After the shot.

[MattMan81]

So things I still not 100% sure about. At what temperature can your deer hang over night? Say you shoot one in the evening. How cold does it have to be to let it hang.
If it is to warm, what do you do? Some of you guys hunt a ways in. How long do you have to get it cooled down.
Is packing it out the best way if it's warm?
I would love to process my own deer. But still lacking a good place with all the stuff.
I know there is lots of videos out there of cutting them up. But they always make it look way to easy.
What do I really need?
Table? Cutting board? Good knife? Bone saw? Vacuum sealer?
What temperature do I need if I half do it outside.
Give me motivation or more justifcation to pay to process.
I do have a meat grinder.

 

[Aaronpaul14]

So things I still not 100% sure about. At what temperature can your deer hang over night? Say you shoot one in the evening. How cold does it have to be to let it hang.
If it is to warm, what do you do? Some of you guys hunt a ways in. How long do you have to get it cooled down.
Is packing it out the best way if it's warm?
I would love to process my own deer. But still lacking a good place with all the stuff.
I know there is lots of videos out there of cutting them up. But they always make it look way to easy.
What do I really need?
Table? Cutting board? Good knife? Bone saw? Vacuum sealer?
What temperature do I need if I half do it outside.
Give me motivation or more justifcation to pay to process.
I do have a meat grinder.

I either try to quarter my deer or debone it and do the cooler method with ice since I have no where to hang mine especially for a few days.

All you need is a kitchen counter, decent size cutting board and a good knife! Since you have grinder I didn’t add that.

You can use plastic wrap and freezer paper or freezer zip locks to package if you don’t want to spend the money on the sealer.

Learning the cuts was the hardest but other than loins and back straps I make most of mine into ground anyways.

Just processing a couple deer yourself will allow you to break even and get some decent equipment that will last you years!!

 

[heretic]

I'm on year four of processing my own deer. Every one I've talked to has their own way of doing things and are very particular about their meat care. I like to take little tidbits that I've learned from others and add it to my toolbox of tricks. It's a learning process, be willing to learn.

As far as bare essentials you'll need:
1) A sharp knife: I do about 99% of my processing with a fillet knife.
2) A way to touch up that knife.
3) Somewhere to process: Ill lay out freezer paper on my counters and use my regular cutting board.
4) Some way to protect your meat from the freezer: I use a vacuum sealer, others swear by freezer paper, some say to use saran wrap first. Pick what works best for you.
5) A sharpie to mark down what is what. (ex: Buck 19 - Crawford Co - B. Straps)

I've never needed a "bone saw" per se, however I do happen to have a dedicated hacksaw blade in my kitchen for when I cook osso bucco.

Processing your own game can be a very rewarding (albeit tedious/laborious at times) process. I say go for It! For the price of taking it to a processor once (I forget, how much do they charge these days?) you can buy everything you need to process your own indefinitely (minus the cost of expendables), AND you have a meat grinder! You're already ahead of the game!

 

[gameflogger]

So things I still not 100% sure about. At what temperature can your deer hang over night? Say you shoot one in the evening. How cold does it have to be to let it hang.
If it is to warm, what do you do? Some of you guys hunt a ways in. How long do you have to get it cooled down.
Is packing it out the best way if it's warm?
I would love to process my own deer. But still lacking a good place with all the stuff.
I know there is lots of videos out there of cutting them up. But they always make it look way to easy.
What do I really need?
Table? Cutting board? Good knife? Bone saw? Vacuum sealer?
What temperature do I need if I half do it outside.
Give me motivation or more justifcation to pay to process.
I do have a meat grinder.
[/QUOTE
Below 40 degrees for hanging deer overnight, but above freezing. You can age deer, but grinding eliminates the need to dry age the meat. My father in law and I usually process about 500-600# a year. What you want to make will dictate what you need. It is definitely a labor of love. I enjoy doing it, but only once a year. I could not imagine doing it for a living. We make jerky, pan sausage, jalapeño cheese summer sausage, link sausage, and snack sticks. Smoking the meat will require you to have a smoke house, or make smaller batches. Making a smokehouse is easy, but You need to have a place to keep it and do the smoking. If you are interested in doing smaller batches a traeger or small smoker can be used.

 

[gameflogger]

 

[gameflogger]

50# snack sticks.

 

[Weisman125]

So things I still not 100% sure about. At what temperature can your deer hang over night? Say you shoot one in the evening. How cold does it have to be to let it hang.
If it is to warm, what do you do? Some of you guys hunt a ways in. How long do you have to get it cooled down.
Is packing it out the best way if it's warm?
I would love to process my own deer. But still lacking a good place with all the stuff.
I know there is lots of videos out there of cutting them up. But they always make it look way to easy.
What do I really need?
Table? Cutting board? Good knife? Bone saw? Vacuum sealer?
What temperature do I need if I half do it outside.
Give me motivation or more justifcation to pay to process.
I do have a meat grinder.

I'd also like to know the right temp to leave hanging but typically I'll just hang it to wash it out with the hose. I'll also use vinegar/water mix that will easily cut through the blood and clean out the carcass. Works wonders! I keep two gallons of this mix in the truck to wash out in the field and clean blood off hands. I'll pull it off the hoist and leave it in the garage over night in a cheap blue plastic kiddie pool with 3 bags of ice in the cavity and between the hind quarters. I've also got an old quilt that I lay over top to insulate. Works great for a day or two if need be, even in warmer temps. Just add ice as needed.

You really don't need much to process your own deer. Hang a hook in the garage in a joist and either use a gambrel or or tie a rope around the neck to hang, I've skinned them both ways. Any good knife will do. Tree loppers work great to cut off the feet and spine (or hacksaw). Throw quarters on a folding table and start slicing. Follow the muscles and it get's pretty easy after you do a couple. Use saran wrap and butcher paper for tenders/steaks/roasts and after you run the trim through your grinder (add some pork fat or beef to the mix for ground). Jerky can be made in the oven if no smoker. Your grinder should have a stuffer attachment with it for sausage or sticks so there really isn't anything major you should "need" to buy to do it yourself.

That being said I will usually take my first kill to a butcher since it's generally early season and more convenient for sausage, jerky, sticks, hot dogs, etc. for $300-$400 depending on what I get. My butcher will also take quarters for considerably cheaper.

 

[Kurt]

Keep it simple. If it's 40 degrees or cooler hang it. If not skin and quarter and get it on ice. After that just a knife/cutting board, and some place to work. Watch some youtube. It's very easy, basically you want to turn it into bite sized morsels. In college we chunked everything but the backstraps, and tender loins. Anything we couldn't chunk after that we turned into ground. One pan, and one fork after that. As you learn how to take them apart, then get fancy. I've been processing my own for close to 30 years. I like a sealer, and I have and use it, but it's not necessary. I do like to use plastic wrap , then freezer paper. Go for it. It'll save you a ton of money, and it's a great skill to have.

 

[kyler1945]

You can take apart just about any North American land mammal with a 2” blade that’s razor sharp. No saws needed unless you’re cooking cuts on the bone and require some specific length of bone that can’t be accomplished popping joints.

I hunt where most of my season is above 40* and many times considerably so. My rule of thumb is 50* overnight if not a gut shot, skin on. Above that temp I process on spot. Usually doesn’t come into play for me because I’m packing deer out and have them apart within an hour of locating them.

I can’t help with how long to leave them hanging when it’s cold because I rarely hunt in places where i stack up more than 2 days in a row near freezing.

operate as if worst case scenario will happen. Then if it doesn’t, you’re safe. But sometimes it doesn’t happen that way. For instance - I shot a pig that frankly I didn’t feel like pulling apart till the next day. The pig died within 15 seconds of being shot, and was on tailgate of my truck at 6pm. I processed it at 730 the next morning, with overnight lows only reaching 55 degrees. Some awesome meat, No issues.

 

[ricky racer]

The first time I ever went deer hunting it was a week long trip "up north" about 4 hours north of where I lived. I tagged a buck on that first morning, drug it back to the camper and we hung it up. During most of that week the temps got up into the upper 50's during the day and probably upper 30's at night. It had been cold enough to kill most of the flies so they weren't a problem. I rode up with the group so I had no way to transport the deer home. I was worried that the meat might spoil and every day I'd sniff the deer to see if it was still good and it stayed in good order until we went home and I took it to a processor. No issues were experienced. I learned that a deer doesn't have to be kept cold to keep it for a short while. What you have to worry about is flies. If you live in a warm climate, flies are probably a bigger threat than the lack of cold temperatures in my opinion.

 

[TheBigJWilly28]

View attachment 25408

What sort of contraption do you have there?

So things I still not 100% sure about. At what temperature can your deer hang over night? Say you shoot one in the evening. How cold does it have to be to let it hang.
If it is to warm, what do you do? Some of you guys hunt a ways in. How long do you have to get it cooled down.
Is packing it out the best way if it's warm?
I would love to process my own deer. But still lacking a good place with all the stuff.
I know there is lots of videos out there of cutting them up. But they always make it look way to easy.
What do I really need?
Table? Cutting board? Good knife? Bone saw? Vacuum sealer?
What temperature do I need if I half do it outside.
Give me motivation or more justifcation to pay to process.
I do have a meat grinder.

I am not an expert but everything I remember being told is 40 degrees as warm as you want it to hang. If I shoot one in the evening and its above 40 but below 60/70 i will stuff bags of ice in the chest cavity and quarter the deer the next day. Then I will put it in a cooler with ice but make sure the drain on the bottom is open. You dont want it to sit in water. If you look up the Bearded Butchers on youtube they have a few great videos on how to skin, quarter, and butcher deer. Between them and my father in law I have learned enough to take care of it myself. That being said I have been going back and forth between processing my own and paying my local butcher for the sake of saving time. Next year I plan on doing everything myself besides the summer sausage and snack sticks. I figured i would have those messed up in a hurry. All I have is a grinder, big cutting board, a couple sharp knives, and hog ring pliers. The rest is the disposable stuff like the hog rings, freezer paper, saran wrap, and game bags.

 

[bj139]

I shot a deer in October and the daytime temperature was high 80's. I hung it overnight and butchered it the next day with an overnight low around 70F. I have been eating it since then. They don't spoil that fast. Below 40 you can hang for a week.

Electrical Rope Pusher Pole Success

I used my 10 foot electrical conduit rope pusher to push the rope up a tree. It worked. I shot a doe. Now I can try for the buck. My tether was set at 17 feet which seems kind of low but the leaf canopy was around there so I could not see as far if I went higher. It was so thick in there at...

saddlehunter.com

 

[BOWHUNTER14]

I have hung deer for almost a whole week with temps getting into the 50's daily but cold overnight temps made me not worry. I keep a big shaker full of black pepper to keep flies away. Look up the bearded butcher on YouTube he shows the whole process from gutting to freezer. He changed the way I gut deer.

 

[Exhumis]

Food safety specialist here. For food safety purposes, 41 degrees and below. Since we live in real world though I'd say keep it cool and get it chilled asap. Get it field dressed. If it's gut shot I'd get it to a processor asap. Raw meat has bacteria and organisms native to the meat which will out compete other organisms so that's to our advantage but if gut shot you have intestinal bacteria that will spoil the meat obviously and make you sick. My hunting partner and I process in my garage exclusively. My floor is sealed so blood doesn't seep in and we put down two harbor freight tarps. I have an HME tripod game hoist we erect over that and suspend our deer. Using just an ulu, caping knife, butcher knife and a filet knife we can have a whole deer processed in an hour. I bought a folding processing table from cabelas and another folding table from Costco. We process the deer on the processing table then wrap and label on the Costco table then throw in the freezer. We have a grinder we went halves on and make our own burger and sausage. I'd say all in with the tables, hoist, grinder and freezer I spent prolly $400. Many of the items I picked up off FB marketplace(freezer, hoist) and others were bought on sale.

 

[gameflogger]

What sort of contraption do you have there?




I am not an expert but everything I remember being told is 40 degrees as warm as you want it to hang. If I shoot one in the evening and its above 40 but below 60/70 i will stuff bags of ice in the chest cavity and quarter the deer the next day. Then I will put it in a cooler with ice but make sure the drain on the bottom is open. You dont want it to sit in water. If you look up the Bearded Butchers on youtube they have a few great videos on how to skin, quarter, and butcher deer. Between them and my father in law I have learned enough to take care of it myself. That being said I have been going back and forth between processing my own and paying my local butcher for the sake of saving time. Next year I plan on doing everything myself besides the summer sausage and snack sticks. I figured i would have those messed up in a hurry. All I have is a grinder, big cutting board, a couple sharp knives, and hog ring pliers. The rest is the disposable stuff like the hog rings, freezer paper, saran wrap, and game bags.

I have a short framed turkey fryer with expanded metal and a stainless bowl to hold the smoking wood to keep the flame from the fryer from licking the wood. I have a low cfm duct blower fan sitting beside it to keep the air temperature consistent so that the top of the smoke house is not much different from the bottom. That setup has worked well for us for years. We keep the flame real low on the fryer so the smokehouse does not get too hot. It smokes like a champ though.

 

[TheBigJWilly28]

I have a short framed turkey fryer with expanded metal and a stainless bowl to hold the smoking wood to keep the flame from the fryer from licking the wood. I have a low cfm duct blower fan sitting beside it to keep the air temperature consistent so that the top of the smoke house is not much different from the bottom. That setup has worked well for us for years. We keep the flame real low on the fryer so the smokehouse does not get too hot. It smokes like a champ though.

Thats awesome! Looks simple to build and I have 90% of the materials sitting in my garage. Is it more of a permanent structure or did you make it so you can tear it down and store it when not in use?

 

[gameflogger]

Thats awesome! Looks simple to build and I have 90% of the materials sitting in my garage. Is it more of a permanent structure or did you make it so you can tear it down and store it when not in use?

I leave the smokehouse up all year, I just disconnect the propane bottle.