I am very happy with the processor I have now doing my meat, but have always wondered about doing my own. I'm not looking for a proffesional set up, just the basics to see if I want to continue to do it. I have a BBQ cateering company on the side and while no proffesional butcher I can trim my own cuts, seperate large muscle groups into smaller ones and use a knife without killing myself. Here is a list of the equipment I have at the house:

A shop where I can work off a wood table- might need to put some sort of hard top on it.

A fridge and chest style freezer for storing meat.

A good vaccum sealer

Good knives- a chefs knife, a paring knife and mid sized sodukto.


I normally get my tenderloins and back straps whole, have the shoulders and rib meat groung into hamburger and sausage and use the hindquarters for roasts or cut into steaks.

I'm thinking I need a good grinder, maybe a good book on specifics and what else?

I live and hunt in hot as h�ll Alabama so I know the processing needs to be done quickly, if nothing more than skining and quartering to put it in the fridge. (I always gut in the field)

I'd love some advise on the subject.

My dad has always butchered his own meat. When I started hunting I remember all we had was some knives and some cutting boards that we would set on the kitchen counter, we also had an old grinder that we got for free from a butcher shop broke down and we rebuilt it. That is pretty much all you need for processing your animal here, although we do not have the heat problem here in washington.

We have added to out operation somewhat. We now have 2 grinders, a cuber, sausage stuffer, meat mixer, smoke house, walk-in cooler, stainless steal tables.

As you can see it can be done either way, lots of equipment or just what you need. For wrapping the meat we use cellophane and butcher paper, and forgo the vacuum sealer as the bags get expensive when you wrap a lot of meat, and we have never had meat go bad using this method.

Some time saving tips would be to get yourself some stamps made up to mark the packages. We also use a couple old bread pans to measure out our burger packages, we have two a one pound and a two pound, depending on who we are wrapping for

Also I would strongly recommend staying away from wood top tables as they can get nasty in a hurry and are very hard to clean. We use a stainless steal table, and have also had large cutting boards made up (4'x8') to work off of.

I'm thinking a few saw horses and some sort of 4x8 plastic board to use as a cutting/work surface. Stainless steel would be the best, but kinda pricey.
I need to keep my costs low at first.

Yep SS is pricey.... We picked up 2 10' tables at an auction when they tore down the local school to build the new one. I think we only paid $75 per. We basically stole them 4x8 plastic board will work great and we actually put the boards over top of the SS when doing knife work to keep the edge on the knife.

A knife, cutting board and some freezer paper or a vacuum sealer if you want to spend the money. It's that simple. Ken

After being unhappy with some processors a few years back, I started doing my own butchering.

I keep a few of the marine-style 150+qt coolers at the camp or in my truck. After skinning, I quarter and then place everything in a cooler, cover with ice until I have time to butcher. I sometimes leave the coolers in my garage up to 5-6 days, draining water and adding ice periodically. When I have a spare evening, I slide the cooler into the kitchen (tile floor) and set up a sturdy metal frame plastic top table that I bought at Sam's club. They sell several sizes, mine is maybe 2.5' x 5'. As I watch TV, I fish out a quarter and work on it while sitting at the little table, depositing whole cuts into one rubbermaid tub and grinder chunks into another tub (keep several tubs). I toss the bones into a trash bag and put them back in the cooler. If I have time that night I will grind burger and vacuum seal everything. If I don't have time, I cover the tubs with plastic wrap and put them in my garage fridge until the next evening. It takes a bit of time to do everything, but it's relatively low-mess and I get to sit inside with the family and watch TV while I do the work. I might cut up 6-8 deer each year. My main advice would be to avoid skimping on the grinder. My $99 job is pretty slow. A couple hundred dollars more would have gotten something much faster.

We also find a filet knife very handy for cutting away silverskin.

Specific grinder reccomedations? Say $300 price limit.

I have one of these and it has happily chewed up pig and venison for several years now without a hitch.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/s...4_325011000_325000000_325011000_325-11-0

You don't need a lot of tools!

I do my own deer, and pronghorn antelope, with this setup:

A drafting table in my garage, with a vinyl top which can be cleaned, and cut on,

A cutting board,

A large knife, and a 6" Rapala filet knife (actually, you can get by with just this knife),

Freezer wrap (the kind that lets you remove all air, color is blue, I don't recall the product name).

I begin by skinning the carcass, removing the backstraps and tenderloins, the lower legs, head, etc., and cooling out. Then, before actual cutting up, I remove the four quarters, and clean thoroughly.

I don't grind up scraps for burger- I save them, freeze them, and feed them to the dog. Gotta feed her anyway.

I clean up the backstraps and tenderloins, remove the silverskin, and either cut up into steaks, or freeze as larger chunks to be cut into steaks immediately before cooking.

Separate out the major muscles from the rear quarters, clean up the membranes, then cut up into steaks. Depending on the age, and size, of the critter, I either do round steaks from the front quarters, or roasts.

A good boning knife and means to sharpen same. Everthing else is just gravy. Looks like you have the bases covered. While I have a fine grinder, if I end up with 70 to 80 lbs of hamburger cuts, I think I'm time ahead just to drive over to the butcher and run it through their unit in about 3 minutes.

I keep chunks as large as possible to minimize surface exposure and potential freezer burn. Steaks are cut from larger chunks just prior to being tossed on the grill.

This one works pretty good unless you have a lot of meat at one time. Last year my wife wanted no ground meat but left the scraps for stew meat. She makes a mean pot of soup with them. miles

northern tool grinder

Those are the basics...Add a dozen or so stainless steel "S" hooks, and a Northern Tool Meat Grinder

I picked up one of this up on a recommendation from somebody on here and I have to say its excellent.

To get a grinder of significantly better quality, you probably have to pay three or four times as much.

I compared it to grinders I could get locally at x2 the price, it it was a far better unit. It has metal gears and drives for one thing, unlike many that use plastic for those critical parts...

But don't go on what I say, read the dozens of reviews under the "Reviews" link on the same page...

Regards,

Peter

Most of it has been said. I do like to have a saw and a hatchet around to go through bone. I like ribs and neck roasts with the bone in.

We pack with a sealer for smaller cuts. Larger cuts we double Saran Wrap and top that with butcher paper.

Wiping down between quarters with first hot water and then a 10% bleach water is a good practice also.

You can get a perfectly good grinder for $100-$120 from Northern Tool that will grind as many deer as you are ever going to shoot.Mine probably has a few dozen elk and at least that many deer and antelope through it.It will keep one person a lot busier than he/she wants. Vacumm sealers are nice,but good freezer paper will suit you well

A knife with a flexible thinnish blade 4 or 5" long.

The tailgate of your pickup truck.

Some cheap plastic sheeting or cheap tarp.

One nice thing to have is a clean cotton tablecloth or sheet or old towels. They dry the surface of the meat and making it much easier to hold onto while cutting. You can use the edge of the tablecloth to grab onto a piece of meat as well.

Loving the ideas guys, keep them coming. Looks like I need to find some sort of cheap hard surface and a decent grinder.

Where do you fellas get your fat to mix in?

Any book or videos you could reccomend?

I never mix any pure fat in. If I'm making sausage I add pork or bacon depending upon the type I'm making.

My son lives in south central KS. When shopping for deer butchering grinder, ect, he found a shop that dealt especially with this kind home butchering and BBQ/Smoking equipment in Wichita. Perfect for him. Might be something like that for you in a nearby city. Good luck.

We do up 10 to 12 a year for ourselves...I quit dickin' around with fancy cuts a long LONG time ago.

We hang 'em, skin 'em, and bone 'em out right there in the shop/garage/barn....

We don't mess around with saws, or hatchets, or none of that stuff. Joints are severed with the hunting knives if we need to drop a lower leg, the rest of the meat comes right off the bone as it hangs head down.

Heavy weight trash bags make it a snap to get the boned meat into the kitchen.

"Cutting" after the boning takes place on the kitchen counter, and with the same hunting knives we used to gut, skin, and bone out the deer. We use those large plastic cutting boards to trim, slice and dice.

We're basically looking for three things, and waste nothing.

1.) Backstraps get cut into 8" pieces, silver skin sliced off, and froze two or three in a bag. These get eaten up so fast we don't bother with vacuum sealing. They're specifically for the grill, or a cast iron skillet, and with marinade. cooked as they are cut, and then sliced after cooking.

2.) Canning meat. Anything that's a clean lean muscle free of silver skin and other garbage is chunked into 1x1 or 1x2 inch chunks and canned in a pressure canner with wide mouth jars. Warm it up in the nuker as is, or add to stews, ect. We freeze it in gallon freezer bags until there's enough to make a canning day then have at it.

3.) Everything else that is edible is grinder meat. Some goes into plain burger, some goes into sausage. Pretty self explanatory. We freeze chunks of grinder meat in gallon bags until there's enough to make a grinder day then have at it.

Me and the Boy can get a deer from skinned to froze in about an hour if we're in a rush.......

I raise a hog to get my fat and bacon for the deer sausage......

Here's my stuff. I was going to buy a grinder this yr but a fly-in moose hunt to the Yukon is diverting my cash resources.

There's no reason why not to mix fresh pork fat into leaned out venison as a fat replacement.


.

Yep.


Travis

Good God man, that's a lot of stuff......

You have a nice set up.

No offense, but mine's easier to clean up when I'm done.....

I agree with Bighorn, I use a plastic cutting board, a hacksaw, a fish fillet knife and a small hunting knife or even a pocket knife. Well, I also use a utility knife with a hooked linoleum blade to ease skinning but that's a different task.

It's more than simply 'butchering' it tho, for best results we have to start at the time of the kill. Field dress the critter as soon as you can so the meat can begin to cool. After you get him to camp, hang him by the head so it's easy to pull the skin off. Raise him until his rear feet are about ground level for a good working height. Then hacksaw the legs off where ever you wish. Slit the skin down the neck and all four legs and pull the hide off. Wash out the body cavity to flush any squishy, stinky stuff off the tenderloins.

Prepare a sufficently large ice cooler with ice/water and salt for an aging solution. The cooler must be large enough to allow you to completely submerge and soak the meat. I find maybe half or three quarters of a pound of table salt in five gallons of icy water will work well. After the first day, just keep enough ice in it to maintain the temp, ideally the water will hover around 35 degrees. I like to use water frozen in liter sized soft drink bottles after the first day, it will cool but not dilute the brine mix. The low temp will protect the meat as it ages and the salt will pull most all of the blood and fluids from the lymph system. It won't dry out or 'salt' the meat unless the brine is much too strong, nor will it allow the meat to become 'gray' from being fresh water logged.

Quarter the body, placing each piece into the brine water and ice solution. Strip the loins off the spine. Cut off the meat around the rib cage and neck as you wish and then discard the skeleton. After it's aged enough, 10-14 days is usually plenty, it's time to complete the cutting and package it.

Remove the pieces, flush off the brine and pat the meat dry. Use the fillet knife to seperate the muscle bundles from the leg bones and each other. Skin off/cut out the fatty deposits, slice off the tough muscle sheath "silver layers" and tendons until you have clean muscle bundles.

Cutting across the grain, cut the larger bundles and loins into steaks and cut the rest into thumb size chunks, or smaller for stews, chili and barbecue kabobs. Vacuum seal and freeze it in meal sized packs.

Venison done this way makes our occasional 'non-venison eating' dinner guests compliment my wife on the quality of her delicious meat! At our church dinners our resident vetrinarian, who just hates the idea of shooting a Bambi, will eat it 'till he nearly pops!

I NEVER grind any of my venison or mix it with something else for sausage any more. It's much to good to do that to it!

Nice job on boning that deer. I don't use all those knives. The older ones were passed down from a grandfather who was a meatcutter/butcher as well.

I was a meatcutter for over 20yrs. It comes in handy.

.

444Matt,

Since you asked about books, I might suggest my wife's book, SLICE OF THE WILD. It describes a lot of options in butchering methods, depending on your likes or your family's needs, and has lots of photos of various butchering techniques, including how to make various kinds of sausage.

There are also a section with the latest info from meat science, and 100 recipes, with suggestions for side dishes (recipes included for them as well).

The price is $24.95 (which includes postage) from: www.riflesandrecipes.com

I think we all start out with basics and add what we need. I like ground so we grind a lot of our deer (since we grind lots we use good meat and our ground is really good)

My Daughter and I process our deer together its really cool. Although she is a bit pissed we have used a small grinder that takes time.Just by coincidence she is going off to Collage (she may not be around to help this year) this year and I bought a 1hp grinder I am sure it will be quite easier.

I dont think I would buy one but if you have a sawsall they work great for removing hooves and horns.


Hank

So u go to the local lumber chain and snag a piece of scrap countertop for next to nothing. Option 1 is to screw some folding legs ( like something liberated off a conference table ) or 2, screw two of those round things that can hold closet rod on one end, and a hinge to the opposite end bolted to ur garage studs. Two lengths of closet rod work as legs ( note pic, but it doesn�t haveta be this FANCY). Run some anti-bacterial spray, then dishcloth, and ur ready to rock from last season.

Also note cutlery. That�s it.



I don�t buy junk steaks at the store, so I�m not cutting anything similar. Remove fillets inside cavity.
Next remove backstraps.

Halfway done, and on to the round. Cut tips from front of femur. Top N bottom round are on the backside of this bone, separate and remove.

To this point everything is steak.

Final stretch, the shoulders, or chuck. Bone everything. I do some strips for fajitas (or stew if so inclined), and the rest I sausage. One may do burger, but I can�t dig the veni. Elk yes, veni not. I have the sausage processed,, as I�m less than enthusiastic to mess with it and equipment. Mostly do Italian brats and grill �em or in for pasta dishes, sliced or �deskinned�.

Sever spine below ribs. The skeletal structure is now in half. Place both in dumpster.

Washing, freezer paper, and final beer, should be way under two hours tops.

So this is going to be boneless steaks left in large (4-5 pound) chunks frozen. Marinade and grill medium rare, they won�t dry out like individually sliced steaks. Cut steaks after grilling.

The end.

One can substitute steaks for roasts. Think round or tips, as the straps are sacreligious�

years ago i used to process my own. other than a grinder (get a good one) and some form of plastic top for your table, i think you're set for processing.

HUGE plus one on this book..I wish I had had one when first starting.....it took me about 30 deer to learn what she puts forth in 30 pages....absolutely the best book on the subject Ive ever seen...

Ingwe

444Matt;
I�ve read through the responses and would say you�ve gotten some good advice already.

We�ve been cutting our families� game � deer, bear, a couple moose and one sheep- since about �89 I believe. For some reason we never kept track of what we did until 2000 and last season we passed 80 animals that we processed in our garage, so likely we've done somewhere between 120-150 animals since we started way back when.

First off I�d highly recommend Eileen�s book that JB mentioned. Even though we�ve been at it as long as we have, when I bought the book last year I learned a few things about cutting meat. The recipes are very good as well might I add.

We have a pole outside that allows us to skin the animal as soon as is practical. It is equipped with a hand crank boat winch and pulleys which make hoisting a job a 5 year old can do - and has at our house! We then try to let the carcass hang overnight to rigor and then relax before cutting it into chunks and placing it in our cooler.

For a cooler we use a large converted upright chest freezer that I�d say is about 22 cu.ft. or so. We don�t have the airflow that a commercial cooler has, so we generally have found that leaving the meat in more than 7 days is not the best. I�ve begun to experiment with auxiliary fans placed inside the cooler and that is showing some promise.

When the meat is ready to cut or better said, when we can assemble the �cutting crew� that uses our place, we line the tops of several tables with 3� paper we get from the local newspaper as it makes cleanup a breeze.

We then line a liquor box with commercial butcher paper into which the meat to be ground will go, lay out the cutting boards and knives and get a big garbage can lined with oversize bags ready for the bones.

For the actual cutting, we�ve procured a number of boning and fillet knives from commercial meat cutter supply houses. They run about $10-$18 each. If you do ebay, I see that my personal favorites the Victorinox � Forschner line are readily available.

We use wooden cutting boards that I�ve made from scraps at the cabinet shop I work at, but plastic would be fine too.

My late father built a butcher paper dispenser that we clamp onto one of the tables as well as a tape dispenser that clamps onto the table. I�ve got to say these two items are very useful and we all wished we�d commissioned them years earlier.

For cutting steaks we use a couple scimitar type steak knives, a 10� and a 12�. I like the larger one for making round steaks on moose, but the smaller one would work for any deer we�ve cut thus far.

We wrap the meat with a single layer of commercial paper. One lays the paper in front of you in a diamond shape, the point toward your chest. Then place the meat on the front edge of the diamond, just far enough on to cover it entirely when you fold it forward. Then one folds the left and right side in, keeping the paper as close to the meat as possible, as the goal is to remove air which causes freezer burn. Then the front is wrapped towards you, again keeping it tight and then tape the package with freezer tape.

We mark the package with the hunter, the animal, the year and the cut. As part of our family supper ritual, we thank whoever pulled the trigger for providing the meat for the meal. For younger hunters in our family it�s proven to be a significant part of their growth and has been very positive overall.

Meat that will either be ground or will be taken to a commercial sausage maker that we trust is put into the butcher paper lined box and when the animal is done, the paper is pressed down tightly to seal it. When the next animal is cut, we open it up and put the next layer on top.

Ground meat is done at the end of season when all the boxes are full. We partially thaw it and try to grind it semi-frozen as it grinds easier that way. We use a 3/8� plate for first pass and then a �� for second. Some folks don�t mind leaving it course ground by the way.

In general we don�t add fat until we cook the meat as we believe the fat will freezer burn quicker. If we want to add fat when cooking ground meat, one can either chop some bacon or fat ham into it then or add cooking oil to taste.

Hopefully that was some use to you and good luck on your meat cutting.

Regards,
Dwayne

Wildswalker: Yes, I have about 8 knives, cleaver, saws, steels, hooks, grinder, etc. Pretty much only bring out the boning knife, plastic wrap, and butcher paper. Never had much need or desire to cut through bones.

I go pretty much minimalist as I only process a deer or two a year. Deer get hung in the garage on a home made single tree on a (cheap) chain hoist. Works better than a come-along for moving the carcass up and down so you're not bending or stretching while cutting. Carcasses hang for a week, more or less, depending on the weather. My table is a half sheet of plywood, depending on what's on hand, on saw horses with heavy plastic sheet stapled over. I don't cut against it so it doesn't get cut, only bone and slice to convenient size to finish up in the kitchen.

Implements of destruction are two boning knives and a slicer and a really good steel - used often. I like the curved boning knife for some things and the straight one for others. But knives are a personal choice. I only use a saw for cutting the skull to remove antlers and dividing what remains of the carcass when I'm done for easy hauling. Also good for shortening the front legs so they don't get in the way while you're working but limb loppers are faster. It's strictly boning out the meat for me.

Final cutting is done in the kitchen where it's warmer, our late Novembers can be pretty chilly, much more so late hunts. I wrap in freezer type Press n Seal and freezer paper, the freezer paper to keep packages from sliding as much as anything. I don't grind much, preferring stew and chili meat so I use the old, old hand crank monster for the few pounds that I may do.

I'm with the "one good knife" plan. To much time gets wasted changing and looking for other tools. Get one good knife you can gut,skin and bone with. Make it a good one and don't be afraid to spend some money on good steel. Keep it clean and sharp. Once upon a time I shot crop damage and we would average over 100 deer a season between my three uncles, my dad and myself. I became quite proficient with processing deer. If you're going to grind the meat make sure it's free of the "silver skin" That will clog a grinder in no time. Keep the fat out of the ground venison as best you can. If you want something to add so it makes good patties add some pork later. As for a vacuum sealer I have had good luck with my Foodsaver brand. I have had it over ten years and it has worked well. You can get them and the bags at Wal-Mart fairly reasonable. Don't think you NEED a fancy butchers' set of knifes to process a deer. If you want that later on go for it but all you really NEED is one or two good knifes to get from the field to the freezer.

I recommend NOT using counter tops for a cutting surface. While they are easy to clean and control bacteria, thay are quite hard and will turn a knife blade in short order. Much better to use a nylon cutting board for the actual cutting and the counter surface as a work area.

.

I like having a bone saw. I use my dad's from the old Saskatchewan homestead. 75 years old and still working hard.



I have a selection of about 4 knives. A 9" scimatar. a flexible and non-flexible boning saw 6-7" long and a good 8" butcher knife. The right knife at the right time makes life easier. You don't need to spend a lot of money and a set of Victorinox or Henkles in their cheapest lines are very good. (The 4 knife Set should be under 100.00) Steel is a bit soft but tough and easily sharpened. I'd prefer this to more exdpensive and harder knives.

I use regular big cutting boards on my kitchen table covered with plastic but will get a big 2x3 foot peice of cutting board material for next time. I definately would not cut into a hard material like some have suggested. I like keeping my knives razor sharp.



I still use a big hand grinder but after borrowing a friends big electric could be converted.

Agreed, they can be tough on an edge, but basically the entire processing occurs on the hanging carcass, table being used for silverskin detachment and pre kitchen sink staging.

So, some minimal shoulder work, and single surface cleanup. YMMV�

for me:

boning knife
fillet knife
a long-ish bladed slicing knife
butcher board
saran wrap and freezer paper
sharpie
SS manual meat grinder

It really doesn't take much in the way of tools.

For many years I used a manual grinder, and not just for deer but elk as well, but after doing a moose we went to an electric grinder, and eventually to a good-sized one. It not only grinding burger a lot easier, but making sausage as well.

The biggest problem I would have with the counter top, is hosing it off. I would think with moisture the top would disintegrate.

I used to have our tops made out of plywood for that reason.

Let me clarify; the substrate was plywood then laminated.

We've had good results with the little cheapie white electric grinder that they sell at WallyWorld.

Only processing four or five deer a year though.

Lots of good information here, I'll just add my (and my wife's) recommendation for Eileen's book, Slice of the Wild.

For knives we usually use the 6" fillet knives but Cheesy got a Ingram Bird and Trout last year that may come up "missing". For the steaks I've got a real old Dexter 32912 butcher knife that my Great Uncle used in his butcher shop. The only thing we use a saw for is cutting off the lower legs and head.
My grinder is a cheap thing I picked up at the farm store, #22 neck, hand crank/big pulley combo that I've hooked up to a spare 3/4 hp electric motor. We chunk up all the grinder meat including some pork shoulders to mix. We run it all through the grinder, then put on the stuffer tube and run it back through to fill the 1 or 2 pound plastic freezer bags. This thing will grind faster than 1 man can feed it. The guy feeding it will usually be waiting on the one holding the bag and taping it off, even with the tape dispenser speeding that chore up.

DakotaDeer,

We fried a couple of the little white electric grinders on elk and moose. They work OK for deer, but a big grinder is a lot faster and, oddly, usually less noisy.

Buying a good quality grinder is the way to go as most of the meat hunters eat will be in the burger or sausage form. A good grinder will also last and make the processing faster and easier. If you compair the cost of other items used to get an animal from field to freezer a $500-$700 grinder is money well spent.

Actually, I dunno if you have to spend that much. We spent around $200 and ours has done dozens of deer and antelope, along with several elk and moose, and doesn't seem to be affected at all.

A good knife or two, and bone out the meat, double wrap in white butcher paper. I oppose game hamburger and prefer stew meat and chili meat for the less desirable parts, sometimes jerky or sausage with lots of pork in it...

I also believe sawing through the bone is what makes wild game "gamey" and I been eating it for eons...I wrap the seperated musles individually or perhaps two to a package depending on size and we cut them after they are about half thawed and as we use them..Mostly all steak and mostly to be chicken fried with biscuits, gravey, pinto beans, and a big helping of Pico de Gallon on the meat...West Texas ranching families have been doing this for years, and it works in Idaho also..

I think some folks tend to get to technical on this pretty cut and dried subject..:) pun intended!

Two very important tools have not been mentioned yet. The first is a coffee pot capable of making some high quality coffee. The second is something capable of playing bluegrass music on, a CD player or the like.
Drinking good coffee, listening to good music and carefully butchering meat to be eaten with friends is one of the parts of hunting season I enjoy a lot.

Fred

You really don't need too much at all. I do the prep work in my garage (skinning, quartering, etc). All of the boning and cutting is done in my kitchen. I have several cutting boards in the house along with a block full of knives I use just for game.

My friend ChipM and I do all of the cutting and my brother does the wrapping. We generally use plastic and freezer bags along with a vac sealer on some cuts.

Because we remove all the bone, grizzle, silver skin we can the most important tools to have are good knives.

The only other TOOL we use is my gas grill!!!

oh, and don't forget a bucket of cold beers!

CLB

What you NEED depends on what you want the final product to be. We ranch and do all of our own meats, and our NEEDS include, in addition to the great posts above, a few things I've not seen mentioned:

a Cuber - we can almost live on chicken fried cube steak;

a sausage stuffer;

a scale for uniform packaging; and,

a jerky dehydrator/smoker.

Matt, based on where you live, I have probably used the same processor you have over the years. One thing I can wholehartedly recommend is the Cabela's 3/4hp (#12)grinder. Its cheaper than the Bass pro 3/4 hp. I love mine. It's a little pricey but by the time you process 3 deer, you've got it paid for. And making your own sausage is a snap with the grinder. Although if you like sausage making I would recommend a good sausage stuffer.
I also recommend a good hand saw and hoisting pully. I always freeze my meat in freezer bags after wrapping in sulfane. I rarely use my food saver. Bags just seem cost prohibitive.
Last year I made 50 lbs of summer sausage with out even using the smoker and it turned out awesome. That alone would have cost me atleast 180 bucks from the processors in east alabama and quite frankly, none of them make any that's any good.
A good grinder and saw and stuffer seem to be really all you need to get up and going. You may want to consider a Jerkey Cannon and a slicer as well for making jerkey. What ever you do, don't get a cheap grinder. It will be a real pain in the kiester when the sinew clogs up the grates.

All I can add is this: We have a 14"x10" broiler pan that's 2 3/4" high, and we pack it full of ground meat. Then we take a pancake turner and divide the meat into three rows of four, which gives us 12 little rectangles of the size we want to freeze. After you divide it into pieces with the turner, just turn the whole pan over and slam it on the table and it all pops out, ready to be picked up a portion at a time with the turner and put on paper to wrap.

That is true. I end up butchering a lot more than a few deer a year so I forget. When I lived back east I used an attachment for a Kitchen Aid mixer. We would run the grind from 5-7 whitetails a year thru it without trouble.

Lots of good info here, I use a couple Forscherer boning knives and do the actual meat cutting and wrapping on some plastic cutting boards laid out on my kitchen counter. I break down the carcass's in my garage using a hanging rail attached directly to the roof trusses (plenty strong to hold a couple elk at once). I use a block and tackle to lift the critters out of the truck and have several gambrels so I can skin the critters and leave them hang for awhile(depending on temprature) before processing the meat. It may be overkill but I have a 3/4 horse Tor Rey commercial grinder I bought off ebay. In the 10 years i've owned it it's more than paid for itself and it's never bogged down, even last year when doing a bull moose.

A 3/4hp Tor Rey isn't overkill, it's probably ideal. Overkill is my buddy's 1 3/4hp model with the #42 grinder from Cabela's. He always buys the biggest he can find.
I bought the 1 1/2hp Cabelas's with the #32 grinder on it and it's really bigger than I need, but I didn't have any prior experience to base my purchase on.
I'll bet neither you nor I ever have to buy another one because we wore these out.

I usually start with a deer, preferably, dead, then ---------

Adding beef fat (suet) to good venison is an abomination. If you want the best venison hamburger you ever tasted, grind one package of bacon with every 10 lbs of venison. Just before cooking, season it with salt and pepper only. Mmmm...

I'll be ordering Elieen's book and keeping an eye out for a decent deal on a grinder. I'll also try to pick up a goog thin filet knife/bonning knife and I shouls be good to go. Peter is sending me a few dvd's and all I will need is to rig my hoist and get a hard surface to work off of. Thanks so much for all the replies guys.

I was given the same advice about 25 years ago, and I have to say that even though it costs a bit more, the bacon does make for the nicest-tasting meatloaf and burgers!

I used to get maple-cured bacon from a local butcher shop and boy did that make for some great smells while cooking the ground venison! Dang, I am making myself salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs just thinking of this -- and I cannot get maple-cured bacon here in Sweden!

John

How about sausage! I don't want tube sausage like brats or anything. Just breakfast sasuage like the little jimmy dean packs that you make your own sized patties out of. I assume all I'll need is the grinder, some fat of some sort and some type of seasoning? I bet this is covered in her book.

Yes, it is covered in the book. There are directions on making several kinds of sausage. All are good but my favorite is the Italian....

I'll describe my little innovation for hanging game to skin and butcher: 6 or more 24" lengths of medium-heavy chain from the hardware store, and a half-dozen or more 3" s-hooks from same. With the critter lying under the meat pole, beam in ceiling, swing-set frame or whatever, toss a length of chain over the pole and secure with s-hook, leaving as much as you can hanging down. Put a second piece of chain at least 3-4 feet away from the first.Hang the other lengths of chain onto the ends until it is low enough to reach a leg of the animal, we use the rear but front works too it you are so inclined. Hook into the achilles tendon at the hock of one rear leg,[we saw off the lower leg to get it out of the way] then onto one of the chains. It is NOT necessary to lift the animal much, if you can congratulations but this method works great for old weak people like me because it requires little physical strength.

To raise the critter takes two people, one to swing the animal so you can hook the other leg up on the other chain with another s-hook, and the other to do the hooking on. At first you merely drag it, as you work back and forth up the links it raises up to the working height desired. Skin the rear legs at a comfortable working height, then raise the carcass up a little by swinging and hooking up a few links at a time until it is raised to the height you want. The carcass does not swing around on you like a singletree, and if you want to hang just the quarters later the chains and hooks are great for that too. This even works for larger animals than deer, we did it on a yearling cow elk, we had enough people to drag it for the first couple of swings but once it is up off the ground just two people can do it. I tie the s-hook onto the hock with a piece of cord so it doesn't fall off when you are trying to hook it onto the chain. As you work up you can remove the lengths of chain that hang down, and scoot the top loops closer together if you want, it is the wide spacing that allows you to swing and raise it without much exertion at first. Hope this description makes sense to anyone interested!

A chain also makes a good alternative to a traditional hanging bar as once it's ends are secured to the chain horizontal, "S" hooks can be hung from the links meaning they won't slide about..

A 10' length of chain is also easier to carry to camp in your vehicle and can be used for other things such as towing ect..

I bought a 12 volt winch, on sale, at Harbor Freight that works great. It's seems a little slow at first but it beats lifting them. winch It has a plate that will go over a trailer ball or you can run a chain through it. I think I gave a little over $40 for mine and have used it for three or four years. miles

Bluedoe,

That's a nifty little trick.

I've a related trick for getting animals hung up off the ground on the prairie so they could be skinned easily. All you need are three poles and around 6 feet of rope. Make a tripod of the three poles (the top smaller top sections of lodgepole pines are perfect), wrapping some of the rope loosely near the top. Leave enough rope hanging down to tie to a hock on the animal.

Then just raise each leg of tripod a little at a time. It helps if the downward ends of each pole is somewhat pointed, to keep them in place. Pretty soon your animal is off the ground, and the untied hind leg swings against one of the poles to keep the animal from twirling while you skin. Afterward the carcass is up in the breeze where it can cool off.

Mostly I used this on pronghorn, but have also used it on deer.

Adding pork fat is a much better option than beef. All the fat is removed from the deer first either way.

That bacon deal sounds good!

.

I once boned and muscled out a mule deer on top of a "mountain" (some of you mountain west types might call it a hill) while a pretty good brother-in-law hiked about two miles to get a cooler. Like an idiot the only knife I had with me was a Swiss Army Hunter model. I did have a poncho in my pack to spread over a large rock, skinned and boned him out right there working on my knees (no trees to hang him in.) Hey, it worked. Then we carried him back to the truck in the coleman and got him on ice a short time later. Not the best tool for the job, but it held an edge just fine. Sure beat carrying a field dressed deer that far. Did keep the horns-had to bring the head cut off just behind the ears. FYI: The big boys tell me that bacteria doesn't grow on wood, so use some kind of wood for your cutting boards. Sure, they need to be cleaned, but do provide a margin of error. Best to all, Jack

Adding between 25% and 50% fresh ground pork is a traditional method, and season to taste. Some prefer beef, all or in proportion with pork. I'm not a sausage maker, I'd get Eileen's book. I have some old recipes somewhere in my cooking notes but new ideas from someone that knows what they're doing are always good.

For something new to me, I'll start with an established, tested recipe (like Eileen's I'm sure) that sounds like what I'm looking for and make a small sample. Then make changes to suit my taste, another small batch, and probably more changes - don't change too much at once. You needn't make all your sausage at one time.

444, after youv'e bought your grinder and you want to speed up production, then buy a "Bag Horn" and a supply of the plastic bags made for ground meat and sausage. I coarse grind my venison first and the grind it a second time with a medium size plate. A bag horn looks like a huge (2") sausage stuffing tube and I attach it to my grinder for the second grind. As I stuff the meat in the grinder my wife slips plastic bags over the bag horn and fills the bags as I grind. It's a tremendous time saver!

havent read everything and will just post what we do....

i do most the rough butchering, keeping knives sharp and butterflying the backstraps.....

rough butchering: a place to hang so i can skin them and use a hose to wash off any clotted blood and stray hair(i gut in the field aswell) i take the front quarters off first, takes maybe 30 seconds with a sharp knife, take them inside where my wife has an old 5x4 table top she sets on our kitchen table that is only used as a butchering board, she trims them up while i go remove the tenderloins and backstraps and bring them in and throw them in a cooler of ice till im ready for them...

go back out and remove the rear quarters, i dont use a saw, just a sharp knife and cut around the joint socket.....find the final product is alot better this way.....bring them in and put them on ice so they are ready when my wife is done with the front quarters....i then butterfly the backstraps and start wrapping and labeling everything as the wife gets it done....we use a cheap old 70's model electric grinder that we got from her parents for burger and sausage....it keeps ticking so we havent upgraded......

in all reality we do it all with our fix blade hunting knives(rough butchering), some of our kitchen knives(fine butchering in the house), an old grinder, butcher paper and freezer tape and a marker.....thats all it really takes.....good sharpening steel to keep the blades nice and sharp and we are good to go....we can process two big bodied deer in 4 hours from the time we start hanging the first one to get it skinned to the end of clean up....im sure with some more experience we could get it done faster, the steaks arent always the nicest looking cuts but they eat fine....

you can set yourself up damn cheap if yah need to......most important part of the equation is sharp knives.....

jt402,

Welcome to the Campfire!

Guess I'm an idiot too, because I've boned out more than one animal with my Swiss Army knife as well--and have field-dressed too many to count. All but one, however, were deer and antelope.

The worst was a water buffalo. I eventually had some help, but the outfitter I hunted with was totally unprepared, and I was the first guy to dive in, so to speak. It took a few hours, but we got 'er done.

There's a lot to be said for technique, my dad once field dressed a deer in the dark with his pipe knife! Fortunately he didn't have to go further as the knife was usually dull from scraping pipe bowls, you don't want it very sharp for that job.

MD, love the tripod idea--very clever. Lifts the animal up by working smarter, not harder.
BD

Best pictorial of cutting a deer I have seen on the net or in print for those who learn by looking.

Deer Processing 101

Best site I have found on the sausage making and smoking \ curing of meat,fish.

Sausage Making

Doing it yourself is a very rewarding experience and makes the hunt that much more in the total package of life.

Enjoy

Bluedoe,

I must admit it isn't my idea. Got it from an old book, if I recall correctly. But it made sense!

Well I have never owned a Swiss Army knife but I have gutted and boned out a lot of deer with of 3 or 4 inch pocket knives including splitting the pelvis and rib cage..My hunting knife is usually a Case Trapper or a 4" Puma Game Warden..Works as well on elk but you can't split the pelvis, and the rib cage must be cut to the side of the brest bone. On elk I usually have a hatchet tied on my horse or we can go get a small chain saw or axe in camp if were close enough. When helping a friend I just stick a axe in my saddle scabbard with the edge covered or in a case. We bone out everything, remove all fat an sinue to pure meat on all wild game.

Bob, GREAT pictorial. I just book marked that. Thinking of printing it out sheet by sheet and laminating it for step by step pictures to be used while working.

I just got an e-mail from Northern tool and those grinders are now on sale for $99. Mine works great. miles

Here's my favorite website for sausage making recipies, thechniques, and supplies. Check out the summer sausage recipies and venison recipies. Great site to search around.

Sausage making recipies and supplies

I would mix it with about 25-50% pork butts rather than just fat. Just my 2 cents.

Matt,
it was the first time I had seen the hind quarter roasts cut up and labeled in pictures.
Plus it has a nice down home story line with the younger hunter.

Not much left after the trimming on those bones.

Glad you liked the link.

Like the man said -- a good knife, a cutting board and some freezer paper. Maybe a fine steel to touch up the edge. That's it! I don't freeze bones, so I don't need a saw, and a moose gets done the same way, just bigger.

I agree. No bones in my freezer as well, but a saw does come in very handy for a few small cuts to break it down into small, easier to handle pcs, esp large moose.

On another note, venison does taste much better when cut with a knife as opposed to a band saw as it prevents bone dust from smearing over the muscle. This bone dust adds a lot of the wild taste that people dislike. The local butcher who uses a band saw to cut portions is more interested in production and getting it done ASAP than the quality of the end product. I've seen were they didn't even scrape the bone dust off the bottom side of the steaks, just the top side that you see on the tray.


.

A neighbor brought home a moose from Canada last year and took it to the local deer processor. Those are some BIG hind quarters! I don't think I could roll it over on the table to do the other side. I hope it's good meat because that guy surely has a TON of it. I used to think I would like to kill one but I have no clue how I would get it out of the woods.

A clean work surface. I have used cheap blue tarps even.
A pair of knives, one large butchers, one with a rounded point.
A bone saw is nice, buy a larger one, not hacksaw sized.
A grinder, hand cranked is ok.
A slicer is nice, best to buy a good one.
Pretty much in that order of importance.
Hair gets into everything.
Cut across the grain.
Deboned is better.
Peel off as much membrane as you can.
The hamburger needs beef fat, or a venison / ground beef mix.