one-shot-wonder]

its good to hang it but u dont have to hang it as long...u can cut a deer after one day of hanging....

Sure you could cut a deer after one day hanging but I have found the extra week to ten days in an ideal temperature range makes the meat that much more palatable.......Not buying it

[3kills]

it doesnt take as long for deer to go through the stages of rigor as it would a beef....and the fact of less fat has a lot to do with it too....u dont have to buy it if u dont want but thats what i was taught in the butcher course...maybe they fed me a load of bullshit and some of the other pro butchers here can correct me....