Deer Processing - 6 deer in the freezer

[Angelo_orygun]

PM Sent - Your safe though, the processor is in Southern Oklahoma where I hunt.

Any chance you can share the county? DM is fine. I hunt in Coal, have never had a bad experience at my place, but doesn’t mean I can’t!!

 

[MedRiver]

Great job! Clean work and a nice setup!

With a wife and kids that like to hunt I can’t imagine paying a processor (10-20 per season adds up!) When we did an addition on our house I ended up with a nice shop space. It has saved us a lot of money over the years since I exclusively use slave labor.

Did about 300# of elk burger yesterday.

 

[Philip Glass]

Excellent work!

 

[coyote wacker]

A great professional looking processing area. Plus some very good looking staff to run the operation, smiles sure do make a job nice !

 

[rifletuner]

Great job! Clean work and a nice setup!

With a wife and kids that like to hunt I can’t imagine paying a processor (10-20 per season adds up!) When we did an addition on our house I ended up with a nice shop space. It has saved us a lot of money over the years since I exclusively use slave labor.

Did about 300# of elk burger yesterday.


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Fantastic to see the family at work there

 

[thriller]

In my part of the country the chance to take a trophy buck also comes with the responsibility of balancing the population; recently a friend and myself made a weekend of both culling deer and processing the meat.

Friday evening the weather was perfect and we got on stand around 3pm and by 5:30pm I had 4 doe on the ground and my buddy had another 2, this is where the work starts........
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After getting the deer back to the barn we had to tag them in and part of the state DMAP permit(deer management assistance program) is that we have to take one half of the lower jaw bone out from every deer we take and send it into the state at the end of the season.

So after tagging and taking jaw bones the deer were gutted and left to hang over night.

Then Saturday morning we begin by breaking down all the carcasses for processing.
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Boneless backstraps, tomahawk backstraps, tenderloins and "lollipops"(bone attached pieces of backstrap) are coated in olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper & crushed garlic; then left to sit and marinade before packaging.
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Let the grinding begin......
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1st batch we mix 80/20 lean deer meat and Wagyu boneless rib meat (20lbs)

2nd Batch is 85/15 lean deer and pork belly (40lbs)

From left to right.....

Pork belly mixed burger, Wagyu mixed burger, tenderloins, Tomahawk back straps, boneless backstrap, fry meat(pre cut and tenderized meat for chicken fried steaks)
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Excellent work I just did the same thing. I didn’t think to take any pictures.

 

[mdwest]

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I now have meat grinder envy!

Youve got an impressive piece of equipment there... Sure as hell beats the Cabelas deluxe table top grinder Ive been using!

 

[MedRiver]

I had to search far and wide for a used single phase one. There are piles of cheaper 3-phase around but after having messed with a 5 HP Hobart and a static phase converter I decided it was single phase only for me. Has proven to be a great choice. We timed it saturday and we could bag 30 pounds in a little over 4 minutes using two pound bags.

 

[264]

Nice going Davin, ill swap you some sambar steaks for whitetail!
Just did a killer highland / Angus cross. Butchered up very well. Enjoying the T bones. Also did tomahawks.
Out of interest have you tried the blue bulls in Texas?(Nilgai)

Medriver _ Good to see the family involved

Cheers Mick

 

[Sabre]

I now have meat grinder envy!

Youve got an impressive piece of equipment there... Sure as hell beats the Cabelas deluxe table top grinder Ive been using!

I have had good luck with the "carnivore" line of Cabela's brand grinder. Have you tried that one? Although I think I got it right before they sold to Bass Pro. So, Not sure if that could have changed quality as it has with some other things since BP took over.

 

[Sabre]

Prevent freezer burn - Put the sealed meat in the fridge overnight letting it get cold as possible before placing in the freezer.

This is interesting. I haven't heard or tried this before. How much difference do you notice?

 

[mdwest]

I have had good luck with the "carnivore" line of Cabela's brand grinder. Have you tried that one? Although I think I got it right before they sold to Bass Pro. So, Not sure if that could have changed quality as it has with some other things since BP took over.

I was thinking about an upgrade to a carnivore actually... the guy that I share a deer lease with has the 1 HP Carnivore and he really likes it a lot.. if/when mine finally bites the dust thats probably the route I'll go...

Mine is just the Cabelas "Deluxe" that has the 600w 3/4 hp motor.. it does everything I ask of it (we generally process 5-8 deer a year plus maybe a pig or two).. but.. it very obviously lacks the power my buddys carnivore has and is a lot slower.. Id guess he is grinding at double the speed I am...

the deluxe is a little difficult to work with on sausage casings as well.. and it tends to get hot a lot faster than my buddys carnivore..

Mine has been good to me.. I havent treated it nicely and its been going strong for about 10 years at this point I think... but it would definitely be nice to step the game up a little bit..

 

[steve white]

So practical to seal it up in the form you are going to use it. The easier/quicker it is to get a meal on the table, the more likely it will actually get prepared, and won't get postponed in lieu of some fast food alternative.

 

[Sabre]

I was thinking about an upgrade to a carnivore actually... the guy that I share a deer lease with has the 1 HP Carnivore and he really likes it a lot.. if/when mine finally bites the dust thats probably the route I'll go...

Mine is just the Cabelas "Deluxe" that has the 600w 3/4 hp motor.. it does everything I ask of it (we generally process 5-8 deer a year plus maybe a pig or two).. but.. it very obviously lacks the power my buddys carnivore has and is a lot slower.. Id guess he is grinding at double the speed I am...

the deluxe is a little difficult to work with on sausage casings as well.. and it tends to get hot a lot faster than my buddys carnivore..

Mine has been good to me.. I havent treated it nicely and its been going strong for about 10 years at this point I think... but it would definitely be nice to step the game up a little bit..

We used to use a friend's "Deluxe" and saw all the same things you mention. I got the carnivore when they were having really good sales prior to the BP sale just because it was such a good deal. But honestly, I probably should have done it earlier. The biggest drawback to the carnivore model is the weight. If you have a dedicated space, it doesn't really matter. But, we don't, and carrying it up the stairs to use it is definitely more of a task than the deluxe for sure.

 

[mdwest]

Thankfully I dont have that far to haul it... We store ours in our walk in pantry.. its only about 30 feet to the kitchen counter top where I use it...

Between the grinder, dehydrator, and the meat slicer it seems Im always hauling some sort of "deer" related processing tool back and forth between the pantry and the island lol..

 

[mdwest]

So practical to seal it up in the form you are going to use it. The easier/quicker it is to get a meal on the table, the more likely it will actually get prepared, and won't get postponed in lieu of some fast food alternative.

Completely agree...

We've gotten in the habit of just going on and making breakfast sausage, summer sausage, etc.. at the same time that we do the initial grind.. it makes the process longer.. but its so much more convenient and practical to do that, then immediately hit the vacuum sealer with a finished product, and put it in the freezer..

we package breakfast sausages in 4 patty bags... when we want a sausage and biscuit breakfast, we just pull a single bag out of the freezer than throw it on a hot skillet..

 

[thriller]

Thankfully I dont have that far to haul it... We store ours in our walk in pantry.. its only about 30 feet to the kitchen counter top where I use it...

Between the grinder, dehydrator, and the meat slicer it seems Im always hauling some sort of "deer" related processing tool back and forth between the pantry and the island lol..

I have the carnivore 1hp It’s heavy, but I love it.

 

[thriller]

I need a biltong box

 

[deewayne2003]

Nice going Davin, ill swap you some sambar steaks for whitetail!
Just did a killer highland / Angus cross. Butchered up very well. Enjoying the T bones. Also did tomahawks.
Out of interest have you tried the blue bulls in Texas?(Nilgai)

Medriver _ Good to see the family involved

Cheers Mick

Cheers Mick! @264

Yeah the Nilgai is great, I’ve had it several times but usually in Fajita form.