How to use the whole animal (waste not want not)

[perchie.girl]

That was amazing... 1 minute 48 seconds to butcher the thing

You gotto know hes done this a few times....

that and a VERY sharp knife.

deb

 

[JW12]

We have used an old detergent brand to help dry out and preserve hides. Borax 20 mule team. Stretch it out flat and put a good coat on it and let it dry for a couple weeks. That easy!

Great thread hennible!

 

[Beer can]

or you could hire this guy......



deb

Probably at a deer farm, defiantly still warm, that's how I do it, almost, but actually fewer cuts up top, the skin pulls down easy once you get the legs skinned, it pulls down to the front shoulders easy, from a hole to teakettle as grandpa would say. the neck is the hardest. What I don't like about the vid, is why does he keep stabbing the hind quarters? Can't he find a place to set his knife? Apparently he isn't the one eating it. I would rather take my time, less hair on the meat. I would like to see a comparison with one I skin to his, lets see how much hair has to be picked off his. And I gut them in the woods, with the precision of a dissector, no guts or crap touch my meat. The only people I have saw gut them hung up jacked them at night illegally, though I have done it (gutted them inside, not jacked them) but I will hang them the other way around then so its cleaner,(same way otherwise). Only did it because it was 25below zero windchill. That's why I think he is working for a deer farm.

 

[hennible]

We have used an old detergent brand to help dry out and preserve hides. Borax 20 mule team. Stretch it out flat and put a good coat on it and let it dry for a couple weeks. That easy!

Great thread hennible!

Thanks

 Probably at a deer farm, defiantly still warm, that's how I do it, but actually fewer cuts up top, the skin pulls down easy once you get the legs skinned, it pulls down to the front shoulders easy, from a hole to teakettle as grandpa would say. the neck is the hardest.  What I don't like about the vid, is why does he keep stabbing the hind quarters? Can't he find a place to set his knife? Apparently he isn't the one eating it. I would rather take my time, less hair on the meat. I would like to see a comparison with one I skin to his, lets see how much hair has to be picked off his. And I gut them in the woods, with the precision of a dissector, no guts or crap touch my meat. The only people I have saw gut them hung up jacked them at night illegally,  though I have done it but I will hang them the other way then so its cleaner. Only did it because it was 25below zero windchill. That's why I think he is working for a deer farm.

I think a lot of it must have been for show... Watching a sheep be skinned is amazing too... Maybe it's all in my mind,( lol memory's are funny ) but it just peeled off like a stocking off a leg... Amazing.

Just have to say I really admire hunters... A Friends mother hunts moose alone, maybe she's a little crazy... regardless she takes him down clean she does all the processing she can in the bush, packs out the quarters one at a time (she's a tiny lady) anyway I really admire hunters. I can't do it I doubt I'll ever be able to do it... I'll stick with fish and farming. Though, grouse are a different story

 

[Beer can]

Yeah, Im sure it was for show! Moose, Elk, I'd like to hunt them someday! But I'm sure they are hard to cut up, only way is on the ground usualy! Kudos to those who can do that cleanly!
I like to keep it clean mainly because it is less work when you package the meat, less hair pickin. A poor skinned deer is kinda like plucken a chicken twice, without scalding it! Lol!

 

[hennible]

Lol

 

[perchie.girl]

Yeah, Im sure it was for show! Moose, Elk, I'd like to hunt them someday! But I'm sure they are hard to cut up, only way is on the ground usualy! Kudos to those who can do that cleanly!
I like to keep it clean mainly because it is less work when you package the meat, less hair pickin. A poor skinned deer is kinda like plucken a chicken twice, without scalding it! Lol!

elk and Moose I can imagine having to quarter them just to get them out. on a Jeep or even pack mules


A mule could pack 250 lbs no probs.... but dang that means bringing at least four mules with you.... I am talking about the four legged kind .... LOL.

deb

 

[Beour3rd]

Yeah I did a deer once the girlfriend hit it. I went to pick it up and hung it up like beer can says. The rotary cuff had broken the intestines in two locations due to a break. And im glad hung it head up. i would have had a "messy" experience otherwise..... lol

 

[Aphrael]

One or two chicken livers, along with gizzard and heart, are perfect for a light breakfast fried in butter or rendered chicken fat with onions and eaten with buttered toast. The organ meats generally are more nutritious than the regular muscle meat. Ironic, considering their status in this culture...

Feet are excellent in stock. If you're making stock without the feet, you're missing out. They contain a lot of gelatin-making potential for a higher quality stock. Heads are nice for stock too (cleaned of feathers and rinsed well, of course). Necks are good in stock too obviously... After roasts and such, all bones, gristle, uneaten skin, etc. go into making stock. After making stock, the solids go into the scratching yard, where the flock pick the bones clean and the bones are eventually composted.

If we slaughter a fat old hen, we save the fat from inside the belly to render along with any other fatty trimmings (these can be saved in the freezer till you have enough to render a decent quantity at once). You can eat the cracklings too. It's not as good as lard, but still tasty and useful (not good for high-heat though).

Blood can be collected and made into sangette or similar (this is a kind of "blood omelet" for lack of a better description, a traditional French peasant dish). I like making a kind of sangette with garlic and onion, fresh parsley, and salt and pepper, and eat it for lunch with buttered toast. It's better than it might sound, actually... If you enjoy blood sausage, you'll love sangette!

We don't use the feathers for pillows etc, because we scald to pluck... But we do compost them so they wind up as fertilizer indirectly.

We compost remaining innards, but if I had a pig I'd feed them to it. They'd eat anything but the feathers (and probably eat a few of those too).

Waste not, want not (and show respect).

Is there some problem with using scalded feathers to make pillows and such? I'm asking because I scald to pluck also and was hoping to make some pillows and comforters from the feathers soon.

 

[hennible]

I'm pretty sure in the "how to make your own blanket" thread that she scalded the feathers off her animals... The link for that article is somewhere in the first posts. I craft with mine so far I don't see any reason it would be bad I would like to hear from that poster about it too.