How much meat do you waste?

[44man]

I am fussy, remove all fat and all that is not meat. Takes time. Deer tallow really sucks. There is so much on ribs that the little meat is not worth the trouble.
Even the neck needs time because of the fat layers. Nothing to get 2 feed bags full of junk.

[lrb605]

I probably don't use as much as I should but at least I know it's mine! Never have sent mine to be processed these 17 years.

Sent from my LGL33L using Tapatalk

[CITYREPO61]

I started processing my own venison 2 years ago and really enjoy it. I know that all of the fat and silver skin is removed and vacuum sealed in portion sized packages. Even though it takes a lot of time it's worth it. In fact friends have started dropping of their deer for me to process. I use just about every spec of meat. I haven't done the bones for stock yet but hope to try it soon

[EMC45]

Process my own too. Heard too many horror stories about processors when I lived in GA. I don't get the rib meat out, but do get the neck meat for jerky and ground. I have a nice hand grinder and electric grinder. They both work well. Keep your knives sharp and don't cut yourself and half the battle is won.

[Echale3]

I have always done my own butchering--I want to know exactly how my venison was handled and packaged. I vacuum pack mine in "me-sized" portions because my wife is a vegetarian.

I always save the heart if it's not blown up--it's great grilled after you take off the top where the big veins and arteries come in (too gristly for my taste). Not a big liver eater, though, so I ditch that with the gut pile, and I don't keep the kidneys, either, although I do like steak and kidney pie, so maybe I should try making a venison version of it. The intercostals are good if you take them off as a slab, take off the hard fat layer, and then grill them real quick with a little salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary. I have a little hand-crank grinder, the kind that bolts to a table top, for making burger and sausage.

I generally save certain of the leg bones for knife handles, render the tallow and mix it with olive oil for patch lube and leather conditioner, take off the silver skin from the topstrap for stitching up leather, and I've been known to brain tan/bark tan a hide or two...

One day I'll have to tell the story of my dog Lynyrd sneaking into the garage and making off with a big ol' slab of hard fat while I was busy quartering a deer.

[375supermag]

Hi...
Progressed all my own deer since I started hunting.
I really didn't know butcher shops processed deer until I met some co-workers who lived in apartments and hunted.
Pretty good at butchering myself but then I butchered steers with my ex-father-in-law and other family members for years.
My son thinks it is too much trouble and pays a local shop to butcher his deer...He knows how to butcher and has done it but just would rather pay someone else to do it.

[pka45]

I process every one, though I'm still working on developing a taste for liver. Want to learn to tan next...

[randy_68]

I've been doing my own for several years now too. My son and Mr did a couple this past fall but we don't do the ribs like that anymore. Just not worth it. We do take some chunk meat to the processor if we want snck sticks or Bologna and they always comment on how clean our meat is. I've been buying butchering supplies a little at a time so I can do more of my own
In fact my wife bought me a LEM stuffer for Christmas but I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

[Omega]

I've been doing my own for several years now too. My son and Mr did a couple this past fall but we don't do the ribs like that anymore. Just not worth it. We do take some chunk meat to the processor if we want snck sticks or Bologna and they always comment on how clean our meat is. I've been buying butchering supplies a little at a time so I can do more of my own
In fact my wife bought me a LEM stuffer for Christmas but I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

If the LEM is anything but the vertical stuffer take it back and get the vertical one. I love mine, it makes doing summer sausage a breeze. A few years ago I tried for the first time doing my own, I used the tube for my grinder to stuff the sausage, what a hassle. So I looked into getting a dedicated stuffer, and first tried the LEM hand stuffer, it worked but just didn't work as good as I wanted to. So then I got the vertical stuffer and all was well, it cut making sausage by hours.

[smoked turkey]

This is a very interesting thread on deer processing. I too process my own. I can afford to take the field dressed deer to a local processor, but I better like the idea of being independent. I like to think of it as lead ingot to freezer independence. My deer never leave the property once they are on the ground. This year I more or less followed a process that was posted earlier before deer season that was a series of pictures. I looked but can't put my finger on that particular thread. It worked great.
Now, full disclosure time: I will say that my processing time is on the order of two days to do a deer. I read the above accounts on those who can do it in a few hours. I simply cannot do that. Even though I have butchered several deer, I just can't seem to make it happen quickly. With that in mind, and factoring in weather plus my other time commitments I cannot always do my own. In the recent past our temperatures have been above 50 degrees which says that processing needs to be done immediately. This years buck just happened to be during a very cold time. Temperatures dipped into the teens for several days. I let my deer hang in the barn for a week with no problem. I was able to take the time to do the whole job over the two days. I made my own breakfast sausage using my Cabela's Jerky Blaster with a one-half inch stuffing tube. It is slow but worked great making link sausages about 4 to 5 inches long. I cannot justify all the time it took me to do this process money wise. But the satisfaction level I get for this is off the scale. Thanks for this thread as it speaks of why I enjoy the ingot to freezer process so much.

[randy_68]

If the LEM is anything but the vertical stuffer take it back and get the vertical one. I love mine, it makes doing summer sausage a breeze. A few years ago I tried for the first time doing my own, I used the tube for my grinder to stuff the sausage, what a hassle. So I looked into getting a dedicated stuffer, and first tried the LEM hand stuffer, it worked but just didn't work as good as I wanted to. So then I got the vertical stuffer and all was well, it cut making sausage by hours.

Yes it is the vertical stuffer. As you found out, using the grinder to stuff really sucks plus I'm afraid it will eventually strip the gears. Looking forward to making some deer brats in a few weeks.

[randy_68]

This is a very interesting thread on deer processing. I too process my own. I can afford to take the field dressed deer to a local processor, but I better like the idea of being independent. I like to think of it as lead ingot to freezer independence. My deer never leave the property once they are on the ground. This year I more or less followed a process that was posted earlier before deer season that was a series of pictures. I looked but can't put my finger on that particular thread. It worked great.
Now, full disclosure time: I will say that my processing time is on the order of two days to do a deer. I read the above accounts on those who can do it in a few hours. I simply cannot do that. Even though I have butchered several deer, I just can't seem to make it happen quickly. With that in mind, and factoring in weather plus my other time commitments I cannot always do my own. In the recent past our temperatures have been above 50 degrees which says that processing needs to be done immediately. This years buck just happened to be during a very cold time. Temperatures dipped into the teens for several days. I let my deer hang in the barn for a week with no problem. I was able to take the time to do the whole job over the two days. I made my own breakfast sausage using my Cabela's Jerky Blaster with a one-half inch stuffing tube. It is slow but worked great making link sausages about 4 to 5 inches long. I cannot justify all the time it took me to do this process money wise. But the satisfaction level I get for this is off the scale. Thanks for this thread as it speaks of why I enjoy the ingot to freezer process so much.

Well said. I definitely don't do it to save money, that's for sure. I just want to do it. It's just part of the process of hunting. That's why I took up casting too. Start to finish. Feels good.

[Rick R]

I've used processors for most of the deer I've taken. My dad retired as a meatcutter of the old school and we did one together but it took hours and he referred me to a friend who moonlighted (deerlighted?) as a processor out of a completely outfitted basement for my next kill. That fellow has totally gone out of the business so now I use a company that processes livestock during the season and deer or bear during hunting season. You can watch them work thru a window at the plant when you drop off or pick up and its clean and efficient. I'm pretty satisfied that you get the deer you dropped off due to the process they have in place and due to old bucks tasting like old bucks while young doe taste better.
Now that I'm retired I may just start accumulating the tools to do it myself.

A former coworker is a proponent of "Bagging" deer. He claims that instead of field dressing them he cuts from the top down removing meat from the outside of the deer's carcass in minutes and not dragging it out of the woods.
Has anyone tried this method and have an opinion on it?

[Lonegun1894]

I haven't tried it, but check your game laws before you do. Some States have laws that say you can only process it to a certain point before it gets to it's final destination, or that proof of sex has to remain attached til it gets to final destination, etc. In my case, a buck has to have a spread of at least 13" on it's antlers (unless it's a spike), so if I was to get checked and have just the meat and a filled out tag when on my way home, I may get a ticket or whatever else they decide to do. I always gut, quarter, etc. at site of kill or in camp, but almost always do the final processing at home, with the exception of any portions that get eaten in camp.

[CITYREPO61]

I've used processors for most of the deer I've taken. My dad retired as a meatcutter of the old school and we did one together but it took hours and he referred me to a friend who moonlighted (deerlighted?) as a processor out of a completely outfitted basement for my next kill. That fellow has totally gone out of the business so now I use a company that processes livestock during the season and deer or bear during hunting season. You can watch them work thru a window at the plant when you drop off or pick up and its clean and efficient. I'm pretty satisfied that you get the deer you dropped off due to the process they have in place and due to old bucks tasting like old bucks while young doe taste better.
Now that I'm retired I may just start accumulating the tools to do it myself.

A former coworker is a proponent of "Bagging" deer. He claims that instead of field dressing them he cuts from the top down removing meat from the outside of the deer's carcass in minutes and not dragging it out of the woods.
Has anyone tried this method and have an opinion on it?

For tools, I use knives that I have in the kitchen already except for a hacksaw to cut up the ribs. I would think you have pretty much have all that you need already. Currently I do also use a Kitchen aid for grinding and sausage stuffing but the first couple of deer I processed I didn't.
As far as the way that your friend does it, how does he get the inner loins out? BTW I also take 2 days to butcher a deer because of the way that I clean the meat. Day one is when I rough butcher and place in a cooler over bags of ice to drain the blood and get the meat cool. When I am ready, I take a quarter and process it. I find that a processor can't spend the amount of time cleaning the meat like I do or they would be working for $2 an hour lol

[kycrawler]

I don't waste any at all. I throw the ball ones out carcass and boned out quarters in our hog pen when done. There aren't even any bone fragments left in a couple weeks.

[Omega]

I've used processors for most of the deer I've taken. My dad retired as a meatcutter of the old school and we did one together but it took hours and he referred me to a friend who moonlighted (deerlighted?) as a processor out of a completely outfitted basement for my next kill. That fellow has totally gone out of the business so now I use a company that processes livestock during the season and deer or bear during hunting season. You can watch them work thru a window at the plant when you drop off or pick up and its clean and efficient. I'm pretty satisfied that you get the deer you dropped off due to the process they have in place and due to old bucks tasting like old bucks while young doe taste better.
Now that I'm retired I may just start accumulating the tools to do it myself.

A former coworker is a proponent of "Bagging" deer. He claims that instead of field dressing them he cuts from the top down removing meat from the outside of the deer's carcass in minutes and not dragging it out of the woods.
Has anyone tried this method and have an opinion on it?

Here in TN, you have to keep proof of sex until you check it in. But now they have electronic check in, so I field dress, skin, and quarter my deer on a portable gambrel before I bring it home. I age mine in a fridge I removed all the shelves from so within a couple to four days I will process the quarters into steaks and grind the rest, then I vacuum seal for the freezer, so leg bones are the only thing I have to dispose of. I have always processed my own and have only taken one in, in the entire time I have been hunting.

[Rick R]

As far as the way that your friend does it, how does he get the inner loins out? BTW I also take 2 days to butcher a deer because of the way that I clean the meat. Day one is when I rough butcher and place in a cooler over bags of ice to drain the blood and get the meat cool. When I am ready, I take a quarter and process it. I find that a processor can't spend the amount of time cleaning the meat like I do or they would be working for $2 an hour lol

I watched an online video (he made me watch while we were in the office one morning chewing the fat) and I don't think they got nearly all the meat, including the inner loins. The lack of hanging also makes me wonder about the quality of the meat. FWIW WV went to online check in and no one but you has to ever see your deer. With the old check station method most of my deer were in the back of the truck and never got looked at when I was "checking" them usually at a gas station somewhere between the field and home.

The processor I use lets the deer hang, usually for a day after it's skinned. That's usually the time lag with the pile of deer they get every season and they have a roller system where the deer get skinned and then go into a walk in freezer and actually hang. This year I shot an old buck, he had grey hair on his back, chipped antlers and a healed injury on his rump from fighting something. I wanted to take a break from hunting and go with my wife to visit her family for Thanksgiving so I asked if they could expedite the processing. The young fellow taking in the deer says "sure!" and makes a mark on the tag they attach to your deer carcass when you drop it off. The next morning I get a call "your deer is ready". That evening we made tenderloins and it's the first time I've had a tough tender loin. I told my wife that if the burger was tough we were feeding him to the dogs. But for what it's worth a couple months in the freezer seems to have aged the meat somewhat.

[Swede44mag]

I have been hunting deer for 30 years or more. When i started the only tools i had was a knife and the wifes Kitchen Aid grinder. One year I noticed the mixer motor was getting hot so i bought a dedicated grinder from Cabellas been adding equipment since.

I skin, cut the back straps out, quarter the deer rinse off all the blood put the meat front and back legs in a fridge let them set for a day or two. Then I put the back legs in the freezer and when frozen cut the steaks from the back legs the rest gets run through the grinder. I could take it to a processor but i would rather spend the cost on processing equipment. Last year we bought a meat band saw works great for cutting steaks but is a PITA to clean.

If anyone can process a whole deer in a couple hours they are a lot faster than me.

[Edward]

I"ve been doing my own going on 48 yrs and started with more waste but over the yrs I upgraded from a knife and stubborn to meat grinder
vac sealer more knifes /experience (still stubborn) and don"t waste anything . When I"m done the woods get the bones/scraps that are left and even the coyotes look starved !