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DIY Processing - How Long Does It Take You?

I’ve only done 5 deer myself so far but I really enjoy it and try to set myself up to be able to take my time, keeping the carcass cool and dry for as long as I’m able while working. It takes me as long as it needs to. I can work fast and get a whole deer (big-ass boneless cuts of meat, no trimming) into my cooler in probably 2-3 beers if I’m using @elk yinzer measurements (which I subscribe to), if the skinning is quick. However, when it comes to actually cutting, trimming, and wrapping, it takes me longer than I’d like to admit. I’m METICULOUS about trimming silvers and fat though, and I also double-Saran-wrap and freezer-paper all of the meat with detailed description/date/sex and estimated age of deer/weight of contents/suggested cooking methods (if I’m gifting it), THEN I put those nice little white parcels in labeled freezer bags with the air squeezed out. If I didn’t wrap this way (the only way to wrap for maximum longevity IMHO) then I could freeze the whole deer in maybe 8-10 beers. But as it stands I’m probably looking at 1/2-3/4 of a case working leisurely and cleanly.
 
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I’ve processed a few deer with friends, but I am doing my first one 100% solo right now. For those that do this, how long would you estimate it takes you? The start point is a quartered out buck with back straps and tenderloins removed, and the end point is it fully packaged in the freezer.

I will share that it is probably going to take me every bit of 8 hours spread over 3-4 days. It feels like that’s too long, but I’m doing it all by myself, I’m trying to remove cuts properly without hacking things up too badly, and I’m probably too picky when it comes to removing fat and silver skin.

Curious to hear from others to know if I am way off the mark here or if this is relatively normal. Keep in mind I don’t have a ton of experience!
I'm from WI so 2 - 3 - 4 beers eh. it depends on how thorough I'm being but 2-4 hrs total.

Biggest time saver is on the front shoulders.


That's Nutterbuster showing how he breaks down quarters. I do the same thing. It's so much easier to make roasts out of the front shoulders instead of spending all that knife work getting it off just to grind. Rear quarters break down real fast. Both gun deer this year I shot through the shoulders so I had to spend time salvaging instead of making roasts and it was annoying. I grind my shanks but people rave about osso bucco and that's the fastest way to process shanks.
 
Invest in a decent grinder and it will pay itself back after 3 or 4 deer. Making sausage and snack sticks is super easy and they turn out great every time. Plus everything is done correctly and you don't have to worry about getting sick from some sketchy butcher. I have had a bad experience. The LEM website or basspro/cabelas have good sausage and jerky kits.
I agree 100%! When I was growing up, I remember it taking 3 to 4 hours to grind the meat from a 90 lb doe with our little grinder. I think it was 2008 or 2009 we got a little more serious grinder - why the hell hadn't we done that sooner? With the medium plate, and meat cut to golf ball size chunks, it will grind faster than we can feed the machine, no silverskin removed. Then we do a second grind through the finer plate and it's good to go!

And get a foot switch for it, especially if you will be grinding or stuffing casings by yourself.
 
I agree 100%! When I was growing up, I remember it taking 3 to 4 hours to grind the meat from a 90 lb doe with our little grinder. I think it was 2008 or 2009 we got a little more serious grinder - why the hell hadn't we done that sooner? With the medium plate, and meat cut to golf ball size chunks, it will grind faster than we can feed the machine, no silverskin removed. Then we do a second grind through the finer plate and it's good to go!

And get a foot switch for it, especially if you will be grinding or stuffing casings by yourself.
When we first started doing deer, we had one of those cheap food processor grinders. If you tried to run any amount of meat through it, the grinder started to cook the meat for you. The silver skin jammed the thing up constantly.

The foot switch is a game changer. Without it, it's a two man operation, especially when it comes to the bagging part of the job. How I do it now by myself I can do 20# of burger in about 30 minutes. Single grind with the medium plate. Grind goes into a bowl that's sitting on a scale. When the scale reads one pound, stop grinding , scoop out the meat and into the bag. Send to the vac sealer and repeat the process. For the bags I try to find the widest quart bags I can find, the save a meal bags from Walmart work best. Or make your own ahead of time from the rolls
 
Or make your own ahead of time from the rolls
It's a lot more cost effective to cut your own bags, but it takes twice as long, since you have to seal both ends. Make up a bunch of bags before you start processing, or before you hunt if it's too warm to let one hang, so you only have to seal once while processing.

Last summer I thought I'd save money by buying a jumbo roll of bag material. It was cheaper, but it's a pain in the butt because the roll is too big to fit in the machine and use the cutter. I won't make that mistake again.
 
It's a lot more cost effective to cut your own bags, but it takes twice as long, since you have to seal both ends. Make up a bunch of bags before you start processing, or before you hunt if it's too warm to let one hang, so you only have to seal once while processing.

Last summer I thought I'd save money by buying a jumbo roll of bag material. It was cheaper, but it's a pain in the butt because the roll is too big to fit in the machine and use the cutter. I won't make that mistake again.
Oh it's definitely cheaper to cut your own. I do keep.a few boxes around for sealing left overs. I do make my own up when I know I'll be processing deer. Like in an hour from now lol.
 
ill try it. i have always used the ground bags and zip tied them shut to save time vs hog rings. i hate the stupid hog rings. What do you do to thaw it out if its only freezer wrapped.
Get a bag taping machine they're fairly cheap and a roll of tape lasts a long time.
 
ill try it. i have always used the ground bags and zip tied them shut to save time vs hog rings. i hate the stupid hog rings. What do you do to thaw it out if it’s only freezer wrapped.
I thaw on the counter still wrapped for a couple hours, then I’ll unwrap if it’s at least half thawed and put in the fridge uncovered to finish thawing if I have time. Otherwise I’ll keep it wrapped on the counter. I double Saran before I use the freezer paper btw, and I use the freezer tape from Scott’s.
 
I thaw on the counter still wrapped for a couple hours, then I’ll unwrap if it’s at least half thawed and put in the fridge uncovered to finish thawing if I have time. Otherwise I’ll keep it wrapped on the counter. I double Saran before I use the freezer paper btw, and I use the freezer tape from Scott’s.
I'll try it. I use a big gulp cup with the bottom cut out as a funnel and fill the game bags pretty quickly. They usually don't leak when I thaw them and the meat stays fresh for at least a year.
 
ill try it. i have always used the ground bags and zip tied them shut to save time vs hog rings. i hate the stupid hog rings. What do you do to thaw it out if its only freezer wrapped.
That's a fantastic idea. I hate the hog rings too, which is why I started vacuum sealing. I always blamed the cheap hog ring pliers we got at Bass Pro.
 
That's a fantastic idea. I hate the hog rings too, which is why I started vacuum sealing. I always blamed the cheap hog ring pliers we got at Bass Pro.
I used to bag and sell ice for Perry's Bait & Tackle (pre murdered owner days) down in Murrells Inlet SC and had to hog ring every bag. Just the thought of having to use one of those damned things again bothers me.
 
So I’ve always taken most of the silver skin off the meat. I don’t keep the roasts I grind everything but the backstraps. I’m seeing where a lot of y’all leave the silver skin and sinew on the meat and grind it. Does leaving the silver skins and sinew on the meat affect texture or taste at all? I’d love to remove the removal of during the butchering process. I grind all of mine, make Italian sausage, brats, and pastrami. I’m not a fan of any deer meat whole except for the backstraps.


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So I’ve always taken most of the silver skin off the meat. I don’t keep the roasts I grind everything but the backstraps. I’m seeing where a lot of y’all leave the silver skin and sinew on the meat and grind it. Does leaving the silver skins and sinew on the meat affect texture or taste at all? I’d love to remove the removal of during the butchering process. I grind all of mine, make Italian sausage, brats, and pastrami. I’m not a fan of any deer meat whole except for the backstraps.


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Nah grind it up. Maybe cut off any really thick stuff that's easy and quick. Rest of it doesn't matter. You'll never know its there after it's ground and cooked. Try it with a few lbs first and see for yourself.
 
So I’ve always taken most of the silver skin off the meat. I don’t keep the roasts I grind everything but the backstraps. I’m seeing where a lot of y’all leave the silver skin and sinew on the meat and grind it. Does leaving the silver skins and sinew on the meat affect texture or taste at all? I’d love to remove the removal of during the butchering process. I grind all of mine, make Italian sausage, brats, and pastrami. I’m not a fan of any deer meat whole except for the backstraps.


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Backstraps and whole muscle roasts, I leave the silverskin on as insurance against freezer burn, then trim when I thaw it before cooking. The more robust your grinder, the more silverskin you can leave on; I trim off the opaque stuff and leave the rest.
 
Thanks fellas yall just cut an hour off my butchering time.


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old thread!

I’ve butchered somewhere between 150 and 200 deer, elk, hogs or other big game. It still takes me 3-4 hours to fully butcher (from quarters in a cooler) and vacuum seal an entire deer. It does vary based on the animal size. By the time I’m finished, I have all the cuts vacuum sealed and ready to thaw rinse and eat.

One of the most time consuming parts is ensuring the trimmings that go in the burger bag are 100% (ok 98%) free of hair and dirt. These bags of future burger are typically between 8 and 12 pounds. If you’re new to grinding write this down: partially frozen meat is MUCH easier to grind. I’ll grind my burger weeks or months after freezing, slicing strips or chunks of meat just small enough to fit into my grinder. I grind twice through the large plate and re freeze in 2 pound bags.

One last thing. Some cuts are just better bone-in. Venison shanks and shoulders are great examples. They can slow cook in a crock pot all day or in a Dutch over on 300 for ~3 hours. There are many recipes with both cuts that will quickly become your favorites.

Venison Shank
d18e4a9b7644299f732fb0199c61d237.jpg


Braised shank
bb468438b18dd8e654e229bac12f753c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
old thread!

I’ve butchered somewhere between 150 and 200 deer, elk, hogs or other big game. It still takes me 3-4 hours to fully butcher (from quarters in a cooler) and vacuum seal an entire deer. It does vary based on the animal size. By the time I’m finished, I have all the cuts vacuum sealed and ready to thaw rinse and eat.

One of the most time consuming parts is ensuring the trimmings that go in the burger bag are 100% (ok 98%) free of hair and dirt. These bags of future burger are typically between 8 and 12 pounds. If you’re new to grinding write this down: partially frozen meat is MUCH easier to grind. I’ll grind my burger weeks or months after freezing, slicing strips or chunks of meat just small enough to fit into my grinder. I grind twice through the large plate and re freeze in 2 pound bags.

One last thing. Some cuts are just better bone-in. Venison shanks and shoulders are great examples. They can slow cook in a crock pot all day or in a Dutch over on 300 for ~3 hours. There are many recipes with both cuts that will quickly become your favorites.

Venison Shank
d18e4a9b7644299f732fb0199c61d237.jpg


Braised shank
bb468438b18dd8e654e229bac12f753c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think I would rethink my process if you're getting that much dirt/hair on the meat that you're stopping to inspect it that much. Can't imagine getting dirt on meat even in the field unless you accidentally drop it...
 
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