Deer Processing for Idiots - GRAPHIC PICS

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Thanks Darin, I'd never heard skinning called caping, before. I thought it might be some special way of removing meat in the shoulder/back area or something.

 

[babalubird]

I can't believe you did that and didn't get covered in blood. You must be one of these super neatnicks!

If I tried that, I'd be red from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.

Good job.

Connie

 

[Darin115]

The more you do the less blood you get on you. I skinned 2 on Saturday. I got little to no blood on me.

I shot one on Saturday morning and it was sick. It had a puncture wound just under his anus. It had pus drianing out if it. The deer was poor. He looked like skin and bones. I decided to just bury it. I surely didn't want to eat it.

I took my oldest sons friend hunting on Saturday evening. He is 11 and has never been deer hunting. He shot a fawn doe. We drove out to the field near the road to call him father and while I was dialing the number 2 walked out. I shot the largest of the two.

We took them home and hung them up. Most of the blood will drain while they are hanging. It drains out of their nose nost of the time. If you can stay away from the head you will get very little on you. I wanted to take pictures of the skinning process but I was in a hurry and did not want to take time to wash my hands to take the pictures. I will do it hte next time I shoot one in the morning. I am sure the pictures will come out better if it is daylight during the skinning process.

We cut both of them up tonight after I got home from the hospital. My mother-in-law had her knee replaced this morning. Anyway we took all the meat off the bone and place it back in a stainless steel pan and covered it with a trash bag. We will grind it tomorrow night. A good tip is to keep the air off of it. The meat will turn dark if it is exposed to air.

Another good tip is to not put deer meat in a cooler and let it sit in the water when the ice is melting. The meat turns white. If you place it in a trash bag and then in the fridge the blood will drain to the bottom of the bag and the meat stays dry and is much better.

If you have blood shot meat you can soak it in salt water or vinegar water. This will take the blood out of the meat. I suggest then placing it in the fridge to drain.


Darin

 

[Beekissed]

If your deer is gutted properly during your field dressing process, you shouldn't have any "gamey" taste. We've never needed to "brine out" our venison...heck, would you soak all the blood out of a good beef steak? No! That's the best part and where all the flavor is from!

I agree with the post about skinning with the golf ball method...by far the fastest and less hair residue, and can be utilized just as quickly if the carcass is warm or cold. We use a hammer....no golf balls out in redneck country.

With a doe, we remove the milk bag first, circumscribe the anus and then proceed to gut. If the hocks are moist we use a separate knife to take these off first(don't want these to come in contact with anything, trust me!). In either sex, a separate knife to cut off the penis, or milk bag, and cut around the anus, and another knife to complete the gutting process. We have found that a knife tainted with exposure to the secretions in the hocks or the other areas listed can give your meat that "gamey" flavor.

From kill to quartered and in the fridge, chillin', takes us around 45 min. Thats with knives only, saws are only for taking the legs off!

PC, for a city slicker you did okay! You follow the right tips and you could become a pro! Oh...and we gut ours in the field, not hanging. We've found, the sooner you can get these out, the better the taste of your meat. Think about all these deer strapped to a warm hood of a truck all day, improperly field dressed, skinned eventually and then someone complaining that venison has a gamey flavor. Is it any wonder?

BTW, in the absence of a grinder, canned deer meat is a great option!

 

[FluffyColor]

GREAT JOB!

I'm way too sensitive to butcher an animal unless I was starving,but the rest of my family has other ideas.My great-aunts keep chickens for food.And one of my uncles used to hunt deer.Your pics of thursday night's dinner make me wish he was still alive.

Oh this is months out of date.But still.

Edited to remove smiley code,put in spaces and edit mispellings....