Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[babylady4]

You can take a skinned deer to registration? I know that will not be an issue next year, and I think it would be best to skin ASAP. Everything I have read states you need to get the carcass cold as quickly as you can. Some things I have read online say for the best tasting meat you gut the deer as quickly as you can, wash out the inside of the body cavity, pack with ice if the weather is warm, and hang to get the blood out. Quarter the carcass and layer the quarters in ice in a cooler with a drain (this is so the meat is allowed to age a few days, drain out as much remaining blood as possible, and keeps the meat at a constant temp). Of course bone out all meat and remove all connective tissue and fat. Grind burger meat with another type of fat.

I appreciate all of your help. It is interesting to hear how everyone has their own unique method of handling fresh meat.

 

[FrenchToast]

Bl4 I'm not going to touch that last statement with a 10 foot pole !!

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

We brought our venison to Louie's today to have made into Hunters Sticks. Its $225! Yikes!

 

[jvls1942]

gutting the deer where it lays after shooting it serves two purposes.. One, it helps to cool the meat, Two, it makes the deer much lighter to drag ..

"aging" the deer meat serves no purpose..
Sure,they do hang beef ,, but it is a very controlled atmosphere, lighting and time..

get the hide off as soon as possible.. this also helps the meat to cool..
like BigZ said,, a warm carcass is much easier to skin than one that gets partially frozen, or even worse; completely frozen..

no you do not take a skinned out deer to register..
best to register the deer before going home..

packing in ice is OK if you have to cool it,, but getting the carcass cut up as soon as possible is even better..

I hang the skinned out carcass outside, by the hind legs
then I cut away one front leg and shoulder.. there is no bone to cut ,, just cut the meat around the shoulder.. take it into the house and wash it if it is bruised from the shot..

process it and then go after the other front leg and shoulder..

wash the meat if it is bruised or gun shot.. cut away the bloody wound..

next I cut off the neck.. on a big deer you can get two nice neck roasts.. mush easier to cook than trying to debone them raw..

next I go and get the tenderloins and baskstraps.. (If I haven't done that yet)

next I bring in the rib cage,, usually one half at a time,, but you have to saw directly down the middle of the spine if you want to have two pieces.. If you don't have a meat saw, a sawzall works great ..

I have a handy little tool called a "bone crusher" it looks like a hand tree pruner.
I cut all along each rib until I have a pile of ribs.. leave the meat on one side and cut tight to the bone on the other side,, this way each rib will have a nice piece of meat attached,,

Now the fun part.. with the bone crusher, I cut each rib into about 1 1/2 inch long piece.....
make two bags of ribs.. each bag will become a batch of BBQ ribs sometime in the future..

then I go cut one hind quarter and bring it in.. process it anyway you wish..
then I go get the last hind quarter and I am done cutting..

I like ground meat, so sometimes I just debone the hind quarters and grind them up..
ground up deer meat makes wonderful cowboy beans, sloppy hoes and chili ..

sometimes I save the individual muscles and make roasts..

I can do a deer like this in under 2 hours by myself .. without rushing.. I take lots of breaks..

.......jiminwisc.........

 

[jvls1942]

We brought our venison to Louie's today to have made into Hunters Sticks. Its $225! Yikes!

I'll bet Louie is laughing all the way to the bank..

 

[FrenchToast]

Sloppy Hoes!LOL

 

[FrenchToast]

Free meat it is not ! I was shocked as well when we brought our venison in for different sausages. Last time ET got one (two yrs ago I think) we had just beef added to the burger. Now heard that the place we brought it adds pink slime to their burger which they aren't suppose to do ???? I'll eat the burger IF it has burger added to it. I never liked the way venison smells when you defrost it and a friend said you don't defrost it. Go from freezer to pan. It works. You don't get that weird smell !

 

[Cindlady]

Hi All!

I think the boys and I do it pretty much like BigZ although I did buy our first saws all to get ribs.

Time to scare up fat for the chickens. I have 2 I think are going to need winter coats. They aren't filling in well with the molt and breeding wear.

I think there was more but CRS.

Night All!

 

[wyoDreamer]

as for the skinning a deer, it a two edged sword. The hide makes a nice protective cover to keep out dirt and germs, but it also keeps the deer from cooling off quickly.
We use a stick to prop open the cavity of the deer to help it cool down.

 

[jvls1942]

as for the skinning a deer, it a two edged sword. The hide makes a nice protective cover to keep out dirt and germs, but it also keeps the deer from cooling off quickly.
We use a stick to prop open the cavity of the deer to help it cool down.

I skin my deer and hang it outside,, we do not get dust storms here in the winter..
if you think about it, there is not much protection from germs,,
in fact, as soon as you stick a knife through the hide and cut the belly open , there are germs transferred.. I wouldn't worry too much about germs,,

once I used a pressure washer on the whole carcass right after skinning it.. worked great ,,
especially on the inside if there was a lot of gut damage and blood and whatnot ..

just another FYI ..

if you have an air compressor, take a football/basketball needle and insert it just under the hide and between the hide and meat.. give it a dose of air.. as long as there are no holes, the hide will separate from the meat,, I first used this on raccoons.. I think it would work on any animal..
it will not work on a frozen carcass,,