If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

How to butcher a deer

Okay now we can learn how to remove the meat from your deer.  Or what I like to call house friendly venison.  Mamma doesn't take to kindly to whole venison quarters laying on the counter top.


First thing I do is to cut the belly flap and fold it into the ribcage.  This makes a "container" for your fat and undesired trimmings.  Keeps the big brown dog from any "treats" too.

I begin by exposing the back loins.  Cleaning up the silver skin and fat all the way to the front shoulder blades.  Before
After
In the next photo you can see I am pointing to the shoulder blade.  This is where you begin the removal of the front shoulder.
Next I remove the front shoulders.  Grab the leg and let the weight of the carcass assist you.  Begin slicing at the exposed tip of the shoulder blade down towards the "armpit".  The shoulder will naturally pull away from the carcass.

Set aside until later
Repeat on other side.  This is a good time to also remove any flank meat or meat on the outer carcass along the ribs.
Next I expose the back loin.  This is truly the best cut on the deer so take your time and do it right.  Begin by cutting along the back bone through to the ribs.  Cut along the top just under the hind quarter.  Run your knife along the ribs toward the back bone to release the loin.  Work this process all the way to the neck. 


When finished you should have this.
Repeat on the other side.  Next is the neck.  If you would like a roast then simply remove the esophoghus, clean up the fat and sinew and cut with a saw where you finished removing the loin.  I do not prefer neck roasts so I just strip out the neck for burger meat.

Now I move on to the rear quarters.  I use a chainfall for hanging my deer.  I adjust the carcass so the rear is at a comfortable level to work on.
Begin by making a cut as shown below.  The bone is just under the muscle on the interior side of the leg.  You can feel for it with your finger.  Cut down the length of the bone to the hip socket area.
Once you have achieved the cut above you can simply roll the meat off of the bone.  Make small cuts working your way down and around the bone.  Let gravity pull the meat downward for you.
Next follow the tail bone and cut down and along the end of the spine to remove the whole muscle group from the carcass. I have drawn a line on the picture.  It is in green.


 
Repeat on other side.

Now you can clean up the carcass as much as you desire.  There are little tid bits everywhere.
For removing the meat from the front shoulder follow the bones.  I usually make burger or stew meat from the front shoulder.  I ran out of batteries for this process but it's pretty self explanatory.

Most people do not realize how little meat is obtained from a deer.  This deer was approx. 135 lbs gutted.
I ended up with about 38 pounds of pure meat.  All boneless as well.  I made 17 pounds of burger.  I saved one roast out of the rear quarter for a venison ham I want to smoke.  Total of about2.5 pounds.  I also had about 15 pounds of steak. 
Pound for pound this is a great savings on our grocery bill.  We are buying beef burger from Meijer at $4.89 a pound and I have must confess I find it to be almost unedible.  If I do the math using burger prices I save $185.82.  I paid $15 for the license and $3 for freezer bags.  I spent about 2 and a half hours total from skin to freeze.  Many people do not like the taste of venison.  I believe most of these people have had there venison processed commercially.  A band saw running through fat, bone, marrow, and hormone secreting glands sliding across the face of your steak I agree is not palatable.  Burger made from everything and anything on the deer I agree is not palatable.  Steak sliced from nothing but pure venison and burger ground from pure venison however is quite delectable.
I did not capture the slicing and grinding phase due to time constraints but I assure you I will on the next one if I am fortunate enough.  The rear quarters consist of 3 main muscle groups.  Isolate these groups and slice into steaks or stew meat or jerky etc..Thanks to all and good eating!!!!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

How to skin a deer

I was fortunate enough to tag a deer Wednesday evening.  I thought I would take a little extra time and photograph the butchering process.
Before you start any job make sure your knives are sharp and your equipment is sanitized.  It's a good idea to have an emergency plan in place in case of an accident.  I know it sounds silly but if your all alone and you cut yourself severely and you have no emergency plan you could lose precious minutes figuring out what to do.  Minutes can matter.  Let someone know what you are doing.  When you will be done and so on. No one can predict what they will do when in a panic.  So take your time and have a plan.
Remember a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one.
Ok here we go. 
Ideally I like to let my deer hang a few days but that is dictated by weather.
This one only hung for 24 hours.  I like to hang mine head down.
The first thing I do is to cut the head off.  If you plan on taxidermy then obviously leave it on.  Make an incision just under the jaw line cutting through the hide.  Then take a saw and finish the cut.
Next I cut off the front legs right above the "knee"

Then I make a cut up the inside of the front legs just under the hide.  Take this cut up all the way to the brisket/chest.
Next make a cut up the inside of the hind quarter up to just below the gambrel hook.  Complete this cut by circling around the leg below the "achilles tendon"  Be extra careful not to cut the tendon otherwise the deer will fall off the hook.
Complete this on both hind quarters then begin to peel the hide down to the tail area.  Making cuts as necessary to release the hide from the muscle. 
Once you reach the tail remove it with your saw.
Continue peeling the hide down the carcass.  Hint the tail makes a great handle.  Age of the deer, weather, and hang time are all deciding factors on how easy the hide will peel.  If you are not planning on keeping the hide making a small cut through the hide will also act as a "handle" with which to pull.

Continue peeling until you reach the front legs.  The cuts you made up the front legs earlier will now come in handy removing the hide from the legs.
 If not prepared right the chest/front leg area can be a little difficult.  Take your time and work the hide off of the legs and then pull from the back area.  This should release it from the chest area. 
After the front legs are free simply pull the hide off the rest of the way.  The neck can be tough. At this point in the process I like to pick up the hide in my hands.  Making a hammock of sorts.  One end connected to the deer and the other in my hand.  I push down on the hide with my foot while pulling with my hands.  You get a bit of extra leverage this way and you don't have to bend over as much.
Now that the hide is off you can address the issue of hair.  I like to take a propane torch and go over the entire carcass.  Do not linger in one place too long.  For obvious reasons.  Move quickly and look for hair.  The flame will quickly singe the hair into oblivion.  I know what your thinking but the smell is really not to bad and there is no reflection in the flavor of the meat.  It is well worth the 4 minutes it takes.  There is nothing worse than cleaning hair out of your venison.  Very unappetizing as well.

Stop by tomorrow for the boning process.  It's already finished but I don't want to spoil you.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins Sunday Night. 
I struggle every year with how to carve my pumpkin.  I had just recently
watched a pumpkin carving competition so I had a few ideas.
They were cutting just the skin off the outside and leaving the flesh.  The light would glow through and look neat.



Angel finished first.


Trick is to not be last because you have to clean up the mess.


We use a trash bag on the counter top.  Cut it so it lays open and you will get a
larger surface.  We did 3 pumpkins on one bag.  When done just gather all corners and it turns into a nice little sack.


I finished second.  Leaving kaitlin the mess.  I think she was having carvers block this year.


Big Brown Dog was there to help.



Kaitlin was last and got stuck cleaning up the mess.
Kaitlin and I managed to bake a dozen cookies in our carving session.
Can't carve and starve!!


We didn't save the seeds this year.  Too much work!
Turned out to be a very fun filled day.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Cider Mill and Pumpkin Day

Today we went to the cider mill.  Our main objective was to select a pumpkin from the patch.
I love looking for Christmas trees on the farm so we thought we would try and duplicate that with pumpkins.
Maybe sneak in a few fresh donuts as well. 
The Country Mill has something for everyone.  From a petting zoo, fresh apples and donuts to a goat walk designed to look like the mackinaw bridge.  We went inside when we first got there.  The place is loaded with neat stuff.  The smells are wonderful and the cider is fresh.  You can fill your own cider jugs right from a barrel on the wall.  Pre bagged apples of every sort at your fingertips.





Outside we went.  The pumpkin patch; our destination.   Kaitlin grabbed a wagon and we began the walk.

We reached the patch about a half mile into our journey only to find that it was just about picked clean.  What was left was starting to rot, broken or the bugs had gotten to them.  We looked anyways.  I did find this neat one that was all green except for where you would carve the face.  I almost got it.

There was a hill situated in the middle of the farm and we climbed up to the top of it and
were afforded a panoramic view of the whole place.  We could see all of the new orchards fenced in and the pumpkin patch.  A great place for pictures.

There was a nice pond that was full of fish you could feed.  It even had a windmill next to it.

On the way to and from the patch we sampled a few apples.  The crop was a little small this year.  I wonder if it had to do with our unusually cold summer.  They were still tasty though.

Then we had Donuts!!!!!

We ended up picking out a pumpkin from the bin but oh well it was still fun.  It's good to be a kid again.
Here are some more pictures of our cider mill trip.  I hope you enjoy.  Tonight we carve!
Spook ya later!