Wlfdg

I butcher myself. It just seems like the right thing to do. I know I am getting everything. I hunt as much or more for economics as enjoyment. Mostly I hunt for health. Organic meat is insanely expensive!

tastyvenison

I agree on the quality control issue. I had never been happy with what came back from the processors place. Most of it tasted terrible. They used saws and didn't trim the meat.

I bone all of my whitetail meat and trim all of the tallow and sinew. It makes a world of difference.

I stopped taking mine to the processors about 20 years ago and have never looked back.

The only time I will take an animal in now is when I shoot a Texas exotic and it is too hot to get to it right away. I have a processor in town I trust and it is pretty hard to mess up an exotic since the fat on an exotic doesn't render a gamey taste like it does with a whitetail.

Jeff
Mountain Home, TX

grunt

I used to process all deer myself. Now 1 wife and 2 kids later, I just don't seem to have the time, plus my garage is so cluttered I just don't have a place to do it. Everything I did myself seemed to be much better because I definitely took care to trim it well. Anyone have tips on how to make the old lady believe it is time well spent? Also any tips on how to easily set up a garage in a clean and efficient way to make it not be such a time consuming task?

Steve863

It is surely time consuming. There is NO way around that. I think those who have never processed their own deer don't appreciate the fact that the real work starts AFTER you down a deer! I think it is more than worth it, however. I don't think I ever saw a meat processor that I considered good. To them it's a volume business and they will not take the extra time to do it the proper way for you. Like others have mentioned, the only 100% way to know you are eating your own venison is to process it yourself. Plus, like everything else it seems, the cost of butchers is going sky high. Just not worth it in my opinion for the lousy job they typically do.

tastyvenison

It is easy to convince my wife because it saves money when I do it myself and that leaves more money for her scrapbooking.

I bought one of those cheap counter tops from Lowe's that comes with a backsplash and I sit that on top of my work bench to use as a processing surface. They clean up real easy and when I am finished I wipe it down with a clorox wipe.

I picked up industrial sized plastic wrap and wrapping paper from Costco. The wrapping paper I have hanging on a wooden dowel so I can just peel off what I need.

To save time, I separate the meat into the major muscle groups and wrap them whole (except the backstraps, I cut them in half). That way I can decide later if I want to make steaks out of a particular cut, or if I want to roast the piece as it is.

If you don't feel like grinding the meat when you are processing it, you can wrap the meat chunks and label it as grind meat and grind it later when you need it. I have done this when I am tired and trying to save time but I really prefer to just grind it and get it out of the way.

You don't have to get too finicky about trimming the meat as you are processing it. Make sure you get the major fat off of it. You can do the fine trimming after you thaw the piece out. Just make sure you remove it before you cook it.

Jeff

grs00

I process my own. I also get help from my wife and kids. It really is not that hard. I also have a hand grinder and a vaccum sealer.

frocb

My butcher shop is at my dad's place. The only thing we get processed at a butchers is deer bologna. Haven't been able to find a recipe to come close to the local butcher yet.

bhunter50

I am a do-it yourselfer. I usually will take one deer a year to the locker for salami, but I usually process my own deer. I like to trim my meat myself and clean it properly, as I haven't found a local locker that does a good job at either of these things, IMO.

fastetti

Usually do it my father and I usually do it ourselves. Over the past 15 years we've figured out a good method. He's good at deboning and I'm pretty good at skinning and quartering. Usually when we get going, we can get a full deer done in a little over an hour. If we get more than 2 deer, one usually goes to the butcher and is turned entirely into ground,deer sticks andsalami, other than the tenderloins. We found a good butcher that we know is very careful about using the deer you brought in. It's a 3 hour ride round trip to get him the deer, but a year worth of quality salami and deer sticks is well worth the drive.

UncleNorby

I would have a hard timegetting a wholedeer processed for bologna. Too many good cuts wasted, IMO. I would consider taking the trim meat from several deer to a processor though. I generally take 4-5 per year.