Logistics for dropping off game to be cut

[tigger]

I know this is a newbie question, but this will be my first season coming up and I'm a little unsure of how to prep an animal to be dropped off at a game cutters. I'd really like to go out and hopefully get my first deer on my own, but I'm a little confussed as to how it all works. I've been told for big game, in this case deer, it has to be skinned and have the head removed before dropping off. Reading the regs last night it seemed we had to either keep the antlers attached or part of the balls/penis + a patch of the tail or hide. I'd love to hang it myself and even have a go at butchering but I live right smack in the middle of Van, so I don't think it'd be cold enough to hang here, or would it be ok? What does your game look like when you drop it off?
Any help would be great, not the sort of question I can ask co-workers, or is it?.....................nope.
Cheers

[Caveman]

Head in your possesion would be fine, with proof of sex attached to the carcass ( testicle attached in the hide unless you want to skin that as well );). Skinning youself or pay the butcher to do it is up to you for a cost. Trim any dirty stuff away and pick as much loose hair off as you can but even so a good butcher will do the clean-up anyways but you probably want to seem like you took care of it to get it to him. Take it to him as clean as possible. There's lots of articles out there on how to field dress, transport and care for game that you might check out. Get a friend will a little know how to show you the basdics of butchering if you care to do it yourself but you will want it cool enough.

[ratherbefishin]

get a game cutting ''how-to-do'' video and try cutting it yourself-it's really not hard and also part of the hunting experiance.

[Caveman]

get a game cutting ''how-to-do'' video and try cutting it yourself-it's really not hard and also part of the hunting experiance.

Wrap behind someone that's done it works as a good leaning tool as well. That's how I picked it up.

[tomahawk]

Reading the regs last night it seemed we had to either keep the antlers attached or part of the balls/penis + a patch of the tail or hide.

Your absolutely correct, I find it easier to leave the boys toys and a 3" patch of hair.


I'd love to hang it myself and even have a go at butchering but I live right smack in the middle of Van, so I don't think it'd be cold enough to hang here,

As long as the temperature is not warmer than about 6 degrees and you keep some air flow in the hanging area it will be fine. I sometimes hang animals at warmer temps but for a shorter time frame. I watch the meat evryday at least once to see how its doing, if in doubt take it to a cooler to hang.


What does your game look like when you drop it off?


It has all visible hair removed, blood spots removed and any thing other than the actual animal meat parts. Legs are gone below the knee joints and it can be butchered and I would eat it. If you look after your meat from gutting to removal to home and hang it at the right temp it will pay off in taste.

There is much more to game meat care than can be said here so learn all you can and experince from someone who can show you in the field is the best method.

[srupp]

hmmmm if your ever in Williams Lake..I can walk you through it hands on and slowly also set up a video camera and you can review it later..I have taught 20 or so hunters how to debone a big game animal and cut steaks roasts etc etc etc..

Steven

[Steeleco]

or pay the butcher to do it This is getting harder to do in the LM. many cutters have no way of getting rid of the hide/head.

Get yourself some good sized game bags and leave as much as you can in the bush.

[humble hunter]

I don't trust anyone with my game. I would bet if you look around you will find someone (maybe even on this site) that has a meat cooler and will hang your game for a small price. It is most important to keep the meat cool, DO NOT take a chance on hanging it in your garage in Vancouver it is not cold enough and the moisture in the area will probably give you mould. Then either pick up a bandsaw or just bone out the animal, it is way easier than you think. If you are going to get serious about hunting you might want to invest in some equipment. I have everything a butcher has at home here, including a meat cooler, grinder, and butcher boy band saw. Keep your eyes out for a butcher shop going out of business or watch the buy and sell in the food equipment. I picked up our bandsaw and grinder for $400.00 bucks from a butcher going out of business.

[Caveman]

This is getting harder to do in the LM. many cutters have no way of getting rid of the hide/head.

The joys of living out there. Can't you put them in the neighbors flower bed, you know the one with the cat that Sh*ts in yours..:cool:

[Steeleco]

The joys of living out there. Can't you put them in the neighbors flower bed, you know the one with the cat that Sh*ts in yours..:cool:

I like your thinking!! My neighbours give me lots of space, they know I feed raw bear/deer scraps to my puppy!!!:eek::eek: 100 lb Rottie ;)

Tigger, find yourself a butcher BEFORE you get out in the field. Go have a yap with him/her, ask lots of questions. If they'll take the time to help you out, they deserve your business. They'll let you know what they can do and won't do.

Use the search here on the site for "butcher" those of us that have been here a while have had lots to say about the topic.

[Mr. Dean]

If you live in Van, Go to Reliable Gun and buy "Deer Processing 101"
It's an instructional DVD that's worth WAY more that the $20 it sells for.

It covers (in detail) what needs to be done the split second after the trigger is pulled, to wrapping up the steaks. EVERYTHING!

Gutting, skinning, caping for mount, cooling reguirements, butchering...


EVERYTHING!!!!!!

[hunter1947]

Head in your possesion would be fine, with proof of sex attached to the carcass ( testicle attached in the hide unless you want to skin that as well );). Skinning youself or pay the butcher to do it is up to you for a cost. Trim any dirty stuff away and pick as much loose hair off as you can but even so a good butcher will do the clean-up anyways but you probably want to seem like you took care of it to get it to him. Take it to him as clean as possible. There's lots of articles out there on how to field dress, transport and care for game that you might check out. Get a friend will a little know how to show you the basdics of butchering if you care to do it yourself but you will want it cool enough.
Caveman has perty well summed up you question in my books ,he has taken the words right out of my mouth http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif.

[bighornbob]

We usually skin and butcher everything our selves. There have been a few times when its been close to 30 degrees opening day in Kelowna so we have had to take stuff to the butcher just for hanging. We hang the deer and skin it right to the lower jaw. So basically only the head has hide left attched. Lower legs are also removed (this is usually done in the woods).

My dad would then take his knife and basically cut around the neck all the way down to the bone. The cut would be made as high up on the neck right beside the hide that we left on. We then would lay the deer down on a tarp or sheet of plastic for the 5 minute trip to the butchers. Once the butcher saw the deer (i.e. mule deer with antlers ) dad would just twist the head off with maybe a full turn no knife required as only a few tendons are holding the head on.

This way if you are stopped anywhere in your travels there is still proof of sex (the anters) and proof of species (the unskinned head) left attached to the carcass, yet the heads comes off quite easy with just a twist.

Hope this helps you out.

BHB

[pupper]

Videos are very helpful, here is an article to get you started:
http://www.huntingtipsandtricks.com/a/How_to_gut_and_skin_a_deer

[Leaseman]

If you get the chance, take SRUPP up on his offer...he is unbelievable?

He will also keep you in "stitches".....;-)

[Deerwhacker]

I butcher all of my own animals and i never realy had anyone to show me anything.All i learned was from a couple of vidios and i was good to go, adn as for hanging i have never hung any of my animals for a secoond and all the meat is tender as can be i honestly dont see the point in hanging.

[tigger]

SRUPP, I'd love to take you up on the offer if I'm ever up that way. Being down on the coast with work and all, local area's might be my only option. I'm interested in Deerwhackers comments about hanging though. Seriously, does anyone else not hang there meat? It'd make it a lot easier but I've never really heard of that. As for the video 101 about deer butchering, consider it sold, great idea.
Man.... I cannot wait until the season opens, I am so jazzed. Any spare time I have is spent researching, watching video's and daydreaming about being in the field. Wasn't more than a few months ago, before I inherited my dads Husky, I hadn't even given hunting much thought. Spent lots of time in the bush and the backroads, but never hunted.
Now I'm obsessed! Wooohooo!!!!:grin: :grin: :grin:

[Leaseman]

With deer, in my 30+ years of butchering them, I have never hung them longer than the trip length (usually a weekend trip) and butchered the next day...have been told by many butchers and biologists that they don't need to hang except for the 24-48 hours for rigor to set up, then release~!

Moose on the other hand, I hang em for 10 days usually.....

[MichelD]

I live in Vancouver and butcher at home. The last deer I had hung at a cooler in Quesnel for a week while I hunted moose and the couple before that I hung in camp so that when I got home it was time to butcher.

I've hung 'em in the garage or even laid elk quarters on the garage floor for for a day or two as well.

[freeman6]

Question for you guys that don't hang your meat.

If there wasn't a benefit to hanging, do you think that the meat processing plants would still do it? You gotta remember that having beef or other animals hanging in a refrigrated cooler costs them money in inventory and storage space. And those guys are all about profit margin.

You better believe there is a benefit to having meat cool out and hang. If you are happy with the way things have turned out for you without hanging it, great, maybe it doesn't make much difference if all you are doing is sausage, but I don't think you will be disapointed if you cool and hang your meat either.

[Conrad74]

Checkout youtube -I was surprised at the amount of deer butchering videos on there

[Mr. Dean]

Checkout youtube -I was surprised at the amount of deer butchering videos on there

I've seen several productions but the one I mentioned, has far been the best.

If anyone has seen mine (Deer Processing 101) and knows of another that's better - PM me the title and where to buy it.
Thanks.

[hunter1947]

I have butchered up lots of game animals over my hunting days. I never get it perfect ,but close ,if you get a chart on your cuts thats all you need to have in order to cut up your own animal. Lets face it ,it all goes down the same hole.;-). I have never had a bad cut that i know of when eating a game animal that i have cut up and put in the freezer.http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif.

[JoshLedoux]

I live in east van and have never had a problem with the temperature in my garage for hanging deer. I've only done about 9 or 10 now still have years to go. but its always been cold enough. After learning to do it myself from the older generation I would never take meat to a cutter.

[sealevel]

You should start prepairing to process your own animals . It will soon be illegal for a licenced meatcutter to except an uninspected animal . I`am not sure how this will effect wild game .

[tigger]

Thanks for all the relpy's, I'm thinking this is what'll happen.... I'll hang in my shop for a couple of days, hopefully it'll be cool enough and if not, I'll cut it up sooner. If I throw a fan in the window at night to keep the air moving would that be suficient? Also, my roomates use the back of the shop as storage, hanging shouldn't generate any smell should it? I'm pretty sure it shouldn't, and if it does I'm doing something very wrong. Oh, lastly, does anyone bleed their game? I've heard mixed thoughts on this as well.

[Mr. Dean]

A thermometer will tell ya if it's cool enough
Yes, there is a distinct scent of hung Deer
Bullet wound will bleed the meat

[Leaseman]

We always hang with a fan...for butchering moose we hang until the ribs start to get a little tcky to the touch....give everything a good wipe down with vinagear and water and butcher away...doesn't matter what you hang, you always will have the smell that lingers for a couple of days....:wink:

[KevinB]

Hi Tigger, there's some great info here so far for you. Some good advice was given to locate a butcher beforehand, and to check ahead to see what they want to have you show up with. Some will even skin for you but not if they are really busy. At a bare minimum you have to comply with all of the posession and transportaion regs (the evidence of sex and species stuff, etc). The butcher might not care but a CO sure will. If you think it might be too warm out to hang the deer yourself at home, it probably is - go with your gut feeling and take it straight to a butcher or at the least to a meat cooler - you won't go wrong with getting it to a cooler ASAP. Or cut it up right away. A thermometer can be a handy and cheap investment. A deer can take a lot longer to cool than you might think especially if is in an enclosed area - a deer from last fall that I hung at -10 to -12 for a week before it started to freeze a bit. Most butchers do not appreciate a carcass covered with sticks, mud, hair, etc. - basically, have it look pretty clean, pick off as much of the stray hairs as you can (within reason), trim off the bloodshot meat if possible. Don't get too crazy, it is after all a deer, but nevertheless do as good a job as you can.

If you do want to make a go at butchering a deer yourself, here are some more good links:

First a couple of articles I like, the first is about butchering venison, and the second is about cooking it. I like that the author stresses that venison and beef are different and should be treated differently - what works well for beef might not work so well for wild meat. He also talks about the hanging/aging thing.

http://www.huntinfo.com/fields1.htm

http://www.huntinfo.com/fields2.htm

This site describes more or less similar procedures as the above articles, but it has pretty good pictures:
http://www.eckrich.org/

I also have a great video that shows the process of butchering a deer using just a boning knife - again similar to the above articles but with the added bonus of being able to actually watch someone doing it. Problem is I have lost the link to the site where I saved it from, and it is 27MB so waaaay to big to post. Youtube has a bunch of videos and some are okay.

I see a lot of crappy articles about butchering venison, and it seems like the only thing they did was grab a beef or pork butchering article and change the title. I don't see any good reason (except for ease and speed)at all to use a bandsaw on a deer. All I use is a 6 cheap boning knife for all of the cutting. Using a bandsaw tends to smear bone and bone marrow all over the meat, which in my experience results in a lot of the "gamey" venison flavours that you always hear about. Beef on the other hand is fine with this since the fat and bone marrow are very mild. For grinding burger - a hand operated crank type works fine, but you'll get a sore arm. Otherwise just get sausage make out of the pile of meat/scraps that you would otherwise grind.

Here is a good article about field dressing/quartering a deer without gutting, but if you gut it first (I'd recommend doing thast the first few times, at least) pretty much everything else is still the same. This can come in handy if you shoot a deer pretty far from your vehicle:
http://www.huntingnut.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=27

Good luck!

[KevinB]

Bullet wound will bleed the meat

Yup - unless you did a head or other CNS shot, it is blood loss that kills the deer anyways and it will be pretty much bled out. Things don't bleed much once the heart stops beating, there is no blood pressure and they just leak a bit from gravity.

[tomahawk]

This site describes more or less similar procedures as the above articles, but it has pretty good pictures:
http://www.eckrich.org/


This site is great for doing the hind quarters especially, I used to cut what I saw on the charts like what was mentioned earlier but after finding this site you will have the hind in Top and Bottom rounds, Sirloins and Rumps and be much happier with consistent cuts everytime.

[humble hunter]

Every one has there own way of cutting up meat (either boning it out or with a band saw). I do both depending on the size and quantity of animals we have hanging. If it is just one or two deer then we bone it but add a couple of elk or a moose and the bandsaw comes out. I have never had gamey meat from either. The most important thing is prior to cutting it. Field dressing to make sure it completely clean not one speck of stomach contents. (if you unfortunately hit the bag) and all the bloody areas are cleaned up. The next thing is the hanging. Please do not make the mistake of hanging it in your garage in Vancouver. It is too moist in the air and you will get mould. This year we harvested 2 bull elk in September and hung them in the meat cooler. When we were hanging the elk at 4am on return, we took them out of our refrigerated trailer and put them into my meat cooler at home, we unfortunately smashed the thermometer. I forgot to get a new one and got called into work for a few days. I called my wife and she said the cooler was running and it was cold in there. When I returned I put the new thermometer in there and it read 40 degrees. I suspect one of my lovely kids messed with it in the off season and the next day I had it down to 34 but the next day mould showed up and we ended up losing one of the elk. Needless to say we felt terrible. All that to say it had been raining outside the whole time and we were only off by 6 degrees and we lost an elk because of it. Do not take chances on this.

[KevinB]

That's a bummer Humble. I agree that humidity is really important, in addition to temperature - you can probably get away with a bit more temperature fluctuations if your humidity is kept low. But I still butcher my deer right away if I have any doubt about the temperature, so far I've always had time to do it if I needed to. If I didn't I'd be taking it to a butcher, heck I'd even let their bandsaw touch it if it meant getting it cooled down!

[Caveman]

That's a bummer Humble. I agree that humidity is really important, in addition to temperature - you can probably get away with a bit more temperature fluctuations if your humidity is kept low. But I still butcher my deer right away if I have any doubt about the temperature, so far I've always had time to do it if I needed to. If I didn't I'd be taking it to a butcher, heck I'd even let their bandsaw touch it if it meant getting it cooled down!

Pick up a cheap 2nd hand window mount air conditioner and a milk crate. Prop it up pointing at the deer, a couple feet away. you'll be surprised how cool and dry it will keep it.

[Steeleco]

Pick up a cheap 2nd hand window mount air conditioner and a milk crate. Prop it up pointing at the deer, a couple feet away. you'll be surprised how cool and dry it will keep it.

Cool idea. (no pun intended!!) I'll have to keep my eyes peeled come garage sale time. See them quite a bit in driveways, although now I want one :roll::roll:

[KevinB]

Now that sounds like a pretty good idea.

[tomahawk]

When I returned I put the new thermometer in there and it read 40 degrees. I suspect one of my lovely kids messed with it in the off season and the next day I had it down to 34 but the next day mould showed up and we ended up losing one of the elk.

That's a tough one, it sounds like you checked it when you returned and it was okay, then the next day it was 34 and okay and then the next day it was mouldy and you ended up losing it?
From my experience 1 day doesn't create enough mould to have to toss an animal, usually some vinegar and water will wash it off and if it was missed for some time and the mould was deeper than you thought, you can cut the outer layer off till it is good meat and nothing wrong with eating it at all. I had a Rosie hanging for 3 days with surface mould and did that to it and it was great. Just a thought for you if it ever happens again.

[Spuddge]

If you live in Van, Go to Reliable Gun and buy "Deer Processing 101"
It's an instructional DVD that's worth WAY more that the $20 it sells for.

It covers (in detail) what needs to be done the split second after the trigger is pulled, to wrapping up the steaks. EVERYTHING!

Gutting, skinning, caping for mount, cooling reguirements, butchering...


EVERYTHING!!!!!!
Just went to reliable and picked up the DVD, will watch it tonight (it's over 3 hours long, can't wait). thanks for the tip!

[Mr. Dean]

Just went to reliable and picked up the DVD, will watch it tonight (it's over 3 hours long, can't wait). thanks for the tip!

Yes, it is very in depth.
They coulda spent a few extra $$$ on production, but its a quality show regardless.

The one they have out on sausage making is worth while also... If you're making sausage.

[Glenny]

Tigger.
Don't just have one butcher. Make sure you have back up or alternatives. A couple of times my favourite cutter couldn't take my game and I was left scrambling to find one. Have a back up or 2 for sure. G

[sawmill]

Every one has there own way of cutting up meat (either boning it out or with a band saw). I do both depending on the size and quantity of animals we have hanging. If it is just one or two deer then we bone it but add a couple of elk or a moose and the bandsaw comes out. I have never had gamey meat from either. The most important thing is prior to cutting it. Field dressing to make sure it completely clean not one speck of stomach contents. (if you unfortunately hit the bag) and all the bloody areas are cleaned up. The next thing is the hanging. Please do not make the mistake of hanging it in your garage in Vancouver. It is too moist in the air and you will get mould. This year we harvested 2 bull elk in September and hung them in the meat cooler. When we were hanging the elk at 4am on return, we took them out of our refrigerated trailer and put them into my meat cooler at home, we unfortunately smashed the thermometer. I forgot to get a new one and got called into work for a few days. I called my wife and she said the cooler was running and it was cold in there. When I returned I put the new thermometer in there and it read 40 degrees. I suspect one of my lovely kids messed with it in the off season and the next day I had it down to 34 but the next day mould showed up and we ended up losing one of the elk. Needless to say we felt terrible. All that to say it had been raining outside the whole time and we were only off by 6 degrees and we lost an elk because of it. Do not take chances on this.

If you had mould but no rotten smell all you need to do is wipe it down with viniger,most times mould is just surface ,the acid in the vin kills it dead.The temp. you say was not warm enough to spoil the meat,unless it was hanging for a real long time.

[FLHTCUI]

Was at Ennis Farms in Langley for a P?U and they had a sign on the counter
skinning is extra :100.00 for deer
:200.00 for moose
and I forget what they want for a bear.
There was also a front half and arear half of a moose with hide attached and lots of hair on the visible meat. So call up a game cutter and ask them for some assistance, but so you know they are pretty busy at this time of the year ...
Hopefully yo have gleaned enough info from this thread to have answered your original question.
Rob