How do you utilize your venision?

[koger]

I saw this mentioned on recent post, wife and I try to put 4-6 deer up every year, dont buy beef, or even kill our own as we raise cattle on our small farm operation.This is the way we store and utilize our venison. We process all our deer ourselves, have a small electric $99 grinder available from Northern Tool, recommended by you folks, great item. If anyone wants recipes, canning instructions etc. Pm me, will be glad to share.  

1. Ground venision- frozen in 2# poly rolls, wont freezer burn, even after multiple years.
Makes great chili, lasagna, spagehtti, and I use it for summer sausage also, several guys on here have tried it and love it.

2. Canned  venison-- super easy, will still be good in 4-5 years, dont have to worry about a power failure thawing your freezer. Another plus is it is quick and easy to come in from work and fix stirfry, fajitas, beef and noodles, in about 20 minutes, wife loves it. A few guys on here have tried it and love it.

3. Frozen--I keep selected cuts from grinding occasionally, backstraps, cut up stew meat, and roasts and steaks out instead of grinding. I put in a quality zip lock bag, cover with water and zip and freeze after squeezing all the air out. Will not freezer burn, good for a year or so.

[Montanawidower]

Nice thread and very appropriate.  Last night I just processed the two deer I shot last week.  I agree with all of the above.  Personally I DOUBLE cling wrap my good cuts, and wrap THEN wrap in freezer paper.  Sounds like overkill, but I have had cuts last in the deep freeze multiple years.  Like mentioned above... removing as much air in the first cling wrap step is very key.  
With an elk, antelope, and multiple whitetails we also don't buy red meat.  
Also, we save the trimmings, dirty meat, and fat and feed as treats to my hunting dogs.  
Jeff

[John Scifres]

Back quarters and large shoulders make roasts and steaks.  Backstraps are steaks.  Every other piece goes to burger or sausage.  Rib meat, neck meat, and other high fat stuff goes into sausage.

I single wrap with freezer paper and write the year on steaks and such.  It all gets eaten before the next season.  Never lost anything to freezer burn.

Burger and sausage meat gets cut into grindable pieces and frozen in ziplocs to be ground as needed in 10 pound increments.  I have an electric grinder and it makes a world of difference.

[Easykeeper]

Tenderloins the night I get him, straight up on the grill.  Loins cut for steaks.  Everything else boned out and made into jerky in the smoker except for the trimmings.  I have a local processor make summer sausage and brats out of the trim.

[ron w]

I use it all till it's gone.........when you shoot 1 deer every 8 or 9 years that's real easy. I like every cut/grind and use it to make everything from sloppy joes to a nice roast. Wish I could get one more often,let alone 2 or 3 a year!

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I freeze tenderloins whole, cut straight steaks out of the sirloin tips, and butterfly steaks out of the backstraps and all four rounds. Depending on where the deer was shot, I may make some roasts out of the front shoulders. Everything else goes into stew and ground meat.

I used to wrap steaks, roasts, and stew meat in cling wrap and butcher paper, but now I use poly food bags (making sure to remove all air) and butcher paper. I have a few packages of moose steaks still in the freezer from five years ago that have no freezer burn and taste as good as the day I cut them.

For ground meat I package it one pound per quart-sized Ziplock bag, squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and press it flat like a board. The freeze fast, stack easily in the freezer, and a couple minutes in a sink of hot water will unthaw them easily.

[koger]

Our local processor charges
$125 to make a whole deer into summer sausage. By boning out and grinding myself, and buying the seasoning/curing salt from an oline vendor, I can do a whole doe, about#30 grind, for$12 and a average buck#50 grind for $24. I dont use the casings, for looks only, and dont add pork/pork fat which gives a greasy taste. All you have to do is add the seasoning and curing agent, mix well, I mean really well, roll into rolls about 2"-2 1/2" in diameter and about 12 inches long, wrap in foil, and poke holes in the top. Bake at 300degrees for 90 minutes, drain and let cool, drop in ziplock bag and in fridge, done! The foil makes the roll compress, and wont crumble when eating it. Big Jim usally gets a roll or two every year, asked me once how much would I make for a bow! Pm me if I can give recipes.

[kwc]

do all my deer myself everything goes into food saver vacume pack it is great keeps every thing fresh.buy it in rolls and make your own size bags.

[twitchstick]

I have always done my own butching it's as much apart of the hunt as the hunting to me. I spent all day yesterday on the butcher block with an elk. I do just about every type of cut depending on the mood my family and I are in. Most of my prime cuts go to steaks,roasts, stew/fajita meat ect.. I make burger,lots of jerky,and all types of sausages(mostly country sausage). I like to bottle meat in a raw pack method that makes "shredded beef" I use in chilli,tamales burritos,ect... The problem is if you take pride in the quality of butching all your buddies will what you to thiers next.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I try to use as much as posibble when I have time to process my own.

 When I do my own I vaccum pack. I cut the straps into butterfly steaks and bacon wrap just like a filet. Wow! those are awesome I keep a few good roast for one or two in the crock pot and jerky.

 The rest I grind and either make summer sausage or breakfast sausage and keep some for burger.

 Always keep my hides for making leather or rawhide and always keep back strap sinew and leg sinew. sometimes I will save some bones for making primitive tools.

 When I take it to the processor I still get my hide and sinew. If I kill a buck I use the horn for buttons and tools and such unless it is a dandy then he goes on the wall.    :D

 Stiks

I have my deer processed but most of it goes to cubed steakes and hamburger. About once a year I will have a batch of jerky (5#) made and summer sausage (15#). About once efvery other year I have a batch of link sausage made. I would say 90% goes to steaks and hamburger. The steaks are vacuum sealed and last a LONG time. The burger is in little 1 1/2# plastic tubes that also last a LONG time.

Bisch

[Dave Bowers]

I way I can really. I try to use as much of the critter as possible. As far as meat Steaks, roasts and burger. Then I make what ever from them....ie jerky, sausage and what not.

[Rick Perry]

separate the muscles in the hindquarters . Cut steaks from the bottom round and run thru a cuber  ........... outstanding !!!! ......... steaks from the loin ...... the rest ground and made into burger ,brats, salami and sticks

[MTArrowLauncher]

typically on a good year in MT, and with good draw results or surplus tags, we get 2 antelope and 7+ deer. we split it between steaks, stew meat, burger, and we want to try makeing sausage and jerky etc.

now that we moved to AK, if we get a Moose then it will probly go the same way,

I dont put anything in the freezer without vacuum sealing it.

[Darren.zesch]

Alot of great things and ideas here. Between my sons,
Father and myself, we try to harvest deer every year. Now being the program director at a Culinary school I have access to alot of tools, grinders, smokers and even a band saw. I usually take the loin and the rack and hit than on the saw and cut Nice venison t- bone and porterhouse. Also cutting  nice rack of venison. Front legs, neck and flank usually for sausage, and anything else we would use ground meat for. Back legs get seamed out and packaged toasts get used for a variety of things, BBQ, tacos, enchilada, gyros, and stir fry.

As far as packaging, I've had great success with double plastic wrap and butcher paper. Then I bought a food saver and now I plastic wrap then into a vacuum sealed bag.

Bottom line, everybody has their own favorites and traditions. It's all good and always Keep an open mind to new things. Just remember you can never go wrong with pizza and tacos!

[wingnut]

I usually grab the tloins out and grind the rest.  No additives just straight.  Then when we use it we can have burger or we can add sausage seasoning and have any type of sausage we want.

Normally we have italian, chirizo, hot link and others in hand.

Mike

[xtrema312]

We buy no beef. I do all my own processing. I bone and separate into whole muscle groups. Loins butterfly stake. Some round steak from best hole muscle. Then round for hole muscle jerky.  Clean out all the fat and connection tissue for grind after I cut the shoulders and less tender back quarter for stew.  My grind is very lean and high quality with very low fat content and top taste. It goes in all kinds of stuff with some for the smoker for summer sausage.  I smoke all my own stuff including fish.  

My grind goes in zip locks, air out and flattened. This makes them stack nice, have zero freezer burn, and thaw in sink or fry pan very quickly.

The one thing I don't do and really want to start doing is canning it.  I hope to start doing that very soon.

[Stump_pounder]

For me Deer is turned into Jerky and peperonie to be eaten while we are duck hunting. Elk is steak and ground. plus we make brat"s and hot dogs from it as well. I also just turned a bunch of ducks into jerky. gotta make room for my upcomming goose hunt  

[Ringneck]

I try to take 3 deer a year. The first one is ground into burger. The second goes to tenderized minute steaks and burger. The third is used for breakfast and summer sausage.

[David Yukon]

Jerky, sausage, roast, ribs, caned, steaks, ground, keep the hart to roast, the tongue to pikkeled.

Freeze a lot of it in ziplock back toped with butcher paper, never had problems.

If leaver is good I keep part of it, but I don't freeze it, I eat all I can fresh...

Keep the bones(some of it) for soupe broth.
I don't hunt deer(yet), but that is what we do with Moose and Caribou.