Processing your own deer meat

[Guest Mugster]

Any hunter should at be able to process his kill himself, whether he chooses to every time or not.

You dont need any fancy equipment, and just a few posts ago were some really good discriptions on howto. Check YouTube for video howtos. Here's really all you need:

1. deer (dead already, preferably)

2. hanging place (kids swingset works great!)

3. good sharp knife

4. saw (hacksaw or bonesaw)

that is all you need for roasts, hams, tenderloins, backstraps, ribs, and stewmeat. Add a sausage grinder to your collection and you get burger and sausage. Got mine for $10 at a yard sale. Steaks aren't (imho) worth the investment of equipment. I get steaks the few times I take a deer to the professional processor, and that is more than we want. The roasts are better as roasts or even jerky.

also, I don't tan deer hides, so I skin mine with my 4x4. Cut the hide around the neck and legs, and split from neck to groin. Pull hide back a little at the back of the neck, place a golfball or golfball sized rock in the skin, tie a rope around the ball inside the hide, tie other end to 4x4 (deer is hanging SECURELY) and take off. I don't have as much hair on the meat since I began to skin this way, and it is faster and a lot more fun.

If I stuck a couple 4x4's in the ground and hung up a deer here in suburbia, I could just imagine the police response. Even if I put up a trailer or some kind of shack where I hunt, I still got to haul it back here to work on it. It sucks, but there it is.

I did try a saws-all some years back for steaks. I'd say a skilled sawsall man with the right blade might make it work. If it was frozen that might help too. I gave up and use a processor either way now. I like the steaks more than anything else.

[Guest 1shot]

Where I hunt in East NC the thing a gut pile will attract is buzzards. Those things will be on the ground and in the trees for days making a bunch of noise and nothing will come around for days until everything is gone. Deer are funny critters. I have had deer trail me where I have walked into my stand like a bloodhound. I have seen deer cross a field right across where I walked and never pay any attention. Then the same deer can turn around and come back across the field a little later and when it gets to the spot where I walked it acted like it ran into an electric fence. It jumped back with it's hair on edge and blow and took off like it was shot out of a cannon. I had one buck spot me move my head from 200 yards away across a field oone evening while I was in a 4' X 4' X 6' shooting house that we built 20 feet up in the center of a big oak tree. It stood just inside the tree line right behind a big pine tree with only it's right eye, that I could see around the tree, and watched me for about an hour until it got dark and he would not move and neither did I. He came back the next evening and stood there watching not moving for almost another hour. The next day, my last day to hunt, he came back to the same spot. I had already made up my mind that I was going to shoot him right in the eye. I had sand bags all set up and took my custom Rem. 700 in 25-06 and shot him right through the right eye at a lazed 207 yards. Man did it mess up his head. He was a 6 pointer with no brow tines. I used his antlers to make knife handles.

[DaveS]

It sounds like with the buzzard problem you have, you are probably doing right not dressing your deer. We have buzzards here, but they don't present much of a problem. That was a pretty good shot to hit him in the eye!

Dave

[Guest 1shot]

Yes that was a good shot but was easy with the rifles I use. I am a pretty good shot and the rifle that I was using is a Rem. 700 action with a 26" Shilen #6 select match SS barrel in 25-06 Rem. in a H-S Precision full bed stock and at the time I had a Leupold VXII 3-9X50 scope on it, now a Zeiss Diavari 3-12X56. With the Leupold scope when on 9 power and this rifle sighted in 3 inches high at 100 yards it is only 1 inch low at 300 yards. At 200 yards I could place the top vertical duplex cross hair where the heavy part meets the thinner part on something as small as a pop bottle lid and nail it every time. This rifle will shoot under 1" five shot groups at 300 yards on a calm day. The load that I was using is 49 grs IMR 4350, CCI BR-2 primer in Remington match preped cases, with a 117 Sierra prohunter bullet, 3000 fps. This rifle has a 36 oz trigger pull. I can feel the trigger with my finger but the next little pressure and BOOM. Over where I hunt you get some long shots over bean fields and cut-overs. I am working with a new custom Rem 700 action Shilen 27 3/4" barreled 264 Win Mag to do some hunting with for loooooooooog range shots this year. How do you think a 120 nosler ballistic tip at between 3550 to 3600 fps will do for a reach out and touch them load? I have not got the load tweeked to the one hole groups at 100 yards yet but I am getting there. I am getting right at 3550 fps and I am not at max loads yet.

[DaveS]

Sounds like a really nice rifle...have any pictures to share? Sure would love to see it!

Dave

[Guest 1shot]

I would post some pictures but down in the left hand corner it says that I MAY NOT post attachments for some reason. What is the problem? Can somebody help me.

[Guest clutepc]

just curious how everyone packages the venison, zip lock bags, vacuum seal it, wrap it in butchers paper??

[memphismason]

just curious how everyone packages the venison, zip lock bags, vacuum seal it, wrap it in butchers paper??

Growing up, Dad used Ziplocs and that is what I used.

Last year I used the Vacuum seal ziplocs, and they seem work pretty good.

[gregintenn]

I've used freezer paper, but freezer grade ziplocks seem to work just as well and are more convenient.

[ShaunM]

just curious how everyone packages the venison, zip lock bags, vacuum seal it, wrap it in butchers paper??

I cut mine into steaks, then I place a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet then layer it with deer meat then use another piece of wax paper then deer meat again and so on. I then freeze it and after it is frozen I pull it off the wax paper then place it in big freezer bags. The reason I do this so that when I put the deer meat in the freezer bags it won't freeze/stick together due to it already being frozen. This way you can eat what you want and not have to thaw it all out.