What to tell the butcher for deer?!

[woodwzrd]

I process my own and keep the roasts and back straps. The rest gets ground for jerky or sausage which I have done for me. A few years back I was introduced to venison bacon. OH my goodness. This year I will have most of my trimmings made into bacon. Keep the bones and trow them to the dog.

 

[freemotion]

My experience with game meat was in Northern Maine where all there is to eat once the snow falls is balsam and spruce. I've heard that in the lower states, if the deer have access to cornfields, the meat is closer to beef. The meat way up north is VERY strong, ick. Actually, by winter, you will really only find very big bucks as the smaller deer need to go into middle Maine to survive the deep snows, where they cannot move around unless they are big and strong.

FD, I am anxious to hear about your deer broth. I may have access to a bunch of butcher "waste" this fall. I have a new client who hunts and has a bunch of buddies who hunt and he is a "problem solver" personality, so I am sure I'd get plenty if I put the word in his ear. I just mentioned that I was looking for a buckling and he came back the next week with three names for me of people with bucklings....I hadn't even asked him, I was just mentioning it in conversation.

I'm surprised deer have enough fat to make soap with. I'd have expected them to be really lean.

 

[Bettacreek]

Here in PA, they've got a lot of fat on them. They've gotta in order to survive the winter. But, it's mostly a nice layer of fat over the arse and back. It's not marbled into the meats.

 

[Holachicka]

Well... He didn't get a deer. He was frustrated because the guys he went with were smoking and talking loud, He said ya know, the deer can smell and hear you!!

He'll try again in a week or so with his more stealthy brother. I tried to convince him that we can butcher at home but he would rather have the butcher do it the first time. He promised me the next time we can.

 

[journey11]

That's a bummer. My husband prefers to hunt by himself for that very reason. Then at least the obnoxious hunters out there will scare the deer TOWARD you. Ha.

I'd rather butcher a deer than chickens ANY DAY!

 

[lorihadams]

We splurged last year and spent $99 on a grinder at TSC. It is an Elite stainless steel with the sausage attachment. Best thing we ever did! I haven't bought beef in a year!

We usually save the shoulders and rumps for roasts, keep the tenderloins whole or cut into 2 pieces if they are big. One year I sliced some of the tenderloin into medallions and froze them that way.

Everything else gets ground up with some beef or pork fat from the butcher but not much.

We have always processed our own because frankly....if you leave it at the butcher's during deer season you never know who's deer you'll get back.

I only hunt alone too....I prefer to still hunt, gives me a chance to catch up on my reading. I have a camo stand cover that goes on my tree stand and I read a page, scan around, read a page, scan around.

If you have a friend that can help you process the first one that will help, we've never had it taste gamey either. If we get a doe then we usually will do a whole one in jerky too, except the tenderloin.