Butchering
- Thread starter Oasis1965
- Start date
YouTube will answer your questions. It’s the same principles as doing farm animals. If there is something you aren’t getting answered feel free to message me.
Edit: I don’t know about a course but it’s really not that hard. Once you get a few things figured it gets easier.
Edit: I don’t know about a course but it’s really not that hard. Once you get a few things figured it gets easier.
to me, a moose is just a giant deer, which is a giant rabbit, which is a funny-looking pheasant, which is a funny-looking fish.
Big part of processing your harvest is IMO proper cooling/hygiene/packaging and a processing station (eg. your kitchen table - if the wife let's you 
)
Then you will need some decent tools, like knives, bone saw, cleaver, meat grinder or poultry shears if you're into birds, aso...
If you want to make sausages, you'll need casings and a sausage stuffer unless you know how to "hand stuff".
If you want to make your own ham/bacon, a smoker would be on the list as well.
All of the above causes significant costs... You might be better off to have a pro doing it.
On the other hand it's very satisfying to me/family that we're able to do it ourselves
)Then you will need some decent tools, like knives, bone saw, cleaver, meat grinder or poultry shears if you're into birds, aso...
If you want to make sausages, you'll need casings and a sausage stuffer unless you know how to "hand stuff".
If you want to make your own ham/bacon, a smoker would be on the list as well.
All of the above causes significant costs... You might be better off to have a pro doing it.
On the other hand it's very satisfying to me/family that we're able to do it ourselves
Awesome, thanks very muchBig part of processing your harvest is IMO proper cooling/hygiene/packaging and a processing station (eg. your kitchen table - if the wife let's you
Then you will need some decent tools, like knives, bone saw, cleaver, meat grinder or poultry shears if you're into birds, aso...
If you want to make sausages, you'll need casings and a sausage stuffer unless you know how to "hand stuff".
If you want to make your own ham/bacon, a smoker would be on the list as well.
All of the above causes significant costs... You might be better off to have a pro doing it.
On the other hand it's very satisfying to me/family that we're able to do it ourselves
Skipping the sausage/smoking, the upfront costs are pretty minimal. About what it costs to have a deer butchered once (or less if you are frugal). A good skinning knife (which you should have as a hunter anyway) a small pocket knife (for field dressing) and a fillet knife for final work. I prefer a sawzall over a bone saw, which can be picked up pretty cheaply around fathers day when all the tools go on sale. A roll of butcher paper will last for several deer, and tape costs very little. I think I've only ground venison once, preferring stew meat, and if i want to make something like a cottage or shepherds pie, i just chop it fine and i simmer it slowly for a while.Big part of processing your harvest is IMO proper cooling/hygiene/packaging and a processing station (eg. your kitchen table - if the wife let's you
Then you will need some decent tools, like knives, bone saw, cleaver, meat grinder or poultry shears if you're into birds, aso...
If you want to make sausages, you'll need casings and a sausage stuffer unless you know how to "hand stuff".
If you want to make your own ham/bacon, a smoker would be on the list as well.
All of the above causes significant costs... You might be better off to have a pro doing it.
On the other hand it's very satisfying to me/family that we're able to do it ourselves
As for keeping things cool, I hang my animals and time my butchering for a cold day (though I'll admit sometimes that doesn't work out and you have to get everything cut and wrapped ASAP in warm weather) so it's easy to just stage quarters outside on the deck in cardboard boxes.
To me, this is a vital skill everyone should learn, and you shouldn't let cost gatekeep you from adding this skill to your inventory.
ya, learning how to butcher an animal is a really good skill to have and pretty easy to learn.
I was fortunate enough to have 3 different friends with meat cutting experience that taught me what I needed to know from cutting and packaging to basic sausage making. Being able to cut , process and wrap your meat on your own is also a fairly significant cost saver when looking at the perr pound cost of filling the freezer.
I was fortunate enough to have 3 different friends with meat cutting experience that taught me what I needed to know from cutting and packaging to basic sausage making. Being able to cut , process and wrap your meat on your own is also a fairly significant cost saver when looking at the perr pound cost of filling the freezer.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Pretty much 100% agree. For deer, I doubt I have used a saw since my Dad "helped". It is nice however, to have a place to hang a carcass. Many folk do not have that space - too bad, shoud not be planning to kill stuff, unless you have a plan to proces it.
Butcherbill
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Here’s one of many deer butchering videos that Scott Rea has on YouTube, he has deer, beef, lamb, pork, rabbit and other small game how to videos. More from a culinary/butchery view point which is nice, not just roasts, steaks and grind. He’s got a whole library of sausages making videos etc etc.
Butcherbill
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
You could hang in your garage if it was cool enough, unlike beef there’s no definitive gain from hanging/aging deer. There’s no fat marbling the meat, you’re just drying it out.
I generally let it rest overnight if I’m too tired to butcher it right away, or if it’s warm out I’ll break it into quarters and leave it on ice in a cooler for a day or so till I have time to cut and wrap.
you can hang it anywhere thats 6' high and free of women to complain about any of the side effects.
Ideally you want wherever you are hanging said carcass to be 6 degrees C or colder. If not, butcher immediately.
I've opted to build my own cooler trailer for hanging meat. Inside dimensions are 6ft high, 7ft long and 60 inches wide, R26 insulated floor, ceiling and walls/door. I can keep it between 4 and 6C easily using an 8000BTU window air conditioner and 2 Inkbird temperature controllers. Some folks use a Coolbot controller but they are many times more expensive than 2 Inbirds which do the same thing basically. Cost to build the cooler is a few grand but at the end of the day, I wouldn't be without it. We can also store root vegetables after harvest by adding a heat lamp that the inkbird controller activates if I add a heating cycle to the program. This keeps the cooler trailer from freezing when storing the vegetables after hunting season is done and the meat processed.
I've opted to build my own cooler trailer for hanging meat. Inside dimensions are 6ft high, 7ft long and 60 inches wide, R26 insulated floor, ceiling and walls/door. I can keep it between 4 and 6C easily using an 8000BTU window air conditioner and 2 Inkbird temperature controllers. Some folks use a Coolbot controller but they are many times more expensive than 2 Inbirds which do the same thing basically. Cost to build the cooler is a few grand but at the end of the day, I wouldn't be without it. We can also store root vegetables after harvest by adding a heat lamp that the inkbird controller activates if I add a heating cycle to the program. This keeps the cooler trailer from freezing when storing the vegetables after hunting season is done and the meat processed.
