Breaking Down Deer - Some Basics
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smokinbubba I don’t think people realize the actual weight after processing. Are you going out next week?
GWG8541 I am not. I usually don’t take gun week off. I will take the 450bm out for the bonus weekend in a couple weeks. That’s usually all I need to top off the freezer. I’m starting to pressure can this season just to free up some freezer space.
R U going out? -
Just posting some pictures of recent deer butchering.
The deer was shot 36 hours ago and field dressed at that time. The carcass hung overnight in 28 degree outdoor temperatures and was just starting to freeze in some of the smaller parts.
The following morning (24 hours ago) I skinned it, cut out the back straps and quartered it before carrying it home and putting it in the refrigerator.
At this point, all the quarters and trim on this doe that fit in a single heaping full meat lug. As a point of comparison, the buck I shot earlier filled up 2 and 1/2 meat lugs.
This morning I broke down the hind quarters as pictured. There are many methods for doing this. Some guys will even bone out the entire deer while it is still hanging.
I am not really set up for that and do better with more conventional methods that allow me to work as much as I want and then take a break for a while.
Everyone has a process they like. This one work pretty good for me. YMMV.
Here is picture with the pelvis, femur, and shank bone removed from the hindquarter.
Next is a picture of the main muscle groups separated from the hindquarter.
Next is a picture of the muscle groups with some of the silverskin, larger tendons, and most of the fat trimmed.
This is normally where I stop with hind quarter roasts. The shank meat on the far left goes in with the sausage trimmings meat.
The hind quarter roasts are wrapped and frozen, ready for use as pastrami meat, or whole muscle jerky projects.Next up are whole back straps as trimmed off the hanging deer carcass. Also pictured below are the inner or “Hanging tenders” tenderloins. Probably the most delicious and tender part of a deer. They are delicate an dry out quickly. Best removed immediately while field dressing. These got removed the following morning and are already beginning to darken on the exposed side.
Not too much to do here. Trim off some silver skin and then I slice into chunks about the right size for cooking or grilling for two people. I use a fillet knife to get most of the outer silverskin off. I like to leave primals in the largest size possible and do all final slicing prior to cooking. My theory is that uncut meat just freezes and store better.
Next they get vacuum sealed, dated and labeled.
Front should deboning: I left the bone in the shanks for some osso buco . The rest gets boned out, fat and blood shot trimmed away and reserved for sausage or other grinding.
One of the shoulder blades took a direct hit from my arrow (2-blade Rage mechanicals tip). The arrow passed through the should blade bone, caught the top of the onside lung, took out the offside lung, and passed through the off-side rib cage. I am always checking the wound channels on deer I take, but won’t be posting pictures in the interest of decorum.
processhead
Kind of a late reply on this but is pretty spot on to how I do this as well.
One thing not many talk about is the trim. Curious how picky everyone is at boning out a deer? For instance, lower leg tendons, ribs, upper neck etc.There is a point when you have to say, enough already!
Thanks for sharing this processhead
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GWG8541 I am not. I usually don’t take gun week off. I will take the 450bm out for the bonus weekend in a couple weeks. That’s usually all I need to top off the freezer. I’m starting to pressure can this season just to free up some freezer space.
R U going out?smokinbubba yep, Im heading to Ross county Sunday night. Work interfered with bow season this year. I plan on hunting the first few days at least. At this point I’m just looking for meat, Buck or Doe will do.
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processhead
Kind of a late reply on this but is pretty spot on to how I do this as well.
One thing not many talk about is the trim. Curious how picky everyone is at boning out a deer? For instance, lower leg tendons, ribs, upper neck etc.There is a point when you have to say, enough already!
Thanks for sharing this processhead
PapaSop I’m not as picky as I used to be. Used to take me 8+ hrs to process and package a deer. Not now. 2.5hrs tops. For grinder trim, I remove all tendons but don’t worry much about silverskin. For backstraps, I do remove it all. I just canned a bunch yesterday and used some backstrap from last year. I didnt butcher my own last year and the locker did not remove the silver skin from the backstrap. Made for much more work for me! Didn’t want that stuff in my jars.
If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy - Red Green
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PapaSop I’m not as picky as I used to be. Used to take me 8+ hrs to process and package a deer. Not now. 2.5hrs tops. For grinder trim, I remove all tendons but don’t worry much about silverskin. For backstraps, I do remove it all. I just canned a bunch yesterday and used some backstrap from last year. I didnt butcher my own last year and the locker did not remove the silver skin from the backstrap. Made for much more work for me! Didn’t want that stuff in my jars.
smokinbubba said in Breaking Down Deer - Some Basics:
PapaSop I’m not as picky as I used to be. Used to take me 8+ hrs to process and package a deer. Not now. 2.5hrs tops. For grinder trim, I remove all tendons but don’t worry much about silverskin. For backstraps, I do remove it all. I just canned a bunch yesterday and used some backstrap from last year. I didnt butcher my own last year and the locker did not remove the silver skin from the backstrap. Made for much more work for me! Didn’t want that stuff in my jars.
Hear that. For years I tried to get every piece of trim I could get. Not so much anymore.
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PapaSop smokinbubba
It is interesting how much of the silverskin gets filtered out behind the grinder plate and knife when you are grinding deer. -
Excellent post!
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