Anyone else butcher?

[DillonG]

I’m happy to say that the Mrs took her first deer over the weekend. My family has a rich tradition of pure DIY during deer season. Including butchering everything ourselves. Just curious what everyone prefers to do when hunting near home.

I have taken deer to a butcher, but have done it myself for over 10 years now. It is extra work, but my wife is willing to assist and I take pride in knowing that animal went from field to freezer without leaving my sight.

 

[375er]

Yep, been doing it for years. Gives me confidence in how the meat was handled and that it is actually the animal I took.

 

[WAB]

We have been butchering for years. We have a fridge dedicated to aging venison. When a deer hits the ground on our farm, it is boned and racked within an hour. Seven days to age and then we butcher, vacuum seal and freeze.

 

[gbflyer]

Wish I was better at it. We end up with the tenderloins, back straps, and burger.

 

[WAB]

Wish I was better at it. We end up with the tenderloins, back straps, and burger.

My wife makes the best steak and Guinness stew I’ve ever had, so our steaks all end up as stew meat.

 

[BnC 04]

We have been processing our game animals for as long as I can remember. Something special in the process that we enjoy as a family.

 

[baxterb]

Unless forcibly made not to, I will always butcher my own animals. It's not that hard, just time-consuming.

 

[baxterb]

Wish I was better at it. We end up with the tenderloins, back straps, and burger.

Most of that meat that ends up as burger should be braised. All those tough roasts that people convince themselves to like should really be braised for 3-4 hours until they fall apart. The cut dictates the cooking method - period.

 

[Ragman]

Yep we sure do. To get a moose cut and wrapped at a meat shop with cost $400-$800 depending on the size of the animal. Roasts, steak, stew meat and burger…moose is too good to make into sausage. We get a lot of that from our deer. I also butcher cattle and hogs for the family.

 

[thriller]

I’m happy to say that the Mrs took her first deer over the weekend. My family has a rich tradition of pure DIY during deer season. Including butchering everything ourselves. Just curious what everyone prefers to do when hunting near home.

I have taken deer to a butcher, but have done it myself for over 10 years now. It is extra work, but my wife is willing to assist and I take pride in knowing that animal went from field to freezer without leaving my sight.

I have never been to a processor in the 20 years I have been hunting. 100+ deer have all been aged processed and fully taken care of by me and my father. I believe you can do it better than any processor ever can given the time and effort.

 

[112Savage]

Bear, deer, rabbits, Turkey, pigs, and squirrels are all done at home. The lambs, goats, and beef are done by a local custom meat processor.

We could do it all ourselves but time figures into a large part of it. The pigs are done one weekend with the whole family and hams are cured on site. I prefer a two year old ham (western Virginia)

 

[mdwest]

I process all of my own game…

And all of my wife’s game lol…

 

[Flipper Dude]

Doe. A deer. A female deer…….

 

[CM McKenzie]

Just got done with an antelope.

 

[G Skinner]

We use to ...then not enough guys would show up .... this year 7 deer ,butcher could not get at them till Monday ... proud of the Guys .... most showed ...7 deer done in 5 hours ... not a record ,,, but we did have fun doing it !

 

[Dukeisok]

My wife is not a fan because of the mess in the basement kitchen, but we process all our animals. Last weekend we processed 3 deer and a hog. Now my son is 15 so I can pass off some work to him. I've never had great luck getting exactly what i want from the local processors. One year they wrote down what i wanted and then lost it. I returned to find they had ground the entire deer, backstraps and all, into sausage.

There is a white oak in the back yard that holds a gambrel nicely and I've accumulated a chamber vacuum sealer and a large grinder to make the work easier. I have enough land that i can bury the bones back in the woods with the skid steer, making sure the animals never leave our property. There is something about pulling an animal off your own land and doing everything with it to feed the family right here. Makes me feel like a pioneer I guess.

 

[Travis Johnson]

We have been butchering for years. We have a fridge dedicated to aging venison. When a deer hits the ground on our farm, it is boned and racked within an hour. Seven days to age and then we butcher, vacuum seal and freeze.

I’ve butchered our animals as well for years, sometimes it’s hard to let age with temperatures, timeline etc. This Year I was able to let deer age for a week. Just wondering do you find a big difference in quality of meat? Taste?

 

[WAB]

I’ve butchered our animals as well for years, sometimes it’s hard to let age with temperatures, timeline etc. This Year I was able to let deer age for a week. Just wondering do you find a big difference in quality of meat? Taste?

Absolutely. Growing up in Canada and then spending most of my career in Wyoming and Alaska, I was used to hanging game outdoors. Retiring to Alabama changed that. I now debone deer out of the back of my tracker directly into a dedicated fridge. Seven days racked makes a huge difference in meat quality.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Huge difference. I keep mine in a cooler off the ice . Can’t leave ‘em hanging outside here in East Texas. Usually process on a Thursday if I took it the previous weekend Would wait longer, but I’m usually headed back out the next day. Back in a tree on Friday afternoon. Mix my ground venison with beef trimmings if I can get them. 80-20. If not, I’ll splurge on a brisket and mix 60-40.

 

[jbirdwell]

We do or own as well. We we’re just doing steak, burger and stew meat but finally bought a sausage stuffer a few years ago and started making our own smoked sausage and deer sticks. Last year I did ground deer bacon for the first time and it turned out great.