I am new to big game hunting...


How long after a deer is killed and cleaned do I have to get it processed?  I plan on cleaning the deer and bringing it somewhere to be processed into jerky, sausage, steaks, etc.... I don't have the equipment for it otherwise I'd give it a shot.  

Unfortunately it looks like there is only one place to take deer within 30 minutes of where I live (northeast Kansas) and they are closed on Sundays and Mondays... This got me thinking!  

Thanks for the help.

It depends on the weather and how you store it.  Generally the sooner the better.  If it is hanging outside and it is in the 50s that is going to be a problem.  I would have a plan to be able to cool it down and get the quarters on ice if you won't be able to get it to the butcher for a couple of days.

A lot of processors will have drop off coolers for when they are closed.

Call the processor you plan to use. A good number around here don't want you to field dress anymore.

I process my own deer, but if it's too warm to hang them (daytime high above 50) then I skin and quarter them immediately, then it's into rubbermaid tubs full of salt and ice water if I don't have time to process them that day.

My recommendation to you is to skip the processor.  Learn to quarter and cut up your deer.  There are youtube videos out there on how to do it.  All you need (until you get to the sausage/jerky part) are a fillet knife and a saw or hatchet, and a tree and gambrel to hang it.  Once you get the choice cuts (loins, backstraps, and the good roast/steak cuts from the back legs) out, the rest is just a question of deboning and chunking the leavings for the grinder.  Take the chunked meat to a place that makes sausage, and you're golden.

I've never been happy with the work from a processor.

Get the guts out as soon as possible.  Skin it and quarter it as soon as possible.  Get it cooled down as soon as possible.  A week or two at 34 degrees and it will be fine after its gutted and skinned.

Field dress asap to help cool the body to prevent bacteria from starting to form.
Quarter it up.
Leave the deboned pieces of meat  in a cooler full of ice (preferably not a yeti type cooler) for a few days. Leave the plug open and as the ice melts  and the water drains it will purge and clean the quartered meat. Add new ice as the the old ice melts of course.
Once the meat has been purged you can process it all yourself or just keep the better cuts of meat and take the shoulders and maybe some neck meat to the processors for sausage and stuff.
With some cheaper/mass processors you can't confirm if the meat you're giving them is the same meat you get back...

This is what I do, but I elevate the side of the cooler without the drain so that the water and blood drain out immediately

The only reason I can think of for people to go through so much extra work with venison is that they aren't getting the fat and silverskin off the meat.  That makes it taste 'gamey'.

Debone the meat and discard the shot up and bruised bits.  Remove hair, fat, and silverskin.  Throw it on the grill some salt and pepper.  Medium rare is too much.

Took 1st Place at a cook off with this processing and cooking method.

YouTube is your friend.  I skin my deer. Then I de bone the meat and put it in one of those small refrigerators from wal mart. A few days later I cut it up on the kitchen table with nothing more than a filet knife, a couple cutting boards, a few pots and pans and Reynolds freezer wrap from the store. Animals can be deboned in the field and only the meat brought out but check your laws regarding evidence of sex. For example, NV only requires the head as evidence of sex and that it only has to be kept with the meat. Not very complicated. Also, a small hand powered meat grinder can be had for pretty cheap from a Tractor Supply and is fine for one deer at a time. No other equipment needed.

This. We always hang them if we can, otherwise we get to chopping. I always take the tenderloins and straps first, because I have this fear that the processor will try to bogart them. Anyway, get the shoulders for smoking or roasting, and hams if you want them, otherwise, hack off all the meat that you don't intend to make really good meals with (loins, steaks, etc) and bag it up. That is what you take to the processors to grind up for ground meat and sausage. Its much cheaper too, because you already did all of the work.

I'm hungry now.

Thanks for all the help.... I have been on youtube watching videos and should be good to go.....   Now I just need to kill something!

The killing is the easy part.  It's all the work that comes after that gets me!  We make a party of it though, plenty of beer and a BBQ pit for choice cuts.

I just got my second deer ever tonight.  The first one I got two years ago we took to the processor.  This one is very small (was excited and didnt think of size). The wife and I are going to cut her up tomorrow ourselves. We both agree its a good skill to learn.

It is. I save a ton of money now that I do it myself, and shoot more deer too. I did pay to have three done last year because I shot two one afternoon and three the next morning, didn't have room or time to do that many by myself.

We didn't do it perfectly but I didn't think it was that bad at all.  She watched a video on You Tube during the day while I was at work on how to get started and where all the "good" parts are. We took our time and I think we did a decent job of it. She is going to finish trimming the meat we cut up and vacuum seal it today.

It will be a very rewarding feeling when you take that first bite knowing you did it all yourself. When we're cutting up the hanging tenders go right in a skillet

If the weathers cool you can go for a long time.  A group of farmers I used to hunt with would let their deer hang in a lean to on the side of the barn for a week or more if the temps were averaging the 40's or below.

I shot a deer Thanksgiving evening last year in N MI.  The temp that night went down to 7° and the deer froze solid.  I then threw the deer on the roof of my car and made stops at other friends in N MI for the remainer of the weekend.  Unfortunately, a front went through the day after Thanksgiving and temps averaged slightly above freezing for the rest of the weekend.  I didn't pull into the processor in S MI until Monday, 3.5 days later.  The deer was still cold but not frozen.  The deer was fine and as a matter of fact one of the tastiest I've ever had.

Another way to look at it is how long do you let meat sit in the refrigerator?  If the temp is as cold as your fridge or colder the meat can sit a long time once you've gutted it.

It doesn't get cold here so icing is popular. Seems to really take away any gamey taste. I prefer it to taking it to a processor.



We just found someone that will skin for 20 bucks. This works out well because I live in the burbs and have to do it under the tree in my yard.



I prefer to do the other processing myself. I cube and can, freeze backstrap, freeze small roasts. Scraps go to the dogs. The amount of scraps the doggies get (I can it for them) depends on the weather. It was too hot to trim all the scraps off the ribs and carcus this week.



It is usually a few hours before the kill and the butchering. For one thing, more deer may come out, and frequently do so we stay in the stands.



The icing and aging seems to take care of any gamy taste, my venison is always delicious.  

Do as I do when I get a deer. take the "bulk meat" [neck, rib meat, back straps, tenderloins] off and put in plastic bags and put it in the frig. Then, take the quarters off, wrap in garbage bags, and stick them in the freezer. I have a 13 cubic foot chest freezer and I've had as many as 4-5 deers worth of quarters it it waiting for the season to end before them come out one by one to thaw and age in the frig.

The same freezer serves as my warm weather deer locker while hunting after work. After washing the deer out and letting it drip dry, off go the legs and in goes the deer, hide and all, until I can skin it the coming weekend. I take it out Friday Night, and it's ready for skinning on Sunday.

I do all my own except one deer I take to a really great local processor for all hamburger.

Hamburger just takes a ton of time to do it right. And for me it's cheaper and easier to let the pro do it.

The rest of my deer are all steaks, roasts, and stew meat. And I can usually get it all done in just a few hours wrapped and in the freezer.

The ground venison I was getting was so gamy and bloody I didn't like it.

I think that's when I started doing it myself. We just took out a small roast the other day, ground it, and mixed it with a little ground beef for fat. OMG!!! So much better!

I've ground it and made sausage, I never just made bambie burgers. I'm going to get some Boston butts on sale to divide up and keep in the freezer for fresh ground venison. Or cheap fatty roasts.

A little bit of fatty meat ground with aged bled venison makes it perfect! It's super easy. I have a wearing meat grinder, not too expensive and works great!

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I used to take my deer to a processor and always thought I was getting screwed. The amount of meat I got back never seemed right, always light. The last time I used one I had shot 2 does, one very large and the other was average size, I got back about 40 pounds total. The next doe I shot I processed it myself and had about 50 pounds from 1 animal and every bit was the way I wanted it. Never looked back. It is a lot of work but worth every minute.

Have you ever eaten the ground stuff without it being cut with anything ?

That's the only way I've had it and it is good stuff.

People pay a lot of money for grass fed beef and un-cut venison is the equivalent.

I'm new to big game hunting as well, and have a lot of questions along the same lines as the OP. Several folks here have mentioned the "icing" method of preserving the meat, and how it removes a lot of the gamey taste. Just exactly how is this done? I'm assuming that the meat quarters are just put into an ice chest directly, no bagging or wrapping, and salt is put over the ice to keep it colder and help with preventing bacterial growth. Or do you just salt the meat down with coarse salt and toss it into the ice?  - keeping the drain open so the water runs off and then just adding more ice as itmelts. Deer season here is generally in the 80 degree range, so meat preservation quickly is important. Thanks for all the advice offered!!

Yes. It tasted like goat meat. This was from the processor, and only in the last few years. It could be just from what the deer were eating at the time.



All I know is that it's better when I home grind it. I added the ground beef this time cause someone purchased it. I actually added the vension to improve the ground beef. Plus I figured it would make it stick together better for burgers.



I'm going to take out another chunk today and grind it without adding anything. I figure it will be like angusburgers. It will give me an opportunity to use different plates on my grinder. I had only been doing sausage with my grinder, I always make stews and roasts out of venison. It's  a nice change grinding it. Maybe I will make some chili with course ground, and some burgers with the finer ground.



Maybe some meat loaf. I loves me some meat loaf! I hope the sammich maker gets another deer today, she's been trying all week, saw some does but couldn't get a good shot.

I had always heard to keep the water off the meat so when I first saw this method I was flabbergasted. Then I tasted the meat.



We put the quarters in a cooler, and just ice them down. It seems to be irrelevant as to weather salt is added or not. I make sure the meat is very clean before this is done. No hair or dirt on it, bloodied stuff cut off as best you can.



Every day we unplug the cooler and let the bloody water drain. You can also just place the bags of ice on top of the quarters, it really doesn't seem to matter.



4 days seems to be good enough, I went almost a week the last time. I wouldn't go over that. I actually wouldn't go over 4 days but the meat was clean, it didn't seem to matter. It was cold!! I had to take the quarters out and rinse them in the sink to make them warm enough to cut up without freezing my hands.



We had 2 deer to process the last time so I would age it in the cooler, take out the chunks and cut them up and trim off the silver skin and other stuff. Put the chunks in a ziplock bag with coke, brine, and burbon (idea I got from here) and let them go another day in the fridge.



Next day that stuff is frozen or canned and new stuff gets trimmed and fridged.



I don't really think it matters what it marinates in, whatever it is seems to get the blood out. I will probably just stick with brine and a little vinegar the next time, just because it's easier. The vinegar seems to help when you trim the membranes off the meat. I will say that the batch of longer aged meat was very easy to cut and trim.



There has never been any foul odor from doing it this way. Just smells like nice fresh meat.



The key I think is draining the water every day. I have gone so far as to put a rack or something on the bottom to keep the meat off of the blood. It depends on what theory I am operating on that particular day.





Be prepared for Yankees telling you how that won't work and water should never touch the meat. Enjoy your tasty venison!



I have read post after post of people claming you can't eat big boars, you can't eat stinky bucks in rut . . . . Here are a few pics of things I have eaten.



not me, but one I killed







while that one was dying, this one tried to get away. you can run but you'll just die tired! That one is taken with me





Most of the meat (not the backstraps or tenderloin of course) was pressure canned. It was very mild tasting. just a tad chewier than store meat but far from tough.





This one was the latest. Only a 6 point but smelled very rutty. A few days in the ice chest took care of that.


Gratuitous puppy pic.  Little "magnum" a 13 inch rescue beagle. He has 2 big "sisters" to train him.  I'm holding him now typing one handed.    mommies little magpie. sweet little puppy!




He's growing fast and becoming very rambunctious.  I've spent the whole week off work preparing a puppy proof mudroom to keep him safe and happy while I am at work. He's outgrown his corral in the week we've had him.



I have some cameras to watch them all while I'm at work, and I can come home for lunch.

I don't think it really matters if the ice touches the large quarters, ours usually does. The outside of the piece of meat gets pale but you trim the membranes anyway. Sometimes I try to keep the meat from sitting in bloody water. It makes it easier to drain that way. I've also not bothered to open the bag of ice, just lay it on the meat. having the proper sized cooler makes all of this easier.



hunting season begins in august in coastal SC, its not unusual to hunt in the high 90's or even 100's.

its not exactly backwoods hunting here. field dressing just makes a big mess. Its quicker and cleaner to get that deer in the truck as soon as possible and skin and quarter it.



I understand that in other places the animals are large and have to be packed out, and its cold. The deer are pretty small here, a few pounds of guts doesn't make a lot of difference.



I have a gut bucket in my yard.

Most of the deer I harvest are never field dressed, in fact unless I am saving some organs, I don't even open the abdominal cavity. Hang them up, skin them out, and quarter them up, one of the benefits of hunting at home. The guts stay in and are discarded still inside the carcass. I am not as efficient as some, don't care for the ribs and seldom eat the organs. I will take a cut inside to retrieve the inner loins but that's about it. I have a friend that will eat darn near the entire deer, right down to the brain and the nibbly bits. I usually shoot a doe for her each year just for the entertainment of watching her pick one apart, she'll spend an entire day scraping bones, saving every little piece of red meat. I don't have time for all that, if I need more meat I just go shoot another deer.

I make burgers uncut with venision I grind, frim the scraps and it is good. Good in chili too, with beans of course.

That is what I do, but without the salt. I rinse the quarters and meat off with a garden hose and put it in the cooler and cover completely with loose ice.

I do that for about 4-5 days and it works fine.  It lets the bood drain out of the meat.

I leave the drain open and tilt the cooler up on the non drain side so the water can constantly drip out as the ice melts.

I then take the meat out and cut into steaks, roasts, stew, or to be ground as time allows like on rainy days I am not hunting or on Sunday.

Check your area processor.  Mine just takes the entire deer from you.  I drag in a deer, no need to field dress it, and go pick up my vacuum sealed packaged meat later in the week.  Hanging venison is not needed in my opinion.  As it is, if I drop one off and Saturday and pick it up on Friday, it hung all week most of the time because it is not even frozen when I get it early like that.

Prices range from $60 - $100.

If they would let me stand there and watch them skin and debone the meat, then let me put the meat in zip locks and take it home to remove fat and silverskin...

I might pay $20 - $30 for them to do that part because it takes me 1 - 2 hours. I'm not fast with that part at all...

This is how I do it....I have processed over 150 deer this way over the last 20 yrs,,,

Carcas or quartered meat should be cooled and stored at 34-38 degrees Fahrenheit. The carcass is easiest to skin soon postmortem, but skinning can be postponed for a few days as long as the carcass is quickly and thoroughly cooled. Tenderness is generally improved when the carcass or quartered meat is aged at least a week at 34 to 38 F with good air circulation around any exposed meat. Air circulation around exposed meat causes its surface to dry—the dry layer should be trimmed off during butchering. Tenderness continues to improve during the cold storage aging process until about 16 to 21 days. The meat that will be ground and the tenderloins do not need to be aged. Freezing should be avoided during the aging process because it inhibits aging and speeds spoilage after thawing. However, meat does not go bad when it freezes during the aging process. The meat should be kept clean and dry throughout field dressing, cold storage and aging processes. Soiling and excessive moisture increase the likelihood of spoilage.

After the aging process, fat, cartilage, bruised meat, dried outer meat and non-muscle material should be removed from the muscles using a sharp filet or boning knife while working on a clean, cool cutting surface. Cartilage, such as tendons, ligaments and fascia, are responsible for much of the toughness in meat.

This is the cooler I use... it has a fan in the top and it circulates air constantly...



Unless cooking the meat fresh, it should be quickly frozen after butchering. Meal-sized quantities of meat should be placed into plastic bags. Most of the air should be removed from the plastic bags before sealing. When the meat will be stored in the freezer for more than a few days, the plastic bags should be wrapped in freezer paper; the freezer paper should be sealed with tape; and the packages should be labeled appropriately. Meat prepared and stored in this manner maintains good quality for more than a year. Vacuum-sealed bags probably improve the storage process, and vacuum-sealed bags may not require a second layer of freezer paper.

Oh and if you cook your venison steaks beyond medium rare YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!

I make no claims that I'm doing it right, but after getting burned by a processor I have done all my own for the past two years.  I clean/quarter the deer so it fits in a cooler.  We put a thick layer of ice down, then wax paper to keep the meat from touching, then the meat, then a thick layer of ice on top.  We drain the water 3x a day and add more ice 2x a day.   I keep the drain closed because we have lots of bugs down here and I don't want them getting into the cooler.  I leave it in there at least 2 days but usualy butcher by the end of the 3rd.

The meat at the edges turns light/tan and I trim those for the dog.  The rest I butcher from a youtube video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cUvY9Ingwg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Poor quality video but the guy is really good.

We bought a cheap grinder at Gander Mtn last black friday.  I throw everything I cut off in it.  silverskin, tendons, scraps, whatever, add a little bacon as I push it in and it makes great ground meat.

Put it all in freezer paper, date it, and freeze it.  Tastes far better than anything I've gotten from a processor.

Before I got a grinder I still processed my own.  I wasn't happy for a number of reasons with the results from taking them to a butcher.  When I started processing my own I'd take the cuts that I wanted ground to a butcher and pay them to do it.  Usually ran $10- $15.  I eventually  got a good grinder from Cabela's and do it all myself now.  Only takes a few minutes to grind what I've got to grind.  when you do your own you know you're getting all your own meat and can be as picky as you want about how you divide into roasts, steak, stew meat, jerky, and ground.  I like that  all that's necessary when I thaw a package is to cook it, not clean it up from a quickly done butchering job.

Got 3 doe this week.  Had a coworkers  husband  come over helped me process them all today.  Have just over 71 lbs of meat.  Am going to make burgers out of some and take some to meat market for specilaity stuff. Long day but was worth it.

Its called PURGING when you put it on ice and let it melt and drain. Put a full bag down unbroken and it will stay ice for almost a week. Meat should probably go in a game bag and spread evenly on the ice. Loose ice on top till the cooler is full. Prop up opposite end from drain and open drain. Leave lid not closed all the way because you actually want the ice to melt. The water is below 40 degrees so it is not a bacteria threat.

Hanging in a cooler 32-38 degrees for a week or more is better than purging.

Both are better than no aging.

The colder the meat (except frozen) the easier this is: Butchering is easy just following the natural lines. Muscles usually pull apart with little knife work. Take your time and learn the anatomy and you will get better over time.

The colder the meat (except frozen) the easier this is: Grinding is easy to do with the right powered grinder. If you have a lot of deer that is not trimmed well, a hand grinder will take you forever. I like to do a coarse grind then a medium grind for burger. Double fine for ground jerky. Keep some plain venison for tacos and such when you don't need to add fat. For burgers grind bacon ends and pieces. Up to 50%.

I suggest you package it in a vacuum sealer or wrap it tight so its not exposed to air and freezer burn. Package to portion. If you live alone do you really want it in 5 pound bags? or if you have 8 people in your family 1/3 of backstrap doesn't help much.

This is a timely process to do it right if you aren't experienced. I also suggest not doing too many at once and keep a lot of sharp knives available.