# DIY Meat Processing



## OnyxHunter (Nov 17, 2013)

Do any of you process your own deer and other game? I have been reading up on it a bit and am going to build a walk in game cooler this spring, buy a nice butchers table and some supplies.

Just wanted to know what type of success any of you have had and any difficulties you have run into.


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## mlayers (Aug 22, 2011)

Yes I hang my deer in the garage and I cut off a quarter at a time. Take it in the house where I have a table set up, cutting board, knife sharpener, bowls, meat grinder, black marker, tape and freezer paper. As I am doing my cuts I cut out the roast and steaks put off to one side and put in scrape meat that will be burger in bowls. 

After I get everything cut up I start wrapping the steaks and roasts. Then I will grind up the burger then start the wrapping process. I guess it takes me around 2 1/2 to 3 hours to do my processing. As I cut out a lot of stuff that I don't like. 

guess I really don't have any problems except when we get a big buck there just is not enough room to hang him up all the way. So it make skinning him out a little bit harder but we get the job done.


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## OnyxHunter (Nov 17, 2013)

Thanks for the info. I have a two car garage, but it is tight (car and some furniture being stored). I suppose I could move the furniture into a storage facility and use that half of the garage.


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## bad luck (Apr 9, 2009)

Hang mine in garage, like to hang for 4 or 5 days, unless temp rises above 42 or so. Skin it, bone it, bag it, then do the "final clean" in kitchen.


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## Richman (Sep 1, 2007)

Have been processing at home for 30 years. Usually hang mine outside 5-6 days if temps are right. If it gets too warm I bone out the deer and put into a large cooler and cover with ice for 5-6 days..... making sure to keep covered with ice and draining off bloody water. When its time to process all meat comes into the kitchen where we rinse again. Each piece is trimmed of silver skin and majority of fat. Roasts and steaks are cut from largest pieces of meat. Tenderloins are frozen whole (for the grill), all other meat becomes burger or sausage. I grind in a #12 LEM grinder...2Xs. In between grinds I mix by hand to ensure consistency ( also add sausage seasoning if making sausage). Final process is to wrap all meat in white butchers paper and mark for freezer. My wife and I just finished one for my son last night...from the cooler since last week, took 1 1/2 hours.

While it would be nice to have the walk- in its not necessary. The biggest benefit to doing your own is that you know its yours and you know it was handled properly. Good luck and enjoy.

Rich


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

I am fortunate in that my good friend set up his barn for processing hogs years ago and it doubles as our deer processing facility. He's not a professional butcher, but he might as well be. He also skinned professionally and is a hard going trapper (not many left these days) so he's real good with a knife!

He has 2 fridges and 2 full size commercial deep freezers, 2 10 ft commercial stainless steel tables, a commercial 1.5hp grinder, and an oversize sink. We use block and tackle to hang them and just built a simple wooden piece we put through the rear legs to hoist.

From there we pretty much follow the same process as mlayer. Except we often quarter the deer out and trim the loins and tenderloins out then toss in the fridge the night it's killed. Grab the meat out within the next few days and make our cuts. *After deboning and cleaning all the meat we intend to grind we set it in the deep freeze and let it freeze a little - makes it grind so much better* We typically double grind everything and ensure there is no tissue (it is rancid) just meat. but it can grind faster than we can feed it so it doesn't take long at all. We weigh each bag on a scale and seal with vacuum sealer.

We rarely do one start to finish except gun season if the guys score early in the week. We also don't rush anything - we enjoy doing this and joke around, etc. I'd say it probably takes us in the 5-7 hour range including cleanup. I'm sure we could do one very quickly thanks to my buddy's skillset, but again it's fun for us so there is no hurry. I bet he could do one by himself in less than 2 hours just at his normal pace. Me, it take me more like 6+!


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## OnyxHunter (Nov 17, 2013)

Great information. Thanks to all of you. I suppose I was "over thinking" the whole thing a bit. I do have a line on a stainless table and I have an extra deep freeze, so the steps that some of you take by doing the "cutting and wrapping" in your kitchen sounds like a plan to me.


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

Onynxhunter - may sound crazy, but stop in at the chain pizza places and talk to the managers....ask if they will be remodeling any time in the future they are aware of. Both 10 ft commercial stainless tables my buddy has we got FREE of charge this method via a Dominos pizza!!! Both tables came form a single shop and they just let us load them up into my buddy's box truck and drive off with them!


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## bad luck (Apr 9, 2009)

I dont use a stainless table, just a regular 6' table, cover it with newspapers, and use my cutting boards. I also use about 12" of PVC pipe on the 4 legs to stand the table up another foot....it's a lot easier on your back that way.


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## chadwimc (Jun 27, 2007)

I process my deer(and my neighbor's) in my driveway in front of my garage.
I have a hose bib and access to a lift and knives. I got a piece of stainless steel counter top off Craigslist for $25.00. I set it on two plastic sawhorses for a table. Clean it with the hose when done. The next time, just wipe it down with bleach solution before use.

During the rest of the year, I stash it in the shed out of the way.


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## Hetfieldinn (May 17, 2004)

Been processing my own deer for years. I hang it in the pole barn at deer camp for as long as I can. Usually, the night before heading home, I bone it out. I trim the backstraps well, and vacuum pack them. The rest of the deer is ground up after all fat and silver skin is removed. Some of the ground goes for jerky, and no fat is added. The rest is made into Hungarian sausage which is used for chili.

There's no need for fancy butchering tables. I bought a couple of large cutting boards at Gander Mountain, as well as a nice grinder on sale for about $100. I do everything on the dining room table.

You know you get the meat from your deer. You control how well it is trimmed and cleaned, and you save about $100 a deer.

I bought some Dexter Russell breakdown knives for boning the deer. They work extremely well.


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

I have done my own butchering for a long time. I'm a little anal about my meat and how it is handled. All that you really need to buy is a quality grinder. It is some work, but definately rewarding when you do it yourself and you know how it was handled.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

I've been doing mine for years also, I don't like to hang them because one year I had an emergency and had to leave town so that deer went to the butcher. I do them now as soon as I get a chance. When I first started it took me about 8 hours and several beers from skinning to freezer, now it's a few beers and just about 3 hrs, just matters if I'm grinding for jerky or cubing for stew. I just do mine in the kitchen. I double wrap the meat with Saran Wrap, then wrap that in freezer paper. Just remember to tell anyone that uses the meat it's double wrapped. My mother made some stew in the crockpot, you should of seen her face when she went to serve it up and pulled out the plastic wrap


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