Butchering Deer Help Please
#11
RE: Butchering Deer Help Please
You'll get lots of different opinion posts on this topic.
I do all my own - and have for years.
Dont hang a deer for more than a day if its over 40. If its over 50 - processs it right away.
You can hang a deer hide on for several days - if the temperatures are 25-40 degrees and it is a good thing. But you can just as easily debone - and trim - and then age your lean deer cuts in a refigerator at a constant 37 degrees for 5-10 days. I prefer aging meat with no fat, bones, tallow or tendons to contribute their taste.
Sometimes I do this - other times I cut and freeze as soon as possible - and then take the meat out of the freezer several days before eating and let it "age" a few days after thawing.
FH
I do all my own - and have for years.
Dont hang a deer for more than a day if its over 40. If its over 50 - processs it right away.
You can hang a deer hide on for several days - if the temperatures are 25-40 degrees and it is a good thing. But you can just as easily debone - and trim - and then age your lean deer cuts in a refigerator at a constant 37 degrees for 5-10 days. I prefer aging meat with no fat, bones, tallow or tendons to contribute their taste.
Sometimes I do this - other times I cut and freeze as soon as possible - and then take the meat out of the freezer several days before eating and let it "age" a few days after thawing.
FH
#14
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blossvale, New York
Posts: 21,199
RE: Butchering Deer Help Please
First off, you don't need a saw. You don't want bone chips in your meat and besides that it's another thing to clean. Farm Hunter is pretty good on temperatures and when to do it. I have skinned and deboned a lot of deer with in an hour of killing them. Just depends on the weather and cooler availability. I hang 'em, skin 'em and debone them where they hang. When I've got all the meat off I bust up the carcass with a big pair of limb loppers. As far as supplies, it depends on how you do it. I've started vaccum packing all mine. I don't mess with a lot of garbage meat anymore. I do my backstraps and steaks and make some stew packages. I just gather up a few pounds of good scrap and have someone do the sausage and stuff for me.
#15
RE: Butchering Deer Help Please
I know some ppl suggest letting it hang with the skin on and I couldn't disagree more. I have never been able to taste the difference between one that hung for a couple days and one that was butchered right away. I have always been told that the best thing to do is to cool the meat down as soon as possible. So when i get it home the first thing i do is spray the carcass clean with cold water, then skin it. When they are still a little warm you can almost peel them like a banana and the skin comes off nice a clean. Once they get cold and frozen, skinning them is long, difficult and tedeious. But that's just my 2 cents.
As for essential supplies most of the basics have been covered. If you can afford it I would strongly suggest investing in an electric grinder and a vacuum sealer. They will pay for themselves in a year of butchering your own and not going to the butcher. Plus they make everything so much neater and more convienent.
As for essential supplies most of the basics have been covered. If you can afford it I would strongly suggest investing in an electric grinder and a vacuum sealer. They will pay for themselves in a year of butchering your own and not going to the butcher. Plus they make everything so much neater and more convienent.