Tips on cutting up a deer

[mike64]

My brother-in-law is giving me half a deer-- he doesn't have time to cut up the whole thing so I get half, but I have to cut it up myself. My wife and I both love venison, so I want it, but I've never butchered a deer before.

I'm sure there's lots of info online about how to do it, but I was just interested in any tips & tricks you guys might have for the cutting and the storing. Like a guy here at work said, "wrap the cuts in saran wrap, then butcher paper. Don't use freezer bags because you don't want air pockets-- the meat keeps better in the freezer longer". Stuff like that.

 

[BWR1953]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

I'd like to know this as well. I plan on going hunting VERY soon.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

every time you open an upright freezer the cold air drops out and another layer of frost gets a chance to form. If you use a chest freezer your meat will last much longer with less freezer burn.

 

[The_Kid]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

Google search is your friend. Lots of info and some Youtube stuff when you search for butchering deer diagram.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

We use freezer bags ... much faster, and if you take the time to work out the air it will keep fresh for the entire year.

We like to de-bone everything, except maybe a shoulder and neck roast. The back strap gets removed and then butterflied (unless we want to keep a piece whole for roasting). To butterfly a back strap, about 3/4 inch from the end make a cut about 4/5 of the way through. Another 3/4 inch and cut the whole way through. Open meat up to form a "butterfly."

For steaks, the easiest way is to debone the hind quarter and then divide into muscle groups. Cut against the grain in desired thicknesses. Cube the small pieces for stews, canning, or chili.

Ribs ... not much meat on the ribs, so this can become hamburger, or small cubes mixed with the steak cubes.

Shoulder - top part is roast or cubes and bottom portion is hamburger or cubes.

That should about do it.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

Buy or borrow a vacuum sealer.

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

The one tip I learned from watching a show on the Food Network when it comes to meats, is to take your cuts and put them on a rack inside a roasting pan and then in to the fridge for about an hour before freezing. This helps remove any surface moisture on the meat and will create smaller crystals when put in the freezer. The smaller crystals don't damage the meat as much as larger crystals would (which is why flash freezing is always preferred).

They did mention the saran wrap and butcher paper as well, but like mentioned a vacuum sealer or working the air out of a zip top freezer bag works too.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

We kill a good number of deer a year and sometimes process them ourselves or sometimes pay to process them. We have a beef farm and kill a steer annually and always have it processed. For years, the processors used butcher paper, but started vacuum sealing a decade or so ago. The sealed stuff certainly comes out of the freezer better looking as time passes.

 

[surge006]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

are you literally getting a half a deer and need to skin and cut it or you getting a half a skinned deer still on body or all cut up meat ? most post are just saying how to store it.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

Aspect, pretty much nailed it as far as cutting up goes. Unless you have a meat saw, you basically gotta take it off the bone or chunk it into roasts, except for the backstrap. If you want burger, of course you need a grinder....In reality, a half a deer isn't that much. I wouldn't buy a sealer and grinder just to process half a deer. I'd just cut and hack it up, and put it in freezer bags.

 

[mike64]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

are you literally getting a half a deer and need to skin and cut it or you getting a half a skinned deer still on body or all cut up meat ? most post are just saying how to store it.

I think he's going to skin it, but from there I'm on my own.

Thanks for the tips, everybody. I'm going to get it and cut it up tonight, so I won't have time to pick up a vacuum sealer, but that's a good idea for next time. I'll post how the job went tomorrow.

 

[Bass Man Bruce]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

Remove all the fat prior to freezing, you will be very glad you did.
It has a very strong tallow taste that almost everybody detests.
I like to let my deer hang for three days at about 43 degrees.
I agree with all the above advise.

Enjoy!

 

[Les Robb]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

All good advice and for sure hang in 35-45 degree air for a few days if you can. If not, cut the ham and front shoulder off and lay on clean paper in the fridge for 3-4 days. (Better than nothing), and it will age the meat to a certain extent. We gave up on ribs years ago, as I can't stand the aftertaste of tallow after eating.

A recipe we like is nothing more than saut?ing a med onion in heavy butter then dropping the loin (sliced into 1/2" cubes and frying slowly till med rare)
Take the meat out and keep warm while making a thick gravy from flour and milk with just enough water to thin. Add the meat back and simmer till just boiling. Serve with potato or rice and vegetable of choice.

bon apetite ya'll

 

[skargo]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

If you've never done it I'd recommend paying someone to do it. It can be cheaper than you might think, and it will be done up nice if you use a skilled butcher. My guy charges me $130 for a fat doe, done up with steaks, back straps, spicyy bologna rolls, jerky, slim jims,pressed burgers, ground, and even a meatloaf thrown in.

Now I'm hungry.

 

[dr_bowtie]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

I watched my buddy do it in my shop....it was easy...well the watching part...

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

We have always hung our meat for 10 to 14 days. Very important or the meat will taste off. As of butchering if you don't have the exsperance doing it and don't want just hamburger and stew meat have a butcher do it. The cut is one of the most important parts for a good meal.

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

I have not butchered any kind of meat for many years but as a general rule try to cut across the grain when slicing it up.When I was a young'un we most always had one hanging in the blacksmith shop in cooler weather unskun because the meat would keep longer and I would skin as much as I needed to to get a meal and maybe trim around an area that the cats might have gotten to if If we didn't close the blacksmith shop door properly and look forward to a nice meal.Ron G

 

[mike64]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

Thanks for all the great advice, everybody. My brother-in-law offered to show me how to do the cutting in return for me helping him cut up two deer (he got two from a friend who has a farmer's license, plus he's planning on going hunting himself). So I wasn't on my own like I thought I'd be.

The butchering was pretty easy once he showed me the basics, so we made short work of it. I ended up with about 2/3 of a deer. Can't wait to BBQ up some venison steaks this weekend! Les, your recipe sounds tasty-- I'll definitely be trying that one this winter. But this weekend I'm going to marinate some steaks in a little soy sauce, garlic & brown sugar, and throw 'em on the grill. Yum.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

That sounds great too Mike. Years back on new years eve we would pit cook a whole pig all night for the neighborhood party. One time I took two whole hams and sliced 3 or 4 cuts counter grain down to the bone and filled the slices with belly fat. Finally took butchers twine and tied them up tightly.

After cooking off to the side they were done in the morning way before the pig was so we served the early arrivals with a little treat. Your want to see two hams vanish in a hurry, put them in front of hungry guests like that.

Just another way to avoid dry venison

PS: Clarification, that's fresh hog fat straight from the pig. Bacon or fat back or anthing salted heavily will not be the same. Hard to come by unless you have a real butcher or slaughter house close by.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Tips on cutting up a deer

Venison is the beef in our diet. We shoot some, get given some, and even pick up fresh road kills if we can. One of the best was a pretty good sized buck that totaled a durango at highway speed. The side that was hit was tender, but the impact sheared the heart right off, and there was no blood in the meat. It was all in the cavity.

On aging the meat. Classic aging if you kill, skin, and get it in the cooler right away is 14 days at 34 degrees. It takes about 3 days at 43 degrees. With experience you can usually tell when it's right. Aging tenderizes the meat. A young animal really doesn't need it, just cooling and draining the excess blood.

I de-bone the entire deer. As stated before, sort out the muscle groups in the hind quarters, and cut them cross grain into steaks. You can also use bigger hunks as roasts. Whatever comes out goofy goes into the hamburger and stew meat bowl.

The front quarters all go into hamburger or stew.

The back strap gets filleted off in a strip and cut into steaks. Lower back is sirloin, upper back is strip steaks.

Inside the lower back is a pair of muscles that is absolutely the best piece of meat in the animal. It would be fillet mignon in a beef. We usually chicken fry these little steak morsels and serve them to company. They melt in yer mouth.

Everything else gets cut off the bones and goes into hamburger.

The hamburger gets completely de-fatted and cut into small pieces so it will go through the grinder. We then spread the pieces on cookie sheets and freeze them. Then we put them into zip-locks and save them till we get time to grind. We have a belt driven grinder that will do about 60 lbs an hour, so usually it's several deer at once. When we grind the venison, it has no fat in it, so we mix in 10% beef fat the local butcher trims off steaks and roasts. It is very delicious any way you cook it.

As stated before, venison fat does not taste good. Trim it all off, and replace it with any other fat from bacon to butter to beef fat.

The thick pieces of back fat get saved and frozen, to be put into onion bags and hung out for the chicadees and woodpeckers.

The carcasses get hung up in trees in the back yard. The chicadees, woodpeckers, and nuthatches will pick on them all winter.

All the other trimmings and fat get frozen in small packages for dog and cat food. Anything that might have lead in it is carefully trashed. (I've gone to an all copper slug.)

Hope it helps
John