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Deer-packaged wt

G

gumby

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
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407
I'm sure most know this but someone might like this info: This was a very healthy, and good shape deer.
112# doe hoof wt ,shot and weighed before doing anything. Local processor
112 hoof= 46.8 packaged meat, no bones=4178% hoof to package wt.
burger 30.33#
jerky 5.33#
tenderloin/backstrap 4.82#
steak cubed tenderized 6.32#
$94 process fee, gutting, skinning and pack.=46.8#= $2.00 lb.
Very trust worthy guy, so the numbers should be close
cwd tested, free Alabama 4-6 weeks for results.
We did add 1/2# beef fat per 9# deer burger and this was packaged wt.
 
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42% packaged weight is about right from what I've read. I think I average between 35%-40% but also know that I do waste some during boning out and trimming that I need to improve on.
 
Interesting, I've always read roughly 33% for meat to on the hoof weight. I do my own processing so I weigh the field dressed carcass when I get home and hang it but never can weigh all the guts as they get left in the woods. 42% sounds great!
 
philsanchez76 said:
Interesting, I've always read roughly 33% for meat to on the hoof weight. I do my own processing so I weigh the field dressed carcass when I get home and hang it but never can weigh all the guts as they get left in the woods. 42% sounds great!
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I get about 33 myself. Usually lower because I don't fool with ribs and I trim pretty heavy.

I think it also depends on how big the deer is. I think you have proportionately more bone and guts to the size of the animal the smaller they are.
 
I average about 35%. I had a 105lb doe that was weighed after gutting. After harvesting all the meat, meat between the ribs, meat scrapped off the front and rear quarters for burger, meat scrapped off the h-bone, meat scrapped off the neck after I trim the roasts out, then yes. It's a very time consuming process. However the past couple of years I've only gotten one deer per season, then I try and get as much as possible. I even take the rib, front and rear quarters (minus the shanks---this I make into Osco Busco) and every bone with marrow and turn all the bones into stock for soups and what-not. I probably get more than 35% as I do not include the bone broth as weight. Course I harvest the tongue, heart and all the meat. I've even been known to scrape the hide clean of the meat that sticks to it....especially those lean years where I only get one.
 
I actually dropped my first deer off at a local processor yesterday and told him to give me straight ground. Curious to see if he gets more off it than I would
 
Nutterbuster said:
I actually dropped my first deer off at a local processor yesterday and told him to give me straight ground. Curious to see if he gets more off it than I would
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I would like to try that, would like to know how the burger turns out, let us know. I would think it would be hard for a processer to throw the back strap and tenderloin in the grinder, I bet he or she would cringe.
 
gumby said:
I would like to try that, would like to know how the burger turns out, let us know. I would think it would be hard for a processer to throw the back strap and tenderloin in the grinder, I bet he or she would cringe.
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Turns out fine. You have to get used to low/no fat. It's weird at first. But now I prefer straight venison for burgers, chilli, spaghetti sauce, etc. Genuine ground beef is kinda nasty greasy.

I will cook burgers made from straight venison that I processed medium rare. Won't do that with grocery meat. I also will make some tartare every now and then, or a good ole cannibal sandwich. Probably won't do that with the deer I get back from the processor.

But straight ground venison is fine. I've ground a lot of deer up because the wife likes cooking with neat little 1lb packs.
 
With every deer I learn something and will be grinding and packaging in 1# bags from now on. In the past, I bagged and froze the random chunks in 5# bags and would grind as needed when making snack sticks. The problem with doing that is there's no way to pull out 1# for something like chili without defrosting the entire bag.

It'll make more work on the front end but infinitely easier when cooking.
 
MNFarmHunter said:
With every deer I learn something and will be grinding and packaging in 1# bags from now on. In the past, I bagged and froze the random chunks in 5# bags and would grind as needed when making snack sticks. The problem with doing that is there's no way to pull out 1# for something like chili without defrosting the entire bag.

It'll make more work on the front end but infinitely easier when cooking.
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With a good grinder and a helper you can do it fast. I grind it all up in big LEM totes. Then I grab a scale and my wife. I grab a handful, weigh it out, and place it in a zip lock or vacuum pack my wife is holding open. She seals it while im grabbing and weighing the next handful.

Rinse and repeat and you can bag up a whole deer in under half an hour. We stack them flat and can fit a truckload of deer in a small chest freezer.
 
In the past few years, I've been able to build up my equipment buying something new every year and now should have everything I need.

With the deer hanging, I bone out the deer and bag according to backtraps/tenderloins, shanks, front quarters, rear quarters and misc.

At home, I'll cut the backstraps/tenderloins into medallions and vacuum seal them by 2. Rear quarters get trimmed for jerky, bagged and set in the freezer. Shanks get vacuumed sealed by the pound for crock pot meals. Front quarters in the past were also trimmed for jerky but this year was chunked for the grind pile. The stiff jerky slabs are then removed from the freezer, sliced into strips with a meat slicer and vacuum sealed in 5# bags.

The grind pile is what I'm going to change with my next deer. In the past, it was vacuum sealed in 5# bags. With my next deer, I'm going to run everything through my grinder then stuff it into 1# tubes before freezing. Doing it this way, I'll be able to make chili or small batches of snack sticks as needed.

Here's my equipment:
- 2 LEM meat bins
- Back 40 grinder
- LEM meat slicer
- Weston 5# stuffer (was bought this year and far superior to my old stuffer which was a POS)
- Willing daughter who weighs out, packages and vacuum seals while I trim/cut
 
I should take one to a processor and compare notes. I've never had one done. Usually I steak the backstraps (sometimes the hams), loins whole, and grind the rest (some into sausage), and I leave all shanks whole for tacos. I'm also one of those knuckledraggers who doesn't add anything to my venison. Olive oil and butter do me right depending on what we are cooking. I'm not afraid to grind a whole one up either, minus the loins.
 
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