Doing your own Meat Processing on whitetails
I am going into my 18 season of deer hunting and I have been processing my own deer since day one. I am no expert and I am not a butcher but here is a diagram that might help. It is a lot of work but, it is also very gratifying that you can say that you skinned it, quartered it, cut it into what types of meat you want, cleaned it and packaged it.
This diagram shows you the basic parts that you can cut and once the deer has been skinned you can actually see all the parts in this diagram.
I am horrible at this part of the process, but thank god my sister’s boyfriend is very good at it so he helps us out. I think I’m going to keep him around.
I have to be honest though and tell you that there are plenty of times that we take it and have it processed. Usually it is due to time constraints.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:41 am
Arthur, it is a lot of hard work and usually takes me most of the day from start to finish. I have been thinking of having the next one done by a processor mainly for the fact that it is easier and I probably would get more if it was professionally done.
It all depends on if I can afford to pay somebody to do it.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:48 am
We have always processed our own deer as well. There is something satisfying about going through the whole process yourself. We have gotten it down to a science, and everyone pitches in so it doesn’t take quite so long. It certainly saves money on processing! Here, that job is between $60-$100 per deer now. One year, we took 11 deer on opening week of season (needed to thin down the doe herd). Do the math on that one! We’d have been broke if we sent them processors.
the diagram you posted is very helpful. I am going to go watch the video too!
February 21st, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I think i missed the video somewhere
February 21st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Kris, your right it can get rather expensive.
Sorry about the video, I had to leave it out because I could not get it to post right.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 am