Thread: Processing deer

I have shot them in the am and processed in pm straight to freezer. I have let them hang weather permitting, I have put them in cooler for a few days. Have not noticed a difference in taste on any method. Silver skin is a slow process no matter what. The MDC or DNR here says put carcass in bag and into dumpster. I sure do not like carcasses dropped on my property. When my son was young I let him learn how to handle a knife by putting him in charge of burger meat on carcass. Them bones were cleaned off like the buzzards had got them.

Weather permitting I hang my deer for a week. Most times I don't skin it right away. I think ageing helps a lot. If weather isn't cooperating I use a fan to keep it cool. Bucks in rut are all ground into burger. I never never add any other meat to my deer. Except when making sausage. Water isn't good for deer. I just wipe the blood off and go.
To me the key to great tasting deer starts when I get it down. I get it field dressed as quickly as possible, place it belly down to drain. Add some ice or some kind of cooling package to the chest cavity. Get the heat out and get it cooled down as quickly as possible. Everyone has their own ways but this always worked for me.

Ageing has a profound effect on all meat, including venison, and it has nothing to do with marbling (intermuscular fat content). Aging occurs at temperatures above freezing and below 40 F. When temps are at or below freezing, muscle doesn't change much, so if muscle is immersed in ice, very little ageing can occur. Temperatures above 40 (remember the old saying "life begins at 40"?) will allow bacteria to thrive and your hard earned venison will quickly rot.
Shortly after death, muscle fibers begin to shorten and become rigid. We call this rigor mortis. Butchering and freezing during this time makes your venison dinners tougher than they have to be. Rigor mortis lasts for about a day and then the muscle fibers begin to relax. Ageing begins when rigor mortis ends.
Collagen is the substance that makes meat tough and it is in all red meat. The levels of collagen increase with age. This explains why an improperly aged dinner from a six year old trophy buck is tougher than a that of a yearling. It also explains why ageing affects meat from mature animals more than younger deer. Venison contains a lot of the same enzymes as beef. These enzymes, given time after death, break down collagen. This breakdown tenderizes and adds a rich flavor to muscle. That trophy buck, properly aged, has the potential to provide fork tender suppers which are more flavorful than those from younger animals and that is the reason we age venison.
I hope this abbreviated explanation helps and encourages someone to try proper ageing. You'll be pleasantly rewarded!

I usually do my own. Don't really like the taste of venison so most goes to jerky or ground. Little trick a buddy taught me on the ground. Instead of adding beef fat, go to walmart and buy one of those big 5 lb tubes of the 70/30 hamburger. It is actually about half fat as you will see when you open it up. There is enough fat to do an entire deer. I grind the deer up first then run it back through the grinder mixing in the hamburger for a second grind. Works great.

Aging meat helps to tenderize it and I used to do mine in an ice pack in a huge cooler , drain water and rotate every day for 3 or more days . Never found a way to get the silver or tendons out easily , but it helps if it’s cold and firm when you carve on it a lot . Took my inedibles back to the woods sometimes and sometimes I took them to the dumpster at work as well .
Tried about a million ways and processors and in the end I have 2 I like and trust and just hand them my buck and a hundred or so and let them do it now as I have gotten a bit lazy and less poor than I once was ....lol

I've aged them,and I've put em up quickly,honestly we couldn't tell the difference.I separate the inner loin,and tenderloin for frying,and make steaks out of all I can.My wife usually makes baked steak and gravy out of the steaks,this will tenderize even the toughest tender.
I am hard to please on cutting up my meat,we always butchered and packed our own on the farm,so it old hat to continue.As far as deer go,when I'm done cutting it up,there is absolutely no silver skin,and no fat on the meat period,this is time consuming,but there are no butchers that is willing to clean it the way we like it.As far as ground deer,again,absolutely nothing but red meat,then we add either sausage,or beef fat for the perfect mix.

When I kill'em I get them home as fast as possible and hang them and clean them. I then cut all the meat off the bones and cut them up wash the meat good and put it in freezer. If it is a old or big buck I just grind it all up as they are just tuff anyway. I just keep tinder loins for steaks mostly. I use ground deer for Chile or add bacon when ground to make bacon burgers. Add some hog fat and sausage season to make pan deer sausage. Have made link sausage but a lot of trouble stuffing and smoking it. If I want tender meat I just kill a yearling size doe they are tinder. When disposing a deer carcass be kind and don't throw it to where people can see it from the road. Good to just take carcass back where you killed it in woods. The buzzards need to eat also and it will be gone in just a little while.

Originally Posted by Jman5626

Does anyone here process thier own deer? If so I have some questions.

1) after you get it skinned and quartered, how long do you wait before trimming and packaging it. I’ve heard to let it sit in the fridge a few days and drain the blood off of it to make it more tender and taste better.

I cool mine down on ice but keep it dry usually over night. Cold meat firms up and cuts better .

2) I live in the city, what do I do with the carcass. I normally just drive to a secluded area and dump it, but I feel like there may be a better way.

Unless you have a big freezer and can freeze and bag up for trash day . lol We haul off to a place to feed varmits or bury

3) is there an easier way to remove membrane from meat or does it just take a lot of time and knife work.

By removing the silver skin/membranes it it grinds better and easier to eat too . I use a fillet knife just like taking skin off a fish

Thanks again.
Jesse


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This is the way I do it