Processing

[Shorty]

Nicely said GrandPaBrownBear. Your spot on with all you said especially in these higher than average temperatures we are having now a days. Welcome to the forum, its a great place to learn and enjoy knowledge of yesteryear. It was great hearing about woodchuck hunting and butchering. It was a way of life for all of us older people and a great one at that! I too reside outside of Horseheads, and its sad to see that little town growing up. Our four or five little gunshops closing up to only one, our Hibbards hardware closing, Rowans pizza shop etc. Life moves fast before our eyes…

 

[GrandPaBrownBear]

Yes it does but change is inevitable. The thing I miss the most was my fathers (God rest his soul.) company during the fishing and hunting seasons.

 

[GrandPaBrownBear]

Hey Shorty ! do you remember Ray's

 

[Steelheader323]

We have always processed our own..for us hunting is like grocery shopping that’s fun and relaxing..but it all costs money..I’d rather spend a couple hours of my time than pay someone well over 100$ to do something I’m perfectly capable of doing…not to mention the stories you always hear about guys getting back the wrong stuff… a buddy of mine used to send his deer in every year and was using the same guy for close to a decade..then one of the does he sent in came back and his order was huge..the doe was roughly 2.5 years old and weighed only 105 lbs dressed…the box he got back weighed roughly 40lbs…at first we thought it was strange off but…hey bonus..

Then we cut into the steaks after a good sear and medium rare finish.. that deer was the gamiest of gamey steaks I ever had..we did nothing different from past..heavy salt with some pepper and garlic in a hot cast iron skillet..and that deer should have never been that tough and gamey..

After talking to another group of guys that use the same processor we heard rumor that when they get busy things get mixed up…I’m fairly certain my buddy got someone’s older rutted up buck…even the breakfast sausage he got was real gamey. And like I said..nearly 40lbs of meat! No way it was from that little doe.. he now brings his deer to me and I do the sectional cuts for 20$ and I let him use my grinder and other supplies

 

[Shorty]

Hey Shorty ! do you remember Ray's

Ray hotchkiss , yes great man and store…

 

[scratcherky]

gamey..equals spoilt!

 

[Steelheader323]

gamey..equals spoilt!

I’ve had venison spoil before. July of 2019 we lost power..I got the fridge and freezer in the house takin care of but the chest freezer in the barn the best I could do was ice it before I left for work. Between the venison beef and pork we lost close to 200 lbs worth. Meat looked ok but it all smelled rancid..

this gamey venison my buddy got was not rancid..smelled fine when opened from
The package..even smelled normal when it was being cooked..but it tasted terrible and for back strap meat was fairly tough when cooked medium rare..

Either way my previous comment was more so along the line of I don’t trust anyone to take care of my venison for me. Same thing with our pork and our beef.

 

[birdog]

Looks good! I do the same, but use non-scented white trash bags to keep meat from water. In the south, we don’t get too many days you can hang a deer, although I’d love to overnight.

What trash bags are you using? I'm having a hard time finding unscented trash bags.

 

[GrandPaBrownBear]

Ray hotchkiss , yes great man and store…

Sorry Shorty I was down and out thru yesterday and last night. Stuffs going round. Yes Ray and his wife and our family all new each other well the I finally found Mike for all my firearm related needs now he is gone and I have lost interest over time to look for another.

 

[GrandPaBrownBear]

The big clear heavy leaf bags from Sam's is what I use and it works good. As for the gamey taste I have seen guys handle, hang, and skin only to touch sent glands and skin ( Which like most animals involves large amounts of ammonia from the urine for distribution of sex sent. ) only to touch the lovely table fair they are about to consume. As a professional meat cutter and food prep guy, you can never wash your hands to much. And I have proven that most gamey taste comes thru here from the rutting animals.

 

[GrandPaBrownBear]

Just sayin !

 

[Rvrrat14]

What trash bags are you using? I'm having a hard time finding unscented trash bags.

I find them in local store; their brand. Tall Kitchen bags unscented white. If possible, get heavy duty thickness or use two for each quarter….

 

[Shorty]

Our great New York leader makes it easier to go to Pennsylvania for all our shooting supply/needs. Sucks to own a gun shop here now…

 

[GrandPaBrownBear]

I had to become Savvy early on and build my own.

 

[Jitterbug]

I keep my butchering prety basic-
I separate the parts I want to eat, from the parts I don’t want to eat!

I take a long time, but I’m always proud of my work.

I work in a field where I see how a lot of other hunters treat their game. For that reason alone, NONE of mine go to a commercial processor.

We have some great butcher shops and smokehouses… but they almost always “mix” your deer with those of others. No thank you!

I’ve made tons of jerky. I’ve smoked ribs, pork butts, etc. My next big learning project is going to be making big game sausage.

Search our forum member MrTom’s posts on making deer sticks, for inspiration!

Side note: we have a lot of “slob” hunters who dump their deer carcasses all over the countryside.

Once in a while, the geniuses will leave their tags on the carcass. I haven’t met a game warden yet, who doesn’t enjoy making a litter or “wanton waste” case on a slob hunter!

I was looking at some illegally dumped carcasses one day. The guys did a pretyy good job of boning things out… EXCEPT where they left the tenderloins and backstraps on the carcasses!

“This is your first time butchering, isn’t it?”

 

[JimA]

What trash bags are you using? I'm having a hard time finding unscented trash bags.

I use contractors bags. They are much thicker than "heavy duty" bags and are never scented.

 

[MrTom]

Side note: we have a lot of “slob” hunters who dump their deer carcasses all over the countryside.

Around here this activity starts about the second week of archery in late September. By the time the first firearms season has wound up the carcasses are all over. They do make some fun coyote and crow plinking though.

The landowner where I hunt takes all of his archery kill carcasses up into the woods and hangs them fro trees so the birds can clean them up. He'll cut them down in the early summer and puts them on his "bone pile". When I finish up, I put the carcass in a big 55 gallon, heavy duty, garbage bag and into the trash and it'll go thru the county incinerator. The hides go to a Fleet Farm where I get a $5 store credit for each. All of the fat from the animals gets rendered. The cracklings from the rendering get pressed into 1 pound coffee cans, then go into a suet cage. The rendered fat gets a couple 24 ounce jugs of peanut butter mixed in and gets used to make suet blocks with sunflower seed or it gets pressed into a few 1-1/2" holes bored thru a 3" diameter, 20" long birch log with a hook at one end and hung for the woodpeckers. When I am finished with a deer, there's not a whole lot left to toss.

 

[Hausser1]

I like doing my own although about 3 a year is enough for me.
I don’t do anything fancy, steaks, a few roasts, burger and bulk breakfast sausage.
I started out with a hand grinder and kitchen knives, now I’ve got a LEM grinder, sausage stuffer, mixing thing, 6’ stainless table, meat tubs, boning knives, big cutting boards and a spare refrigerator in the garage.
I vacuum seal everything, I’ve got a Cabela’s commercial sealer but my next one will be one of the vacuum chamber type sealers.

Sounds like you could use some help upgrading and adding to your impressive collection. I know a couple guys who'll help spend your money

 

[Hausser1]

I too think that incorporating into the hunters safely course should be some basic knowledge of how to take care of your game after you harvest them. I am amazed constantly at how many ppl now hunt & fish & they have no clue as to how to clean, butcher & process them.

^^^^^^^^^^ THIS! Great idea!

 

[rangerod]

I've seen hunters field dress deer that looks like they used a very dull axe.