Deer Processing

justjeepin86

justjeepin86

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
So this last season, I bit the bullet and had my deer processed by someone other than me. I'll admit, it was killer to drop it off and pick it up done. The only thing they don't do is package. I'm fine with that so I can vacuum seal it the way I want. It seems everyone I asked used this guy and said he was great. I checked the place out and everything seemed good. I spoke with him a while about what he does and we were good.

Problem, my deer is more gamey than it has ever been when I did it myself. I thought it would be better since it actually got to hang in a cooler for a week or so. I had him make it all burger ground with pork fat. My kids actually complain about it and that has never happened in the past few years. I have not been hunting for too many years, but they have all been handled the same by me, up until cleaning. Could it just be chance that this one is worse than others? What are your experiences with different deer year to year?
 
Have you changed hunting location? Was it a buck doe? What has the deer from previous years? Was it killed during rut?

It all can effect taste. Butcher could have missed a gland.. I've done that meet turned out bad.

Butcher could have ran several deer together

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
I'm about to go back to doing mine again or give someone else a try. I get all mine ground except for the back straps and tenderloins, no added fat. It's a lot of work and time to do it ourselves but damn it turns out a whole lot better!
 
i know off topic. want me to give you the info of our cow butcher? like 900 bones for 4 calves. was packaged too
 
Loganwayne said:
Have you changed hunting location? Was it a buck doe? What has the deer from previous years? Was it killed during rut?

It all can effect taste. Butcher could have missed a gland.. I've done that meet turned out bad.

Butcher could have ran several deer together

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Same location. Doe and usually does. I meat hunt. No rut, this was the last week of season. He told me he doesn't mix up anyone's deer. That doesn't mean it's true, but i'm sure if it didn't get gutted fast enough it could be bad as well.
 
I usually process the ones that I kill as well. This past year I killed 2 about 5 min apart, though to myself great this is going to take forever to cut up these two deer. With someone to help it is not a big deal but cutting one up by myself takes a while. I see that you are in Winston, I ended up taking both of the deer to Spivey's Nursery in Kernersville. Both of these deer were late season bucks, post rut. I field dress all of my deer. I was always taught to get the guts out as soon as you can. They supposedly do one deer at a time there as well, no mixing. when I picked it up (took about a week) everything was nicely vacuum sealed (burger and sausage in 1 LB packages) and frozen when I picked it up from them. It was a little bit pricey @ $80 per deer but well worth the time saved. I also got more meat back than I thought I would have. Hell my wife does not eat venison and even she has eaten some of it.
 
99% of the time I gut them where I find them. Never understood why so many people don't. It gets the bad out and they're much easier to drag/move.
IMG_8692.JPG
 
I don't see a lot of change year to year, but lately they've been tastier. I'm hoping some of that change is the food plots I've started, I know that a lot of the change is I add fatty bacon to the burgers that I patty out. Your processor may have missed a gland or nicked something...next year may be better.

Everyone in my family processes our own at my grandpa's cleaning station. I don't think I've ever seen one come in field dressed, and that's including the ones I haul from Concord to Aquadale...they all eat fine. We typically quarter them out & hang them in a fridge for ~5 days, the hide & guts are discarded in the same place & we coyote hunt over the gut pile. The tenderloin & backstraps are soaked in water for the same time. Then cut the T-Loin & straps 3/4" thick and run through a tenderizer/cuber...great for breakfast! The hams & shoulders I grind into burger because I'll eat more of that than the cube steak that my parents opt for. I add fatty bacon to 2/3 of the burger & season, then patty out, wrap & freeze to make grilling out pain free. The rest of the burger is used for spaghetti, stroganoffs, etc. Last year I experimented with canning venison...very tender & pretty darn good over some rice!
 
I get mine processed up here in Danville and it taste good. They also vacuum seal the sausage and burgers in 1 pound bags. I got 1 whole deer made into summer sausage. Hot, mild, and jalepeno and cheese. Love it. Kind of weird that they didn't package it for you?
 
Mike, Mike, Mike… you just aint killing the sweet tasting' meat off Reubens back 40 acres, thats all.

guys, heres the killa way to do this at home if you have more meat than you have fridge for. gut that sucker as soon as possible. quarter it out. dont EVER let it near water, its your enemy. take the biggest cooler you have, scrub if COMPLETELY sanitary and open the drain and fill it 4" in ice. put some closest racking or dish drying racks in the bottom of the cooler with some way to keep the rack about 1" off the ice. fill with dry meat and seal the lid with tape. put a shipping blanket over it. I leave in the garage so that I can keep an eye on the water draining out each day. when the water draining is clear again, most of the blood is out. you're good up to about 5 days even with a janky cooler if you tape the lid and keep a blanket on it. when you take it out, it will by DRY and tacky. put it in packaging or grind. you'll be amazed how much blood comes out of the meat. THIS is the funky. oh and I can't stand to use anything but pork fat, beed fat is nasty IMO

either way, guys eat the heart. its killer.
 
Back
Top