anyone else process deer?

[kennedy759]

I have been doing all of my own for about 5 years now after losing the guy who I used to take them to. I have been taking what I would have spent on processing and slowly been purchasing commercial level equipment. I will probably go into business if I spend money on a band saw. If I get that it will put me at the hour mark from start to finish.
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you don`t need a band saw, just bone them out. my buddy quit using a band saw years ago. You use a hand saw at the 5th rib to cut the fore qtrs off and again at the H bone to cut off the rib cage and use a knife to bone it all out.

 

[Leadeye]

We cut up our own, but over the years and having my sons move away I've become more selective about what I keep. Destroyed front shoulders and ribs just aren't worth the time it takes to pick out usable meat.

 

[Farm1]

We process our own.. I cut the meat. My wife will grind and packages it all for the freezer.

 

[Sailor]

Deboned fully in the field, pack up the meat in a garbage in my pack and take home to finish. No mess at home to deal with. Coyotes remove all evidence of a carcass in a few days.

 

[bwframe]

Deboned fully in the field, pack up the meat in a garbage in my pack and take home to finish. No mess at home to deal with. Coyotes remove all evidence of a carcass in a few days.

This intrigues me. I have walking distance public ground that I usually avoid due to the extremes of dragging out the deer.

 

[Sailor]

Pretty sure they do not allow leaving the remains on public land, somebody who knows the regs chime in. I only hunt private land so this is not an issue.

 

[Field King]

Heard Little Bucks in Mooresville had to stop taking deer about 2 weeks ago, they could not handle the volume and were close to 1,000 deer taken in since bow season started, someone said they are open now but call ahead first.

 

[Flinttim]

I always enjoyed processing my own but then the grandson took up hunting and a lot of years we have two down the same day. That and the last several years have been awfully warm for hanging.You guys got any tips for the warm weather days we seem to be stuck with ??

 

[Meena]

I always enjoyed processing my own but then the grandson took up hunting and a lot of years we have two down the same day. That and the last several years have been awfully warm for hanging.You guys got any tips for the warm weather days we seem to be stuck with ??

I used an old fridge to hang deer quarters in until I can get to them. Age them for about 7-10 days and they are much better. You can get two deer hanging from rack in a standard fridge.

 

[Flinttim]

I've always wanted to do that very thing. Seems even when I did work up my own something would come up (warm snap, rain etc) that caused me to butcher before I wanted to. We moved to a new house 2 yrs ago and I now have the space in the garage to hang a deer and butcher. There's room for a fridge too.

 

[kennedy759]

We finished up today, cut about 450 deer. my hands, back, feet all hurt, but my wallet feels good.

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

I always enjoyed processing my own but then the grandson took up hunting and a lot of years we have two down the same day. That and the last several years have been awfully warm for hanging.You guys got any tips for the warm weather days we seem to be stuck with ??

On one half of my garage there is a window AC unit in a corner. The guy we bought the house off of had a wood shop in this half. I intend to box in that corner and insulate so I can make a walk-in cooler.

 

[Flinttim]

I've thought of an AC unit but wouldn't you have to move the sensor bulb of the AC unit out of the room to fool the AC unit ? The AC will only go down as low as the bulb allows.

 

[yetti462]

I've thought of an AC unit but wouldn't you have to move the sensor bulb of the AC unit out of the room to fool the AC unit ? The AC will only go down as low as the bulb allows.

There is a device called a Coolbot that makes the ac unit run to lower temps. My buddy built a cooler in his garage and was fighting with his unit freezing up. He bought the coolbot and unit runs and keeps the "cooler" 42 degrees. Pretty slick idea.

 

[bocefus78]

There is a device called a Coolbot that makes the ac unit run to lower temps. My buddy built a cooler in his garage and was fighting with his unit freezing up. He bought the coolbot and unit runs and keeps the "cooler" 42 degrees. Pretty slick idea.

A friend of mine used a Coke machine cooling system to do this. Cooled his 2 deer walk in down in no time!

 

[gregr]

My buddy and I cut our own for a couple seasons, but called it quits a season or two ago on doing our own. It`s a lot of work, and if I can get in to Moody Meats in Ladoga, they`re incredible. I really don`t even like to have anyone else do it. Especially after the last guy kept half of what I should have had in ground, and the job he did on cutting butterfly backstrap steaks was horrendous.

When we started cutting our own deer though, we took a course at the Parke County Fairgrounds that the Purdue Ag. Extension put on, and it was a great class.

 

[2A_Tom]

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[sugarcreekbrass]

There is a device called a Coolbot that makes the ac unit run to lower temps. My buddy built a cooler in his garage and was fighting with his unit freezing up. He bought the coolbot and unit runs and keeps the "cooler" 42 degrees. Pretty slick idea.

I hadn't got that far in my thinking. I know a few people who have done this and I was going to see what they do.

 

[Jeepster48439]

Especially after the last guy kept half of what I should have had in ground, and the job he did on cutting butterfly backstrap steaks was horrendous.

This is why I do my own. Yes it is work, but I know that what I put in the freezer is what I shot.

 

[Flinttim]

I see all the time on Craigs List large commercial coolers from store closings etc . With a rack you could probably hang 3 deer even in the smaller units.