Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Butchering your own deer ? (pic)

Wow. That is not a backstrap. Like a bunch have said I do all my own processing. when I am done the packages are weighed, labeled and ready to cook straight from the freezer.

same here, it's easy to take a couple swipes with the knife before cooking, when trying to put up several deer at a time it adds a lot of time doing each cut perfect.

If you have done enough of them (50 yrs worth) it should only take 30-40 minutes per deer cut up into steaks, chops, roasts and stew meat if they are already skinned. See pict on page 3. I enjoy cutting them up almost as much as shooting them.

You lose 45 man points for not processing your own deer.


And the "wahhh, I live under a homeowner's association excuse" will net you another minus 10.

agreed.

What I've found as a best practice --

If it's cold enough hang the deer

Then quarter it and pull the back straps and put them in a cooler or old Fridge until you can cut them up

** I buy the huge roll of commercial grade plastic wrap from Costco, and wrap the quartered meat up so it's air and water tight- this way the meat doesn't dehydrate anymore, and it's kept nice and clean - and away from any water in the coolers as the ice melts.

Then cut them into steaks / roasts / jerky meat when I get time in the next few days.

I'd speculate you have a chunk of the rear quarter there. I'd follow the advice to divide the individual muscles and then steak them. If the dimensions are sufficient for steaks, then possibly stew meat or burger.

I am 43 and only had one deer processed in my lifetime while hunting in Wyoming due to warm weather. It was horrible because they left all the fat on the meat. My dad started me out processing deer when I was 9 years old so when I put a deer on the ground, processing is just part of the hunt. I have a rule when processing deer, if it is white get rid of it. I believe deer fat gives the meat an odd gamey taste. It takes me about 4 hours to process from start to finish depending on how much jerky I cut out. Back straps are the best when cut into 2.5 inch chunks and rapped with pepper bacon (one pound of bacon per back strap on med. to large deer) then seasoned on both ends and vacuumed packed.
As far as the chunk of meat it is hard to tell the size but guessing by the fat and the gain of the meat, I would guess somewhere around the neck.