Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting First time processing my own

I used to remove all the silverskin as well, then I read somewhere that it actually helps prevent freezer burn. Now I leave it on. I haven't noticed any difference in either the flavor or tenderness of the meat when I leave it on and it does seem to protect from freezer burn. It makes the butchering process go much quicker when not trimming every piece of connective tissue, too. I do trim all the fat and am religious about not letting hair get in the meat.

I always let it age for a few days as well, to get past the rigor stage.

Just my experience, YMMV.

Tried it out tonight, nothing fancy just fried up some patties in the pan. Man it was awesome even the wife approved!

I process my own as well and just ate a round steak from a buck I shot in November 2014. Tasted fine. It was wrapped with saran wrap and then freezer paper.

We sell a lot of our carcasses, but those I keep I butcher myelf..Given most were our small Roe deer its fairly easy.

In the past I used to take some of the meat to a local butcher and he would add pork belly and seasoning ect, and make them into sausages which were excellent...

One time I asked him to do some burgers..Not sure what went wrong, but they turned out like carpet tiles, they were so tough even the dog had trouble chewing them!

The dog didn't even like it huh? Anyway, I butcher my own too . I dont do hamburger or steaks. I just do roasts and I slice it up in about 1/4-3/8 in. slices. I fry them fast in my cast iron skillet in butter. I make steaks sandwiches out of it. Mayonase , pickles, and matchup, fried onions. Better than anything in the restaurants and darn cheap too. If it is in season, I find some puff ball mushrooms in September and that makes it better yet.

One thing I do. I try to can the fresh meat. It seems the female pallet will pick up "off" flavor when the meat is frozen. Sometimes this "off" flavor can be picked up by my wife only weeks after being frozen. The canning process does not have the same response from women.......they love it, another benefit is it is ready to eat outta the jar......they will be more inclined to use it, it has truly revolutionized wild game consumption levels in my house. I use 90 minutes at 10 pounds. I have a variety of recipes I enjoy it. The jars are easy gifts and traveling without the freezing thawing component of meal management is welcome.

Wow, unless you illegally shoe leather cook burger its hard to get it tough...

Burger for us better be medium rare at the most...

overgrinding or over packing burgers when making them is the only way to make burgers tough.

I have always done my own and used to use a saw and make cuts.

Now I bone it all and is sure saves freezer space.
Cut the quarters off of the hanging deer and this year a sat at a table deboning and removing most of the silverskin.

This year I used a 6" and sometimes 9" filet knife for removing the silverskin and for the most part that went really well.

We went to the commercial roll of plastic wrap and then place in freezer quality "Zip Loc" bags.

Next best thing to the vacuum sealed bags and far better than paper as near as I can tell.

I can tell you one thing, doing the work setting at a table sure made it easier on this old fat guy!

welcome to the journey.

We processed
1 antelope
9 deer
2 elk
this past season.

For as long as I can remember, we always processed our own.
Sausage, burger, bacon, roasts, steaks, ribs, shanks, tongue, jerky. It is all GOOD!

I've been doing my own for years too. I take some to a processor for snack sticks and different sausages. My processor mixes 50/50 beef, and makes the best Italian Sausage, Half Smokes, and snack sticks. When I was a kid the Highs Dairy stores had hot dogs and Half Smokes. I read that
Half Smokes were a Baltimore/Washington specialty, half beef and half pork. Anyway, hadn't seen any in years till I found this guy in PA that still makes them. Cut most of the lean meat up for jerky, maybe enough cubes for a batch of soup, love to smoke a roast. All depends on how many deer I get, Joe.

Suspect they were over packed as they were very "dense" if that makes sense...

Its about the only time I;'ve had a problem, and ended up buying a burger press and doing my own afterwards...

Let this Texas gal show you how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-A7yavKoZ8&feature=youtu.be

We cut all of our own also. Be it elk, mule deer, bear, whitetails, and my wife even got a moose a couple years back.

We invested in a Cabelas 1hp grinder several years ago, which works great.
We buy rolls of the plastic produce bags from the grocery stores, put meat in one of those then wrap it in freezer paper it will last for years, literally.

With our burger, which we grind a lot of, we don't add anything to it. I never did like eating a good deer/elk burger that tasted like cow or pig. I hear a lot of people say they add beef or pork fat so it sticks together, no need for that if you know how to make burgers.

By the way, if you ever get a chance, moose is excellent table fare.

I too leave the silverskin on some cuts, particularly the sirloins (which I freeze whole) and the outside of the backstraps. I have never noticed and off flavor and also feel it helps insulate. Plus it is easier to peel a strip of silverskin off the outside of a steak after cutting vs trying to fillet it off of a whole roast. Absolutely never let cook anything with silverskin on it though.

After my first two deer went to the processor and were by far my least favorite tasting I started processing all of my own. In my area, deer (other than archery) are generally shot when it is pretty cold out which makes aging them easier and less stressful. I consider the processing of the meat part of the hunt and would probably feel incomplete without that chore at the end. I have friends and acquaintances that can't wait to fill a tag quick and dump it at a locker so they can watch football and drink beer. It's just not for me. My wife is not a hunter and isn't interested in the field dressing or breaking down process but does volunteer to help me with the trimming, grinding and wrapping which helps considerably.

We grind it straight and freeze it straight, then add a bit of pork breakfast sausage from the store right when it is time to cook it.

Have also found that we can age roasts in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and they get quite tender.

The kids have been loving this recipe on roasts lately:
2-week fridge-aged roast
crock pot
one can coca-cola classic
one package onion soup mix
few squirts of BBQ sauce
some water
bunch of onions, carrots, celery
6-8 hours

A few comments:

Wild animals are not all the same, whether in species, age, or condition. Connective tissue and silverskin can affect taste, but only in a few species during the rut, or sometimes when they start to lose weight during winter.

When it does occur, the off-taste tends to increase the longer the meat's frozen. Have had it happen with rutty mule deer that tasted fine initially, but after 6 months in the freezer the cuts with more connective tissue definitely changed flavor. But most of the time it doesn't make any difference.

Whether or not to use plastic for wrapping depends a lot on the freezer. Frost-free freezers tend to freezer-burn meat, because freezer burn is a result of "freeze-drying," essentially oxidation of the meat.

Frost-free freezers are constantly cycling moisture outside the freezer, and if you open up a freezer a lot the same thing happens. The worst are the freezer compartments in most new refrigerators. They're frost-free and not as cold as dedicated freezers, and get opened a lot, so oxidation's likely. Fat also oxidizes easily. Lean meat doesn't.

The reason vacuum-sealing works is it gets the air out, the reason we use it primarily for fish and birds, which are often irregularly shaped. With steaks, roasts or burger that can be tightly wrapped, it's not likely, especially in a non-frost-free chest freezer.

My wife and I trim all fat off big game, and don't add any fat to burger. Unless the cut is really irregular, we don't vacuum-pack or even use plastic. Instead we double-wrap in good freezer paper, and put the packages in frost-free chest freezers. They've never freezer-burned even when stored 3 years, and we regularly keep big game meat that long from special animals.

If somebody wants to make sure then plastic helps, especially in frost-free freezers. But if you have a non-frost-free chest freezer, good freezer paper is quicker, a lot cheaper and just as effective.

I agree on moose being great table fare. Living in BC. I get one every year. Try and get a mature bull in August before the rut.

I'm jealous.

I do pretty much the same, but the neck, chuck and rump roasts make a very good Sauerbraten.