Processing

[mandieg4]

When you get a deer do you process it yourself or pay someone to do it?

When we get a big deer we usually take it to a deer cooler to have sausage made, but we can't afford to do that with every deer.

If we get a small deer we usually just process it ourselves. We save the backstrap for the crockpot, and a co-worker takes the ribs, but pretty much everything else we put in the freezer for bbq. The thing is DH loves bbq, but I don't. He's gotten 3 deer this year so the freezer is full. I'd really like to find a good grinder and make hamburger out of most of it, maybe saving one for bbq. Does anyone have a good recommendation? We had a cheap one we bought from Cabela's, but the thing was such a piece of junk it wasn't worth fooling with.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hi and welcome! I just put our meat grinder away--it's a waring pro. We've had it for years and it always does a great job. We always process deer ourselves--just roasts and ground meat. Not a big steak fan.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

My DH and son decided to get two deer this year,...needless to say they never hunt and this was a shock. We don't like the steak either rather have burger and sausage,...so in a tight pinch we went to Walmart and purchased a meat grinder. Should say in a hurried pinch. Actually it was an excellent grinder for the money. It was about $80 and it done a great job. We worked up both deer and didn't have the first problem with the grinder. I am not sure what brand it is( it has been put up) but it was sold in the sporting goods. We mixed our burger with pork shoulder and apple smoked bacon,...it is delicious!

 

[ScottSD]

It is not that difficult to process yourself.

Actually this year, we did some canned venison and it is great!

Even The Wife liked it....and that's saying a lot! She usually cannot stand deer unless I make it into jerky.

I put some onions, garlic, and a bullion cube, a teaspoon of salt in there and it turned out really good.

In some of the steaks, I cut into thin strips for canning, to this I did the above but also added a fajita mix....and that was good also.

 

[chefg]

We hunt a LOT Sept to Jan, we process our own, we order sausage seasoning in lots of different flavors. Cut up some of the meat and use it like you would make beef tips over rice. Also I debone the ham and brine it and put it in the smoker, that is really good too.

 

[Bettacreek]

Home processing all of the way! There's no sense in paying someone else to do it! If we get one when the camp is all there, then we have a professional butcher from Canada do most of it (he's a campie along with the rest of us, so it's free). It's really not hard at all. We save the fish and the backstraps (fish is tenderloin I think). The rest, well, it depends really. Sometimes it's ground up (for use like ground beef), turned into bologna, jerky, roasts, steaks, etc.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

We got bit pretty bad on a processor once, paid for freezer wrap and got nothing of the sort. The meat was freezer burnt in just a few months. So now we skin, butcher, grind, slice, tenderized and package all our own.

We do have a different processor now that we will occasionally take some meat for summer sausage & the like.

 

[Beekissed]

Tenderloin in a crock pot!!!! Oh, hon!!! That is the most tender and best part..... Best when sliced into butterfly steaks, gently rolled in flour and a little cornmeal and lightly browned in a skillet.

We have been processing our own for many years....lots and lots of deer. Over a hundred or so deer in the past 40 years.....love deer meat!

We usually only do steaks out of the tenderloin, maybe some jerky when meat is abundant, and then can or grind the rest.

I paid $130 for a Waring Pro and it broke during the very first deer....

I don't have any recommendations on good grinders but I wish I had Mom's old crank grinders right now.....you know, just in case!

 

[2dream]

We do some of both. It depends. Stepson gets a major discount through his job and prior to that he worked for a processer and they processed sausage for us free. I don't eat sausage much so I don't make it. DH loves it. Time is our major decision maker. Back when I had to pay full price for processing we did it all.