Game Processing

[Creature Meadow]

Good afternoon from soggy NC, our deer season is nearing an end, bout 3 weeks left.

Curious how many process their own game or do you carry it somewhere to have it done?

Too me processing it is as much fun as actually hunting or planting food plots, scouting, etc.

My friends and I all debone and cut up our venison and freeze it. After the season we all get together and process it.

My process is to cube up the parts I want to grind then soak in water for 7 to 10 days, pouring off the water each morning and night. I add a little salt and vinegar each time after I pour off the water and add new.

I have 2 in the cooler now I'm working on, need 11 more and I will be set.

Below are pics of how I package for freezing, by laying it flat it thaws easier. For grinding I find that about 75% thawed processes the best through the grinder. My grinder is 1.5 hp that can grind 15 to 20 pounds a minute, one of my best investments.

My local butcher charges $1.00 a pound to grind if it is ready for processing.

Paid $375.00 for the grinder 10 years ago, paid for it's self in 2 years based on how much I process each year for just myself.

We will have 8 to 10 of us processing first week of January after the season. A good year we will be processing 500 pounds.

I use pork fat for my sausage and beef fat for burger.

Lean=96/4-Tacos, spaghetti, chili, meaty cheese dips, lasagna, etc.
Burgers=90/10
Sausage=70/30

I created a spreadsheet where I enter my venison weight and it calculates how much fat is needed. This way year to year my meat is the same.

So do you process your own venison?

 

[RCW]

I have never sent one away for processing.

As a kid, we never made sausage, ground, did jerky from venison. I don't think I could come up with good enough product to do that at home. Honestly, don't care for most of that stuff anyway.

All that didn't work into roasts or steaks was done into stew. (My daughters love venison speidies, a regional marinated meat recipe)

I've done the same since. It takes some work, but it works for me. Like they say about pigs...we can eat everything except for the squeal...

 

[Eldubya]

Have always done my own, from start to finish. You're right, it is a part of the fun of hunting and camaraderie.
I've never heard of soaking your meat prior to processing? I presume it's kept refrigerated the entire time. What does it do to the meat?

 

[RCW]

I've never heard of soaking your meat prior to processing? I presume it's kept refrigerated the entire time. What does it do to the meat?

We used to water/salt quarters, etc. to draw blood out. Keep it in a cool place in a bucket.

Worked good for road-kill. (Yes, we would bring home road kill...if fresh....). Never used vinegar.

When I was 12 years old, one of my grandfathers used to brag to his buddies his grandson could gut/skin/cut up/wrap/freeze a deer faster than any of them...

He was right...

 

[Creature Meadow]

Have always done my own, from start to finish. You're right, it is a part of the fun of hunting and camaraderie.
I've never heard of soaking your meat prior to processing? I presume it's kept refrigerated the entire time. What does it do to the meat?

I soak it so the blood can drain from the meat. Butchers hang meat in coolers to do the same thing and age it.

I don't have a cooler so I use the fridge and containers.

I believe that allowing the blood to drain from the meat produces a better product and flavor.

We love venison jerky, have 3 smokers we use. I cut a hickory tree and use it to smoke the jerky. The fresh cut tree, green if you will makes big coals to use. Have 55 gallon drum with a hole cut it the side near the bottom and rebar run through the barrel. The wood sits on the rebar then the coals drop to the bottom for scooping out and placing in the smokers.

One of the below seasoned in the fridge for 3 days. Fill container with water add sliced venison and spices, soak. Easy to do but takes some time to smoke.
Spicy
Cajun
Teriyaki

I do buy meat from the store but venison, rabbits, ducks, beavers, squirrels, bear, doves, frog legs, and farm pond bream and crappie are a big part of what we eat.

 

[bearbait]

It was a good day today, had a moose burger for lunch and we had a deer roast for supper. I always skin and prepare my own then take it to the butcher to have him hang it and cut it. The highlight of the season was having a feed of deer heart and deer liver along with a couple cold ones with my hunting buddies.

 

[bucktail]

I've always cut my owner. I was a little short this year so I mixed the grind with 73 27 beef I saw the bones and cook them off in a 20 quart stock pot. I throw the silver skin in with the bones as long as it isn't bloodshot.

 

[boz1989]

I'm cheap, so I cut my own, bought a nice grinder a couple years ago, along with a vacuum sealer.

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[Creature Meadow]

It was a good day today, had a moose burger for lunch and we had a deer roast for supper. I always skin and prepare my own then take it to the butcher to have him hang it and cut it. The highlight of the season was having a feed of deer heart and deer liver along with a couple cold ones with my hunting buddies.

Moose, I would trade lots of deer for some moose, never had it.

 

[8upbowhunter]

I have always butchered my own. Soak in ice water draining daily for 4-5 days. Built a smokehouse some 25-30 years ago and make my own sausage and other smoked products. I used 40% deer, 40% pork and 20% pork fat for my sausage. Just made sausage recently but don’t have any pics on my phone anymore.


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[NoJacketRequired]

How big are your deer, CM? I'm getting the idea they must be a fair bit smaller than ours are here.

We had been paying the local butcher shop to cut and double-wrap our venison for a number of years. This past September a tornado took out the little strip mall that housed our butcher shop, so my buddy and I started processing our own. No big deal.

One thing we've found is that our meat tastes best and is the most tender if an absolute minimum of time passes between the animal standing alive and the meat being packaged and frozen. Ideally it should all happen in the same day. We also spend a lot of time removing fat and sinew as they contribute greatly to the "wild" flavour of the meat that some people find objectionable.

 

[Creature Meadow]

How big are your deer, CM? I'm getting the idea they must be a fair bit smaller than ours are here.

We had been paying the local butcher shop to cut and double-wrap our venison for a number of years. This past September a tornado took out the little strip mall that housed our butcher shop, so my buddy and I started processing our own. No big deal.

One thing we've found is that our meat tastes best and is the most tender if an absolute minimum of time passes between the animal standing alive and the meat being packaged and frozen. Ideally it should all happen in the same day. We also spend a lot of time removing fat and sinew as they contribute greatly to the "wild" flavour of the meat that some people find objectionable.

Our deer are not very big, 10 to 15 of us pitch in $20 to a pot for the highest scoring buck and the heaviest doe.

Leader board to date in 132" B&C scale and 126.5# doe on foot weight.

Last year a 126# even won the pot for the weight of a doe. Our average doe weighs in from 100 to 115.

The heaviest buck I have ever weighed from NC was 185, a 5 1/2 year old 10 pt. My biggest was an 180# 4 1/2 year old 8 pt scoring 116 gross.

 

[bearbait]

Moose, I would trade lots of deer for some moose, never had it.

I hate to say it and will probably take some heat for it but in my opinion moose is even better than deer. If I had some way of getting some to you I would. I guess you'll have to take your vacation in the northeast this year.

 

[skeets]

I agree moose is more like beef. In MHO. WHen I go to the GWN some where I get invited to dinner with some folks I have met and become friends with. And I have had moose just about every way you can think of, and it was good!

 

[Creature Meadow]

BB, thank you kind sir but no trip to the NE this year.

I'll be in Illionis next November bow hunting for a week, bout far as I make it north.

I have friends that travel to Canada duck hunting every few years. They talk about how beautiful the country is.

 

[bearbait]

You're welcome my friend. A bow hunting trip sounds good, season is done here for this year. Good luck and let us know how you do.

 

[bucktail]

I run the cheap northern tool grinder and have had good luck with it so far. I bought a foot pedal for it from Harbor Freight. I prefer the one without the detent. I bought a burger bag stuffing tube and grind straight into the burger bags. I use a 7mm screen. The most I've ever processed in a year is an elk and a deer. Usually it's just a deer, so I expect the cheap grinder to last a while.

 

[skeets]

The EX wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer years ago.. so she got one, never used it,, and one day I was at a yard sale. I picked up one of those grinders attachment for it. I cannot tell you how many critters i ground up with that thing, it was slow but did a fine job and the kids loved watching meat go in and burger come out

 

[NoJacketRequired]

Our deer are not very big, 10 to 15 of us pitch in $20 to a pot for the highest scoring buck and the heaviest doe.

Leader board to date in 132" B&C scale and 126.5# doe on foot weight.

Last year a 126# even won the pot for the weight of a doe. Our average doe weighs in from 100 to 115.

The heaviest buck I have ever weighed from NC was 185, a 5 1/2 year old 10 pt. My biggest was an 180# 4 1/2 year old 8 pt scoring 116 gross.

Hmmm... I'm wondering if I should write anything in response as it will likely seem more like I'm boasting, or full of BS!

My first buck was an over-mature 8 pointer. He weighed 216lbs field dressed (still with head/hide/legs on). My last buck taken with a primitive muzzle loader was a bit of a monster at 198lbs on the butcher's hook - that's no head/hide/legs, just the carcass ready to be cut. A good doe here will run 160-180lbs field dressed, while a yearling doe will be in the 100-120lb range.

It seems the further north one goes the larger the whitetails get. I guess that's one little tradeoff we get in compensation for freezing our butts off when we go hunting!

 

[sheepfarmer]

What do you guys have to do to avoid TB and chronic wasting disease in your deer? Lucky us we have both diseases locally, and there are DNR testing locations where they are collecting heads for testing.