processing your deer?

[bunyan]

I love a nice set of antlers, but the Mai reason I hunt is for the delicious wild meat.  I've known guys who grind or jerk everything but the backstraps. I cant bring myself to do that and do a lot of roasts and steaks from my deer.  This year I'm gonna take a page from clay Hayes and try braising deer shanks instead of just grinding or stewing it. And I've always wanted to get up the courage to try corning the tongue! So how do you cut/process/ prepare your deer? I've got a young doe hanging and am always looking for new ideas!

[reddogge]

I remove the forelegs and bone them out using the meat plus any trimming and scraps to grind mixed with fatty ground beef into hamburger. I save the backstraps and tenderloins for grilling on the grill. The hindquarters I just bone and cut into serving sized roasts. Since my wife doesn't eat it I do roasts cut into cubes, marinated and grilled on the rare side.

[Trenton G.]

Back straps and tender loin come out for the grill. Hindquarters get turned into steaks. Front quarters and neck get turned into burger. Sometimes we do neck roasts.

[GCook]

Back straps and tender loin come out for the grill. Hindquarters get turned into steaks. Front quarters and neck get turned into burger. Sometimes we do neck roasts.

This

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Matt Quick]

Braising shanks is THE way to go!!   All the tendons and silver skin melt away and add tons of flavor. My good friend Cory Mattson made one of the best camp meals ever out of deer shanks in a Dutch oven. To put that in perspective we have back straps in camp every year and the shanks were better.  If you are short on time I have also cooked them in a crock pot and they come out really good. Not as good as a Dutch oven but way better than adding them to the trim pile.

[Cory Mattson]

How do we cut - process?

1 - we gut immediately unless there is a compelling reason to wait - maybe pics of a lifetime best or something - keep the heart - and sometimes the liver.
2 - we have tools and set up for in the field and at home - next is skinning and we are super careful to keep this clean
3 - best not to use the same knife to skin and work cutting meat - if you must wash it
4 - next we quarter - pull back straps and tenders - and cut off the neck as a one piece roast
5 - ALL goes into ICE!! We put a few bricks wrapped in foil or plastic wrap tp keep everything off the bottom - scoop ICE then a leg - ICE then another leg and so on - Straps, Tenders, heart, liver all IN.
6 - Open the plug - OK to tilt by placing a brick or stick to quicken the draining of liquid out of the cooler.
7 - Fresh ICE every day as needed for 7 days - yes 5 or 6 is ok - 10 is ok

Cooler to Freezer.
Front legs cut/saw into Bone In Pot Roasts - how many depends on how big shoulder is and how many people sit for a meal at your home- remove gland from armpit area - I don't know the name
Back legs above the knee joint open and trim out each of 5 muscle segments - remove the gland that touches bottom round and eye round
Saw off shanks above the ankle and you already have it cut through knee - front legs you can use the front legs for game stock or even get a small meal of braised
Back leg shanks we always keep for Braised meal - Our preferred Dutch Oven was mentioned
Now everything gets wiped dry - plastic wrap - butcher paper - label and date
Freeze

Gutting 5 minutes
Skinning to placed in ICE 30 minutes
Cut Wrap Freeze about an hour

We rarely have more than a few pounds of grind - ours is 100% lean - clean - we do not just grind random scraps
When we want ground meat we grind and entire deer - and have done it with cow elk
Sometimes when we get just too many deer we make jerky sometimes out of a whole deer
First 3 or 4 each year get prepped as described above.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Braise the shanks. You'll never waste time trying to  cut them up again

[Wodje96]

Sometimes I save the shanks sometimes I don't, I do what I'm told by the boss    Hindquarters are always steaks, backstraps, tenderloins, and chops (this is easy to if you have a sawzall), sometimes I save the shoulders for roasts (they're excellent) on good sized bucks I save the neck roasts (also excellent), and the thing I started doing last year was ribs! They were amazingly good, I could've kicked myself for grinding that meat up for 37+ years. If you haven't tried doing deer ribs you should.

[BAK]

Loins, back straps, and rump roasts, everything else hamburger, with NO added meats.

[Lefty]

Within the 24 hours, the heart, liver, kidneys and inner loins are cleaned, sliced, grilled and shared with friends.  Depending on the outside temp the meat is allowed to hang and cool or cut up and refrigerated.  All the meat is boned and as much fat, silver skin and whatnot is removed that we can.  Then the boned meat is utilized as needed.  Sometimes steaks and roast cut, cubed for canning, ground for burger, or taking as boned out meat to the locker for deer sticks, salami, bologna, etc.  Much of the commercially produced stuff is shared with friends and landowners that allow us to hunt and fish their land.
  As far as the tongue goes, we like to clean it, crockpot it, peel outer skin and then shred and season the meat for deer tongue tacos. 

[Cory Mattson]

Lefty - very cool- coyotes don’t get much with you running the show!
<><
<———————-<<<<<

[old_goat2]

Nothing special, I just put almost everything up as roasts except the back straps, I usually steak them out ahead of time. That way I can either have a roast or cut it into steaks before I cook whichever suits me at the time. Grind the rest for burger, but yeah, I want to make oso bucco or however it's spelled with the shanks too some time! I don't do jerky, I feel it's too much meat for what you get in the end!

[Bisch]

The only thing I do myself is the backstraps. I cut them into pieces for Pepper Crusted Backstrap and cook it on the grill:



That stuff is better than any steak house out there.

The rest I take to a processor that does not mix your meat with others. There, I get burger, jerky, snack sticks, pan sausage, and stew meat.

Bisch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[LC]

Bisch, YOU CAN'T post a pic like that without a recipe !

[GCook]

Yeah he's a tease . . .

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Sam McMichael]

I can only read this thread and remember better culinary days. Since contracting Alpha Gal allergy, I react violently  to red meat. I haven't eaten a bite of mammal meat since 2014, so you'd think I would get used to going without it, but I miss it every day. Bisch's picture doesn't help, either. Man that looks good!

[LC]

Dang Sam, never heard of that issue! That's gotta be tuff, Man I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't eat red meat? Hope and pray for the best for you.

[Bisch]

Sam, I dang sure wasn’t trying to torment you!!!! Idk what I’d do if I cane down with that malady!!!!!

The recipe is simple:

1) Shave all silver skin off the backstrap so you have a beautiful chunk of red meat.

2) Rub down with olive oil.

3) Completely cover the meat with Lawry’s Seasoned Pepper.

4) Sprinkle just a little seasoned salt.

5) Get your grill as close to 700* as you can get it. (Mine has a big sear burner, and will get to 700*)

6) Experiment to see how long to cook. The piece in the pic in my post above was 2:15 on each side. It’s very important to keep it rare to medium rare. Anything past medium rare, and it becomes waaaaaay less tender.

7) Let rest for 2 minutes or so.

8) Enjoy the best steak you have ever eaten!!!!!!

Bisch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro