Dressing and butchering a deer help

[Bazoo]

I have harvested one deer, a doe. I somehow skinned and gutted it without any help or advice. Then I butchered it into roasts and stew meat and dog food mostly.

Well I need some advice on how to field dress both a doe and a buck, and how to butcher the critter. Folks say, easy just to on YouTube. The issue is I don't know which videos are good vs which ones are garbage. I've seen folks ripping the hide off a deer with a 4wheeler for crying out loud.

So could those that have a sound idea of the proper way post a link to a video that will give me a sound education. Also, any website or post here that will give insight to the process would be helpful.

Thanks for any help.

Bazoo

[dk17hmr]

Hank Shaw has a cook book called "Buck, Buck, Moose" there's a how to butchering section in there that will show you how to break them down.

As far as YouTube Scott Rea Project or the bearded butchers.

[JBinMN]

I do not have any videos of field dressing & butchering to share with you to help, but I do have a video that you might enjoy watching to learn something you may not be aware of before now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Wdwjlu9mY

I/we have not tried the method in the video above, but I ran across it a few weeks back & thought it was interesting.
It is not how I/we have done our gutting(field dressing) or butchering in the past, but it seems to be a good method for those who want to do it the way that is shown. There is not field dressing involved in the video, just quartering down the deer.

I will look around later & see if I can find you some videos that I think are good ones & share them here if/when I find any I think is decent. I have shot gutted & butchered my own deer since I was young, as well as helped others learn how to do it ( including my own sons), so I think I would be abe to distinguish between good videos & crappy ones for ya.

I am sure others will chime in to help you as well when they see this topic. Not necessarily videos, but perhaps some want to try to type out what they do. I just don't think I could do that well enough to help out. I prefer to "show" folks stuff like that rather than try to type it out.

Anyway, G'Luck!

[brewer12345]

Hank Shaw is great. A wonderful resource.

Field dressing is pretty simple. Cut the belly open without puncturing the guts. I split the breast bone so I can cut the windpipe and pull out the lungs and heart with the rest of the guts. I split the pelvis so I can remove the poop shoot. Pull all the guts from the windpipe to the poop shoot out, retrieve what organs you might want to eat (heart, liver, kidneys), and you are done.

Skinning is easiest if you have a gambrel. Hang it from a tree or similar head down and peel the skin from hind legs to the head.

Butchering is pretty easy too. I cut the front quarters and neck up for stew meat (chunks) and burger (smaller pieces), leaving the shanks whole for braising or osso Bucco. The torso I pull the tenderloins and the backstrap for steaks, and everything else is stew or burger. The hindquarters I dissect and either leave as roasts or cut into steaks, leaving the shanks for braising or osso Bucco. The best illustration of how to butcher the hind quarters is this: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=How+to+Cut+Up+a+Hind+Quarter+Deer&&view=detail&mid=36551C50CFCE6597F53536551C50CFCE6597F535&&FORM=VRDGAR

This isn't real hard to do. You did it once and it becomes easier with practice.

[JBinMN]

Here is one I found for ya:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-q4IVBrL0M&feature=youtu.be

I watched this one sometime ago & when I went looking for the first video I found that I had sent it to my oldest son a while back & forgot about it until right now. Anyway, I thought it was pretty well done.

[JBinMN]

Hank Shaw is great. A wonderful resource.

Field dressing is pretty simple. Cut the belly open without puncturing the guts. I split the breast bone so I can cut the windpipe and pull out the lungs and heart with the rest of the guts. I split the pelvis so I can remove the poop shoot. Pull all the guts from the windpipe to the poop shoot out, retrieve what organs you might want to eat (heart, liver, kidneys), and you are done.

Skinning is easiest if you have a gambrel. Hang it from a tree or similar head down and peel the skin from hind legs to the head.

Butchering is pretty easy too. I cut the front quarters and neck up for stew meat (chunks) and burger (smaller pieces), leaving the shanks whole for braising or osso Bucco. The torso I pull the tenderloins and the backstrap for steaks, and everything else is stew or burger. The hindquarters I dissect and either leave as roasts or cut into steaks, leaving the shanks for braising or osso Bucco. The best illustration of how to butcher the hind quarters is this: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=How+to+Cut+Up+a+Hind+Quarter+Deer&&view=detail&mid=36551C50CFCE6597F53536551C50CFCE6597F535&&FORM=VRDGAR

This isn't real hard to do. You did it once and it becomes easier with practice.

The bolded is how I do it & it is a very concise way to describe it. Much better than I would have typed up I think.
:)

The description of the butchering is what I usually do as well. Also typed up better than I could do it.
;)

One tip that might help with skinning is that I use a couple of golf balls to wrap in the skin & pull down on them to strip off the hide(skin). It seems to help me keep a good grip. I have used small stones about the size of golf balls before I thought about using the golf balls.
It is also easier if you do it as soon as ya can while it is warm because as time goes by it will get a bit harder to skin it. ( The guy in the video I posted first post, cuts a slit in the hide, I have not done it that way, but it seemed to work well for him in the video.)

Once again , G'Luck!
:)

[Winger Ed.]

When I shot my first one, I didn't know what to do next, so I took it to my Uncle who had run a working ranch all his life.

Here's how he walked me through cleaning one, after telling me, "I could do it faster, but you wouldn't learn as much":

The way my Uncle told me how to do it was to hang the deer back legs up.
Make a cut only in the skin coming down and hold your hand inside to keep from cutting the innards.
Go all the way down towards the neck.

Everything will drop out--- except for where it is still attached up at the far end of the large intestine, at the base of the tail.

When I asked, "OK, now what".

He told me, "Lift the tail, stick your finger in there and cut around it. Even you're smart enough not to cut your own finger".

I don't know how long he'd been waiting to pull that on one of us nephews.

[slownsteady22]

Here is one I found for ya:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-q4IVBrL0M&feature=youtu.be

I watched this one sometime ago & when I went looking for the first video I found that I had sent it to my oldest son a while back & forgot about it until right now. Anyway, I thought it was pretty well done.I second this video for butchering, and here is one for field dressing.

https://youtu.be/3sChcEu862s


Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[WebMonkey]

I use the 4 wheeler method for skinning.
I use the tractor winch though.

Like mentioned above, a golf ball or similar under the skin gives something to grab.

Even if I have to trim as I go, the pulling from the winch makes a one man job easier.

Boning out, the above referenced videos are better than I could do.

;)

[waksupi]

When I was still tanning hides, I was skinning around 45-50 each year. I would skin from the neck down. Faster than tail up, and the hides came out with so little flesh or connective tissue left on there wasn't much to remove on the fleshing beam. Skinning form the tail down is a holdover from hog and beef slaughtering.

[Driver33]

I prefer to skin from the head down. It works easier for me .

[ole_270]

I`ve come to prefer the gutless method. Skin in sections and quarter where it lays or wherever you prefer if you don't want to do it in the hunting area. Pack the quarters out and put them in a cooler. I usually run water over it and drain off a couple times to wash the meat off and help cool it down. Then cover in ice till you get ready to cut it up and wrap for the freezer

[Jeff Michel]

I'd find a local meat cutter, offer to pay him and have him show you the best way to go about it. What I do to drop the bung when field dressing, I have a short piece of chain (for hanging florescent lights) with a s hook on one end, clip the chain on your belt, hook the anus and lean back applying tension to the s hook . It frees up both hands to cut the rectum free, generally, your on your knees with the legs of the deer wrapped around your head and between fighting legs, trying to hold on to a rectum and trying to cut it out cleanly. Well, I have found having both hands free makes field dressing a pass time rather than a chore. Good luck.

[Bazoo]

I appreciate the suggestions and advice. Thanks for the good ball/stone idea for pulling hide. I haven't looked through all the links yet.

The one I did before I gutted it on the ground and finished by cutting the intestines right at the inside of the anus to separate it. I have a book on the subject, game care and cookery by Sam Fadala. It helped a lot but the pictures weren't that great. I hung the carcass by the neck to skin it and remove the legs.

One of the things id like to do differently is save the hide. Those folks in AK use dried caribou hides for floors in tents and I'm thinking a deer hide would do similar. So I want to dry the hide and keep the hair on. I gather all I have to do is flesh it, rinse the blood out, tack it to a board and let it dry?

[richhodg66]

Pretty much what Brewer said, except I cut the back straps into steakls and cube them. Two years ago, I started breaking down the hind quarters into roasts and wrapping and freezing it that way. Meat lasts longer when it's frozen in big pieces and I can always cut it up into stew meat or burger which we go through the most. This video is how I learned to do this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w63Q1eEWPG4

[trails4u]

Offer your friend a good bottle of bourbon and a decent dinner if he'll do it for you. :) :) :)

[Hogdaddy]

Legs up. no gut is the way I done dozens of deer ; )
H/D

[rking22]

Considering many of these threads are read and serve for guidance to many beyond those who post on it, I have a question. What is the advantage to not gutting the deer? I want my meat to cool as quickly as possible and taking the 5 minutes to field dress reduces a lot of the mass that has to cool as well as providing more surface area to radiate heat. Can also throw an ice bag in the cavity. I did try it once, it was 20deg that afternoon so I thought it was a good time to give it a try. Seemed much more awkward working around the closed cavity and I finally just went on and gutted her before finishing. I don’t drag anymore, but I sure ain’t dragging guts on the rare occasion I can’t get the tractor to the deer. So, some who like the “non field dress” method, what are the advantages I am missing.

[Winger Ed.]

r. So, some who like the “non field dress” method, what are the advantages I am missing.

A lot of it is what you're used to and what works for you.

If you're going to quarter it right away, it's handy, and maybe faster without getting yourself all messy.

My disagreement with it is you'll leave behing the true tenderloin inside the cavity, at the top near the rear.
They're not big, but are perhaps the biggest delicacy on the whole critter.

[nelsonted1]

We hunt in a pack driving deer in the late Minnesota season during Thanksgiving week. We usually were pretty cold which was a blessing keeping the meat fresh. Most everyone were best buds for decades. One was a gorgeous babe who was so intensely in love with fishing and hunting we were, and are, in awe of her.... I watched a couple of them back away and waste so much time gutting that I took over everyone's gutting....I got to the point I could do in less than ten minutes. Cut the throat by the chest. Slit from rear and to rib cage. Cut carefully around the anus and plumbing and pull it through toward the belly. Reach up the inside of chest cavity. Grab esophagus and yank it down. Flip the deer over shaking it hard and if really lucky everything falls out. Then, peel off the gloves throwing them inside the cavity and done with no blood or mess on cuffs. Males are a little more difficult since the plumbing has to come up through a broken pelvis. I just cut off the tubing and pulled it towared the innards. Do not tear the bladder open or let urine on the meat if you can help it. Then, we held the cavity open with sticks to dry. Finally we tied the front legs and head together extending forward and back legs backward. If things work well the job can be so fast and clean it looks like witchcraft.... We took the hide off from head down. Cutting hide as close to the ears as possible first and chop off the legs at knees with an axe so we kept the hair off the carcass as much as possible. The hard part was the urine tubing on males and the hair off the carcass. I, we, hate hair on the carcass. By far the biggest deal of all of it for us.
Ted

[nelsonted1]

One day I was gutting a couple deer during an intense snowfall. Everyone was standing around watching and talking. Dad suggested we should at least have a gun ready instead of leaning on a tree twenty feet away. He walked a few yards away to watch in one direction while a doe came piling down the hill we;d just covered sliding and kicking up rooster tails in a hurricane of deer-powered snow. We just watched her blaze right by us with our mouths hanging open. All of us standing around, stupid as a pail of hammers, with Dad walking back asking about the brand new trail crossing behind me.

[rking22]

I agree Winger Ed, I am not leaving my lunch inside that deer, and the heart is a favorite as well. When I am done removing meat from the bones, the buzzards aren’t even interested. I just thought it would be good to include the pros and cons of each method. Oh, I shin from the head as well, and have been known to shuck him with a truck and strap. Actually works pretty well. And I also pull the anus inside still attached to the chitterlings, just slide the knife around using the pelvic opening as a guide, comes out with everything else. To me, they are just big rabbits:)

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Offer your friend a good bottle of bourbon and a decent dinner if he'll do it for you. :) :) :)

I am that friend!

[nelsonted1]

The thing I always watch for is not tearing the "skin" inside the deer's body. I think it is called the mesentery. When the hide is pierced don't go any deeper. when you look inside there is a kind of skin-mesentery- holding everything. If you don't peirce that you won't cut the stomach, guts or bladder. That's the theory, my theory, anyway.

[DougGuy]

I guess I have gotten lazy. I used to hang 'em by the hind legs, skin and gut and leave the gutpile in the rib cage while I took all the meat off the outside then cut the hams in the middle and separate them.

Now? I lay them on their side, split the skin at the back, pull it down far enough to get the backstrap off the near side, then I cut the shoulder and save that, then cut the meat off the bones in the ham by cutting the white lines and leaving whole muscle groups, not cutting cross grain into steaks, flip it over and harves the other side and I bag that up and dispose of the carcass. Easiest way I have found for a smallish eastern NC deer.

[nelsonted1]

You also have to keep in mind when I suggest flipping the deer over and bouncing the innards out that I am referring to northern deer. A 250- 300 lb doe will have a lot of wieght in guts so they drop easy. Bucks even more so.

[koger]

Go to Facebook, Ky Afield, and look for the video on processing your own deer. Sim Harp is the butchers name and he does a fantastic job teaching how to process a deer, and each cut as it relays to a beef. Having been a butcher for 5 years, and processing my own deer for 30+ years I highly recommend it. Makes it look so easy, and it really is. Using the same method, in ML season, the wife and I took out time, and in a little over an hour and a half, processed a big doe, and a really big buck. We ground them up the next day. All that is left of the carcass, is the skeleton and the hide.

[DougGuy]

Gotta also remember, there is the same amount of fascia or deer snot between the muscles of a small deer as there is in a big deer, you just have a LOT less meat between and with a small one it isn't worth worrying over saving the neck, brisket, ribs, etc. It's a lot of work for not much edible meat, so I stick with the major parts, shoulders, backstraps, and hindquarters.

[dk17hmr]

I dont gut anything and have never left tenderloins in an animal I don't know why that myth is still around. The tenderloins and heart are the last thing to come out/off the animal. 2 minutes with a t handle saw and they are in my game bags.

I don't drag anything, nothing gets hung whole, almost everything I kill comes out on my back. Last year I killed two deer, two elk, and an antelope.....we ate a bunch of tenderloins

[white eagle]

I have harvested one deer, a doe. I somehow skinned and gutted it without any help or advice. Then I butchered it into roasts and stew meat and dog food mostly.

Well I need some advice on how to field dress both a doe and a buck, and how to butcher the critter. Folks say, easy just to on YouTube. The issue is I don't know which videos are good vs which ones are garbage. I've seen folks ripping the hide off a deer with a 4wheeler for crying out loud.

So could those that have a sound idea of the proper way post a link to a video that will give me a sound education. Also, any website or post here that will give insight to the process would be helpful.

Thanks for any help.

Bazoo

It all comes from repetition you will find your way
just a matter of doing it
the separation of muscle groups is laid out for you
just follow the map
I respect the animal far more than to rip the hide
off with a four wheeler
sorry just had to say that

[brewer12345]

As a leatherworker in training, I also want to keep the hides. Go slow and do it by hand and you get a nice hide.

[Bazoo]

Brewer, could you give me some tips on saving the hide?

[remy3424]

What I do to drop the bung when field dressing, I have a short piece of chain (for hanging florescent lights) with a s hook on one end, clip the chain on your belt, hook the anus and lean back applying tension to the s hook . It frees up both hands to cut the rectum free, generally, your on your knees with the legs of the deer wrapped around your head and between fighting legs, trying to hold on to a rectum and trying to cut it out cleanly.

That is a cleaver idea, I might have to throw a piece of chain in my pak and try that! This, to me, is much easier and fater that trying to saw or break the pelvis. Thanks for sharing that tip Jeff.

The field dressing is easy, well, after you do 3 or 4. The butchering will take longer to become proficent at. Watch a bunch of videos, these guys will all do one thing or another a little differently, but all will get the job done. Keep processing them and it gets easier once you find what works best for you and the set-up you have. Good luck! Oh yah, it won't be nearly as quick and easy as the guy make it look in the vids, they have processed 100s of deer.

Addition...I use a hide pliers (Cabela, Scheels type of stores) to grip and pull on the skin if the deer isn't fresh (warmer yet) makes life easier. A meat hook (from a butcher supply store or amazon I am guessing) makes boning the rear quarters somewhat easier also.

[brewer12345]

Brewer, could you give me some tips on saving the hide?

Heh, I am lazy, so I carefully skin it and then drop it off at a tanner with some money.

[waksupi]

I appreciate the suggestions and advice. Thanks for the good ball/stone idea for pulling hide. I haven't looked through all the links yet.

The one I did before I gutted it on the ground and finished by cutting the intestines right at the inside of the anus to separate it. I have a book on the subject, game care and cookery by Sam Fadala. It helped a lot but the pictures weren't that great. I hung the carcass by the neck to skin it and remove the legs.

One of the things id like to do differently is save the hide. Those folks in AK use dried caribou hides for floors in tents and I'm thinking a deer hide would do similar. So I want to dry the hide and keep the hair on. I gather all I have to do is flesh it, rinse the blood out, tack it to a board and let it dry?

If you have a hollow haired hide in your house, they will never stop shedding, and your wife will hate you. If you leave it as a raw hide it will most likely draw hide bugs.

[WinchesterM1]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PoawhsmKIEY


I butcher around 10-15 deer a year for my friends family and my self, I can get it down to about 2 hours from fur on to in the freezer. I butcher almost exactly like Scott does here it’s a very handy and helpful channel, he also teaches you how to cook it

[Bazoo]

Well I got a small 6 point buck earlier.

I started by cutting up the belly. It wasn't pretty but I was able to loosen the guts and all the organs, cut the wind pipe from the outside and get everything down to the bung remaining.

The book I have said cut around the genitals and then around the bung and shove them through. I tried this and pulling on the inner section of rectum at the same time and pulled it in two. I quickly removed it and poured water on the pelvic opening. Not sure if I'll lose anything. I think it's okay, it wasn't a huge mess and was quick.

How can I tell if any of the meat is tainted? Will it smell bad or will I only be able to tell when it's cooked and I take a bite?

Next I'm going to have to figure out how to cook the backstraps. Last ones I didn't like. Was like gum. I like the roasts and stews best.

[richhodg66]

I usually cut the back straps into steaks and pound them with a mallet for making chicken fried steaks. I started doing more venison pot roasts last year and have been having better luck with that than I used to, but I think venison stew is about as good as food gets and use a lot of it that way. I always grind ours pure, don't add any beef or pork fat, we like it that way in chili, etc.

If you got the body cavity washed out quick, it'll be fine.

[Jeff Michel]

Well I got a small 6 point buck earlier.

I started by cutting up the belly. It wasn't pretty but I was able to loosen the guts and all the organs, cut the wind pipe from the outside and get everything down to the bung remaining.

The book I have said cut around the genitals and then around the bung and shove them through. I tried this and pulling on the inner section of rectum at the same time and pulled it in two. I quickly removed it and poured water on the pelvic opening. Not sure if I'll lose anything. I think it's okay, it wasn't a huge mess and was quick.

How can I tell if any of the meat is tainted? Will it smell bad or will I only be able to tell when it's cooked and I take a bite?

Next I'm going to have to figure out how to cook the backstraps. Last ones I didn't like. Was like gum. I like the roasts and stews best.

Feces, urine,milk, gall or pus is considered contaminants. Trim off affected tissues with a knife. Do not wash, Do NOT wash. Washing or flooding with water will spread the contaminant to unaffected areas. This was and is how the USDA viewed it at the packinghouse level.

[brewer12345]

Make sure you remove the silverskin on the backstraps and any other steaks or roasts you cut. That is why it was like chewing gum. I highly recommend you get a copy of Hank Shaw's buck, buck, moose cookbook.

[Drm50]

I open it from pelvis to neck, split pelvis and cut out windpipe. Dump all the guts, I don't eat organs out of anything. Hang upside down and skin it out with a Skinning knife, about 4" blade with no point. About 10mins to skin, cut off at knees, head. I keep belly hair to dye and tails for fishing lures. I take back strap, roasts & stakes and bone the rest and grind for burger.

I would much rather dress and butcher deer, steer or hog than clean a stringer of fish.

[JWFilips]

One Thing to remember! You can not ruin good meat.... you may not cut it to industry specs but in the end it is all good meat! No matter how you cut it up!
Meat is meat .....it all taste good depending how you cook it! Commercial butchering of venison is a whole bunch of BS! Cut the meat, wrap it well, and it will all taste better then you can buy from a butcher shop!

[davidheart]

I save the hides and salt tan them. Done a bunch in the past few years and if I don't save the hides I feel like I'm wasting an animal. Skin it as cleanly as possible with a slightly dulled knife. I like to do this so my blade has less risk of cutting through the skin. When the skin comes to a certain point on the deer I'll sometimes wrap my forearm in the hide and rest my weight into the deer to pull the hide down. At the tail you'll need to cut at the base so it doesn't rip the hide. Grab yourself a 4x6 piece of plywood and a bunch of penny nails. Start at one end and tack it down the board without completing the circle. Go to the other end of the hide and stretch it to the other side of the board. Continue until the hide is completely tacked. Cut any large pieces of meat off the hide. Then pour a thick, even coat of cheap table salt all over the hide. I prefer to use the cheap salt and not coarse ground so an even coat could cover the hide. Let rest for a day and blood/fluid from the hide will pull into the salt. Remove the salt using a dustpan, wide sheetrock trowel, or similar. Coat again with salt and remove after a day. Repeat the process until you coat with salt and no fluid appears. Usually 4-5 days. Shake out the now stiff hide. You could roll it up and store or use it as you see fit.

Never had a problem with bugs. The bugs don't like salt. I suppose even ticks that were on the hide before leave when the blood is remove and salt is applied. One hide I have is 7 years old and I never had a bug problem. Two hides are on top of my freezers for decoration. Another in my son's room for decoration. My wife is wanting one on the wall in the living room next to the European mount skulls I've made. No bugs. No smell.

I use every bit of a deer and it's a very long process but extremely satisfying. I'll even save the caul fat if it's not tainted and use it to wrap meatballs or liver/heart. The spine and bones are used by my wife to make bone broth. The ribs are defatted and cooked or deboned and used for grind. The neck is our favorite roast. The jowl meat is ground or given to our pasture guardian. Shanks turn into osso bucco. Etc. Sometimes those videos on YouTube irritate me with how much waste is done to a deer.

On the contrary though, I'll use the gutless method for dressing our wild boar or sometimes small deer. I'm a Messianic Jew, so while I know "pig" is "clean" in God's eyes (not a sin to eat), I still know boar could carry parasites that might transmit to people. We also trap a fair amount of boar and they'll sometimes show up while I deer hunt. That said they are not as "precious" in my eyes as deer. I do not save the hide, heart, or liver of a boar. All remotely questionable meat is thrown away or given to the dogs. They're also very heavy sometimes (250+) and they stink so I have no desire to hang one. I'll clean the tailgate of my truck and take care of them there. I'll cut up the spine from tail to head and skin down one side, leaving it attached at the belly. Then I'll fold the skin down and quarter as I would a hanging deer. After removing the legs and backstrap, I'll remove one side of the ribs, leaving the skin attached at the scapula. At this point I'll also remove the tenderloin with my hand. Then I'll fold the skin back over, grab the opposite legs and flip the animal over. Repeat the process, removing the neck last. What you'll have left is a gutsack, spine, head, hooves, and skin to dispose of.

No matter how many animals I've butchered I always need to remind myself how to do the hind legs, but if you cut on the inside of the pelvis while placing a slight amount of pressure, you'll run into the ball joint and the leg will "pop" free. Then you could trace around the pinbones and free the hind quarter.

Hope these explainations help! 8 deer and 10 hogs since the beginning of the year and I'm still learning. Take your time and respect the animal. :)

[Minerat]

Heres one put out by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife on field dressing an elk. It can be applied to deer too.
https://vimeo.com/17100180