Butchering is almost done....for now lol...

[salamonius]

Everyone by now has seen at least one of my posts. I am usually the guy asking the dumb questions that have already been asked. So I figure this time I will skip all the tractor questions for a change. I have lived in this area most of my life. I wouldn't move from here for love nor money. My next door neighbor (quite a ways away) Is what most people would consider a person that should have been born 100 years ago. He grows all of his own food. Raises chickens and rabbits. As well as butchering his own meat. Every year during each hunting season all of the people I like to call "sport hunters" always bring their kills to him, reason being they don't want anything from their kill but the mount. Be it deer, turkey, whatever. So they bring them to him because he will butcher them and put the meat in the freezer or can it. A few years ago he was brought so many deer that he couldn't keep up. He called me asked if I could help him out. I went over to help him, tho I didn't know much of butchering deer. I would always tag mine and take it to be processed. He skinned and gutted two deer showing me how to do it, then handed me a knife and told me to start on some that were laying outside the door. We worked for almost 3 days, sleeping about 4 or 5 hours a night. When it was all said and done with we butchered close to 60 deer. Since then we always get together when it is deer season and butcher all that are brought to us. As well as butchering hogs, beef and turkeys. I can honestly say that I have butchered more deer than most people will do in a lifetime. Before I went to help i had no clue how to butcher anything larger than a chicken. Now I can cut just about any animal up and put it away. He always told the people bringing the animals to him not to gut them just shoot them and bring them. He prefers to skin the deer before he guts it. Says it keeps the hair out of the meat. He always keeps the liver heart and brain. Says the brain is always good in his scrambled eggs (I have yet to try that.....not sure if i ever will). This year I got a small 6pt and a doe. Two deer gives me plenty for the year. I have gotten to the point now that I can go from hanging up to in the cooler soaking in about 20 mins. I know everyone has a certain way that they do things. I was wondering if anyone else butchers themselves or takes it to have it done, and if they do it themselves is their one certain thing that you cut a certain way and why?

Jason

[Eugene]

Missouri has a program called Share the Harvest. Hunters drop off their deer at a processing center - butcher shop participating in the program. Meat is donated to food centers. Donations pay for the butchering.

Butcher own deer and beef. No special process.

[Boss Hog]

You said that he would rather have the deer whole not gutted, If you let deer set for 3 days with the guts in them I would be fearful of eating it. We always gutted them and cut the sent glands off asap. I do let hogs hang for a day to let the animal heat out, but I never leave the guts in. We scald and scrap them , gut and wash out well and then hang in a cool place. Just my opinion.

Boss [ is funny about handling meat ] Hog

[daddydip]

Jason, I enjoy raising and butchering as much as I can of what I eat. I began butchering with a local mennonite butcher that slaughtered anywhere between 35 to 70 sheep lamb or goats on the weekend. (friday and saturday, no sunday action) He also had a poultry room set up . The first animal I ever butchered was my first deer shot and I was so green that i cleaned and skinned it hanging from a tree by it's neck. Luckily it panned out well and the family was fed. I actually have built a butcher shop between the barn and the house, that I am still working to finish off. I have all of my processing equipment but need to wire for electricity, install the hanging track from the skinning area to the freezer on to the cutting table and install my refrigeration units, and lastly get my blood tank set up, and a few cosmetic structural tasks. Sounds like a bunch but I would figure it's only 30% left of the entire project, considering the initial construction.
The one trick I would share with you is that when butchering lamb and goats, I normally make a small incision in the inside back leg and take the air line from the air compressor and blow them up like a balloon. If you have never tried it give it a go, makes the hide come off of them like a sweater. Separates the hide from the carcass really nicely when the air is applied properly. Out side of that just keeping the cutting equipment good and sharp and remembering to let the knife do the work for you . I also purchased a pic wik chicken plucker that I can't wait to put into action. My shop isn't just for butchering also,the plan is to be able to process everything that i can glean from the land be it processing my honey to pressing out cider from my apple tree's. Canning and preserving what i grow and what can be bought locally at the wholesale houses or orchards. If it sounds like I don't trust the food chain as it exist from the FDA to the EPA to the USDA I guess I've been exposed.

[grumpy]

My son always skins his deer while hanging from the neck ungutted. Within an hour he hangs it by the neck and cleans it from the top down and all waste falls in a tub. Cleanest skinning job I've seen and a lot quicker too. If I had to process as many animals as salamonius and Michael has done I probably wouldn't care for meat. Grump

[salamonius]

You said that he would rather have the deer whole not gutted, If you let deer set for 3 days with the guts in them I would be fearful of eating it. We always gutted them and cut the sent glands off asap. I do let hogs hang for a day to let the animal heat out, but I never leave the guts in. We scald and scrap them , gut and wash out well and then hang in a cool place. Just my opinion.

Boss [ is funny about handling meat ] Hog

Boss if it sat for 3 days with the guts in it i wouldn't eat it either. They brought them to us so fast all we could do was gut and quarter them. We got more in each day so we never had the time to actually butcher them. We put the meat into ice tubs and let them sit till we could actually get to butcher them. They were all into ice within a few hours of being shot. Sorry for the confusion there. He likes to soak his deer meat in water to draw out the blood before butchering. After they soak a while we let them sit out in his cold room for the fat and such to dry a little making it easier to trim away.

Missouri has a program called Share the Harvest. Hunters drop off their deer at a processing center - butcher shop participating in the program. Meat is donated to food centers. Donations pay for the butchering.

Butcher own deer and beef. No special process.

We have a place you can do that here too.....BUT for me it is easier to just call the church here in town and ask them to call the people on their food pantry list and tell them if they want some to come get it. We give away anything more than what we can use in a year, and almost nothing is wasted. We grind a lot and make it into sausage as well as burger.

I normally make a small incision in the inside back leg and take the air line from the air compressor and blow them up like a balloon

That one i will have to try thank you....

[ricky racer]

Jason,

You are lucky to live in God's country down there and to have a neighbor who is teaching new skill. I was down there last month on a motorcycle trip and was fairly close to you as I traveled down 135 then turned west to Leavenworth. Fantastic area for motorcycle touring down there.