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DIY Deer Processing

Grandslam11

Grandslam11

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Next year my goal is to process my own deer. I have watched youtube videos and have read some on it but thought id ask here too. I really want to do it, just to learn. Not at all wanting to do it as a business. Just know the art and help out some neighbors along the way. I probably wouldn't do 4-5 deer per year, if that. I would honestly ground up most of it, other than the backstrap and tenderloin. My questions:

1. For that low of #s, what is the smallest size grinder you would buy?
2. I have a vacuum seal machine, so I wouldn't need that
3. For aging, I wouldn't want to buy a separate refrigerator, is using a cooler with ice ok? I know I would have to keep the meat from touching the melt and keep it drained well, and I do have a place I could hang one if the weather was cool enough.
4. What am I missing/ overthinking?
5. Am i out of mind? We also raise meat sheep so once I know how to process a deer, Id like to try one of them as well.
 
Grandslam11 said:
Next year my goal is to process my own deer. I have watched youtube videos and have read some on it but thought id ask here too. I really want to do it, just to learn. Not at all wanting to do it as a business. Just know the art and help out some neighbors along the way. I probably wouldn't do 4-5 deer per year, if that. I would honestly ground up most of it, other than the backstrap and tenderloin. My questions:

1. For that low of #s, what is the smallest size grinder you would buy?
2. I have a vacuum seal machine, so I wouldn't need that
3. For aging, I wouldn't want to buy a separate refrigerator, is using a cooler with ice ok? I know I would have to keep the meat from touching the melt and keep it drained well, and I do have a place I could hang one if the weather was cool enough.
4. What am I missing/ overthinking?
5. Am i out of mind? We also raise meat sheep so once I know how to process a deer, Id like to try one of them as well.
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If you have the time and space, it is great as you can do it like you want it. I've aged mine in coolers before and it works great if you change the ice and drain the water religiously.
 
I have an 8# LEM meat grinder that works really well for me. I take about 3-5 deer per year. It comes with three different gauge plates and three different size sausage makers. I would also look at getting a game process kit. I bought the Outdoor Edge 12 piece kit and it has served me well. You don't have to have one but it 100% makes life easier. You can get the grinder and kit off of Amazon for about $260.
 
I bought the grinder attachment for my wife's KitchenAid mixer. It has worked fine for me for about 15 years now. At the most I was doing four or five deer a year, now I just do a couple but honestly, I think that would work fine for you.

The meat I wanted to grind I would just cut up into smaller cubes and run it thru the attachment.
 
I have a 4' collapsing table with the plastic top that you can spray off with a hose pipe- similar to a filet table. I use this after I've broken everything down to quarters.

I don't hang the meat unless it's cold enough to- otherwise I put in a cooler (yeti 64) with frozen milk jugs of water.

I don't grind because I can't justify the expense of a quality grinder, but if I saw one for the right money I would. I typically grind 1 deer at a processor and work up 3-4.

I work into whole muscle roasts. I leave shanks and shoulders bone in and slow cook them.

Whether hung or quartered on the ground, I can quarter a deer in about 25 minutes.

The hams take about 8 min/ to debone. Wrapping and vac sealing takes about 45 minutes.

I vac seal my tenderloin and backstrap pieces, and cut the sirloins on about 1/2 into steaks which are vac sealed. Everything else I wrap in butcher paper and then Saran Wrap. (I buy an industrial size roll for packing and have it wall mounted in the shop.). I have better luck with this preventing freezer burn.

I will say that my main consideration for a grinder would be to clean out the freezer in October and grind everything not used in the last year…. Just a thought.
 
I like using a rock rolled up in the hide hooked up to something to help pull the skin off.

Start experimenting with smoking some bbq whole hams and pull it like bbq pork. We have it down pat now and that and sous vide are my favorite ways to eat venison.
 
Planking said:
I like using a rock rolled up in the hide hooked up to something to help pull the skin off.

Start experimenting with smoking some bbq whole hams and pull it like bbq pork. We have it down pat now and that and sous vide are my favorite ways to eat venison.
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Golf balls work really good to help pull the skin off also.
 
FWIW I currently do not age meat and never have. Many of my kills are in tubs in the fridge within a couple hours of them dying. And they are not tough nor do they taste bad. Far and above the most critical thing I've noticed is keeping things clean.

Does aging help? Maybe. I plan to find out. But is it necessary? Absolutely not. Some of the best meat I've ever eaten was cut off the animal on the spot and cooked over the campfire.
 
Planking said:
I like using a rock rolled up in the hide hooked up to something to help pull the skin off.

Start experimenting with smoking some bbq whole hams and pull it like bbq pork. We have it down pat now and that and sous vide are my favorite ways to eat venison.
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Rakkin6 said:
Golf balls work really good to help pull the skin off also.
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The only problem I have with this is you still need something to pull, a ground anchor, ATV, etc., so I opted for these, and used them a few times, but usually I just pull down with my hands, where these come in handy is areas where it is tough to pull, like at the neck.
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As to the OP, I say this: Grinder get the best you can afford, and geared toward what your end goals are. I started with a hand grinder, and until I started making summer sausage, that was enough, since I mainly did steaks and only ground the pieces I cut away from the steaks to "square" them up. and the odd piece that wasn't big enough for a steak. If you can afford to get a LEM 8 or bigger, but the cheap ones will work fine as long as you don't exceed their capacity since they have plastic gears and will strip if overloaded.

Aging; a cooler works just fine, I use cloth game bags (all cotton pillow cases work also) and put the quarters in there, keep ice on them for about a week before starting to process. Just open the drain and leave a tilt in the the cooler so the water drains as it is created, alternatively put a small grate at the bottom to keep the meat out of the water, and empty the water daily replacing ice as needed, I leave the ice in the bag. I start with the backstraps if not done yet, though they don't need the aging I sometimes age them, then neck, next day I do the front shoulders, day after that one or two of the rear quarters. I do this because the back legs need extra time IMO.

I have large stainless steel bowls to put chunks into for grinding, a meat lug to place that larger pieces into while I process. I also purchased a stainless table to process deer, but it just ended up catching clutter, so just have a large cutting board with an anti skid pad underneath so it doesn't move around while I work. But if you have a place for dedicated processing, these things are great.

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Pieces that I trim off or cut just to grind I like to put in a large colander or strainer to get a lot of the blood off of it before grinding. I also usually keep this in a cooler or fridge for at least a day or two before grinding.
 
Great advice above! When you move on to doing sheep/lamb you will have to decide what cuts you want. Lamb chops? you will probably want to get a bandsaw. You CAN do it with a meat saw (looks like a big hacksaw) but your results will depend on having someone hold the carcass while you cut.
Most of the other cuts can be done easily with a knife or handsaw.
mmmm Lambchops ... 😋
 
hammer33 said:
Great advice above! When you move on to doing sheep/lamb you will have to decide what cuts you want. Lamb chops? you will probably want to get a bandsaw. You CAN do it with a meat saw (looks like a big hacksaw) but your results will depend on having someone hold the carcass while you cut.
Most of the other cuts can be done easily with a knife or handsaw.
mmmm Lambchops ... 😋
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My wife is from the mountains in Greece and we eat a lot of lamb here. Well a lot to me is like two or three times a month because I didn't grow up eating it. I did eat it quite a bit on my adventures in the middle east though.
 
Rakkin6 said:
My wife is from the mountains in Greece and we eat a lot of lamb here. Well a lot to me is like two or three times a month because I didn't grow up eating it. I did eat it quite a bit on my adventures in the middle east though.
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LOL, my first ME deployment we were driving through a town and seen someone stuffing a live goat into a car trunk, and that was the upside.
 
A folding table and some stainless bowls are great, I have a 4'x2' cutting board I got from Rural King, it doesn't take long to reach this point or many tools, I pull the skin off while still warm, I poke a hole in the skin put a couple fingers in and pull while I run my knife where needed, debone the hams without taking them off, I hang by the head and skin, it's a little easier if you have somebody to keep it still while you work, when you get to this point have a beer and warm your hands up lol, trimming and sliceing and put into bowls to keep sorted, I never grind till I want ground, ground freezer burns a lot faster than whole muscle and I never know which way I want to cook. A kitchenaid grinder does great, have used 1 for a very long time. 5-10lb to grind is no big deal at a time,I will take steaks and grind up and I use to keep roasts but most get cut into steaks, the little dangleys on steaks goes into stew meat bowl which can be ground also. Trimming the silver skin off with a filet knife is pretty easy, shoulders get vacuumed whole for smoking. 1-2 rolls of vac rolls are needed per deer. Cheap enough and I know how it was treated and it's my deer. Having cool weather is the key to making it easier to learn, when it's hit out and your under the gun to get it done before it spoils can be tough.
 

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Omega said:
LOL, my first ME deployment we were driving through a town and seen someone stuffing a live goat into a car trunk, and that was the upside.
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Lol, you see some crazy stuff downrange. I went to South Korea to train with the ROK SF for a few months. We were up in Area 1 by Camp Casey, Hovey, Garry Owens etc. You see some weird stuff over there also. But it was a freaking blast. I just know I should have listened to them about taking it easy on the Soju. I was in black out drive about an hour into my first night there. Lol
 
Freeze your grinder head before you start and every time you take a break to pack ground in bags. Chill your cubed meat almost to the point of freezing (starts to feel crunchy)- cold meat grinds much better. I usually run mine through twice- first a coarse then a medium plate
 
I would buy the best grinder you can afford. A one time investment for a grinder that will last is well worth it. You can age in meat lugs in the refrigerator, but I've never noticed the difference especially in ground.
 

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