Processing a deer

[BT]

This isn't a slight at anyone

I have a few folks that take a long time to process a deer and nobody who does it quick

Lets start off by asking how long it takes you and then...why does it take as long as it does .... be it a long time or short.

It takes me about 3 hours to process a medium doe.... 120 pounds is my average.

[Doegirl]

It takes me about 4hours. I need more practice

[snoodslapper]

Takes me about 4 from skinning to freezer on a medium deer. Probably because I try vey hard to get every strand of meat I can, I grind a lot of it into burger, and I vacuum pack it. And that's with my wife helping with the vacuum packing. I'm not ashamed to say that I don't field dress very fast either. That takes me 20-30 minutes. My knives are very, very sharp so I don't like to rush things and risk injury to myself or the meat.

Now, a thunderchicken I can breast and leg out in under 3 minutes.

[lockmaster]

I said 5-6...but after I skin and hang it to dry, I like to age it for about 4-5 days at least. I quarter it if the temp outside is over 40, and put in a fridge. Then when I cut it up for the freezer & such, I have just a bit more trimming to do!

[nkybuck]

I can have the steaks and chops ready to wrap in about 30 minutes but then there is the burger meat grinding packaging and cleanup. I would rather do two or three than one just because the time it takes to clean the grinder,walkin,tables,etc. We process 20-40 a year so I stay in practice.I put 3-4 because thats what it takes after cleaning up.

[royden]

that's awesome to get it done in 4 doegirl -

It takes me 6-8 hrs with the wife wrapping and taking breaks to keep the kids semi-calm (1&4yrs).

I have never had the inclination to weigh our deer - but I'm gonna say an average doe is 150# and buck's would be anywhere from 180 - 220 average. I did see a muley by dad shot one year that was closer to the size of an elk than a whitetail - we got 90#'s of trimmed hard meat from him.

Elk averages 130-150# of trimmed hard meat. Deer average 50-60#.

I don't go after the rib meat or much of the neck meat - dog loves that stuff and he can have it - which by the way a dog has no way near the jaw strength of a wolf - our Golden Retriever has been knawing on an elk leg for a month now and hasn't made so much as a dent in the bone - wolves will crack it right in half.

We make 70% brgr, 10% stew meat, and 20% steaks out of deer. (Elk is 50/50 brgr and steaks) Prefer beef for roasts (less dry).

Process time ...

first problem is that unlike my parents I don't have a seperate butchering area and so we do it in the small kitchen of our doublewide. I probably loose 1/2hr just in reorganizing.
DEER:
Boning is quick and easy - probably an hour to quarter, carry the legs inside and bone into the various muscle groups. I think this year I'm gonna just de-bone on the carcass - This fall I set-up a boat winch running a cable thru a snatch block 17' (bears like elk!) and so I think it might be easier this way - with a butcher table set up right next to the carcass. This may save time on picking hair also. I don't know how I manage it; but there is always hair left on the carcass. Now maybe I can go after the carcass with a hose and brush.

Primary time consumer is trimming. If it is large fat or silver it goes in the waste - if it is pink or smaller streaks of white it goes in the dog scraps. Steaks and backstraps trim out fairly quick. Brgr takes 3-4hours. Wrapping 3/4# - 1# packages takes maybe an hour. Clean-up and reorganizing takes at least an hour

ELK:

vary similiar but takes about 12hrs - much easier to trim. And it is already boned. Largest time and meat loss is trimming due to drying out of meat - one day I'm gonna figure out how to keep a carcass from drying out while hanging.

3hrs I dunno how you do it BT. I guess I need more practice

[ghost]

I a slow only man. ;D I skin and separate the quarters and remove the back straps. All this goes into a refrigerator to cool down.

Processing for the freezer is done in the kitchen. Meat is vacuum packed. Kitchen needs to reorganized and the cleaned.

Ghost

[tedicast]

This buck took me cutting, and Jen packing about 15 hours total. I ended up with a total of 76 pounds of boneless, trimmed meat. including the breakfast sausage that I added 4 pounds of pork too.

skinning and quartering is nothing. takes me no time at all. This one took a little more time because I was having the head mounted.

After the quarters and straps.loins, and neck meat are in the fridge, the tedious part starts. I bone out both hams, seperating each muscle group. Taking the time to trim all the silver skin, and any fat. I do the same with the front shoulders. I seperate the roast from each ham, and the 2 large muscle groups that I steak, into one tin, and therest into a tin for stew, and a tin for ground. I then cut my steaks, making sure I cut as much fat,tendon, and silver skin off as possible. I do the same with the back straps. Then I trim and clean my roasts, and tenderloins.
this part took me 5 1/2 hours on Monday night.

Tuesday night Jen vac sealed the steacks, straps and roasts. I trimmed and cut all my stew meat. As much fat,tendon etc removed from each piece. Then Jen packed the stew. This took me about 3 hours, and Jen packed for about 1 1/2 hours.

Thursday, I did all my ground. Then I spent about an hour trimming out the neck meat. I boned out the pork butt. Layed out all the pieces, seasoned, and ground it all twice. Jen packed all the ground and the sausage. I had a little over 3 hours, and jen had 2 into packing.

All of these times include cleaning the kitchen and the equiptment. When we package, steaks, sausage, stew and ground are all weighed and packaged in 1 pound packages, Roasts are weighed and marked. All the packages are maked as to content, weight, and date packaged.

Ussually with 3 people cutting, and 2 packing we do this in an evening.

This is how we do every deer, and about the total time it takes us every time. I'm very anal about trimming my venison, and seperating each muscle group.

[royden]

that sounds like an awesome job tedicast Only one deer have I ever seen end up with that much meat.

I think we are both as anal on the meat quality that goes in the packages (like you, I weigh and label everything) - big difference I see is that I am willing to waste some meat along when I am trimming and call it dog food in the name of production

[madoktor1]

My father-in-law and I can work one up in about 1-2 hrs. That's from skinning to freezer. We skin it pretty quick and I start quartering and getting the backstraps and tenderloins out. While I am doing this, he is starts deboning. When I finish stripping the carcass, I stop cutting up steaks and roast and then he works the neck and shoulders for grinding. We take the meat in and wash it, and pack it for the freezer. My wife seals and marks the packages and then we grind and package and done.

Royden, my wife has a way to cook a deer roast and you can not tell the difference from beef. It is moist, tender and very flavorful. I will have to get her to put the recipe up on here. (The best she can. It's not an exact science.)