So for the first time in my life I got myself some deer.
Somebody showed me how to field dress them, which was easy enough, though messy. when I got home my wife found found a butcher willing to butcher them, although I had to learn to skin them first.
Anybody know of any resources (preferably on line) which show how to butcher a deer? I want to be ready for next year ....
I don't know of any on-line instructions, but will be interested in such information if it is available.
I 'butcher' my deer by what I call the 'bone and muscle' method. Just remove all the muscle by cutting off all the bone and the fat layers between the muscle groups. The larger 'muscles' are kept for grilling on the outdoor grill (sometimes a roast), the smaller ones that are tender are diced into 3/4 cubes for stew meat, and the rest of the tough muscles (legs, etc.) are saved for sausage meat. There is a noticeable gamey taste to venison if the fat and bone (including bone dust from sawing steaks and chops) are left on the meat. When I muscle the deer and remove fat and bone, there is no gamey flavor at all.
I begin (after skinning the deer is hanging by the head) by singing any loose hair off with a small gas torch (hard to avoid some hair sticking to the carcass). Then I remove the front shoulders (they are not attached by bone joints), then I remove the rear legs at the end of the spine, and this leaves the body and neck in one final piece. I remove the head just below the ears and muscle out these four parts. Fairly easy for one person, but two is better to help catch the heavy parts that are removed.
That's pretty much the same way we've always done it. Makes for some good eating. We separate the muscles and cut them loose. The larger ones we cut on a bias across the grain. The straps (tenderloin) gets butterflyed. Maybe a couple of roasts. The rest of it goes in the grinder for burger.
As far as processing, anymore I just take the unskinned carcass down to the deer locker and let them do everything. The cost is only $40, and for that you get everything boned out, the backstraps butterflied, the round steaks tenderized, and the scraps made up into venison burger. I've found that it only saves me about $20 to do it myself, and I still have to get the leftovers ground if I want burger.
However, if you want to do it yourself, here's one way to do it. Hang the deer by the neck. Now most people hang the deer by the back legs, but it's harder to disassemble, I think. Begin skinning at the neck and work your way down. There's no secret, just pulling and judicious use of the skinning knife. While you're doing this, cut off the hocks at the ankle. After skinning, cut the deer to the backbone just above where the back leg muscles attach, or just in front of the hips. Cut all the way around. (Wait, you did get the tenderloins already, didn't you?) When the muscles are all cut, a stout fellow should grab the back legs and pull them backward to dislocate the backbone. It helps to have a partner steady the deer and also have a drop cloth to catch the lower half. Also, a pulley system is nice to raise and lower the deer to a convenient working height. Once the back half has been removed, the back legs can be cut off at the socket and everything deboned by a second "crew" of folks, while the first crew removes the front legs and then cuts off the head. This releases the rib cage and then it can be boned out.
The boning process is as others have already described. Cut out the major muscle layers and slice into steaks or leave as roasts. Remove as much fat as possible unless it will be eaten quickly, as venison fat imparts a bad taste to the meat after a month or two.
Any scraps that can't be made into steak or roast can either become stew meat or burger. Most of these scraps will come from the front shoulders and legs, the neck, the rib cage, and the lower half of the legs. Most of this meat is naturally tough and sinewy, but makes great burger and good stew meat if cooked a little while (tomato based dishes tenderize the meat fairly quickly).
If you want to get fancy, there are all sorts of recipes out there to make summer sausage. You can get your own grinder and stuffer, then build a smokehouse and get to it. I've done it before and it's a lot of fun. Just make sure you get the internal temperature of the sausage to the prescribed level.
Maybe more than you were asking for, but here it is.
We hang them by the achilles tendon on their back legs using a gambrel. Cut the "fore-legs" off and skin it down to behind the ears. Cut off the head/skin and spread it out, fur side down and use it as a trash pile. Remove the thick fat from the back. Using a large bone saw, cut the carcass in 2 by starting at the pelvic area. Use the spine as your guide, you want to cut it exactly in half. To quarter the animal, count up 3 ribs and insert your knife between the 3rd and 4th and cut through to the spine. Use the bone saw to cut through the spine.
That's the basic part. For the actual portioning you'll need a guide. Here's one I found on the net - pictures aren't that great though. I have a book called Dressing and Cooking Wild Game. The version I have is out of print, but there's a new version that I understand is almost identical, ISBN 086573108X. If it is, there are excellent step by step instructions and photos for butchering everything from antelope to woodcock.
Oh yeah, and we don't normally cut steaks at this stage. We leave everything as roasts and make the call at defrost time - easy to make steaks out of a roast, not so easy to reverse the process.
<font color="blue"> Use the spine as your guide </font color>
With all this concern about Chronic Wasting Disease, our F&W folks are recommending no contact with the head or spine (spinal fluid). Have you modified your technique at all because of these warnings?
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