I do it myself but if I want sausage and stuff made up i'll go to the butcher. I package my stuff all nice and the meat is always cleaned and trimmed nicely. Alot of my buddies can't believe that it's done by me because it looks "pro".
Send to butcher or do it yourself?
Howdy, I just butchered my own deer today for the first time, and i got to say, i dont think i will e v e r pay 80 dollars for that again! i have found that butchering your own deer is alot easier than you would think, and i truly see the quality difference when you dont have to do 2 dozen a day, plus i got alot more meat than normal as well. How do you all feel about do it yourself? im the only one i heard of round here that has done it
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I always have the butcher do it... now granted, I don't process all the deer I kill. I gave away 3 of my 4 deer killed this year to share the harvest. I just don't have time to butcher it myself...
I have always processed my own harvest. That way you know what you have. I always worried that my ground meat would end up mixed with meat from gut shot,spoiled,or improperly cared for deer. I'm not saying all processors would do that but I've seen a few that I wouldn't trust.
I always butcher my own kills, the processors around here charge an arm and two legs and then steal half the meat, besides, the dogs like the bones
butcher my own as well, me dad and an old college buddy of his are going in on a meat grinder here shortly, which will make for a lot less waste, as for time a 150# deer usually takes me about 1.5 hrs from quarters, to cuts and cubes vacuum sealed and in the freezer.
Since 1979 I've butchered all my deer. I don't like batching by butcher's. You are never assured of who's deer you're getting.
Butcher all my own also I feel like it is part of the hunting experience plus there are four of us doing it so it is very fast we do our own grinding, sausage making. we like to play w/ recipes till we find what we really like
great time for those stories & adult beverages (after the Knives are put away of course) & few fresh steaks
great time for those stories & adult beverages (after the Knives are put away of course) & few fresh steaks
I do it myself also I get more satisfaction out of it .
i do my own hogs. unless i want some sausage made. but to just quarter, debone and cut, i do that. Now deer, that is another story. lol. Normally i just let the processor take care of them. costs me $70.00 a deer. They will gut , skin, cut , wrap and freeze.
And that bothers me the most having someone else process my deer and why I never have. you take such care in the harvest process of your deer, only to get someone elses deer that my not have been properly cared for from the time it dropped to the butchers block.Since 1979 I've butchered all my deer. I don't like batching by butcher's. You are never assured of who's deer you're getting.
as long as I have a knife, I will always butcher my own deer.
i do my own hogs. unless i want some sausage made. but to just quarter, debone and cut, i do that. Now deer, that is another story. lol. Normally i just let the processor take care of them. costs me $70.00 a deer. They will gut , skin, cut , wrap and freeze.
You dont field dress at the drop site?
hogs i do. deer i don't. i don't gut shoot and the processor is only 5 miles down the road. shoot em, load em up and take to the processor.You dont field dress at the drop site?
I've always done my own too. But if I had the extra cash I would had probably took a few of mine to a butcher only because of time. It REALY don't take long to cut one up, but my family (besides me) don't like deer steaks. So all my deer are roast, back straps, n grind up the rest. N I make breakfast sasuage and jerky out of some of my ground up meat. The timely part for me is the grinding. I always double grind I think the burger comes out much nice'er.
Last year I found a processor who claimed that he individually processed each deer as it came in. In previous years, I'd always gone to another processing place in town. Really couldn't tell that much of a difference between the two.
Would love to process the deer, but the weather here (Central Texas) is far too warm to hang deer for a day or two, and I certainly don't have the walk in cooler/freezer to do so otherwise. Have always heard it best to let the deer hang for a couple of days prior to processing.
Now I will field dress the deer up by the house. Y'all have seen the wheel barrow in all of my pictures. That's what's nice about living on 15 acres out in the middle of nowhere. My hunting spot is close enough that all I have to do after shooting them is 1) find the thing to begin with (hoping it hasn't run far) 2) drop off the rifle at the house and grab the wheel barrow 3) wheel the deer up to the house and grab the knife 4) dress and run the deer down to the processor. Whitetail deer here in Central Texas may not be as large as those in states further north, but they're still heavy enough that using a wheel barrow is a whole heck of a lot easier to get them back up to the house. Besides, the house sits on about the highest ground on the property. Everything else is downhill. Nice to have wheels when the journey back is all uphill.
Would love to process the deer, but the weather here (Central Texas) is far too warm to hang deer for a day or two, and I certainly don't have the walk in cooler/freezer to do so otherwise. Have always heard it best to let the deer hang for a couple of days prior to processing.
Now I will field dress the deer up by the house. Y'all have seen the wheel barrow in all of my pictures. That's what's nice about living on 15 acres out in the middle of nowhere. My hunting spot is close enough that all I have to do after shooting them is 1) find the thing to begin with (hoping it hasn't run far) 2) drop off the rifle at the house and grab the wheel barrow 3) wheel the deer up to the house and grab the knife 4) dress and run the deer down to the processor. Whitetail deer here in Central Texas may not be as large as those in states further north, but they're still heavy enough that using a wheel barrow is a whole heck of a lot easier to get them back up to the house. Besides, the house sits on about the highest ground on the property. Everything else is downhill. Nice to have wheels when the journey back is all uphill.
I used to hang my deer for 5 to 7 days if weather stayed under 40 degrees. Well one year weather jumped up to low 50'sso I had to do something caz the deer had only hung for almost two days. Well talking to people and surfing the Internet I found people soking their deer in coolers some was using salt water n some just water. Well I did just water n iceand water changed every day. I can say that year everyone loved the taste of the meat so much better even my son. So ever since you'll find me soking my deer every year now for over 5 years nowWould love to process the deer, but the weather here (Central Texas) is far too warm to hang deer for a day or two, and I certainly don't have the walk in cooler/freezer to do so otherwise. Have always heard it best to let the deer hang for a couple of days prior to processing.
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