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FeedButchering Big Game
When you do your own butchering, you know that the meat has been handled with care, and you get the cuts you prefer. You will probably be willing to take more time trimming than a butcher would,so your finished cuts may have less gristle, fat and silverskin on them.
In most cases, the animal is butchered while still hanging from the skinning process. Use caution when butchering a hanging animal. When you cut out each portion, you must catch it, and this can be tricky with a knife in one hand. A deer leg, for instance, can weigh 20 pounds or more, so you may need a partner to help.
Be absolutely certain that your partner stays clear of your knife, and never allow him (or her) to cut at the same time. For safety, some hunters prefer to butcher on a large table.
The photo sequence that follows shows how to cut up a deer that is hanging from the head. The procedure is somewhat different if the animal is hanging by the hind legs (at right). You will not be able to cut out the hind legs because they are supporting the carcass. Instead, remove the front legs, backstrap and ribs as described, then place the hindquarters on a table to finish cutting.
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1. Push the front leg away from the body, then begin cutting between the leg and the rib cage. Continue until you reach the shoulder. It helps to have someone steady the carcass, but make sure he or she is safely away from your knife. |
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2. Remove the front leg by cutting between the shoulder blade and the back. Repeat with the other leg. Remove the layer of brisket meat over the ribs (inset). Moose and elk brisket is thick enough to be rolled for corning. Grind thin brisket for burger. |
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3. Cut the meat at the base of the neck to begin removing the backstrap. There are two backstraps, one on each side of the spine. Backstraps can be butterflied for steaks, cut into roasts or sliced thinly for sauteing. The lower part, or loin, is the most tender. |
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4. Make two cuts between the shoulder and rump: one along the spine, the other along the rib tops. Keep your knife close to the bones, removing as much meat as possible. Cut off this first backstrap at the rump, then remove the backstrap on the other side of the spine. |
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5. Begin cutting one hind leg away, exposing the ball-and-socket joint (arrow). Push the leg back to pop the joint apart, then cut through the joint. Work your knife around the tail bone and pelvis until the leg is removed. Repeat with the other leg. |
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6. Cut the tenderloins from inside the body cavity after trimming the flank meat below the last rib (inset). The flank meat can be ground, or cut into thin strips for jerky. Many hunters remove the tenderloins before aging the animal, to keep them from darkening and dehydrating. |
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7. Remove the ribs, if desired, by sawing along the backbone (dashed line). Cut around the base of the neck, then twist the backbone off. Separate the neck and head. Bone the neck to grind for burger, or keep it whole for pot roasting. |
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8. Trim the ribs by cutting away the ridge of meat and gristle along the bottom. If the ribs are long, saw them in half. Cut ribs into racks of three or four. If you don’t want to save the ribs, you can bone the meat between them and grind for burger or sausage. |
Information and photos courtesy of Preparing Fish and Wild Game
A good safety reminder is to clean your knifes and wash your hands with soup and warm water between each phase of the cleaning/butchering of a deer: field dressing, butchering, and bagging. An even better way is to use different knifes at each phase so you don't pass along any germs along the way. Also, rinse each cut before bagging.
Also, it is very important that you cut open your vacuum freezer bag when you take your venison out of the freezer to thaw. This will prevent a deadly germ from growing in your sealed bag as your meat thaws.
Butchering a deer is really pretty easy and quite enjoyable. The only diffuclt part is removing the hide. I hang the deer, cut off the legs with any type of saw and fillet the hide off. If you remove the hide soon after shooting the deer it comes off much easier.
Once the hide has been removed, you will need a large area or table to work on and about three hours. You will also need a good knife; I use my Rapala fillet knife, which I can routinely re-sharpen. I find reading about it is very confusing. Just use common sense and start cutting. You can follow the bones and fillet them out along with as much tallow (fat) as you desire. The muscle groups are fairly obvious and can be used to seperate larger pieces. As the steaks and roasts begin to pile up and the stew meat bowl fills, you will gain a sense of great accomplishment. If you want ground meat, just cut it into managable sized pieces and stick it on a cookie sheet the freezer for about 20 minutes. Once chilled it will pass through your grinder lickity split. I use my kitchen aid mixer with a grinder attachment. My dog will patiently sit next to me waiting for scraps; I think this is her favorite time of the year.
The quality of the end product is far superior to what you might recieve from a processor, where they don't trim out tallow, use saws to cut bone (creates bone chips) and you might not even get your own venison back.
I hang the carcass in my back yard at ground level. After a few weeks of aging, the dog will begin to knaw at it which continues until spring. Come March, all that remains is the spine.