As stated on a previous post, I am a born again deer hunter and plan on taking my first deer in 20+ years this weekend (hopefully). I would normally fall back on grampa for advice on how to butcher and process the deer, but he has been placed into a facility and sadly is not all there anymore. So, I am on my own. I would like to buthcher the deer myself and then take pieces to the processor to be made into sausage, dry sausage, jerky, maybe hamburger. I plan on keeping the backstrap and tenderloin, I can "process" those myself. But my question is, what other parts of the animal could I butcher myself and make steaks and such? And which parts should I take to the processor to be made into sausage, jerky and hamburger? Thank you!

Seperate the muscle groups on hams to make steaks and roast. Remember to remove silverskin. I have kept shoulder and cooked it bone in as a roast as well. Neck meat becomes stew/chili meat and flanks added to other trimmings for burger. Check out youtub to see more ideas.

easiest is to just take hams and sholders in quarters to him... if he will give you a better price then deboning the meat is pretty simple...anything below the "knee" "hock" you wnt want to use because there are too many tendents... deboning is simple though just take your knife..small fillet knife best...and follow the tendent lines that shape each section of meat in the ham....for the sholders just get as much meat off as possible above the knee since it will all be grounded up. If you take off the sholders before you get the backstraps you will get a much larger cut of meat that the sholders usually block...also there is alot of meat on the neck that can also be used in suasage if you want as much as possible...

left the flanks out my bad...good fagitas or more ground meat too.. good info

The only thing useful he showed was cleaning one back strap (loin). If you eat deer meat with all that white meat and silver skin attached, you will probably never like deer meat. The trick is to get ALL the white stuff off of it. And, it takes longer than 8 minutes to properly clean a deer.

It takes me about 1.5 hours to skin and quarter a deer (that is with the loins removed). Then, after I age the meat, it takes about 2 hours to clean the meat into Chili grind (big plate), hamburger (mixed with bacon with small grinding plate), roasts (off of back legs and zero white skin) and steaks from the sirloins. After that, it takes about an hour to grind my chili meat, hambrugers and run steaks through the tenderizer. Finally, one last hour for packaging and clean up. This is for a 180lb field dressed Kansas deer. The last thing I do is grind up all the white stuff alogn with the rib and neck meat for dog food. I cook the dog food in 5lb increments and add some rice. It is healthier for your dogs than any dog food on the market.

That right there is the best advice you'll get.

Thanks for all the replies, I checked out some vids on Utube earlier and they were helpful. Looks like tenderloins, backstrap and certain areas of the thighs are usable for good cuts. The rest is sausage, stew or hamburger material it seems.

And get all the white chit out! Looks like I'll spend most of my time doing that!

just the tendent strips are the main thing you wana cut out....for sausage leave whatever actual fat you can

the above 8 minute +/- video is still pretty impressive on how quick he stripped the carcass ... now the harder part begins in getting all the silverskin off, separating, grinding & packaging... still impressive how fast he stripped it.

I did find it odd that he boned out the shoulder before dettaching from the ribcage.

another note, check with your processor beforehand to insure they will take partially butchered and/or quartered game.

Remember the law... I know you can quarter the deer at camp, but not sure you can de-bone. Any GWs out there that can confirm or clarify?
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/fish_hunt/hunt/afterkill/

A hunter may skin and quarter a deer (two forequarters, two hindquarters, and two backstraps) and possess for transport, provided the quartered deer is tagged and proof of sex accompanies the deer. (See Cold Storage or Processing Facility for exceptions).
A deer may not be processed any further than four quarters and two backstraps (example, steaks, hamburger, chili meat, etc.) until the deer reaches a final destination, except for immediate consumption in camp.
The four quarters and two backstraps are the only parts of a deer required by law to be kept in edible condition. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department encourages all hunters to continue to keep other portions of the deer (trimmings from the neck and rib cage) in edible condition. Edible condition does not include any portion of a game animal, game bird, or fish that is: bruised by bullet, shot, or arrow, or otherwise destroyed as a result of harvest; decayed or rotting at the time of harvest; or obviously infected or diseased at the time of harvest.
The tag must remain with the portion of a deer the hunter possesses. If any portion is transferred to another person before it reaches a final destination, then the transferred portion must be accompanied by a Wildlife Resource Document.

That butcher is a Piranha!
I need one of those hooks.

I dont think you are going to save any money doing some of the work yourself and handing off the majority to be made into sausage.

The reasons I butcher and process my own hog and deer meat:
1.) I know I am eating my deer (that was taken care of properly in the field)
2.) My kitchen is cleaner than any deer processing plant that I have ever walked in.
3.) I control what goes into my sausages or ground meat. (Sausage flavor as well as what bits of meat are good enough to go in there.)
4.) I can eat it as soon as I want it. I hated waiting 2 months for my meat to be ready and then having to go pick it up.
5.) I am a cheap son of a beach...I hated paying $250-$350 for my deer meat

that about sums it up! and its a real feeling of accomplishment when you serve your family a great meal of something you saw from hoof to plate. bottom line...just give it a try and eat the meat that looks like something edible. it'll get prettier the longer you do it. but it'll all taste the same.

I usually take that long muscle along the back and just grind it to mix with beef burger.

Cool thing about butchering your own meat is that it doesn't have to be pretty. It will still taste good if the meat has been kept cold and it was trimmed of all the white stuff. Don't worry to much about the cuts being perfect.