Deer Rib Meat

[elkboy]

Ribs, heart, liver etc is all coyote bait for me.

I fling the liver as far into the woods as I can.  The heart is great, though.  Any reason you don't like it? Not trying to be critical, just curious.

[7mmfan]

It all goes for me. Not just rib meat but diaphragm, heart, liver. Sometimes I eat the heart but often I just put it all in the grind pile. The liver and diaphragm add 3 or 4 more pounds of grind to the pile and then rib meat/flank on a mature buck is another 6 or 7. I'll take an extra 10# of grind every year. When it's all blended together with a little bacon ends, no one knows any different. I've never noticed anyway.

[Buckhunter24]

Interesting, I had never considered the diaphram before, maybe will throw it in the grinder next year. I havent tried liver in a decade maybe my taste has changed but i doubt it

[7mmfan]

I've only ever tried liver on it's own one time. Wasn't a fan. But mixed in not the grind pile you never even know its there. Some good vitamins and minerals mixed in.

[Dan-o]

It all goes for me. Not just rib meat but diaphragm, heart, liver. Sometimes I eat the heart but often I just put it all in the grind pile. The liver and diaphragm add 3 or 4 more pounds of grind to the pile and then rib meat/flank on a mature buck is another 6 or 7. I'll take an extra 10# of grind every year. When it's all blended together with a little bacon ends, no one knows any different. I've never noticed anyway.

You're a better man than me.     

We eat a ton of deer and elk burger, but if my wife ever saw the diaphragm get in there, it would be all over!!!!

[lewy]

I've cut and salvaged every scrap in the past and applaud those that do. I no longer worry about it and won't judge others that feel the same way.

 

[Hillbilly Zen]

“Soak a coyotes butthole in a teriyaki bath for a few days and the fast food scarfing junk food junkies will love it. ”

-Bango Skank



Killing me.  Bourbon burning out my nose from laughing so thanks for that. 

[actionshooter]

 Sometimes I take the rib meat, probably most of the time really. I turn it into jerky... its already cut and it turns out pretty good.

[carlyoungs]

Also I am really glad to see this thread go the way it has.  So many other threads have rude and unnecessary bashing,  but threads like this one are exactly why I came back to hunt WA.  Keep up the support everyone!  Make hunt-wa great again!

A while back the moderator team decided we were going to eliminate the unnecessary bashing and the end result has been a much better atmosphere, we plan to keep it that way.

This topic is a good one, lots of civil discussion and a chance to exchange thoughts and ideas.

So coming from a guide what do you do with the ribs on a deer/elk/moose?

[Humptulips]

It all goes for me. Not just rib meat but diaphragm, heart, liver. Sometimes I eat the heart but often I just put it all in the grind pile. The liver and diaphragm add 3 or 4 more pounds of grind to the pile and then rib meat/flank on a mature buck is another 6 or 7. I'll take an extra 10# of grind every year. When it's all blended together with a little bacon ends, no one knows any different. I've never noticed anyway.

OMG, you can't possible be grinding the heart up. Sliced and fried that is on a par with the best steak.
Looking at your picture it reminds me , I cut the neck up and cook it. There is an incredible amount of meat on the neck even after a close trimming. My Mom always used to make mince meat with it but I grind it into sandwich spread. my deer this year gave up about 4 pounds and I ruined some of the meat with the bullet angling into the low neck. That sandwich spread is what keeps me going through elk season. Saves time boning the neck and you get more sandwiches. Who wouldn't like elk or venison salad sandwiches?
I also save out the tongue but my relatives won't touch it. Good with mustard in a sandwich but I often, especially on deer throw it in with the ground sandwich spread. Not actually much in a deer tongue. More in an elk tongue. Take them out when you gut the animal to avoid a disagreeable flavor.
I won't answer for Dale on ribs in elk and moose but until a few years ago I boned out the ribs on my elk but never again. Those things are incredible  with barbecue sauce. Makes me want a band saw but I haven't splurged on that yet. if you cut them fairly long you can channel Fred Flintstone. Lot of meat on them though, even in a short cut.
And yes I will add the diaphragm to my grind. It's just another muscle. I must admit I don't save the liver. Even when they do not have flukes I can't stomach the stuff.

[hunthard]

Heck when me and my brothers were kids my dad sent us out of the camper with a garbage bag rolled up with a twist tie, told us we better not set foot in that camper without a venison liver, he would slice it up thin and fry it with onions until crispy, saw lots of non liver lovers converted, I shot a buck this past fall and my dad{ 82 years old} came up to my place and cooked it up, awesome just like it always was.

[Okanagan]

I used to love liver and onions, and deer liver is the best.  Then I hit a bad tasting one, really bad.  Don't know what was wrong because the animal and the liver looked healthy, but it tasted so bad I've never completely gotten over the taste of the two bites I tried.  Feeling slightly guilty here but I did not bring out the liver on a blacktail buck I killed this Fall...  but I did trim out the ribs, and this one had a little more meat than average on the ribs. 

Between the ribs at the spine end, each strip has a larger chunk of lean meat, somewhat the size of the meat on a chicken wing drumstick.  As someone said, a fish fillet knife helps get that chunk of meat and is my choice for boning out ribs.  As to BBQ deer ribs, have done it and they are good but not great IMO and we throw rib meat in the grind.  Did both whole sides of ribs in one piece each on a campfire once, pretty good gnawing.  We would cut off a whole rib and start eating it when it got more done while the rest kept cooking, angled up over the fire on sticks. 

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I used to love liver and onions, and deer liver is the best. 

According to those who have tried it, the best liver ever is seal liver. My dad loved it, and according to him it had a very mild flavor. But there is no way to try it any more unless you know an Alaskan Native American.  They are the only ones allowed to kill them any more.

I've never tried seal liver, but I've had seal ribs with some friends from Ouzinke when I lived on Spruce Island. (near Kodiak) I had hiked the two miles to the village to play basketball with friends there in the school gym and arrived early so stopped at my friend Teddy's house to say hi. They were just pulling a rack of seal ribs out of the oven so they offered me some. As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans so I took a rib and squirted a little mustard on it, as they were doing, and I managed to get it down without insulting the cook.  But then Teddy broke out a quart jar filled with rendered seal oil and said, "This is the best" So again as not to insult my hosts, I took another rib and dipped it in the oil and took a bite........... Let's just imagine the worst wet dog smell you've ever smelled.... That's how it tasted. I could not swallow it.  I had to politely walk outside and spit it out.  My hosts were kind enough to not take insult, and they only chuckled and guffawed a little bit at my discomfort.  And later, that seal oil really stuck to the inside of my mouth. I could still taste it as I was playing basketball.

[7mmfan]

It all goes for me. Not just rib meat but diaphragm, heart, liver. Sometimes I eat the heart but often I just put it all in the grind pile. The liver and diaphragm add 3 or 4 more pounds of grind to the pile and then rib meat/flank on a mature buck is another 6 or 7. I'll take an extra 10# of grind every year. When it's all blended together with a little bacon ends, no one knows any different. I've never noticed anyway.

OMG, you can't possible be grinding the heart up. Sliced and fried that is on a par with the best steak.

If I'm prepared to eat it fresh I do, but if I'm not I have no problem adding it to grind. You're right about the neck, if I could lop the whole thing off and pack it out I would. There is a ton of meat left there.

[Bullkllr]

I discovered heart tartare a couple years ago. Great stuff.

I'm in the save the rib meat for grind camp. Since I'm a lousy hunter we feel the need to salvage every ounce of meat we can.