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Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself #5552954 01/20/15 03:15 AM
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I'm interested in processing my own deer next year but I'm stuck. How should I preserve the meat from the time I shoot, clean, and quarter the deer until the time I process the deer? Due to work schedule I might not be able to start processing for a month or two after I shoot it. Would I have to quarter it, wrap it with paper, freeze it, then thaw, then debone and start processing? Or is this timeline not feasible and I need to stick to dropping it off somewhere else?

Last edited by gasman777; 01/20/15 11:59 AM.
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5553074 01/20/15 04:16 AM
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kmon11 Online Shocked
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Often freeze it until after season then thaw for making sausage. Having a vacuum sealer helps keep it fresher.


lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true
Mainstream news might be fun to watch
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: kmon11] #5553270 01/20/15 11:57 AM
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Do you thaw in a fridge? That's where I'm getting hung up because it seems hard to fit 1-2 deer in a fridge (not deboned yet). Freezer would be easy bc I have a chest freezer.

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5553334 01/20/15 12:49 PM
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I debone it before bagging and freezing. Freeze in flattened bags makes it easy to stack in the freezer then break apart, it will run through the grinder when still partly frozen. Have also froze quarters wrapped in heavy plastic wrap then thaw on a cold day for the processing.


lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true
Mainstream news might be fun to watch
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5553388 01/20/15 01:32 PM
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I would suggest giving it a try at deboning it yourself and freezing in gallon bags etc. till ready to make sausage, hamburger etc.

It doesn't take long at all to cut up a deer, especially if it is all going for sausage/burger.


It's hell eatin em live
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: redchevy] #5553573 01/20/15 03:20 PM
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How long does it take to debone a deer and package it considering this would be my first time to debone one? Ballpark?

Something else I thought of, if I debone and freeze the deer right after it's cleaned I won't have time to "flush" the blood from the meat. Meaning, way back in the day I was told by an old timer, always keep your meet in a cooler a week, constantly adding ice and emptying the water because it will help the taste of the meat. Is this bogus because I'd obviously loose that part of the process now?

Last edited by gasman777; 01/20/15 03:24 PM.
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5553617 01/20/15 03:39 PM
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Time it takes depends on how handy you are with a knife. Give yourself a couple of hours. try to trim off as much of the while stuff as you can. Debone the hind quarters by parting out the individual muscles. This makes trimming off the junk much easier. As the guys above have already stated, definitely debone it and then freeze it in zip locks. I usually thaw meat in an ice chest. You don't need to bleed it out.. the meat will bleed out as it thaws - can make a mess in the fridge. Takes a couple of days to thaw.

Last edited by driedmeat; 01/20/15 03:40 PM.
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5553688 01/20/15 04:12 PM
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You can leave the ribs and the backbone in the field or wherever. It takes about a total of 5 minutes to strip out the backstrap and pull out the tenderloins.


Quail hunting is like walking into, and out of a beautiful painting all day long. Gene Hill


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Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: driedmeat] #5553716 01/20/15 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted By: driedmeat
Time it takes depends on how handy you are with a knife. Give yourself a couple of hours. try to trim off as much of the while stuff as you can. Debone the hind quarters by parting out the individual muscles. This makes trimming off the junk much easier. As the guys above have already stated, definitely debone it and then freeze it in zip locks. I usually thaw meat in an ice chest. You don't need to bleed it out.. the meat will bleed out as it thaws - can make a mess in the fridge. Takes a couple of days to thaw.


Sound advice, first few times it will take you some time, but after a few you will get faster at it. Like said above the freezing and thawing process will release more blood than several days of soaking.

You can speed up the process of removing the silverskin by freezing it then when taken out while still frozen it will pull off the muscles with fish skinning pliers real easy. I never try to remove the silverskin until after removing a muscle from the freezer since it is so easy to do when frozen and helps protect from freezer burn


lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true
Mainstream news might be fun to watch
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5554051 01/20/15 07:13 PM
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I wont debone warm meat, this is our process for deer.

Weigh whole, gut, weigh without guts(field dressed), skin, cut off head and feet(leg below knee), remove front quarter put in ice chest, cut flank tender loins, backstraps and ribs off while deer is hanging, then split back legs and put all in ice chest and cover in ice.

Eat breakfast/dinner depending on what hunt you had success on and give the meat a chance to get cold/stiff. Then trim and cut the desired cuts. Will take a little time the first time around, but you will get much faster as time goes. Got one waiting on me for tonight sitting on the back porch on ice, will see how long it takes... however ill be cooking dinner and helping tend to a 3 month old during this time as well loco_too


It's hell eatin em live
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5554226 01/20/15 08:31 PM
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This is all very helpful information, thanks guys!

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5556733 01/22/15 01:16 AM
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If you freeze the meat, thaw out to make sauage or burgers later, is it OK to refreeze?


Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.
Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Slimpickin] #5556793 01/22/15 01:40 AM
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Originally Posted By: Slimpickin
If you freeze the meat, thaw out to make sauage or burgers later, is it OK to refreeze?


Absolutely. Most of the time (time permitting) my meat will come out of the cooler, get de-boned, scaled and packaged, then into the freezer until it's time to make sausage or whatever you are doing, then packaged and put back in the freezer. As long as you keep your meat cold during the process you will be just fine.

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5557153 01/22/15 05:18 AM
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On your schedule I would say keep paying


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Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5557588 01/22/15 02:29 PM
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I had a 130lb cull buck on ice 4 legs backstraps tenderloins and the flank and ribs. I worked on it 2 nights for 2 hours a night total to get it all deboned trimmed packaged and in the freezer. This also included cutting marinading seasoning and grilling steaks out of it both nights for dinner smile

Not a great measure of how long it takes because the extra, but its not too bad once you get a routine down.


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Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: redchevy] #5560117 01/23/15 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: redchevy
I wont debone warm meat, this is our process for deer.

Weigh whole, gut, weigh without guts(field dressed), skin, cut off head and feet(leg below knee), remove front quarter put in ice chest, cut flank tender loins, backstraps and ribs off while deer is hanging, then split back legs and put all in ice chest and cover in ice.

Eat breakfast/dinner depending on what hunt you had success on and give the meat a chance to get cold/stiff. Then trim and cut the desired cuts. Will take a little time the first time around, but you will get much faster as time goes. Got one waiting on me for tonight sitting on the back porch on ice, will see how long it takes... however ill be cooking dinner and helping tend to a 3 month old during this time as well loco_too


This is pretty much my routine as well, though lately I just debone the back legs while it is still hanging. Follow the seam between the muscles on the inside of the leg all the way to the bone and the work your way around the bone, hip, and knee and the whole muscle group comes off in one piece in just a couple of minutes. You can separate the muscles later. Also saves a bunch of space in the cooler.

-ww


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Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5565183 01/26/15 04:05 PM
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I like the bone removal technique wader do it sometimes. Usually just remove the pelvis like that as we keep the meat of the shank for sausage/burger as well.

Plus you can get into transportation issues if you get past quarters before final destination unless you have a cold storage log/permit.


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Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5565730 01/26/15 08:58 PM
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If you are making all burger or sausage is their a point in separating the muscles?

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Wilhunt] #5565733 01/26/15 08:59 PM
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Originally Posted By: wilhunt
If you are making all burger or sausage is their a point in separating the muscles?


No.

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5566936 01/27/15 02:56 PM
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I muscle them out regardless... in order to trim off any silver skin. less need for a tooth pick later.. even ground. cooked doesn't make as big a difference, but definitely makes a difference for use in dried sausage, snack sticks, or jerky shooter.

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: driedmeat] #5566948 01/27/15 03:04 PM
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I just made a bunch of snack sticks with my jerky shooter, no issues with silver skin. Double ground with fine plate, everyone is different though.

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5567079 01/27/15 04:13 PM
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there ya go wilhunt.. if you're not gonna muscle out and trim on the front end, double grind on the back end. up

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5567107 01/27/15 04:25 PM
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We do like driedmeat does and trim ahead of time. We double ground some and I think it gives the meat too fine a texture, like your putting meat pudding in the casing, didn't like the texture it gave our sausage.

I also like to muscle out because there is no telling what you will find in there, old bullets, our deer are usually loaded up with thorns etc.

Last edited by redchevy; 01/27/15 04:26 PM.

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Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: redchevy] #5567175 01/27/15 04:55 PM
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Originally Posted By: redchevy
We do like driedmeat does and trim ahead of time. We double ground some and I think it gives the meat too fine a texture, like your putting meat pudding in the casing, didn't like the texture it gave our sausage.

I also like to muscle out because there is no telling what you will find in there, old bullets, our deer are usually loaded up with thorns etc.


I only double grind when making skinless snack sticks with the jerky cannon. If I'm stuffing casings for ring/smoked sausages or burger I grind once with a course/medium course plate, I don't like a real fine grind either. The silver skin doesn't bother me in ground, but I do remove the big/thicker bases of the tendons as I don't like to bite into those. I still muscle out plenty for steaks/roasts/jerky etc & remove all the silver skin. I used to remove all of the silver skin before grinding but gave up on that after not noticing a difference in the finished product, but that's me up

Re: Preserving deer meat before making sausage yourself [Re: Bobvilla] #5569185 01/28/15 05:35 PM
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Year before last I processed 4 deer in my kitchen. Ground,steaks,stewmeat,summer suasage, breakfast sausage and jerky. It took I believe 2 full days of work when it was all said and done. Course I broke it up over two weekends. I usually quarter trim out straps and tenderloin and place in the fridge for a couple weeks. This is with a small LEM grinder, large cutting board and my rapala filet knife.

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