DIY Deer Processing

[Omega]

Im envious of you for never having to experience a tough backstrap or having a vacuum seal bag leak.

Yea, non of that, but have had an entire freezer go bad. Just taped it shut and took it to the landfill.

 

[BigCityBubba]

I have it setup with a winch and can elevate the deer so I don't have to bend over. Saves my back. I keep a tote under the deer so i can just drop the undesirable prts as I cut them off. By the time I am done, the meat is in lugs and the carcass is broken down in the tote. A strong grinder is important. You can get a good 1hp grinder for under $300 on Amazon. I bought one off ebay 20yrs ago for $250. I am still using it today. The advantage is that you don't have to clean the meat up nearly as much. It saves a ton of time. Get a couple meat lugs. I bought a cheap Sawzall to avoid using my good Dewalt. I also have a 1000 ft roll freezer paper and a tape dispenser. I have never had freezer burn using freezer paper. I have eaten venison lost in the freezer for 8 years and couldn't tell the difference between it and a deer I killed that year.

 

[Pso94]

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.

A really large bowl or plastic meat tub is handy too. You can get a meat tub for 12-15 bucks at bass pro or just use a big storage tote (one that fits under a bed). I've found this to be useful for me anyhow. Good luck!

 

[Grandslam11]

I normally decide during the processing on how I want to cook it, so can cut into steaks and not worry about it.

Are you freezing the meat and using a saw to get your steaks cut properly? Or just a sharp knife after aging?

 

[East TN Bowhunter]

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.

X2 on the kitchenaid attahcments. They work great!

 

[East TN Bowhunter]

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

This

 

[Billboy]

FYI... Sam's and Costco have the grey plastic meat lugs that work really well.

 

[Omega]

Are you freezing the meat and using a saw to get your steaks cut properly? Or just a sharp knife after aging?

Just a sharp knife, before freezing. Only time I partially freeze is when I do jerky, my meat slicer works much better if the meat is slightly frozen, about the consistency of a cooked ham. I just use the same technic as when I filet fish, except I leave it much thicker, around 3/4"-1" Here is the knife I use to process, it was only $17.40 when I bought it now about $32. It usually remains pretty sharp throughout the entire deer and only touch up before the next one, sometime in the middle if I feel it dragging any.

 

[MickThompson]

3 ways to deal with silver skin
-cut it out (backstrap)
-grind it (goes through cold just fine)
-slow cook/can/braise it (stew meat and roasts)

 

[Lost Lake]

Lots of good advice given from others.

A good grinder (my buddy and I split a #8 LEM). We used to run the ground through twice, first with coarse then fine grinding plates. We bought a dual head coarse/fine grind attachment that does both in one grinding pass, that is SO much faster and better, but I really didn't mind the old way.

Meat tubs (4 of them are handy if doing multiple deer)

A couple of good knives

A good table. Mine is a foldout that has a plastic top that's easy to wash and disinfect.

A couple of cutting boards

Whatever you choose to tie the ends of your ground meat bags. We use a tape dispenser instead of crimp-type rings

I quit using vacuum sealers for my steaks, and double wrap in commercial Saran-type wrap, then butcher paper. We never have freezer burn with that method.