Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Butchering your own kills

Personally, I prefer an 80/20 grind, as it makes for juicy burgers.

I will occasionally grind a slab of rind-off bacon in lieu of the 20% beef tallow I normally use. The mixed grind of bacon/venison makes for a totally different and very tasty burgers.

Respects,

Richard

I have been processing moosemeat locally now for 39 years. Have done as many as 160 per year. deer and bear --never kept count. Starting on the third generation processing for some families. Been trying to cut back as I get older--hard to say no to some people.

Smartest move I ever made was several years ago I required the customers to help--even if they are only there to watch. No more explaining prices after that move.

When I get old and feeble I may take up sausage making--mean time I know a guy in Thunder Bay thats really very good--he charges accordingly.

Don't get me started on some of the crap I've sent down the road.
Meat that ain't handled properly makes me grouchy and I will explain what you did wrong--sometimes not so nicely.

No hooks in my wife's kitchen!

Our new house has one of the biggest attached garages in town however so I'll be good.

Really good and clear video. Thanks for sharing! Loved your other stuff too. The close shots of two moose looked thrilling.

Found that the DIY is always much better. You get what you want, have as much waste as you work for. You control the whole thing. Prefer to do it my way. Cheaper and turns how I want it to be. It is some work, but to me well worth the effort.

Any of you use pork butt vs. beef to mix in with the sausage?

Put your self up a proper hanging rail and a winch for lifting the carcasses up...For about $100 of hardware and half a days work, every time you use it, you'll wonder you never did it before..

We use cheap pork roasts the wife picks up on sale before hand. Sometimes we use bulk packed bacon ends, makes for great burgers

duplicate NM

Merry Christmas and a thank you to you Dwayne.

Just got a 1hp grinder for Christmas. More fun grinding your own. I like 90/10 mix. Beef fat. However any of the above mentioned are great. I plan to learn how to make sausage next. Of course Eileen's book will be a must have.

I use the cheap pork butt. Usually on sale and the butcher will grind it for you. If not I grind it myself. A good grinder with metal gears is a must. I use 75% venison to 25% pork butt. Beef is good but has a different flavor.

Nothing butt the best! I agree.

I always leave it on for two reasons, 1) keeps the good [bleep] from getting bit by the freezer 2) it's a hella easier to remove when not all the way thawed (most especially when dealing with something other than fillets)

I watched my best friend's Uncle and Grandfather cut up a couple when I was about 15. I've killed a lot of deer, and except for the first one, I've butchered them all. I usually get 3 or 4 a year and end up cutting up 20+ for friends. I make sausage twice a year for the guys and for a game dinner and pig roast the club puts on. Probably just under a thousand pounds a year. We did 250 pounds last month. Pics and recipes are in food thread.

If you cut your own game, you'll realize a couple things. It will be fresher, cleaner, and taste better because you'll be more careful with the meat. I cut up a deer for a guy this year that uses a butcher and he said it was the best venison he ever had. I made another guy hamburger. I get the fat cap from strip and ribeye loins from the butcher and grind that good fat into the venison. I add a pound and a half to every 10 pounds of meat. Again, the guy said it was the best hamburger he and his wife ever had. The number of hands that goes through your venison, and the care spent really do matter.

The other thing I'll tell you is that it really doesn't take very long. In N.Y. a CWD State, meat has to be de-boned before it can leave the State. Some of my friends have quit hunting there because of it. The lines at the butchers are long. I can get a deer out of his hide, de-boned into primal cuts and in a cooler in 45 minutes. I can do a hide off deer. Turn it into cuts and burger wrapped in butcher paper in under an hour and it'll be cleaner than any butcher shop venison you've ever had.

When I got to this rod and gun club, no one knew how to cut up a deer. They cut all the meat off the bones and then cut it into steaks, cubes, and grind meat. No one had a clue outside of backstraps and tenderloins, what meat was suitable for steaks and what was tougher. I had a guy who ground his whole deer into burger. I've given classes. I'll do a couple deer in front of someone, then watch them do it. There's always deer to do, and the more you cut up the better you get.

When we hunted N.C., the owner of the camp would skin, gut and split your deer down the middle and hang it in his walk in. Me and my buddy Joe would cut them up after supper. He had a butcher who would come over and for $35 cut up your deer. We were the only hunters going through the camp that cut up our own deer, and he was very impressed with us. It's become part of hunting to know how to process your game. One more level of competency.

I use bacon ends, deer meat, and Knorr's sausage seasoning to make a killer breakfast sausage.

Interesting subject. I was taught to process my own from the get go. Now days, I debone everything, Wrap it in celophane and butcher paper. Anything that is gonna get ground later gets vaccume packed.

i've used the same commerical processor for several years. he's a honest guy the runs a honest company. got to know him and his main guy pretty well.

i get nice clean cuts of deer.

I have always done my own. Butcher my own hogs, chickens, cattle, so why pay someone to do a few deer? Less hassle, really.

I don't understand putting bacon, in sausage. I tried it once because I keep seeing it in recipes, but it just ruined good sausage as far as I am concerned. miles