DIY Deer Butcher Job

MeatBuck

MeatBuck

Hammer Time Executive member
How many diy butchers do we have here?

On my sons blacktail buck (quartered and packed out) I packaged the neck roasts and loose meat for burger next day but waited a week to cut the back straps and 9 days for the quarters. Turned out 34lbs minus the burger scraps( probably 3-5lbs), a piece of back strap and the heart and tenderloins. (Probably 3 more pounds there).

Ended up with (x2); stew chunks, neck roasts, shoulder roasts, bone in blade roasts, front shanks, rear shanks, also a single pack with pieces I treat as shanks that come from the rounds, sirloin tips, tri tips, top rounds, bottom rounds, eye of rounds, sirloins and 5pcs of back strap. And the burger scraps for grinding. (We ate one pc bs, the heart and tenderloins already).

All in all was about 40lbs of usable meat from what appears to be a 3.5yr old buck.

*Not for individual sale* haha.
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What’s your general break down of a deer if you do it yourself?

What’s your average yield?
 
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We butcher all our own meat unless we are moose hunting in Canada...which we have cut up there as it is just easier to get back to the states.

We grind most of our deer, keeping the back strap and tenders for steaks. We cut our elk and have our moose cut with steaks, roast, etc. etc. Bear is usually ground and roast.
 
Everything that will make a steak or a roast does, everything else is stew meat. Down the road if I want hamburger or plan on making sausage I grind the stew meat. One time, when my son was stationed in Iraq I jerked an entire deer. I was very popular on the base. :)

Regards
 
Mountainman said:
Everything that will make a steak or a roast does, everything else is stew meat.
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This is how I do it.

I butcher my own deer. Ive done my own elk but its a bit too much so I started taking elk to a game butcher.

Recently ive learned to save the caul fat layer. I havent tried it yet (in the freezer) but I hear if you wrap a tenderloin or steak in caul fat and slow cook its incredible flavor.

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I butchered and jerked my own for years.
Had a commercial grinder, electric thin slicer (for jerkey), smoker, then a dehumidifer (like for drying fruit), a band saw and such. Never did get a cuber, too expensive. Finally quit and gave my stuff to friends.
Now I just get it processed. Getting old and lazy, plus my hands don't work very well.
 
I find butchering a deer one of the most rewarding and relaxing moments in my life. There is something about knowing what you did, how you did it, the constant flow of memories of this hunt and others that come flooding back as you process your deer. Quite a few years ago I found a meat market that will take in already processed deer for sausage, sticks and jerky. I now bring a big portion of deer there for all three. I am hooked on jerky and sticks. Great for salmon fishing and sitting on stand. I give a lot away to folks who are not outdoors people and their change of opinion has been amazing. I have one family that has asked me to kill a doe so they can have entire deer done. They do not hunt or remotely close but still asked. Two of their young men asked to help in butchering. They want to know how and why. Kind of cool isn't it?

So easier now, steaks, some grind to make my own sausage patties, roasts, and pretty much rest for processing into the sausage, sticks and that crazy addictive jerky.

Haha, the neighbor kids fight over doing things for us to get "paid" in venison!!! Their mom tells me they hide it from each other to protect their "stash".
 
Muddyboots said:
I find butchering a deer one of the most rewarding and relaxing moments in my life. There is something about knowing what you did, how you did it, the constant flow of memories of this hunt and others that come flooding back as you process your deer. Quite a few years ago I found a meat market that will take in already processed deer for sausage, sticks and jerky. I now bring a big portion of deer there for all three. I am hooked on jerky and sticks. Great for salmon fishing and sitting on stand. I give a lot away to folks who are not outdoors people and their change of opinion has been amazing. I have one family that has asked me to kill a doe so they can have entire deer done. They do not hunt or remotely close but still asked. Two of their young men asked to help in butchering. They want to know how and why. Kind of cool isn't it?

So easier now, steaks, some grind to make my own sausage patties, roasts, and pretty much rest for processing into the sausage, sticks and that crazy addictive jerky.

Haha, the neighbor kids fight over doing things for us to get "paid" in venison!!! Their mom tells me they hide it from each other to protect their "stash".
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I have butchered the deer, elk, and antelope, that I have been blessed to have harvested. I had the good fortune to be taught how to butcher by some experienced hunters with my first elk in 2017. I got started hunting *primarily* because of how much I enjoy the taste of game. I take as much care as I can to get my game animals skinned, cooled, and clean, and I like having control over the entire process. I hang skinned quarters in breathable bags and take a lot of time to get my knife super sharp and trim the dried outer surfaces before grinding and packaging. My kids are fairly obsessed with backstrap and tenderloin steaks, and I tend to grind everything else for ease of use. I have made sausage (adding pork fat, free from butcher shops), but I tend to just grind and vacuum seal for longest life in the freezer. I have make jerky from the ground venison, use a brine and then roll it out flat onto sheets for my food dehydrator.

No wrong answer (do it yourself or pay a professional that you trust), as there is a cost associated with acquiring a grinder and vacuum sealer, but then I have been gifted "professionally cut and wrapped" elk steaks that had dirt and twigs because they weren't trimmed before packaging. I spend an inordinate amount of time processing my game so at least that won’t happen!
 
I grew up as a kid helping out cutting up game and have always cut up my own. I must say, I'm tempted to take my next elk to a butcher because it takes me all day long and it's not my favorite thing to do. I make steaks out the loins and tenderloins, nice big pieces of roast I slice into jerky because I like jerky and I don't like lean, dry roasts - a nice fat beef roast can be had for cheap from the store, but jerky is expensive to buy. All of the smaller stuff for me goes into burger and sausage. I've found a place that offers a lot of different sausage seasonings and by adding 40% cheap, fatty pork to the meat, I can make some very tasty sausage in a variety of flavors - chorizo, breakfast, cajun...whereas most meat processors charge as much to make sausage out of your meat as it would cost to buy the sausage in the store.
I used a cheap $100 grinder for about 20 years until it broke and then bought a nice Cabela's 1hp grinder - wish my old one would have broken a lot sooner because I had to wear ear plugs to use it and this one is very quiet and nice to use. I also bought a burger press from Cabela's - I'll take a portion of my burger and breakfast sausage and make patties out of them and freeze them with wax paper dividers between them. They come in very handy for making last minute burgers when you forgot to thaw it out - just throw them on the grill or Traeger frozen. Also very handy for taking camping so your patties are already made.
 
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We were expected to learn to process game before we were old enough to hunt. That’s something I passed on to my sons as well. My oldest used his knowledge to make money from his buddies in high school butchering deer.
 
MeatBuck said:
What’s your general break down of a deer if you do it yourself?
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I like to get creative and try different cuts and recipes. Found the Scott Rea Project on YouTube 7 or 8 years ago when we started to raise our own pigs. I get a lot of inspiration from him!

John Griffin is also a hero of mine;



MeatBuck said:
What’s your average yield?
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With big game I generally shoot ribs and try to maximize the yield as much as possible.

That said, most cuts are boneless and I seem to average about 40-45% of live weight.

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For sure, his grasp on history and tradition I find so enriching. I love what he calls the 'traditional' approach, doing just about everything with a knife. Occasionally uses a hand saw or a cleaver but keeps it super basic with no machines. It's inspiring what he can do with a few hand tools in a little shed.

Some of my favorites cuts for deer;

-Rib Roll
Debone the ribcage. It sounds tedious to keep meat in tact, but actually goes pretty quick once you get the hang of it.
Roll this up around some cream cheese, tie it and bake slow. After trying this, rarely do I send rib meat to grind.

-Shanks
Require a saw to clean up and make presentable, but well worth the effort. Who wants all those lower leg tendons in their burger anyway? leave the bone in and cook it slow in red wine sauce. Absolutely amazing.

-Neck Stew
Leave the bone in, cut neck into 3-4lb portions.
Thaw and place in slow cooker. Submerge in water and cook for 8hr on low.
Strain out the bones and use as a base for stew. Bone broth takes this stew base to the next level!

-Hanger steak (Skirt steak in UK)
Encased in annoying connective tissue, that once removed makes the best steak and eggs

Better leave it at that for now, I'm making myself hungry!!! 🍖🍖🍖

(edited to attach a photo of the 'skirt' steak)

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@hand skills thanks for the ideas! I butcher my own as well, never occurred to me to hire it out, but I sure don’t do as much as some of you. Last few years I’ve been leaving the carcass in the field, partly due to the fact that I was living in the city and going out in the family car, nearly always alone, not real easy to deal with the whole carcass…
How I’ve been doing it is skin one side front to back, take the legs off with my knife, put them in large game bag, backstrap follows, fillet the meat off ribs, same with the neck best as possible. Flip the deer over and repeat. Then open up the gut and chest cavity and get the tenderloin and heart maybe some liver and that’s it. If there’s antlers I take the head off last also with my knife. The plus side is that I never open up the spinal column unless there’s antlers in case anyone is worried about cwd, even then I do it after the meat. I have found this the quickest easiest way to get everything back to the car and home.

This year I will try to get the skirt steak and maybe some ribs, that rib roll sounds delicious.

I mostly grind, typically make some steak from the rounds in the hinds and the blackstrap usually gets “unrolled “ a salt/sugar cure and jalapeños with parmasean cheese then grilled, some get done plain with just the cure.
 
I also cut up all my deer, elk and moose. It’s a lot of work, but very enjoyable. For elk and moose there’s usually a bunch of friends who come over to help. Cook a few freshly ground burgers and some backstrap steaks along with a few beers. Fun times!
 
TJA500 said:
As far as I know cutting up your own is the only option here down under.. lots of work on a big Sambar but very satisfying when the freezer is full and the barbecue is warming up!
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Agreed, I don't think Aussie butchers can process game for individuals.

Something I came across recently showed a yeild of about 53% carcass weight from liveweight. Then a 72% yeild for the processed carcass.

I'm sure there are a lot of variables but that was a breakdown of the animal with some cuts bone in I think.
 
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