Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Did we get shorted on venison

You should learn to cut it up yourself!!!

Yearling buck & dry nanny doe;



Yield, less heart, 2 sets of inners & 1 8" piece of back strap & 2 pieces of sirloin tip;



Less than a day, all told.

2 hours a deer is about what it takes me if I focus on it.

The guys on youtube can debone a deer extremely fast.

I have been cutting my own deer, elk, bear, bison, pronghorn, hogs etc... for well over 40 years. Cut enough of them and you get pretty quick. Last year I cut these 3 whitetails in less than 6 hrs from start to clean up.



The flanks, ribs, shanks and necks were in 2 coolers.

Main reason we process all our own.

-Ken

There is a bunch of shrinkage from hoof to freezer naturally and the effort to clean the bones can add a few pounds.
I have always processed my own so I know, First that it is MY deer, and that I'm getting the most meat possible.

I usually get 40-45 lbs of boneless meat from whitetail does and smaller bucks. I've gotten up to 65-70 lbs from mature bucks.

JMO - but if one can make time for the hunting, only seems right to make time for the processing - or at the very least break it down so you know the weight of what you’re handing off for grinding.

In regards to the OP and what he got back seems pretty fair.

Of you like eating tendons, silver skin, and bone, then you got shorted. If not, sounds about right to me.

Also, do that stuff yourself man.

Processors steel your precious deer meat......

Please

Last week I cut up good size Wisconsin doe and got 31 lbs. Yesterday I shot a fawn . Blew his front shoulder half off and got 15 lbs. The shoulder and other parts were wasted. The shoulder almost fell off.

what did you hit it with

My thoughts too. Who cares about the shoulder. Details for the rifle loonies lol

I do all my own too........I hate to take a deer to a processor and have to "buy it back" to get my meat( or someone else's).......I converted an old upright coke machine into a deer cooler. I have electric cuber and grinder. this way I KNOW I'm eating MY deer. Processing one takes me about 2 hrs. When I cut it up I make 2 piles. One for cube and one for ground. I remove ALL the silver skin and end up with all lean meat. My equipment has paid for itself many times over. I make summer sausage/jerky/cube steak and stew meat. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I just shoot them and give them away, it is much faster.

Elk, I give half to a friend for the other half cut and wrapped. I would rather have my teeth drilled without novacane than cut up dead animals…

If you hunt for the wrong reasons I guess that's what you do. If I didn't want meat, I wouldn't hunt

As in exchange game meat for something of value? 87-6-206. Unlawful sale of game fish, bird, game animal, or fur-bearing animal. (1) A person may not purposely or knowingly sell, purchase, or exchange all or part of any game fish, bird, game animal, or fur-bearing animal.

I don’t have to qualify how or what I hunt to you or anyone else. If you think all hunting is about eating everything you hunt, you have missed most of what hunting really encompasses….

Revisiting this thread and seen your reply. I processed my own for several years, even had a refrigerator set up for aging. We may start doing it again in the future as I may retire soon and time may be more available.

Three weeks left of the rifle season here and one of us may take a doe to grind into burger and sausage. We have the grinder, vacuum packer a host of specialty knives and the know how. With that being said, I find it very convenient nowadays to drop them off where they can hang for a few days to a couple of weeks. Then pick them up vacuum chamber sealed, labeled and frozen ready to go in the freezer.

For a couple of deer we shot last year we specified not to freeze because we were, and did, pressure can them.

As to getting my own deer back, I've never suspected that I didn't. I believe that if I didn't, it would be an honest mistake by the processor. Or I would find someone that I trusted.

As for breaking them down and then taking them to the processor, either of the two do not even want you to gut them. They say it takes to much of their time trying to clean up the hair, dirt, leaves and general junk that a field dressed deer brought to them will almost always have.
For us, shot dead to processor is about 30-45 minutes max. I'm good with that.

Have a great day and shoot big uns'.

Must have been one of those 9mm'ers that FJB says will blow the lungs right out of the body....