Who processes their own game meat?

[2006PSDSD]

My brother and I started doing this last season, and found that it was a PITA. I'd like to get some other pointers to removing silver skin from the (Whitetail), how you like to grind it, what do you use for suet or don't use etc. I found it to be very time consuming, and some steaks were better than others because of the silver skin (I'm not a fan of very gamey meat). It did save me at least 200 bucks though

Maybe next year will be easier because we now have some practice

[Dave]

We used to do it years ago. Game and cattle.

You are right its a pain in the azz

[2006PSDSD]

The money savings was nice, but I wasn't a big fan of the meat quality. Butchers having the right tools and knowledge does go a long way IMO

An Elk is going to cost me over 300 bucks I think, just for steaks and burger mixed with some kind of suet. I was listening to the checkout of a guy picking up his elk, 800 bucks

[jimmm]

I bone all my deer and elk. Steaks are from the inner and outer loin,and a few from the upper hind quarters.Large chunks are roasts,rest gets used for stew meat.I don't grind any up for hamburger. Might cut some for jerky tho.The silver part is a pain and I don't think there is a way to get it all off. I get most off with a very sharp knife, the silver part of the meat on the cutting board, the edge of the knife slightly angled to the board, then peel the meat away from the cutting board.You sandwich the sinew between the knife and the cutting board, scraping the sinew has you cut.Like filleting a fish.I believe a lot of the "wild" taste comes from the bone and marrow so I choose to bone all the meat out.Quicker and only takes a good knife or two and a steel.Keep the knife sharp.And if it's a 5 mile back pack uphill to the truck you can bone them in the field.

[2006PSDSD]

Yeah, we boned them out and tried our patience removing that damn silver skin. The Silver skin is also a source of gamey tasting meat according to the videos I've watched, and it's nasty to chew on too

[s-hunter14]

If we're gonna use a deer or pig for sausage ill usually just quarter it, de bone it, and grind it up. Other than that I just take it to the processor we use, only 55 bucks unless its a pig over 200 then its like 70. I guess I'm lucky cause our processor is pretty cheap, granted some are more than others but I dont think any of ours are over 100 for normal processing and choice cuts, unless you get things made like bucksticks, jerky, sausage, etc.

[2006PSDSD]

Originally Posted by s-hunter14

If we're gonna use a deer or pig for sausage ill usually just quarter it, de bone it, and grind it up. Other than that I just take it to the processor we use, only 55 bucks unless its a pig over 200 then its like 70. I guess I'm lucky cause our processor is pretty cheap, granted some are more than others but I dont think any of ours are over 100 for normal processing and choice cuts, unless you get things made like bucksticks, jerky, sausage, etc.

Damn! I wish we had someone here that was that cheap! Elk is really expensive at the one butcher I've used

[massey16]

Done quite a few deer. Key is to have extremely sharp knives for removing that "silver" skin.

We always add pork fat to what we grind. It helps with frying because of the lack of fat in the game meat. It also covers some of the "gamey" flavor because its likely that the meat used to grind tends to have more of the fat and "silver" skin mixed in with it.

I think its part of the hunting experience to butcher your own meat.

[2006PSDSD]

Originally Posted by massey16

Done quite a few deer. Key is to have extremely sharp knives for removing that "silver" skin.

We always add pork fat to what we grind. It helps with frying because of the lack of fat in the game meat. It also covers some of the "gamey" flavor because its likely that the meat used to grind tends to have more of the fat and "silver" skin mixed in with it.

I think its part of the hunting experience to butcher your own meat.

I had pork fat added to my ground meat for the 09 season. 2010 season is the first time we processed our own, but we used beef fat instead. Makes a MUCH better tasting burger IMHO

[dbllung]

The problem with taking your deer to a processor and having them package it is that they wait until they have a lot of deer to handle and then start running them through the process. There is a good chance that the deer your eating is 'not' your deer, but the gut shot one that the guy drove around on his hood of his truck all day. I like knowing I am eating the one that I shot that was well taken care of.

Additionally, I took a local processor a half dozen gallon ziplock bags of clean venison ready to grind (all he had to do was dump it in his grinder and package) and ended up with considerable amount (weight) less from what I took him. When I went to pick it up, I did notice that he had some nice Deer kabobs in his display case (in Bradenton Florida). I'm sure as he was beginning the grind, he chose some of the tasty morsels to make kabobs out of. Wasn't overly happy.

Anyway, yes, it is a PITA to process your own deer, but really not a big deal. Takes about an hour to break one down into nice packages. Just take your time and seperate the muscle groups and the meat will turn out great. The silver skin can easily be removed with a sharp filet knife. If you BBQ them, honestly, you cant even tell the silver skin is there. Make some slits in it before you BBQ otherwise the meat will curl.

Looking forward to knocking a few more Ohio deer down real soon.