Tried something new processing my deer

[WV Sawmiller]

   A few days I shot a nice doe during a special WV antlerless season. I normally let them hang on the rack and chill overnight but this was a morning shot deer and too warm to do that. Basically what I did was to start deboning while skinning the deer. I tried to leave as much fat and silverskin and such as I could on the hide since I was not going to save it anyway - I used to sell them to my hide buyer but they aren't worth the time and effort now. Without ever gutting the deer I pulled the backstraps (leaving the silverskin on the skeleton)and some of the thin side meat trimmings for grinding. Then I sawed off the neck for a bone in roast and pulled the shoulders and sat them aside. Finally I gutted the deer.

(I used to have problems and had to be careful removing the bladder and bung and such to make sure not to break the urine filled bladder but a few years ago I made a tape of water running and now just before I shoot a deer I play the tape and this instinctively triggers the urge for the deer to go pee so when she finishes then I shoot them. You just have to plan ahead and think of the final goal. More people should try this. :D)

 I trimmed off more side meat and threw it in the grind pan then sawed the deer in half and pulled the brisket and added it to the backstrap pile for corning. I trimmed off as much more readily available pieces for grinding.

Then pulled the back half down, pulled the tenderloins  and added to the corning pile (Backstraps and briskets). I used to saw the backbone in half to separate the hams but this time I slid my boning knife in and cut at the ball joint separating the ham from the hip joint. Then I trimmed as much small pieces as possible and discarded the hip and back half of the backbone.

I put the hams in a fridge to chill and when I went process them I mostly pulled each individual muscle apart instead of trying to cut them. The only cutting I did was to separate the muscles at the connections and to trim off the fat and silverskin as I pulled them apart. Large muscle pieces went in a pan for slicing and cubing and the small pieces went in another pan for grinding. The fat and silverskin went in a scrap bucket for Sampson.

I feel I got much more of the fat and silverskin off the deer this way with a lot less effort than I did in the past when I gutted then sawed the deer into major components then broke them down at the kitchen sink/drain board. I don't see where or feel I left any more useable meat of the skeleton than I have in the past.

[K-Guy]

I made a tape of water running and now just before I shoot a deer I play the tape and this instinctively triggers the urge for the deer to go pee

I thought it was only me!! :D

[YellowHammer]

That's funny.  When I'm surrounded by deer and it about dark enough where I don't want to shoot one, I use my iPhone to play cattle mooing sounds.  The deer are a little snotty, so when they hear cows coming, they just fade away and I can leave the field without spooking them.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Robert,

   I like that idea. That is always a problem. Sometimes I shoot them with my slingshot and sometimes it takes several whacks before they will leave my feeder. other times I kick the side of my shooting house till they get nervous enough to leave. Since we don't have any cows any more I may have to record the mule.

   We just finished putting up the last of this deer. We made 16 packs of cube steaks out of the hams. I ground about 7-8 lbs of venison and added 3 lbs of ground pork and seasoning to make bulk sausage. Probably 16-18 packs of that with 4 patties per pack to match our usage.

   I had a hard time grinding it in my big hand crank grinder (We used to have a pulley on it to an an old washing machine motor but it died so I now i turn it by hand.) I confess I had some tough thin pieces in there and had not trimmed them close enough and could not get them to grind. I was ready to ditch the effort but decided to try our little grinder - the one that only holds about a cup of meat at a time. That worked fine as it was not so hard to crank. When ground I added the seasoning and pork and ran it all through the big grinder one more time then grabbed my ice cream scoop and made little meatballs and put them on a cookie sheet. My wife up 4 meatballs in a vacuum bag then pressed them flat in the bag and vacuum and sealed them. Then we can break off one or two at a time while frozen if we don't want all 4.

[mike_belben]

I use diaphram mouth callers.  Turkey clucks and purrs to travel through crunchy leaves.. And i walk in pulses. Step step step, pause and rake leaves then cluck and purr now and then. 

A lone coyote howl with some barks will scatter the deer.  Its how i find beds in thick woods scouting. Theyll get up and move without being shy on noise that gives away location.

[maple flats]

I recently watched a video with Dan Schmidt (sp?) of Deer & Deer Hunting. He was at a ranch someplace in Texas. One of the guides there demonstrated his method for warm weather cutting. He did the whole thing without gutting the deer. He hung the deer and skinned it, then cut off all of the major groups one at a time, bagged them and put them into a cooler with ice. He recovered everything except the thin bit of meat between the ribs. On camera while explaining while he did it, he took about 10 minutes. He claimed if doing it off camera with no one to teach he does one in 5 minutes.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I think I had seen his or a similar which caused me to to try it. I am not sure why he even loses the thin piece of meat behind the ribs. I remove the shoulders, neck and backstraps then I gut him and saw/separate the backbone in half right behind the ribs and pull the brisket and trimming off the front half the carcass, then separate the hindquarters at the ball joint then pull the tender loins and trim the back half of the carcass. 

   I suspect this will be my standard process in the future.

[Walnut Beast]

It doesn't get any simpler. Gut your deer, hang it up by rear legs skin and debone. DONE ✅ 

[WV Sawmiller]

WB,

 That is what I used to do but I'm finding it even easier if you pull what you can before gutting the deer such as the neck, shoulders, backstrap. Then when you gut it all you have left are the hams, briskit, tenderloins and trimming and the carcass is much lighter to handle.

 This only works if you can skin and break it down really soon after shooting it. I would not leave the guts in one for several hours but typically 20-30 minutes after I shoot one here at home I have it on the skinning rack. If I hunted an hour or so away I'd field dress to get the heat out of the body.

[Walnut Beast]

If you feel it's better to do it that way then that's what counts 👍

[WV Sawmiller]

WB,

   Have you ever tried breaking one down before gutting it? I have tried both and now prefer to skin and break it down intact if I can do it quick enough. What I really find easier is to skin it while fresh and intact. The hide slips right off the stomach area while if it has been field dressed the meat wants to tear more and you have to use a knife more to separate it from my experience.

   As noted it is personal preference and the only thing that really matters is getting it cut to choice, packaged, in the freezer and on the plate.

   Stay safe.

[mike_belben]

Skinned out a black hog before gutting once, worked fine. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I tried it again today and will post more as a separate thread on the deer and hunt but I am more convinced it will continue to be my go-to method under most circumstances the way I hunt. I also used surgical gloves due to a hand and foot fungus which results in lots of small cracks in the lines of my hands. It was terrible weather - sleet most of the time I was out there and it was easy to wash my hands and not get them dried out or colder.

  Another tip I learned was how handy a pair of fisherman's pinchers can be when skinning/cutting up a deer. I keep a pair there on my skinning rack because I also skin/process my catfish there. They worked great for grabbing and separating/pulling apart thin pieces of meat/muscle groups or pulling the silverskin or fat off. That is going to be a normal tool for me from now on too.

   Another thing I did today was to bone out the front leg bones from the shoulder. I did leave the scapula in there - I may change my mind and pull that too tomorrow when we bag them. I have been leaving all the bones in the front legs and neck for roasts but the meat was chilling fast and easy to work with so I just de-boned them. I did not pull the tendons and such that are common in there. They will come out easily when cooked and these will be easier to pack in our vacuum bags.

   I am not breaking any speed records. I see the videos of people skinning and cutting up a deer in minutes but it is hours for me. If I owned a butcher shop and hired me I would fire me for being too slow. Same thing on my speed as a fish monger. :D

[WV Sawmiller]

Mike, I wonder if would have worked the same for a white or a red hog. :D :D

[Tacotodd]

WV, I think most of us would get fired. Most of us that are on here take WAY to much time processing our own meat. But it tastes SO much better in the end and you get almost all meat that way. No wonder deer meat is probably $800lb! 🤪 But it's worth it to ME.

[WDH]

I also take the time to clean the meat thoroughly of all fat and silver skin and sinew.  The meat quality is outstanding and so is the taste. 

[Just Right]

A lot of good info here Boys.  I kill a lot of deer.  And clean them all myself to save the cleaning bill.  My cousin turned me on to when grinding,  add bacon ends and bits and pieces for just a little bit of fat and flavor with some powdered beef boullion and that is good enough to make a patty for a burger that will stick together when cooked.  Cause everyone knows bacon makes everything BETTER!

[mike_belben]

Mike, I wonder if would have worked the same for a white or a red hog. :D :D

You ever seen anyone cure a black ham?


Not worth the effort to scald, scrape or torch to make pretty skin if you arent doing hams, so just take his jacket off and set it by the door. 

;D

[WV Sawmiller]

   I confess - I have never skinned or butchered a hog. My son and his buddy did one and smoked it. They came across a turned over truck full of hogs and the state trooper or driver or owner told them they could have all they could catch. They brought one home and hid it in the old concrete goat barn for a couple of week as my wife hates pigs as they raised them when she was a kid. She loves pork - just not live hogs. They skinned theirs instead of scalding and scraping it.

[WDH]

We always scalded and scraped tame hogs, but for the wild ones I only skinned them up until the time that I quit fooling with those tough, nasty porcine buzzards. 

[mike_belben]

Ive never raised em, just helped with slaughter.  A polish guy up in mass when i was a teen, who used a weed burner to char the hair and juuust blister the skin, then we sprayed with hose and buffed them with pieces of block or brick for pummice to get down to clean white skin.   Probably did 5 up there. 



Down here i helped with 3 that went in the scald tank and ya scrape the hair but it is a DISASTER when it goes wrong.  Temp off just a bit and that skin/hair tightens up twice as bad.  Way too much work. Plus you have this nasty pork rind hairball goo blowin across the lawn thereafter.

  I whipped out the bottle torch and we got the 2nd white one done for salt curing. By the time we got to the black one forget it, skin'm and freeze.  


Both teams sawzall down the spine.  They got butcher appointments this year, no hogjaw for me  :-\

[WV Sawmiller]

    We started putting up the meat from my muzzle loader 3 point yesterday. We bagged 4 large (for the 2 of us) roasts - the 2 shoulder blades (Bone in) and the neck cut into 2 pieces (also bone in). I also took the trimmings and cut enough additional meat off the shoulders, including all the deboned hocks and next joint up and a good bit of meat off the neck to make up 10 full pint jars for canning. We canned them on 10 lb pressure for 75 minutes once they came up on full pressure. I do not add any salt or other spices or any liquid. All liquid shown in the picture came directly from the meat itself.


 
  We use this for BBQ (Add sauce and a little chipped onion) or hash (Add to diced tater and onion once they are browned and spice with W. Sauce, etc) or add mushroom soup for gravy and serve over rice. It is a quick and easy meal when you have unexpected guests show up or just don't want to go to a lot of effort. I am still looking for a recipe to make canned corned deer in the jar.

 I still need to weigh up and put the briskit, tenderloin and backstraps in a pickling solution in a plastic bucket and let it process about a week in the downstairs fridge and I have the two hams hanging in my log barn I still need to debone and make cube steak and maybe trim off enough for another batch of canned deer. I just hope they did not freeze solid and I can still cut them up.

EDIT/UPDATE: Okay I just finished cutting up one ham and will do the other one later this afternoon. I also made my pickling solution and started 11 lbs of brisket, tenderloin and backstrap corning. I will stir that daily for about a week then package and freeze it.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I finished boning out the hams today and made cubed steak and canned 6 more pints of deer out of the trimmings. I also started 11 lbs of corned deer from the brisket, tenderloin and backstrap. We ended up with 15 packs of cubed steak packed for the 2 of us for a meal - about 20 lbs of boneless meat.

   Total yield from this 132 lb (live weight) buck was:

20 - cubed steak
8 - 16 Pints of canned deer
11 - Corned deer
6 - bone in neck and shoulder roast 
45 lbs = 34%

    This is pretty much in line with what I have found in the past from deer I butchered around here. 

    For comparison our local catfish normally yield about 60% of boneless fillets (I.e. A 20 lb catfish will consistently return 12 lbs of fillets)

[Walnut Beast]

You definitely got a tasty 😋 stash 👍

[WV Sawmiller]

   I killed a doe in October so this gives us all the deer we will need for the next year. I processed the same except I made bulk sausage instead of canned deer.

We were lucky we still had a couple dozen jar lids as there are none to be found in the grocery stores or department stores. I checked WalMart yesterday while we were getting more vacuum bags and they did not have any in stock. Every place I have checked for months has been out. I have some more wide mouth lids but only 1 more dozen regular lids.

 I still have an unused doe tag and there are 2 more senior days after Christmas where I could shoot 2 more additional antlerless deer but unless I find a local friend wants one or one of my granddaughters want to try the antlerless season (also youth days) my deer hunting is over. I may take my .22 and shoot some of the squirrels around my feeders. I normally don't shoot them as they are my early warning system when deer are coming.