Butchering your own big game

[Elkrunner]

Did mine for the first time this year.  I will never go back to a butcher again.  I found it very rewarding.  I have since purchased a meat grinder.  I have done burger, breakfast sausgage and did up some summer sausage this weekend.  I am very please with the results.

[jackmaster]

the absolute best way is to go to your local safeway or whatever with a meat department and talk to the meat cutters most anyone of them will gladly come show ya for a couple bucks and a case of brew or a bottle of whiskey, i learned from my dad as we have never took meat to a butcher shop, but a buddy went and did what i suggested and i have learned a ton

[Rhinoron247]

Always do our own, we have a very efficeint system now.  Always get exactly what we want and have 100% quality control.

[KFhunter]

I use cordless sawsall with a longer blade to split and quarter in the field, unless I bring it right home and hang it from a tractor bucket 
 
toss it in a big cooler
 
to process I use a kitchen aid grinder attachment to grind and stuff sausage - not the best but hell I'm not making a living of it
 
sharp knife for the rest, pretty much sums it up
 
this time I'll be doing seal a meal instead of wax paper for storage.
trick is to prefreeze then seal it so you don't suck all the juice out
 
 
 
still tempted to hire a butcher, trust is a big issue though as I grew up raising beef and butchers was almost a curse word.
 
I'd LOVE to have a home butcher cool house with all the neat tools to process anything from beef to grouse and fish

[gotshot]

We have done ours for a few generations now. We hang it for as long as weather allows. When we cut it up we quarter it then just seperate the muscles and then freeze the muscles whole to be cut into steaks when we are ready to cook. We call it fry meat. We mostly get fry meat and stew meat, very little left for anything else. 99 out of 100 there is no wild taste and the kids and grandkids can't get enough. That is the part I like the most.

[fishunt]

First time post, have enjoyed the site for a while. My question is: How long can you hang a deer before butchering? When is the temperature too warm?

[jechicdr]

Grinding most of your meat is such a waste of good steaks.  From Hind quarter, there are a lot of big "roasts" that you can separate from the other muscle groups.  Trim off ALL membranes and tendons.  Then just cut across the grain (3/4-1 inch) and you have tender, yummy steaks.  ALMOST as good as backstraps.  Front quarters are more tender, but the size of steaks are small.  Anything smaller than a 1 inch cube, feel free to grind.

[TheHunt]

For deer and elk

Back straps are the meat along the spine of the animal.  You can cut that out by cutting along the spine bone and the rib cage.  Cut that up on 8 inch chunks and wrap them up.  If you slice all the strap up it is has more issues and it easier to cut when it is frozen a little.

Tenderloin inside the body cavity and sliced similar to the back straps

There is one big ass roast that comes out of every elk and deer.   It is the sirloin Tip Roast this is the one big muscle that is connected to the hip socket up to the last part of the ass you cannot miss it.  It is the biggest single muscle in the ass.   

You can make roast out of any muscle but I tend to grind more meat up then I do roast.  All the neck and other meat gets ground up. 

[Bean Counter]

First time post, have enjoyed the site for a while. My question is: How long can you hang a deer before butchering? When is the temperature too warm?

Welcome aboard, fishunt!

You can hang a deer for 5-7 days depending upon humidity (less = better). There isn't much benefit IMHO to going beyond the 7 with the risk of bacterial multiplication and they don't seem to get more tender. Also, IMHO, if you can't hang it for at least four days you might as well butcher it the day you shoot it. Hanging it for only one to two days produces little benefit to me as I understand the rigor mortis process to cause the muscles to harden before they get more tender again.

As far as temperature again that depends on humidity and elevation. 40 degrees is the general rule of thumb. If you're in a costal area the temperature is more consistent. But up high, it may warm up to the mid 50s or even 60 degrees during the day but it will get so cold at night that hanging meat will not warm up to the danger zone if its in the shade during the day. This should go without saying but be sure the animal/quarters are skinned and wrapped in a burlap bag, not plastic--you need the air circulation.

[jackmaster]

First time post, have enjoyed the site for a while. My question is: How long can you hang a deer before butchering? When is the temperature too warm?

you can hang a deer for along time if its cold or pretty cool, if its hot and you cant refridgerate the meat then i would cut it up as quick as you can, we have cut are own meat for as long as i have been around and my dad was obviously cutn are own meat before i was born, i am 39 now and have learned alot about hangn meat, one thing i like the most is to hang the meat until i see little mold spots and then we wipe it down with a vinegar water mix, about a 70x30 mix water to vinegar ratio, let hang for a couple more hours and then cut it up, however if its warm out i let it hang for just acouple hours before i cut it up but i still wipe it down with the water vinegar solution...

[C-Money]

FF4607, It to the wife and I about an hour to do a good job cleaning and trimming fat on the buck we boned out Saturday. It was not hard to do, and I am now very interested in processing my own animals as well!

PS, the bag of meat you carried out weighed 65lbs.  You are an animal!

[triggersbuddy]

get ahold of me I'll show what to do 20+ years

[BLUEBULLS]

My family has always done their own. I like mine clean and trust only myself and my dad. I do take my burger in to have it ground and packed. The butcher does it right in front of me and for .95¢/lb I can't hardly justify the clean up that grinding requires.

[jechicdr]

   Except never was a fan of "hamburgers" made from deer.  Hamburger is pretty cheap.  I just grind my leftover deer pieces (less than 1 inch cubes) up into ground meat for spaghetti/chili/etc.  The cubes make good "mini" steaks or dipped in flour and fried and mixed with fried potatoes for a yummy "hash".  Would rather not spend the extra money to have someone grind or add fat to my ground meat.

[jackmaster]

i agree deer has never been my favorite burger thats for sure but elk now with 10% bacon ends and ground up makes the best burger known to man