Processing Game

[Optimusprime]

Hey all, just wanted your take on processing game. Do you take it to a butcher or do it yourselves? What are the benefits and cons to both and if I do it myself, what are some important things I should know. Thank you for your replies.

[DoubleJ]

I do it myself

Pros:
I know I'm getting my meat
Free
I cut it how I want it
Time with the kids because they help

Cons:
Time (Not really.  A deer takes me about 2hrs)
Sometimes I cut myself

[mfswallace]

I do it myself

Pros:
I know I'm getting my meat
Free
I cut it how I want it


Cons:
Time (Not really.  A deer takes me about 2hrs)
Sometimes I cut myself

[DoubleJ]

Oh, another con is my wife thinking deer flys are ticks.  That never goes over well

[DoubleJ]

An important thing to know is that you can't really mess it up.  I mean, you just kind of get in there and do it.  If you end up making a cut you don't like, take that piece of meat and put it in the burger pile.  First deer I ever did I ended up with 12lbs of steak and 47lbs of burger.

Oh, and get the rib meat.  There's about 3-5lbs of burger meat just between the ribs

[jechicdr]

Here's my elk hind quarter.  Reason to do it yourself...no gristle, fat or bone.   Just lean, ready to eat steaks.  Took a deer to a butcher once, got back tons of ground deer, "jerky" meat that was laced with fat and old dry meat, and a handful of "round" steaks.

[sirmissalot]

There is usually some initial cost involved with doing it yourself, biggest thing for me is a meat grinder. I need to just get one and be done with it.

Also, for archers and often muzzloaders it's pretty warm out, so it's tough to get a place to hang meat. I'm not a fan of hanging them for several days but you usually can't process the animal the day you kill it.

Other than that, the pros far outweigh the cons.

[DoubleJ]

There is usually some initial cost involved with doing it yourself, biggest thing for me is a meat grinder. I need to just get one and be done with it.

Also, for archers and often muzzloaders it's pretty warm out, so it's tough to get a place to hang meat. I'm not a fan of hanging them for several days but you usually can't process the animal the day you kill it.

Other than that, the pros far outweigh the cons.

I got an old fridge from freecycle that I keep in the garage.  It has no shelves.  When I shoot a deer, it goes right from the field into there to "hang" until rogor mortis lets loose, about 2 days. 

Then I pull it out and put it on the butcher table and rough cut the meat.  I have game bags out and ready.  One bag is for back straps and loin, one bag is for the hind quarters, the big steaks and roasts, and the 3rd bag is for everything else to be ground into burger.  then back into the fridge it goes for another week to 10 days. 

Then I pull it out and make the final cuts.  the outside of the meat at this point is mostly dry.  I'll trim that out to get to the nice meat underneith.  The trimmings go into the burger pile.  I'll cut the steaks into sizes that we use.  No roasts.  Not a fan of deer roast.  Then I grind all the burger and package them it into ziplock bags, some 2lb and some 1lb so I have the right amount for a recipe.

Another trick I learned is, if you're useing a vacuum sealer, DO NOT vacuum seal the meat until you freeze it a little.  Take your steaks and spread them out on a cookie sheet that you lightly spray with pam and put in the freezer for about 2 hrs.  Then pull the steaks out and vacuum seal them.  When you vacuum seal fresh meat, the vacuum pressure sucks the juice out of the meat.  When you thaw the meat out, there will be a puddle of juice in there that should be in the meat.  Slightly freezing the meat before vacuum packing stops that.

[Johnb317]

Interesting on the freeze lightly first...  I have some meat that was not vacuum packed and it still bleeds on thawing, but worth a try.

So far eating tag soup, but in preparation I called about 5 meat processors on the westside looking for a place to hang an Elk so we could continue hunting.  Very difficult to find anyone to do so.  Wonder what size cooler would be needed to hold 4 elk quarters, neck meat, and back straps?

[Blacktail Sniper]

I have done it both ways, good points for both, just depends on your individual wants.

In the long run it saves you money.  But if you are not properly prepared at first, there are some initial costs that will be absorbed over time.

You will need 2 or 3 good quality, sharp knives.   A good basic set is a large sized carving style, a med sized (6" or less blade) a thin blade boning or filet knife.  Quality knives are expensive...just bought my bride a pair of kitchen knives from Cutco, just under $220.00!  But as a bonus, they were having a fair special, so I got a new $95.00 hunting knife free.   Also needed is a cutting board if your kitchen doesn't already have one,  much nicer than explaining the gouge mark and scratches on the kitchen table!

I prefere all my game boneless, but if you want bone-in style steaks or roasts, you will need some type of saw.  I used to use a cheap hacksaw, bought specifically for meat cutting when I first started.  After I learned how to cut it boneless, the saw went out to the shop.

Storage is another consideration, will it be in butcher paper & Saran wrap, ziplock type freezer bags or vacuum sealed?  A roll of freezer paper and a large Saran wrap will do several deer if used only for that.  Ziplocks are spendy, but convenient, and I would not consider them anything other than short-term freezer storage.  The Saran wrap/freezer paper are better, but I think vacuum sealing is hands down the best.

If you already have a vacuum sealer you are way ahead.  If not, it is pretty costly for a good one, but will balance out over time because of its every day usefullness for left-overs, etc.

Then there is grinding your burger, you can use a hand-style or get an electric one if you don't already own one.  If you have some or all of these items already in your kitchen, then you are way ahead of the game!!  You are just a bullet or arrow away from getting started.

As was mentioned, there is the piece of mind knowing that the meat in your freezer is your animal.  I had that happen one time by a comercial processer years ago.  That was a key factor in my learning to cut it myself.

The benefit of having it processed is that you drop it off and they call you to come pick-up your packaged, frozen meat a few days later.  No fuss, no muss, just like going to Safeway almost. 

[Optimusprime]

Thanks so much for the detailed information. As you can tell, I am VERY new to this and don't really want to mess up my first deer if I get one:) I really would like to do it myself and my friend has an electric grinder he says I can use. I have a couple more questions now I guess.
1) Do I need to cool the meat prior to cutting up? If so, how long and will a cooler full of ice work ok?
2) How long do I need to let the meat chill out before freezing?
3) I have heard it is better to add pork fat to the meat in order to make it stick better. Can anyone verify if this is true or not from your own experience?
Again, thank you all very much for sharing your knowledge.

[Blacktail Sniper]

I have tipped a deer over at 8:00 or so in the morning and had it cut, wrapped and in the freezer by 1:00 that afternoon.  Could not tell you any difference between that one and the ones that I used to let hang for 2 or 3 days (weather permitting).   

Generally though, there is 2 or 3 of us hunting, so if one is gotten early in the day, we take it home, skin it and hang it if the temps are low or bone it out and set it in the fridge to cool, then head back out.  Cut it and wrap it that night then. 

One year I got an early season (80* temps) doe with my bow.  Skinned and hung it in my shed with a bag of ice inside the body cavity and wrapped in a sleeping bag.  My wife at the time looked at me like I was a complete idiot....okay, maybe I got look alot!!  Anyway, went out about 24 hrs later, to get it to cut & wrap, and the meat was cool to the touch and there was still unmelted ice in the bag.

I can't give you a valid arguement for or against hanging it, at least from my experience over the years.  I guess it would be more of a personal choice and dictated by the circumstances at the time you harvest it, ie: weather temps, space to put it and keep it cool, etc. 

Good luck. 

[sixty4nhalf]

Thanks so much for the detailed information. As you can tell, I am VERY new to this and don't really want to mess up my first deer if I get one:) I really would like to do it myself and my friend has an electric grinder he says I can use. I have a couple more questions now I guess.
1) Do I need to cool the meat prior to cutting up? If so, how long and will a cooler full of ice work ok?
2) How long do I need to let the meat chill out before freezing?
3) I have heard it is better to add pork fat to the meat in order to make it stick better. Can anyone verify if this is true or not from your own experience?
Again, thank you all very much for sharing your knowledge.

1) If you use the Cooler/Ice method make sure that you place something between the Ice and the meat (I also place the meat in game bags). I have a piece of thin plywood that I have cut out to fit inside of the cooler (120qt) leaving room for ventilation.
2) Fresh kill game 'normally' does not really need to be "cured" some people say that the longer it hangs the more tender and better tasting it is, that is still up for discussion.... IMHO I can't tell the difference.
3) I use to add 6% pork fat to my ground meat, but no need really unless you plan on making patties. (if you want to add something, I found that if you go to some place like Walmart they have a 6lb package of 'bits and ends' bacon which has a lot of good pork fat, and you can grind some of that in with your burger) 99% of the time I am using the ground up meat for Chili, Spaghetti sauces, or something else where it doesn't need to stick together. Even for meatloaf I use 100% ground venison because you add an egg or 2 anyways to get it to stick.

I have been processing my own deer for quite some time now and I wouldn't even think about taking it to a butcher. The cost of a good set of knifes and a sharpener will be equivalent to taking it somewhere to have it processed, I get the cuts that I want, I can take my time and remove all the 'silver skin' off, there is minimal waste and I know it is my animal. There are TONS of "how-to" videos on the internet and once you do a couple it get easier with time. ALSO another GREAT knife to have is a fishing filet knife!  Oh and plenty of band-aides...... 

[Huntbear]

ONE IMPORTANT NOTE:

When cutting steaks.   ALWAYS CUT ACROSS THE GRAIN!!!!!!   If you cut with the grain you will have very very tough steaks....

[206]

Interesting on the freeze lightly first...  I have some meat that was not vacuum packed and it still bleeds on thawing, but worth a try.

So far eating tag soup, but in preparation I called about 5 meat processors on the westside looking for a place to hang an Elk so we could continue hunting.  Very difficult to find anyone to do so.  Wonder what size cooler would be needed to hold 4 elk quarters, neck meat, and back straps?

Did you try Green Valley Meats in Auburn?  I had a deer hung there a few years ago for a week for $25.