We've decided our next deer camp improvement should be a new cleaning table with sink and drain.

Initial thoughts...

Should be portable so it can be stored away during the off season
How best to drain water from the sink
Best surface for the cutting and de-boning area
Must be constructed mostly from second-hand materials
Anything else that I've not considered

Any and all suggestions and tips are appreciated.

Stainless steel is your best answer. Can stay outside and will last forever. Not easy, but you can find them used occasionally for not much money.

Watch Craigslist for used restaurant tables. Another option is aluminum running boards, 2 of them together on 2 saw horses with a sink on one end.

We made a table base from treated lumber and put a full piece (4ft x 8ft) of 1/2" food grade HDPE on it. Then we under mounted a stainless sink on one side. It is like a huge cutting board and rinses off easy. I have had a few deer on that table at a time and it is awesome for a group of guys standing around it processing deer or making sausage. We went 8 years and well over 200 deer before we flipped the top over to use the other side. It is under a cover so the sun didn't beat it up too much. I posted a picture once but I cannot find it again.

Thanks again for the ideas and suggestions.

Hope you are talking about a deboning a pig because you know it is illegal to debone a deer at camp unless that will be the final destination for that deer.

Must be constructed mostly from second-hand materials


Why? It seems like you are setting yourself up for failure by not planning it out with quality material fro the start.

Did not know that but have to question it. We and others I know debone at camp so that we know exactly how much meat will be given to the processor, and for keeping whatever cuts that will be kept back for more immediate use.

A processing center is also designated as "final destination". So if I have a processing table at camp: quarter, de-bone, and package up the meat at camp, doesn't that qualify? Reason I am asking is because I routinely debone the rear hams from the carcass instead of separating at the hip. I wonder if I need to change the way I do it...

Is the meat staying on site?

We also debone to save a little on the cost of processing since the processor we use (Talent's) charges for it.

Lone Star Auctioneers or Public Surplus are good sites. Lots of schools/universities will be renovating kitchens in the summer. Near you, Conroe ISD is tearing down a cafeteria in Cut & Shoot in June. They sell through Public Surplus. Should find some good stainless tables & sinks there.

Make sure you keep those explanations handy when a game warden stops you and wants to check your cooler. If you want to know without a doubt call your game warden.

You might try Jarrets deer processing in Madisonville. No skinning or deboning fees. I've been going there for the last 30+ years. Great sausage and summer sausage.

I highly doubt you are going to convince a GW that a processing table meets the definition of a processing center. There are also other regulations that go along with this that you likely aren't following. The rules are pretty clear about keeping the bones in so I'd change what you are doing but that is just me.

To the OP, here is what we built. All second hand materials and it is actually pretty nice. Hook the faucet up to the hose and go.

Looks nice and close to what I already had in mind.

What did you use as the counter top surface?

Don’t know the real name but some sort of plastic composite. It was countertop material from a countertop we had inside but took out of that cabin. Super durable and easy to clean. I’d just watch craigslist for a used countertop for free and go from there. Plenty of free stuff that would be fine for a deer lease out there.

I don't believe that. It says nothing about deboning in the link Herbie provided. All you have to do is keep proof of sex and tag with the animal until it reaches final destination, your house, processor, or wherever. So the head, nut sack, milk sack, whatever.

Now when I guided at a ranch, it needs nothing because they are exotics, but we always threw in a leg of whatever species it was so if they got stopped it could be proved that it wasn't a white tail.

Proof of sex for a white tail is the following:

•the head (skinned or unskinned) of a buck deer with antlers attached;
•the head (skinned or unskinned) of an antlerless deer;
•the unskinned head of a pronghorn; or
•a completed Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) Tag, Antlerless Mule Deer Permit, CWD Check Station Receipt, or TPWD Drawn Hunt Legal Deer Tag.


The link doesn't specifically mention deboned meat but a quartered deer is bone in. Processing it further has and will be a violation. Quartered equals 4 quarters plus the backstraps, not deboning an entire deer.

It doesn't say bone in or bone out so make sure your butcher skills are good if you remove from bone... Been the law forever.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/general-regulations/processing-in-camp

We've never had an issue with our processor accepting deboned meat. However, they always check for tag and proof of sex.

I speed and never get caught.... it's up the GW if they want to write a ticket or not. Processor won't get in trouble. Heck, I have taken non tagged deer in since the does head with tag was 50 miles away in someone else's truck unbeknownst to me. Wasn't even my doe! They were cool about it.