My love hate relationship with meat cutting.

[Terry Lightle]

Do my own too,just cannot bring myself to pay somebody to do it

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Heck, I was about 30 when I first heard of hunters paying butcher shops to "process" their deer. Soon it was all the rage. I suppose for a hunter that lives in an apartment and has no tools for butchering, it would be difficult. Not to mention the landlord probably doesn't want the deer skinned out in the kitchen. I do like Game, unless it is "gamey" from improper handling. I raise a few beef cattle (angus and herefords) and have butchered our own, although that is just such a huge and heavy undertaking, I now pay a shop to do the slice, dice and ice. If I shot a pig, I would process it. I got fair at processing hogs. Have a few tools and a kettle for scalding and rendering. I am getting even better at slow roasting it in a wood fired closed pit barbeque. Seems my step son can smell pulled pork from 10 miles away, because he usually appears just as it is being served up. I once barbequed a rack of antelope ribs. They came out pretty good, but not the white tail ribs for some reason. One local butcher shop does smoke/cure venison "hams" and a few folks rave about it, others give the barf sign.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I lived a few years in an apartment and cut my own deer. Skin, gut and debone in the field and place all cuts to be further processed in a large marine grade cooler with crushed ice. Transport that cooler to the apartment for final processing/wrapping. Easy.
Walk

 

[bud in pa]

Prices here in NE PA have gotten crazy. some butchers are charging $125 to butcher a deer. makes me glad that I grew up the way I did, learn to take care of yourself.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

To be fair, we have a lot of hunters fly into "The West" to hunt with Guides, getting their meat home is a logistical problem already, butchering it themselves would make it even harder. The result sadly being that people who save up for years and go on a once in a lifetime Colorado Elk hunt. . . take home elk meat that was rushed through the butchering and never allowed to "Hang". Flavors don't develop & their meat is sadly unimpressive. Add to that, most just cook elk like it was fatty beef, and you see why so many people will say something like . . .

"Oh, I've had elk, my neighbor went to New Mexico and shot one, It was tough as shoe leather and didn't have any flavor."

I think if I did a fly in hunt, and I butchered at home, I would call ahead to the butcher the guide uses and see If I could get my animal cut into the majors and frozen

Removing the shanks but Not breaking down the Shoulders or Hind Quarters at all!
That way the meat could still be aged properly when I got it home, and only cut up when it was ready.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

40 years ago, on public TV, there was a segment on one of the outdoor shows about butchering deer. They had two or three butchers show how they did it. The one that impressed me was a German or Austrian embassy chef. He started with two halves that had been skinned and hung for a week and in 15 minutes, using just a knife had the thing completely done. Of course he made some cuts and roasts that we here in the states don't normally do. He then showed how they do a "saddle of venison" for embassy dinners. It looked so darn good.

 

[Eterry]

I can proudly say I've had two deer processed by shops in my life. Both times I was hunting during the morning, was working 2nd shift, had to be in at 1430hrs, and killed my deer around 1000hrs. I didn't see a choice.

I'll never forget I had a good friend sent TDY to Qutar, he asked me to kill a doe, field dress it, and x port to a local processor for his family. I did, his wife called them with the process order. A few days later he asked me to drop by his house and get a check from his wife and pick up the meat.

The bill was over $400!!! She had the whole deer made into sausage, and they charged her $4.00/lb just for the pork they added. This was about 15years ago and pork butts were about .49 a lb.

She got about 75 lbs of sausage. I had shot a mature doe so i know she got robbed. I asked what happened to the backstraps, the employees looked at each other a minute then said..."awww...I guess we ground it into sausage" I said I'm sure that's what happened.
I told all my friends about what a rip off they were.

 

[Eterry]

40 years ago, on public TV, there was a segment on one of the outdoor shows about butchering deer. They had two or three butchers show how they did it. The one that impressed me was a German or Austrian embassy chef. He started with two halves that had been skinned and hung for a week and in 15 minutes, using just a knife had the thing completely done. Of course he made some cuts and roasts that we here in the states don't normally do. He then showed how they do a "saddle of venison" for embassy dinners. It looked so darn good.

The Bearded Butchers channel on YouTube have some really good videos of field dressing, then cutting up a deer into desirable cuts. I've learned from watching them.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

A group of us friends cut deer together. We started cutting deer, then progressed over the last 20 years to getting hogs and steer as well. We took our time outfitting a shop. A walk in cooler, Hobart band saw, Hobart grinder, automatic slicer, large smoker, 15lb and 30lb stuffers, etc. We added bit by bit by working together and I don't think I could have ever afforded to put the shop together that we have today. Now I cut all my own pork and beef as well as my venison. Besides, I like working with the boys. Butchering is more fun in groups!

 

[Red Owl]

To me processing your own game is HALF the fun. You can do Brontosaurus Ribs- always a big hit, use all the bits and pieces for sausage, etc. I really enjoy it. Get yourself a good meat/bone saw and a sausage stuffer.

 

[waksupi]

Another good tutorial.
I thought he was getting a lot of waste, but after using his method,and then going back over the carcass doing close trimming, I found I gained very little meat.