So total new guy question here. What do you do after you harvest a deer? This is my second year hunting and so far I have yet to harvest an animal. Learned quite a bit out in the woods last year and hoping to spend as many days as I can out this year.
I am pretty confident in my ability to properly gut the animal and get it back home, it's the part after this that I am unsure of. I've heard some guys say to take it in immediately to get it processed and yet I've heard others say to wash it out with water and let it hang in a nice cool garage for a few days prior to having in processed.
So what's the best way to go about this? Thanks.
Here's what I always do.
I quarter the animal and put it on ice. Keep it on ice for the next few days until I get to it. Then butcher it myslef. Worked fine for the last 50 or so deer my family has done. We almost always have the deer in the ice chest within 4-5 hours of shooting it.
A lot of people will recommend hanging it or whatever. But most of the time its too hot for that. And out method has resulted in good eating and no gamey meat so we will continue doing it our way.
If you are getting it processed and don't want to quarter it, then just throw a bag of ice in the chest cavity of its semi cool outside and take it to the processor asap.
If you find that you are getting better and killing more deer then you might as well learn to butcher it yourself. A grinder and vacuum sealer will pay for themselves quickly with processing fees at $100 or more.
QuoteOriginally posted by Schmidty3:
Here's what I always do.
I quarter the animal and put it on ice. Keep it on ice for the next few days until I get to it. Then butcher it myslef. Worked fine for the last 50 or so deer my family has done. We almost always have the deer in the ice chest within 4-5 hours of shooting it.
A lot of people will recommend hanging it or whatever. But most of the time its too hot for that. And out method has resulted in good eating and no gamey meat so we will continue doing it our way.
If you are getting it processed and don't want to quarter it, then just throw a bag of ice in the chest cavity of its semi cool outside and take it to the processor asap.
If you find that you are getting better and killing more deer then you might as well learn to butcher it yourself. A grinder and vacuum sealer will pay for themselves quickly with processing fees at $100 or more.
X2
Down here in the South, ice chest(cooler) & ice is your friend. X3...
Oh..and don't forget to drain the water every so often and add ice.
Well Ranger, what you described is one reason that I seldom kill a deer anymore.
First off. If you don't have time to do the job right just don't kill the deer.
Next. I suggest that you go back over your field dressing routine to make sure that you are not ruining the meat in the process. Botched field dressing is where most of the reputation comes from for poor taste of venison.
If you don't live way up north or have a walk in refrigerator, forget the hanging part. Do what Car54 said.
Actually, deer processing is a pretty large subject that would take a lot more space than we have here.
Get a book called "Making the Most of Your Deer", or something like that, and study it.
That is one reason that I tend to lean towards small game nowadays...more fun and action and less work.
RLTW
Down South, we need to get the animal on ice or in the deer cooler pretty quick, particularly in the heat of early season. Meat will go bad fairly quick in the heat, but a little ice early on will give you ample opportunity to get it to a more suitable storage facility.
Field dress, drag it out, take it home for the family to see, then straight to the processor.
A couple things I do for gutting that makes it quicker a and cleaner...
I use multiple knives. One big buck knife (119?) One smaller knife. A gerber gut knife thingy, its a concave shaped knife with a rubber ball on the end so you don't poke guts, and a butt-out tool (snicker...snicker...whatever. A lot of people think its a gimmick. But for me it works great). Rotating knives like that makes each last longer before I have to resharpen.
I feel along the rib cage until I find the end of the sternum. Poke a hole there. Slide in my big knife towards the heart lungs area. Then use the side of my hand to hammer the back of the knife, slicing through the ribs all the way to the front of the chest (may not work well on very large deer, it also can ruin a mount if done this way). This gives easy access to the esophogus. That saves a bunch of time versus getting elbow deep in guts.
The butt out tool saves me a ton of time around the anus.
And use the gut hook knife thingy for zipping the hide on the legs and obviously the gut cavity during gutting.
Doing all this I've started gutting a deer (1.5 year doe), gotten it quartered, packed up, and packed out on my back a mile away in less than an hour.
One thing I do before I take a deer to the processor is put on a pair of latex gloves and cut every bit of the tarsal glands off and the skin around them.
I took a stinking buck to a fly by night processor once and I believe he skinned the deer, cut through the tarsal glands and used the same knife to cut up the deer. The meat was tainted with the tarsal gland stink, every bit of it.
Always one to eat what I kill, I made it through most of this deer with heavy use of smoke and spices but eventually fed the last 10# or so to my dog.
Do a search on Warren Wommack or Chris Spikes field quartering method. I been doing this forever. With practice you can have a deer in the meat sack or cooler in under 20 minutes.
In all honesty there is no wrong way to do it. You get the skin off keeping the meat as clean as possible. I do not gut the deer. You can cut a slit and reach in and get the tender loins.Get the meat on ice as quick as you can. Wash your meat really good and cut off the white stuff. I process my own venison . I bought a 40 dollar meat grinder from BP and cube everything big enough and hamburger the rest. About every 4th deer or a mature buck goes to town to the sausage maker for smoked sausage.
I once won a bet with a guy. I skinned and boned out a deer with his Barlow pocket knife in 18 minutes...on the ground. I never hang or drag a deer anymore. Do the same with wild pigs just be sure to use plastic gloves.
I don`t see a reason to gut a deer unless you cannot legally bone the deer out due to tagging or such. If I have to get the carcass out I bone out and remove the hams then gut the deer then drag the rest. Much easier. RC
We eat 5-8 deer a year at my house. I had a good season last year and killed 8. There are about 6 packs left over and I got the first of the year opening day. God is good.
Hunting is not only fun but a healthy life style. Don`t let processing your meat worry you its not a big thing that has to be done perfect just clean. RC
It's too warm to age one hanging here in Tx. I quarter my deer, put them in an ice chest with the plug out, and leave them there for 5-7 days, adding ice when needed. Do not let them soak in water. Then either process yourself, or take to a processor. I take to a processor because I hate butchering them.
Bisch
I agree with RC. I do mine a bit differently, mainly because we had to drag out the whole carcass here (that is changing) for registration.
I bone the meat off the carcass as soon as possible, place in gallon plastic bags ( cheap ones). and into a cooler with ice. That buys me a couple days. If I can't bone it out till the next day ( I tend to hunt evenings) then I wrap the carcass in a tarp with several bags of ice inside the carcass. It HAS to chill ASAP, all the way thru !
I then pull a bag and work the meat in the house, on the table. I make a bowl for grinding ( we grind a lot), a bowl for stews and such, and a pile of roasts. You don't have to be a butcher to do it this way. The roasts are pretty intuitive from a boned out rear quarter. Backstraps..... well those are held in higher esteem here as are the tenderloins. Don't forget to retrieve the tenderloins.
Each roast is placed into one of those plastic bags ( a new one) and then wrapped in freezer wrap. Measured amounts of stew or ground are handled likewise. Mmmmm good stuff.
Keep it clean, keep it cold and it is great stuff.
ChuckC
IF you do take the deer to be processed id pull the tenderloin out yourself. The "fillet" right under the back forward of the pelvis. I wouldn't risk the butcher taking that! lol. Its generally very delicate. So go easy, no need to tug and pull hard.
And ive started to keep the hearts. I grilled some heart and tenderloin off of that 1.5 year old doe and that heart beat the tenderloin hands down. 2 other people agreed with me.
I do the ice chest thing like many posted here. Quartered and 3-5 days on ice draining often. Like RC I also never, ever gut a deer. If you wanted the ribs then you have to but I can get that tenderloin like RC does and then there is no tainting of meat.
I'm with several others on using the gutless method. It's quicker, cleaner, and I can have my deer on ice quicker. I process my own as well. It's too easy not to, with YouTube you don't even have to buy a book or DVD. You can get everything you need to do it pretty cheap at wally world. You don't have to have an expensive commercial grinder, just doing a few deer a year a cheap one will last a long time.
Two different perspectives - your from Missouri and me in NC. Basically how hot or how cold is it. Most time in NC it is too hot to leave them out hanging to "age" we have to get them skinned and quartered and on ice as quick as we can. If it is later in the year not so fast but really we cant let them hang and "age." I wish we had the weather to be able to let them hang. if I did I would leave them hanging for a couple days before processing.
Course in the heat if you have access to a walkin cooler your good to go, but I dont have access to one.
J
In the early days I processed my own. Depending upon how cool it was, either immediately or after a day or two of hanging in the shade.
These days I take em to the processor, often before I've even hung them at all. I have lots of special things made from the venison; jerky, sticks, summer sausage. Processed venison isn't cheap. I've spent a couple hundred dollars on whole deer jerky. Family members think it is free. It is to them but not to me but that's ok.
This is how I anticipated answering your post question:
1. Text or call my son.
2. Sit in the tree for 30 minutes to calm down and give the deer time (Unless I see it lying dead, which I usually do).
3. Son brings UTV and camera.
4. I field dress with as small a cut as possible if there is any dragging.
5. Take pictures.
6. If warm the deer goes straight to the processor.
7. If cool or evening, deer is hung in the sycamore (beside my house) and goes to the processor next morning.
I do all of my own skinning and processing of the deer. There is a ton of information on how to butcher, handle deer meat, etc. on YouTube.
I gut in the field, get it home, hose it out good. If it's warm, I hang it, skin it, quarter it and get it in a fridge asap.
If it's cold, which it usually is since I don't want to fill my tag early on, I gut it in the field, take it home, hose it out, and hang it. Leave it till the next day or two when I have time , weather permitting.
As for my butchering process, I use to hang by the neck or antlers if it was a smaller buck, quarter it, and cut it up in the kitchen.
The last 4 years or so I've hung them with a gambrel, and pull the cuts off the carcass, sort of like filleting. Get alot cleaner looking cuts, less tendons, less waste, and saves a lot of cleanup in the house. Picked this method up from a video on youtube.
Gut
Drag out
Take home
Put in meat locker
Drink beer lol
When you guys quarter them up do you put them in bags so water doesent get on it?
i don't. im not sure if it matters either way. But I think the melting ice helps draw out some of the blood in the meat.
I will say that if you have some meat that is contaminated with gut matter then you want to clean it off asap and you may want to segregate it.
QuoteOriginally posted by Bisch:
It's too warm to age one hanging here in Tx. I quarter my deer, put them in an ice chest with the plug out, and leave them there for 5-7 days, adding ice when needed. Do not let them soak in water. Then either process yourself, or take to a processor. I take to a processor because I hate butchering them.
Bisch
This is what I do, with the exception of the processing part. I normally take one per year to the processor for smoked sausage, everything else I do myself. I keep the backstraps to grill or fry, and have a grinder and make burger with the rest. Most processors will skin it, so you could probably just field dress and take straight to the processor. It'll just cost you a bit more if they do the skinning normally.
I only put my tenders(fillets)& back straps in white plastic bag, the rest I just throw in the same cooler with ice.
Heard a long time ago to only use white plastic bag, not black. Can't remember why.
Water doesn't hurt, just changes color of meat a little pale color.
The first thing I do is send smoke to the great spirit and give thanks to and for the animal using a special pipe given to me by one of my brothers
I have it pretty easy. After gutting and getting it to my truck I bring it home and rinse out the cavity . Then I dry it out with paper towels ( pat dry ) . Being in Michigan during October it's normal in the 40s at night so this will allow us to hange and age the meat . If we have warmer than normal temps I simply take it to my processors 2 miles away . The processor stays open till 9:00 pm during the season .
First thing I do is say a prayer over the animal thanking God for his life. In some cases, I'll even put some vegetation in the animals mouth to share his last meal. Like most of the guys here, I cut him quickly (with multiple knives) but carefully-no guts or bladder contents on the meat. I do have a cooler at my place so I like to hang him for a few days before final processing. If I'm somewhere warm and there is no cooler, I quarter and ice him quickly- adding some water. I then pour off the water for the next couple of days and add more ice each time. Like the other guys have said, this is probably the most critical time in getting good flavor from your venison. Mess this up and you'll have a "gamey" steak.
I use the gutless method as well and do reach in and grab the heart as well. Back at camp it goes into garbage bags that have been turned inside out and into the ice chest. If its a short trip home I don't bother with ice at that point, just get it home, wash the meat off then throw it in the ice chests until I get to it.
I will grind, bought a grinder years ago, half the meat and like to throw in one pound of bacon per 10 pounds of meat. The bacon gives it a little fat so it doesn't dry out when cooked. The rest is made into 2lb chunks of meat, roasts if you will. However, once thawed I cut into steaks, flat pieces for rollups, diced for sweet and sour, or whatever.
None of this is a big deal, just do it and before you know it you'll be a pro.
Wow guys a lot of great information here. Defiantly need to expand my knowledge, fortunately with technology these days it's easier for the new hunter with no experience to learn the basic.
Looks like it's time to invest in a bigger cooler.
After the shot I watch the animal's reaction, if it falls in sight then I watch it until it stops moving and glass it to see what kind of a shot it looks like I made. If I believe it's heart - lung I'll give it ~20 min and then climb down and make the approach. If it looks like it's more of a liver shot and it's just bedded, not moving but still likely alive if I can get down and get out I will and leave the area and won't come back for several hours.
If I loose sight of it then I wait a half hour -45 min and then get down go to the shoot site and examine it. If I have a lot of blood and it looks like heart - double lung I'll trail it. If I heard the crash then I'll give it a half hour and go to the shoot site; odds are it's down, site will look good and you can go get it. If it looks like darker liver type blood I back out and do the waiting game; same if there isn't really good blood. Just because you see bubbles in the blood don't assume it will die quickly, deer hit in one lung can go a long way.
I'm sure there are guys on here who have killed more deer than I have but I have a fair number under my belt and you get a feel after a while when you look at a shoot site as to if you should go after it or back out.
Gut the deer and save the heart and liver if possible, they make good eating and someone will want it. Cut a stout stick to jam in between the ribs to prop open the chest cavity to promote faster cooling. Take the carcass home and hang it up by the back legs if you can hang it. I like to skin the carcass while it is fresh. After skinning I like to take the garden hose and wash off all the hair and blood from the carcass and let it hang to dry, if there are no flies around. Otherwise, get an old towel and dry the carcass as good as you can and get it hung inside to butcher the meat. If you are confident, you can gut your own meat. If you want it done a certain way, take it to a processor with the hide on and let him do it. I just take the best cuts off and grind the rest. Not really that much meat on an adult deer.
Gutless method. This shows an elk, easier for a deer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGCAY5Amvn4&feature=player_embedded
The first thing I do is pray and thank God for his blessings. After that, it really depends on where I am hunting, how deep it is in the woods, weather, time of day, and what cut's I want out of the animal.
Sometimes I gut it and drag it out. Sometimes I quarter it and take that out. Sometimes I bone the meat and only take the meat. If I'm on my grandfather's farm we scoop them up in a tractor front end and bone them out while hanging (that's my favorite way).
However, I ALWAYS get the meat as cold as possible as quickly as possible from there. I typically do the ice baths for 2-4 days, changing out the ice 1-2 times a day. Letting the meat age like so makes it a little more tender and the ice helps draw the blood out making for a milder flavor which some of my house guests prefer. I butcher the meat depending on the cuts that I'm hoping to get out of it. I typically have a list that I go for and anything that doesn't make the list gets ground into burgers. Often the age and size of the deer will determine which cuts I take out of it as well. For instance, I like one set of chops with the ribs and the backstraps hanging off them like lamb chops. For this cut, I'll use only small and tender deer. For grilling a stuffed backstrap, I prefer medium sized does. For extra lean steaks to fry and ole buck will do.
I just dont kill deer....
Seriously, I have learned how to field dress and process deer from my dad.
You tube is a great resource but knowing someone who can show you is even better. Once you get basics down you can make changes as you see fit.
If you get one before you know what you are doing, you can always find a processor.
Great info here. I too have went to an almost exclusive gutless/quartering method.
I don't want to start a debate on your thread. But I am from the school that says water on meat is bad business for bacteria growth. Further, water unfortunately helps the bacteria get deeper into areas of the meat. You do not want that. Once the deer is hung up, quarters in a cooler, whatever- I always make sure it is wiped down so as to make it dry. I do not want water on it. It is not the blood that makes meat taste stronger- it is blood that is spoiling due to bacteria. Cool the meat ASAP and keep it dry. ALSO- plastic bags are helpful but BE CAREFUL that the meat is completely cooled down before using them- otherwise you are trapping heat in the deep muscle and again allowing bacteria growth, aka rotting meat.
Dan in KS
I read all this with great interest...so many ways to skin the cat, so to speak, er deer! :)
All I shot were mostly in the NE so weather was hot to start the Oct season but cooled after.
I too read that water, especially dunking in creeks, is bad biz as many bacteria in at least NE streams...
I have hosed out some that were messy inside from gut juice, with baking soda, then dried as others suggest.
Regardless, guts out as soon as possible to drain blood and get some heat out.
Next Is peeling the "bark" off (skinning) to further cool and I take off excess fat from farmland deer as my experience is deer fat turns rancid in freezer in short order.
3rd, I use blade to scrape off hair, leaves or any dirt and wipe on paper towel
4th, I then "grease" inside and outside of the body cavity with Crisco (vegetable shortening) to seal the meat and eliminate that awful hard dark crust of dried meat when you age the carcass.
5th, it goes into a cooler to age 2-3 days
6th, I debone and cut up my own meat and vacuum seal, while cutting away blue skin, fat qnd any debris to ensure great meat
last, I take all the burger meat and get it ground without adding fat...deer is healthful meat and why add domestic fat where all the nasties hang out in domestic critters?
of course, that is just one ole fart's method!
YMMV
Like Horne Shooter, first I thank God, then process.
Never heard of #4 Doc! Cool.
I hate getting hair on the meat. It certainly happens but I try to plan my cuts to reduce the possibility and amount.
I've seen folks skin squirrels and afterwards the beast had more hair on the flesh than it started with. :scared:
One of the things I love about rabbits. Stray meat hairs are so easy to remove, much easier than on deer and squirrel.
I quartered without gutting one pronghorn and one whitetail.
The white-tail because it was 1.5 miles from the truck and I didn't want to drag it that far -- I had planned on this and had bags and a frame with me...the only time in 4+ decades of whitetail hunting I've ever made such a plan.
The antelope because the rancher told me i'd ruin the meat otherwise. I don't believe that now but I did what he suggested anyway.
I learned #4 about greasing the meat in MT.
There was a late season hunt for cow elk and my old boss's wife got one... a week after he asked me to come help cut it up.
I walked into the garage (it had been cold all along) and I took one look at that critter hanging all pink and all and declared I was leaving. He lived 2 doors from a wildlife guy and I was sure that was a recent kill after season to still be that "pink".
the guy laughed and told me to walk up to it and grab a leg..my hand came up greasy with Crisco.
All others I hung had that hard crust on the meat and you wasted a lot of meat cutting off that "rind" before cooking...
That was oh...30 yrs ago and I've done it ever since... Crisco being veggie "fat" doesn't turn rancid.
Since I butcher my own (debone) I just set it up on it's stumped legs, scrape off excess and wipe on paper towel before I start cutting.
No more hard air dried "rind" on my aged critters....
I use the gutless method also and do the same for hogs. It's too hot and the older I've gotten, the less dragging I've wanted to do!
QuoteOriginally posted by KSdan:
Great info here. I too have went to an almost exclusive gutless/quartering method.
I don't want to start a debate on your thread. But I am from the school that says water on meat is bad business for bacteria growth. Further, water unfortunately helps the bacteria get deeper into areas of the meat. You do not want that. Once the deer is hung up, quarters in a cooler, whatever- I always make sure it is wiped down so as to make it dry. I do not want water on it. It is not the blood that makes meat taste stronger- it is blood that is spoiling due to bacteria. Cool the meat ASAP and keep it dry. ALSO- plastic bags are helpful but BE CAREFUL that the meat is completely cooled down before using them- otherwise you are trapping heat in the deep muscle and again allowing bacteria growth, aka rotting meat.
Dan in KS
X2, very close to the way I do mine and have been for 30+ years. If it's warm I will quarter it and hang the quarters to cool faster. If it's to warm they go it into the freezer in quarters in game bags till the next day.
Tracy
I do similar as well, hang the fresh kill, cape it, de-bone everything without gutting. Take the meat chunks to the man fridge for ageing. I let the chunks sit in my fridge on those cookie type cooling racks for 7 days or so, then vacuum seal and in the freezer.
We all have many varied methods...as long as each is satisfied, it's like choice of BH, draw weight or arrow type...GO FOR IT!
I've also read that MOST plastic bags react to the protein in meat and create a nasty chemical... there are meat approved plastic bags, but where you get those???
I agree keeping meat dry is important, although "Organ meat" we always soaked in salt water in fridge and changed water often for critters...fwiw.
TEmp seems to be the critical factor...
Not sure that it is a big deal to have the meat in ice water. I do it all the time, but the water is always salted. Osmotic balance and all that.
Here is another bit of advice. Have a plan when you get to your vehicle on how to get that deer in the back without blowing a nut or your own back.
They are a real pain to get up in a vehicle sometimes.
I don't hang. If it's cool I may hang skin off till next day and I get rite to it. Breaking down quarters.
Quick tip. Get too much hair on the meat while skinning a quick shot with propane torch gets rid of that quick.
I utilize a meat hook. Bloody quarters are slippery, last thing ya want is your prized piece a meat laying in the dirt at your feet.
Sanitary meat totes work awesome. Just get the big ones. Best knives I found are the dexter russel. Any of them work well. Easy to sharpen n cheap.
Remove all fat. From cuts. Brings gamey taste.
Remove as much silver skin as possible. Learn to break down hind quarters into proper muscle groups. Watch YouTube brother. Lots of info.
Your best steaks are top round, there is eye of round attached in there. Save that to make medallion steaks. Like the loin only smaller. Just as good.
You CAN do it yourself. Learn, it's all part of the process of being a hunter. You can take great pride in what sits in front of you on the table at supper. Be sure to give thanks
If weather permits I'll hang in my garage for at least 5 days, a week is better and ive done 10 days a few times with mature bucks and those deer were ended up being tender as a young doe....if the weather is warm then I loosely wrap the quarters and the back section in cheesecloth and put them on racks in my garage fridge and age them like that for about a week.....worst thing you can do is butcher a deer while it's still in rigor, I've seen that turn even a yearling doe into stringy, chewy venison.
I personally don't let the meat touch any water these days. The difference is flavor and longevity in the freezer. Some guys don't mind but I'm pretty picky about my venison.
I do the gutless method and if it is early season place the game bags in a large cooler filled with frozen ice cream buckets. I then process myself and vacum seal.
I jump up and down, laugh hysterically, pump my fists, praise the lord and say that's what I'm talking about ain't no ground shrinkage here it doesn't get any better than this boy that (fill in the blank) broadhead really did the job. Oh wait that's not me, that's every hunting show on TV. LOL hope you don't mind me havin a little fun!
I jump up and down, laugh hysterically, pump my fists, praise the lord and say that's what I'm talking about ain't no ground shrinkage here it doesn't get any better than this boy that (fill in the blank) broadhead really did the job. Oh wait that's not me, that's every hunting show on TV. LOL hope you don't mind me havin a little fun!
Oops sorry I double tapped that post. Bad habit leftover from my handgun days
I take out the tenderloins slice them thin roll them in fryin majic then fry them in butter. When I'm done eatin then I worry about the rest of the meat.
Haha thanks guys. Pretty excited to try some of these out. Just need to take one down first. All part of the process I guess. Although I've come pretty close to smacking a few with my car the past several days as they seem to be all over the roads right now.
"What do you do after you harvest a deer?"
Do multiple repeated triple fist pumps with both hands while whispershouting "I smoked him, man I smoked him sooo baddd!!!" Then throw bow out of tree to ground, do 2.5 twisting summersault out of tree, stick the landing, then fall to one knee and say "give me a minute folks..give me a minute.."
LOL! sorry couldn't help it!
I Womack em into a pack and walk out.
Up in northern Wisconsin we always got the skin off them, took out the loins and backstraps, and then let them hang and freeze (if it was cold enough) then we took off the quarters and steaked them out on the bandsaw. Any scrap meat was brought to the local processor who made a heck of a summer sausage. Very little ever got ground, we always thought it a waste to grind up good steak and roast meat. If possible, we always saved the heart and liver too. Thin sliced heart steaks with onions - mm mm good!
give thanks...make a small offering to give back and then it's time to get to work
In Oregon, I do the gutless method and bone it alll out in the field. I place the meat on a plastic table clothe and keep it real clean.
Once I'm done I load my pack and pack it out. I get it on ice overnight and then to the butcher.
My wife and I can quarter and debone an entire deer in less than 40 minutes.