I was wondering how many of you process your own deer..Thanks...Tom

Do you process your own deer single choice
	no
	yes
Votes accepted starting: 12/10/08 11:29 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

100% of them all of the time.

Steaks, Jerky, Sausage, Bucksticks and I'm thinking of trying a salami recipe I got last year from a friend. We've always made our own sausage and my dad has been at it for over 50 years. I built a new meat room / smoke house 5 years ago at my parents house and invested in very good grinder and stuffer from Cabelas two years ago. Grinder will chew it up as quick as you can drop it in and the stuffer holds 30 pounds at a time and I purchased the electric motor for it so it is a piece of cake.

We made 250 pounds last Saturday of Sausage and Buck Sticks. Nothing better then making your own because you know how your meat has been cared for and you can constently try new recipes. I made my 1st jalepeno / cheese fresh sausage Saturday and it is flat out delicious!

All my deer are done by me...only meat I take to the processor is trim for sausage exchange.

I said yes as I have processed all of my own deer for maybe 10 years at least. Just cuts and grinding mostly. I don't do sausage (yet) but I do a lot of Jerky type stuff in a commercial dehydrator. Funny this poll came up now as I did break ranks and take one to Kubys today. Just did not feel like bothering with it this morning and decided to spoil myself for a change. But any others taken this year will be done by me as usual.

I just did my first of the season monday and tuesday. Ive got an electric grinder and make ground venison and steaks. I cut all the good steaks I can and grind the rest. I also packge the backstraps in four packs, tenderloins together, heart sliced and for the first time this year, kept the ribs whole instead of trimming them out to grind. Going to try doing the ribs, not sure how it will turn out. A good electric grinder makes all the difference. Last year I did not have the grinder and had to cube up all the trim for stew meat. Thats a lot of work. This year, I also added some pork fat trim from the pigs we raised and ground it in with the venison. We had burgers from it two nights ago and they gave off plenty of grease and werent dry at all.

Well, my dad does it, so yes it is done by me.

Yes, I have never brought any meat to a processor. Heck never been to a processor.

Did my first one this year under direct supervision of my friends dad who is a butcher. He has his own spice mix for the breakfast sausage that is awesome. We also mixed in some pork fat with the breakfast sausage, and some beef fat with the hamburger. So far everything is delicious.

Technically, 20% of the time. I've shot 5, processed one myself, so i voted no. I have not decided if i think it's too much work or not yet.

TxP

use to all the time, love making sausage. now kids and work only allow it about 50 % of the time

I'm too lazy, too clutzie and too messy.

My dad has burned into my head the fact that you can almost buy beef for the price you pay to have your deer processed.So YES we process almost %100 of our meat.Hogs too!

Yup, the wife and myself started doing it about 5 years ago, and have upgraded one piece of equipment every year until we now have our ultimate set-up.

We enjoy doing it, but the biggest thing to me is that we know how the deer was handled and processed all the way through the process. Knowing that our meat wasn't mixed in with the guy going back home on I-10 with a deer strapped to his vehicle in 70 or 80 degree temp range just makes me feel much better

Not to mention how much we save doing it ourselves

I always do my own

I do some and have some done. It just depends on my mood and if I've got $65.00 burning a hole in my pocket.

Hello all, first post here.
I have only been hunting two years now, but like many of you would rather process my own than ship it off. I have processed 5 of my own deer and sometimes don't feel as though I get all the meat that is available off of a carcas. Now I am hunting montague county, so it's not like the deer are monsters out there anyway, but I wonder if there is a website or anything like that where I can get some tips.
Thanks
Jason

I process all my own but haven't purchased a grinder yet so had my last deer made into ground meat at the processor till i get my own.
do all the steaks, roasts, and diced venison myself and vacuum pack it so it will last, vacuum packer is cheap and worth the cost to have the meat in good condition when you thaw it.
For a great video go to You tube and watch "How to butcher a deer at home" by willies country meats, it's a 4 part video that is extremely helpful and although i have done my own meat for a while it was still great to watch and goes through it step by step.

thank you sir

Thanks for the link, partypat! That was *really* interesting.

I thought so too.
I did a deer the week before i watched it and one after and the difference in my skills and the cuts of meat i got and the ease with which i did it were night and day.
Although the wife wasn't too happy with me going between the computer and kitchen bench, knife in hand and bloodied to pause and play the clips. LOL

looks like the majority of us do their own

with the price they charge for smoked link I'm not surprised, a big deer can end up costing a pretty penny in the end sometimes

I better, because my dad was a market manager and head butcher for a private food chain over 37 years and taught me the ropes.

It always seem to taste better when you do it yourself too.

I've only done one out of five myself, with the help of a pro. I'd like to learn how to do it. I'm afraid I'd get too messy and waste a lot. It would be nice to save that money though. I spent over $300 this year at the processor.