Deer Butchering

How does everyone here butcher the deer and get their cuts of meat? i was helping my buddy do it the other day who had never done it before and I started wondering if everyone else does it the same way.

The way I do it is just reach my fingers in between the muscle groups and separate them until i can get it out and then take a fillet knife and remove the silver skin and slime. then chop it into steak sized pieces or throw it in the grind bucket dependin on which cut of meat it is.

I looked up on the internet and found a nifty way that i might try next time where the guy just takes a fillet knife and sticks it all the way to the bone down by the knee and just runs it up the bone to the ball joint where he then just cuts the meat off the bone. it looked like it just unfolded and then was really easy for him to cut the different sections apart. the only thing about this method was that some of the muscle groups would stay together, which i suppose would be fine as long as there is no silver skin between them

Also, does everyone take that slime off? I have heard it makes no real difference in the taste of the meat and if that is true I would be able to save a few extra pounds that I lose from trimming that stuff

 

O.K. here we go.... lol. I have been in the meat business (butcher for lack of better word) for 28 yrs. I also have processed thousands of deer and the easiest way would be to remove the bone first and then seperate the muscle groups. This is how we do this at my shop (basement). on a ham you will end up with these cuts: top round, bottom round, top sirloin, eye round, knuckle. then these will get cleaned up by removing the filmy stuff and the silver. if you follow the natural seams it is really easy. I'm sorry to ramble on but this is what i have done sense i was 18.. Ya im 46 and this is has been my only job. If you need any more info PM me and i will help!

 

Exactly I have been cutting my own meat for 9 years witha man who is like a grandfather to me and he has been a butcher for 45 years.

 

experence is everything! learn everthing you can it will help you in the long run. I process deer for the love of the job (course the money is nice) I just got done cutting up 7 1/2 deer with my brother in 2 1/2 hrs. Too bad its not year round hunting because that works out to 75 bucks a hr. lol

 

I'm a meat cutter too. Manage a butcher shop in South La. We too process alot of deer but majority of customers like smoked sausage. Meatman is right though about deboning first. You can tunnel bone which means find the top of the HQ bone after you've removed it from remainder of carcass. Put blade down length of bone and cut 360 degrees. Do this from top part of bone then lower. Twist the bone and pull the whole thing out. For steaks just cut across the grain of whichever muscle you choose! But I'm sure meatman would agree, if you have a local butcher that you trust and won't try to charge you arm and a leg then bring it to him. Reason I say that is because people are trying to make a living doing it! haha right meatman?

 

LOL! the money dosent hurt but i do it for the love of the business and the apprecation i get from the hunters. Being a butcher years ago was a respected profession but now it is totaly diffrent in the retail grocery business, that it why i love doing this for my fellow hunters. I can offer them a better product and return than the local slaughter houses.

 

If I wasnt a cheap/broke college student I would be more than happy to bring it to a butcher if i trusted him not to rogue some meat from me or give me someone elses deer that possibly wasnt even gutted for days. im sure you guys have seen some pretty rough deer that werent properly cleaned

 

I actually look forward to butchering my animal, I enjoy it in someways its a good way to relax

 

Yeah I have had some pretty nasty ones in which I load it right back into the vehicle I just took it out from! I also enjoy the money but also the bragging rights when it gets cooked up around me. Dang this is good stuff who made it!? But as for me. I eat deer cuts but I think I'd be totally fine if I never ate a piece of smoked sausage again. Lol. September and october I am pumped up. But by January and february i have had enough! Lol

 

I hear ya man it is all part of the hunting experence!

 

Ha ha i say the same thing around late Dec. I do not want to see another deer! But you gotta love the ones that bring a gut shot deer in that is 4 days old and not washed out and expect miracles

 

I had a doctor last year bring me two deer in early november. I say doctor to give you an idea how much education this man has. Anyway he brought em in and was nice enough to have had them deboned. He had killed one Friday evening and thought he'd let it sit out on the porch bc it was cool enough with no ice. Or so he thought. Well his son killed one the next morning and he deboned that one as well and put it in the same ice chest. Still no ice bc he thought it was cool enough. He brought them to me Sunday. I was across the room 15 ft when they opened the ice chest. It was long gone and sadly he had mixed both deer so there was no way to salvage any of it. How cold did it get on that friday!? 65 degrees. Remember I live in south Louisiana. Doesn't get cold here til January! I don't think I'd want a doc like that operating on me

 

Hey Meatman, whereabouts in Western, NC are you? I'm not a hunter, but I'll be headed to Boone in a couple of weekends and wouldn't mind bringing some venison home with me if you got some to spare.

 

Bah HA Ha you know its bad when you can smell it even before the cooler is open! Was he a podiatrist?

 

I do have a little tenderloin left but i live in Murphy about 4 12/ to 5 hrs. from Boone. Sorry I guess i have to grill them for myself

 

Yeah, that's a bit too far for me to travel. I hope you enjoy them! My sister used to live in Cleveland, TN, I think we used to pass through Murphy on our way there.

 

Hell ya you passed right by my house! I live a few miles from the TN. line. Funny thig about this place i used to work for a IGA and would leave the house in N.C. park my truck in TN. and walk across the parking lot to work in GA.

 

Here is a breakdown of a deer ham. bear with me as i did this by myself. It was a little difficult to cut and take pictures at the same time.


I started with a regular ham


Next step was to remove the hip bone. using a good boning knife, feel the blade on the bone and follow the contours. cutting the ligiment of the hip socket helps alot and allows the hip bone to move more freely.



now i clean off the outside of the ham by grabbing and pulling the snotty and sticky stuff and cutting away.


all cleaned up.



Next was to remove the femor bone. using the same teniques as before cut all around the bone to remove. I will start at the joint bone and make a vertical cut the length of the bone and then following the same cut angle the blade under the bone. next i free up the hip joint and this gives you something to hold on to while you are cutting the rest of the meat off the bone.





Next we have to seperate all the major musscle groups. This is the easiest part they can almost be pulled apart by themselves.



After that is done you will need to break the major musscle groups to thier subprimal cuts. When doing this follow the natural seams of the meat. this is the most time consuming part and experence is everything. You should end up with these:


sorry about the shitty paint shop tags.

Once all of the pieces have been removed we will need to clean up each one. I trin off all the silver and any shiny pieces of meat. What gets trimmed off will be used for burger.
now they are ready for the grill, stew or cube steaks if you got the equiptment.


Around 2 lbs. for burger. you can add beef fat, pork fat , but my favorite BACON!



This is my beast!


220 3 phase Hobart mixer/grinder with a capacity of 300 lbs.

I hope this helps someone. I will post a "how to" for the shoulder next if you like.

 

I'm getting hungry..... FIRE UP THE GRILL ... Nice write up guys...