Deer processing time

[SawyerTed]

My aversion to hunting deer with dogs is exactly what you are describing Southside.  I've never had good experience with venison from deer harvested after being run for very long.

Where legal, to each his own.  Dog hunting deer, pigs or bear just isn't my thing. 

[Walnut Beast]

Southside topped off that discussion some absolutely right on important information 👍

[WV Sawmiller]

   My son shot a decent 7 point this evening and took it to a friend of ours who processes them at home and he said it was costing him $100. A customer called tonight and said they shot 5 bucks on their family farm yesterday (opening day of rifle/buck season) and one of the guys tried to take it our big local processing plant and they told him they were not taking any more at that time. Apparently they were just overwhelmed.

   One trick I have used for many years is before I shoot a deer I play a tape of running water which causes the deer to pee and once their bladder it empty - I shoot it. Makes it easier to clean when you don't have to worry about breaking the bladder. ;)

[Old Greenhorn]

Howard, soon you will be telling us that when you take those very long shots, you put salt on the bullet so that the meat doesn't spoil before you get to it. ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

Here is the best shot I ever made:

When I was 7-8 years I got up one morning and Mama came back from the smokehouse and told me we were out of meat so she wanted me to go shoot some fresh meat. I took down our old single shot musket George Washington had given my grandpa back during the war for independence. I walked down to the river which was so small you could step across it in most places and the moon was no bigger than a dime back then. I walked down the river to a good spot and sat down right on the river bank leaning back against a big old gum tree. It was pretty quiet and I fell asleep till a big old flock of blackbirds lit in the tree over me and woke me up. I looked up and there was a big 8 point buck feeding 20-30 yards in front of me with 2 big old turkey gobblers behind him. I heard a splash and looked back and saw a big old swamp rabbit swimming the river headed my way. Beside my right leg I saw a big old rattlesnake raised up ready to strike. I decided I better do something quick so I raised that old musket and let her rip. The bullet hit that deer right in the head and killed him graveyard dead. The bullet hit his horns and split in half and each piece hit one of those gobblers and killed both of them. The barrel of that old musket swung around and hit that rattlesnake in his open mouth and killed him. The noise was so loud 25 of those blackbirds had a heart attack and fell down dead all around me and I collected them and Mama made a pie out of them. The recoil of that old musket knocked me in the river and I fell on that swamp rabbit and drowned him and brought him back with me. To top it off when I waded out of that river I had on a pair of those old hip waders and they were full of a mess of bluegills.

[beenthere]

One trick I have used for many years is before I shoot a deer I play a tape of running water which causes the deer to pee and once their bladder it empty - I shoot it. Makes it easier to clean when you don't have to worry about breaking the bladder.

:D :D :D :D :D :

[barbender]

Howard, is the trade off worth it since you are listening to the tape of the running water too, and you end up wetting yourself?

[WV Sawmiller]

BB,

  I think it is like the Magic Man says - It Depends. :D :D

[Old Greenhorn]

......... and they were full of a mess of bluegills.

I should have known better than to start this. :D

[SawyerTed]

 :D That right there is a lost art form!  :D  That's as good as a tall tale as they come!  

[WV Sawmiller]

    Then there is Bubba:

     A bunch of guys met for their annual deer hunt at their camp in south Georgia. The first day of deer season opened clear and cool and promised to be a perfect day for hunting. They all left in pairs and returned to the camp at dusk except for one pair. 

    It was nearly an hour after dark when Billy Ray returned carrying a very nice 8-point buck. He threw it on the ground in front of the porch and said "Whew, I'm give out." The rest of the gang came and admired the deer – the best of the day – and complimented Billy Ray on his success. 

   Finally one of the guys remembered and asked "I thought Bubba was hunting with you. Where is he anyway?" Billy Ray replied "Yeah he was hunting that Magnolia stand about 150 yards from me. When I shot this deer about an hour before sunset he came over and was helping me drag the deer out. When we got up about that big curve in the log road all of a sudden he grabbed his chest and went to wheezing, fell over and passed out. I guess he had a stroke up something." 

   Several of the others replied "You mean you dragged this deer all the way back but left Bubba back in the woods?" To which Billy Ray sagely replied "Yeah, I thought about it a good little bit but I figured if anybody came along that way nobody would  steal Bubba."

[barbender]

😂😂😂

[Magicman]

Hanging from the neck reduces chances the animal will fall off the gambrel,

Ted, make this modification and you will never have another quarter to fall off.  I cut the end off and welded a chain link.  From that I hung the ~5" hook that swivels as the load becomes unbalanced.  You can process the entire other side and nothing will come loose.

[thecfarm]

If it has Bubba in a story, it has to be a good one!!!

Howard needs to get his stories in a book.

[SawyerTed]

Thank you Magicman, that's a great solution.

I have two gambrels and will add a similar modification on one for our bigger bucks that will get full shoulder mounts.  We hang them from the hind legs and cape them that way.   

For meat deer or European mounts hanging from the neck will continue to be our method.  It's just so much quicker.  

Skinning/caping with a knife takes about twice the time as hanging head up and pulling the skin off.  

[doc henderson]

Lynn, I think your nick name will be "Captain Hook"! 8)

[Walnut Beast]

I think maybe most know but you're not going to have any trouble of the carcass falling off the gambrel upside down deboning if you don't cut the tendons on the back legs. If you do it's game over. 

[SawyerTed]

Take the first ham off one side, the remaining side weighs more so it drops down.  Sometimes it falls off the small hook on the gambrel.   

Magicman's larger hook prevents the remaining side stay hooked.

[SawyerTed]

Of course often temperature is an issue for me.  Tomorrow will be our first day of deer season with a high below 50°.  

Two we cleaned on Friday evening the temperature was 64° when we started.  

So getting the quarters on ice quickly is important.  We try to get them from the field to the cooler in less than an hour or hour and a half.  

We just don't eat organ meat so there's that as well.

[KEC]

Most people either like heart and liver or hate it. I wonder how many more might like it if it was cooked right (not overcooked) and served up to them.?

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well, I sure ain't breakin' no speed records. I shot a nice doe today and took 30 minutes just skinning her and another 2 hours to break her down and pull the backstraps, tenderloin, shoulders, neck and brisket. I still have the hams and shoulders to debone and the rib cage to trim for grinding meat (I will make sausage from it this time). I may trim up the prime cuts and put them in a corning solution tonight. I did trim some of the fat, silverskin and set aside some side meat for grinding so it was more than just skinning and quartering the deer.

UPDATE:

   I just spent another 30-40 minutes cleaning up the backstrap, tenderloin and brisket. I removed the silverskin and fat and sinew and it is ready for corning. I'll weigh it and make my pickling/corning solution in the morning and start it processing. I'm betting there is 10-12 lbs. 

[Peter Drouin]

   Then there is Bubba:

    A bunch of guys met for their annual deer hunt at their camp in south Georgia. The first day of deer season opened clear and cool and promised to be a perfect day for hunting. They all left in pairs and returned to the camp at dusk except for one pair.

   It was nearly an hour after dark when Billy Ray returned carrying a very nice 8-point buck. He threw it on the ground in front of the porch and said "Whew, I'm give out." The rest of the gang came and admired the deer – the best of the day – and complimented Billy Ray on his success.

  Finally one of the guys remembered and asked "I thought Bubba was hunting with you. Where is he anyway?" Billy Ray replied "Yeah he was hunting that Magnolia stand about 150 yards from me. When I shot this deer about an hour before sunset he came over and was helping me drag the deer out. When we got up about that big curve in the log road all of a sudden he grabbed his chest and went to wheezing, fell over and passed out. I guess he had a stroke up something."

  Several of the others replied "You mean you dragged this deer all the way back but left Bubba back in the woods?" To which Billy Ray sagely replied "Yeah, I thought about it a good little bit but I figured if anybody came along that way nobody would  steal Bubba."

:D :D :D :D 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well, I am still racing at a snails pace to finish my deer processing. Maybe I am too particular about completely deboning then cutting off too much of the silverskin, tendons, sinew and fat. I have worked several hours per day on the doe I shot 3 days ago.  I Still have about 10 lbs of choice cuts in a pickling/corning solution in the downstairs fridge. I'll take it out about Sunday and can it. 

     I cut up and cubed the hams into steaks yesterday and got about 15 packs of cubed steak - about 1 lb per pack. I finished grinding about 15 lbs of shoulder and trimmings and added 8-9 lbs of Boston Butt pork for the fat. I bought a new 3/4 hp Weston grinder about a month ago and it worked great! Next time I will know to cut the meat into 1" cubes but this did good. I coarse ground and added the spices then did a fine grind to better mix the seasoning and the pork. Then I made little meatballs with an ice cream scoop and put 4 to in a vacuum bag for about 2/3 lb packs. We flattened them into patties in the bag which works well for us. Ended up with 36 packs of sausage patties. Then the hard part was finding freezer space but we finally did. 

   We cooked the bone in neck today till the meat fell off the bone and I had sandwiches from it for dinner. 

[SawyerTed]

My son had good luck last week.  He got two does and a big 9 point buck.  The buck and one doe he got within a minute.

His luck ran out yesterday when he decided we needed to process them. We started after he got home from work at 6:00 and worked until around 10:00 pm.

We got about half done.  Tonight he got here about 6:00 again.  We are still working.

I quote him, "Maybe I'll think twice about getting a buck and a doe the same evening in the future."  :D :D

[Peter Drouin]

It is a lot of work But, fun in a way. Father and son time. You two will talk about those 2 days for years.