Deer Processing
October 6, 2007
Do you process your own deer? If not why not? I guess I do about 50% of the deer I take myself and the others I have done by a processor. For me it’s more often the convenience of having it done but I’m getting more and more comfortable processing my own. I’m also building up more and more equipment to make the job easier.
The reason deer processing is on my mind today is because the place I have taken most of my deer, Jerry Cates in Efland NC was auctioned off this weekend. Jerry passed away a few years ago but family members had carried on the business but that has come to an end. My understanding is that Orange County zoning while grandfathering Jerry’s shop in will not allow the transfer of the shop to anyone else so all the equipment has been auctioned off. Now deer hunters in the area will have to find another place or learn how to do it themselves.
Part of the benefit of hunting is having good healthy meat to serve to your family so how you process your deer is very important in putting quality meat on the table. Turning a deer over to a processor takes the quality control out of your hands and puts it in theirs so choose carefully. Here is a statewide list of deer processors that are licensed by the state I’d be cautious to take a deer to unlicensed processor even if they are cheaper.
In my experience the issues I have with processing my own deer is figuring out how to cut the meat so it looks good when you serve it. The more I cut the better I seem to get making uniform cut steaks. Grinding is also a task that can be messy and not much fun. Here having good equipment is the most important thing. I’ve tried hand grinders with limited success. I picked up a small electric grinder and it it’s fine for small jobs but grinding a pile of meat can be time consuming. When I took my last moose 5 of us processed that critter in a day including the grinding. One of my buddies has a Cabela’s commercial grinder and that thing worked like a charm. We ground a bunch of meat and that grinder ran non stop for hours without a hitch. I’m planning to buy one of those in the near future.
Processing a deer is not all that difficult but the first few times it seems to be daunting task. There is a wide variety of videos and books available on the subject to help get you started. The first few deer I did myself I had mostly stew meat and meat to be ground because of my poor cutting. With some practice you’ll get better trust me it’s worked for me. Here is some links of some basic information to get you started.
Handling and Cooking Game Animals
Processing Your Own Deer
Michigan Venison
Moose Droppings is a place that chronicles my journey, I’ll explore new places and ideas I’ll learn new things and I’ll teach the things I’ve learned to others. Join me on the adventure and hopefully it will help you in your outdoor endeavors.
Have a processing party. Set up several tables and you and your buddies can all process their deer at same time. This way the ole time experts can help the newbies with tips and by example.
Thats a great idea Darrell and I hope some take that idea and run with it. I have thought about that in years past but it seems that we’ve yet to all get deer at the same time. That is how we did my moose and it worked well 5 of us worked all day on that bad bow. Dropped it around 7am and by 9pm it was packaged up and in coolers for the trip home.
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