The Best Way To Process A Deer in 2024 & Beyond

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The Best Way To Process A Deer in 2024 & Beyond

Congrats! You simply harvested a deer! However now the exhausting work begins. It’s time to area gown it, drag it to the truck, and course of the scrumptious venison. It appears like lots, but it surely’s not as difficult because it initially appears. So let’s get began with one of the best ways to course of a deer.

How To Course of A Deer

It’s necessary to notice that everybody has a barely completely different approach of processing their deer. The one outlined under has labored nicely for my household and me for a number of years, however we’re always attempting new strategies and methods to do it.

Processing a deer can take a few hours, so most individuals imagine taking it to a neighborhood meat processing plant is one of the best ways to course of a deer.

I’m not towards this, however I hardly ever take my deer to the processor for 3 causes. The primary is the expense. Taking a deer isn’t low-cost, costing round $100-$120, plus any extras you add (like grinding it or turning the venison into jerky). The second cause is as a result of I wish to management what occurs to the meat. Lastly, I feel studying to course of a deer is a really helpful talent, beginning with area dressing it.

Useful Instruments

A number of sharp knives (one with a intestine hook is right)
Knife sharpener
Small butcher (bone) noticed
Rope/chain
Deer hanger
Vacuum sealer/freezer baggage
Meat grinder
Cooler
Desk
Water supply
Bucket

Subject Dressing

Gutting or area dressing the deer helps cut back the chance of contaminating the venison with fecal matter, urine, and the rest housed within the abdomen. You’ll usually obtain an additional cost when you don’t field-dress the deer earlier than taking it to the processor, so it’s important to know the way to do that as a hunter.

Subject dressing is best when utilizing a knife with a intestine hook, but it surely’s not needed.

Step 1: Lower by way of the pores and skin across the anus till the rectum is free.
Step 2: Lower a 2-3 inch lengthy gap by way of the pores and skin just under the sternum (the place the ribs meet), then flip your blade over, utilizing the intestine hook (to keep away from piercing the stomach wall/membrane), and proceed slicing the pores and skin to the anus and as much as the neck.
Step 3: Now, it’s time to pierce the stomach wall just under the sternum. For those who don’t have a intestine hook in your blade, you should utilize two fingers to create slightly house between the stomach wall, abdomen, and intestines whereas slicing the pores and skin so that you don’t unintentionally lower them (that’s a nasty day, belief me…).
Step 4: Lower or noticed the pelvis, when you’ve got a small hand noticed (butcher noticed) accessible, to permit the decrease gut to cross by way of with out tearing.
Step 5: Noticed or lower by way of the highest of the sternum, permitting for simpler entry to the center and lungs.
Step 6: Lower the diaphragm (skinny muscle/membrane) from the rib cage on either side.
Step 7: Rigorously lower the esophagus and windpipe above the center, as far up as you may go.
Step 8: Use the windpipe to tug the heart from the carcass, saving the center and liver (when you or somebody you recognize enjoys organ meat).

That’s it! It’s now time to take it residence and pores and skin it.

Skinning

Now that you simply’re residence, you have to pores and skin the deer. I’ve discovered it most accessible to do that whereas it’s hanging by the rear legs.

Step 1: Lower a gap giant sufficient to slide the gamble (deer hanger) into between the bone and Achilles tendon on each legs. DO NOT lower the tendon. Doing so will stop you from hanging the deer, making slicing the meat with out getting particles throughout it way more difficult.
Step 2: Use a rope, cable, or chain over a limb or deer hoist to lift the deer off the bottom; the butt must be about eye degree or no less than till the top is off the bottom. Increase and decrease the deer in line with what’s most snug.
Step 3: Now that it’s off the bottom, lower a skin-deep ring across the leg with the blade edge dealing with out (as a lot as doable after the preliminary lower) to forestall the hair from getting onto the meat.
Step 4: Now you can lower the disguise from the anus to the ring you simply made, following the road the place the brown and white fur meet.
Step 5: Pull the pores and skin away from the meat and lower the membrane between the pores and skin and the meat, from the again legs to the ribs. Watch out to chop the membrane and never into the muscle to maintain the meat as clear as doable. A really sharp knife helps greatest with this.
Step 6: All of the pores and skin across the stomach and again legs ought to now be free, and the tail is at present holding up progress. Press/pull out and down on the tail and lower the disguise throughout it, then rapidly pull down/ pop the tail to separate the joints the place the tail and butt meet earlier than slicing by way of the tail.
Step 7: Transfer all the way down to the entrance legs and pores and skin them such as you did the again legs. You would possibly must put the leg you’re slicing between your legs to maintain the deer from spinning. You may pull the pores and skin off the again as soon as each entrance shoulders are uncovered as much as the neck. If you wish to preserve the disguise, it’s greatest to maintain slicing the membrane as a substitute of simply pulling it.

Now that the pores and skin not covers the meat, it’s greatest to let it age.

Growing old The Meat

Hanging a deer to let it age depends upon the surroundings, temperature, deer age, and private desire. Since my deer processing occurs within the storage, I hardly ever get to let the deer dangle for so long as I’d like.

When you’ve got a walk-in cooler that can preserve the meat above 32°F and under 40°F, you need to let it dangle for five to 14 days. This enables the nice micro organism to interrupt down muscle fibers, tenderizing the meat and making it rather less gamey-tasting.

Nonetheless, for these of us who don’t have a walk-in cooler, let the deer dangle for so long as doable (a few days is greatest), so long as the temperature is between 33°F and 40°F. This is perhaps in a single day, just a few days, or just some hours.

De-Boning/Butchering

As soon as the deer has aged to your liking or the temperature has made that possibility unviable, it’s time to take away the meat from the bone and place it in a cooler. It’s greatest to start with the tenderloins.

Step 1: Lower away the flank meat (the skinny meat connecting the ribs to the hindquarters) to make the tenderloins extra accessible.
Step 2: With the deer hanging from the again legs, the tenderloins must be just under eye degree contained in the carcass. They need to come out simply by slicing close to the groin space and gently pulling (they have a tendency to go greater than most individuals assume). They’re concerning the dimension of a big fish fillet on most deer and the most effective cuts of meat.
Step 3: Now, we will work on the hind quarters with out worrying about ruining the tenderloins. The hind quarters are good for jerky and roasts. It’s best to discover the place the muscle groups overlap; that is the place you need to start slicing and separating the muscle groups from one another.
Step 4: As soon as a few of them are separated, you may higher attain the bone and lower it off the bones and joints. There’s not a reasonably approach of doing this apart from following the bone.
Step 5. After eradicating the meat from a lot of the hind quarters (when you take away all of it, the deer will not dangle since you lower the meat hooked up to the Achilles), it’s time to maneuver on to arguably one of the best meat on the deer: the backstraps. It goes up into the hind quarters, so now that they’re eliminated, you need to see precisely the place to make your lower.
1. I wish to run my knife down the spine, intently following each vertebra to get as a lot meat as doable. Then, I lower perpendicularly throughout the highest, pulling and slicing the backstrap off the bones till I reached the neck, the place I lower perpendicularly throughout the underside to free the meat from the carcass. Set each apart for later processing (butterflying the backstrap).
Step 6: As soon as the backstraps are eliminated, you may lower off the entrance shoulders (You may technically take away the entrance shoulders at any level). That is fairly easy since pulling the entrance leg away from the physique creates an area your knife can naturally slice by way of. You don’t should be tremendous delicate with this piece, as most of it’s stew or scrap meat.
Step 7: Let’s transfer on to the ribs. You may lower the rib meat off the bone or lower the rib bones (this takes up extra space in your freezer). There’s not a ton of rib meat, and it’s fairly robust, so most individuals grind or slow-cook it. For those who’re slicing the meat off the bone, begin on the high of the ribs and work your approach down; that approach, gravity is working with you. Merely comply with the bone along with your knife and slowly pull the meat from the bone. Repeat on the opposite facet.
Step 8: When you’ve eliminated all of the rib meat, you may start butchering the neck. Start the place you chop the backstrap and comply with the backbone down and across the trachea.
Step 9: Take your time and end slicing off any chunks of meat you may need missed or initially neglected. Then, you may take the deer down and lower the meat off the Achilles space.

Getting ready the Meat

Now that a lot of the meat is off the bones (entrance shoulders nonetheless have bones), it’s time to organize it for long-term storage. Once more, there are a number of methods of doing this, and my course of always evolves. It usually begins with rinsing the meat.

Washing

Cleansing the meat is important. Nobody needs grime, grass, hair, or particles of their deer stew, burger, or steak. You’ll probably have to wash a few of it along with your fingers, as grass and hair are notoriously tough to take away as soon as they’ve caught to the membrane.

When you’ve completed the preliminary washing, you may start trimming and grinding the meat.

Trimming & Grinding

For those who’re not a giant fan of wildgame, it’s most likely as a result of whoever processed the meat did a poor job trimming it. I desire to chop out as many tendons and connective tissue as doable; this contains the silvery membrane the place a lot of the wild sport style comes from. It’s on the again straps and plenty of different parts of the meat.

Take your time, and also you’ll thank your self later.

Talking of the backstrap, part it into two—to three-inch chunks earlier than slicing it practically in half. That is known as butterflying the backstrap, and it turns it right into a scrumptious steak. In order for you a thicker steak, lower the chunks slightly thicker, or don’t butterfly it.

As soon as as a lot of the membrane and tendons as doable are faraway from the grind meat, it’s time to plop it into the grinder. You’ll discover you may need missed just a few tendons; now’s the time to take away those you see.

I usually depart the entrance shoulder meat hooked up to the bone and smoke it, however that is very robust meat, so it’s also possible to lower it off the bone and sluggish cook dinner it or use it in a stew after eradicating as many tendons as doable.

If I discover lots of particles, I desire to scrub the meat one final time to make sure it’s clear earlier than evenly drying it and inserting it in a freezer bag or vacuum sealing it in parts my household usually eats.

Storing

When you’ve packaged all of the meat, it’s time to place it within the freezer. I all the time date it and write what it’s, comparable to “Immediately’s Date—Stew Meat” or “Immediately’s Date—Backstrap.” This lets me know what I’m grabbing out of the freezer and the way lengthy it’s been there.

I’ve had deer meat keep good for a number of years, however I’ve had different venison get freezer-burned, and go unhealthy in a 12 months. All of it depends upon how nicely you package deal it.

Correctly Eliminate the Scraps

At this level, you need to have a carcass and scraps to get rid of; don’t be lazy and simply toss it within the ditch. As a substitute, learn your searching laws and get rid of it correctly. This usually includes burying it at a selected depth.

Parting Photographs: Greatest Approach To Course of A Deer

Now you understand how to course of a deer. After just a few makes an attempt, it isn’t as difficult because it initially appeared.

I do know hunters who can course of a deer in below an hour and others who take just a few hours. All of it depends upon how meticulous you wish to be and the way nicely you perceive deer anatomy. Having a pointy knife additionally helps a ton, too!

Whereas processing your deer is extra work than taking it to a butcher, growing this talent and figuring out you harvest the deer from area to desk is a sense you may’t put a value on.