The Five Days of Deer.

[jdmidwest]

It all started with this on Sat. eve.  Baby girl got her first horned buck, a little 4 pointer with the .300 Blackout AR I built for her last year.  It was her second deer with the rifle, this one was a nice piece of shooting on her part from about 150-175 yards out.

Day one, getting it out of woods and field dressed.  Prepped for hanging out on a nice cold night.

Day two.  Skinned and deboned.  All meat into the coolers  Horns cut off and prepped for simple plaque mounting.

Day three.  Process all meat into its next components.  Tenderloin cut into steaks.  A few of the ham muscles cut into steaks also.  Two ham muscles sliced into jerky strips.  Rest of hams chunked into stew meat.  Shoulders and all other trim meat ground up.  Jerky meat into Teriyaki brine with some spices.

Day four.  Jerky into dehydrator.  Some of ground meat mixed with ground pork and spices, rolled into logs to set another 24 hrs. to make summer sausage.

Day five.  Summer sausage into oven.  Hour later, removed, and left to cool.  Packaged and in freezer.  Knives all resharpened and ready to go again....

 

[MOPanfisher]

Congratulations to her, and on her fine marksmanship.  My wife's 2 deer are just deboned and in freezer awaiting end of season.  AND maybe a new smoker for christmas.  Lem sells an andouille  summer sausage mix that I absolutely love, might even last longer with kids all grown up.

[jdmidwest]

I don' t like to freeze and thaw meat more than one time. Just leads to bacteria growth.  I do know several that do it that way also. Since deer are usually butchered in less than sterile areas and dragged thru the woods, they need to be watched for spoilage. 

Good thing about this year, mostly grass fed deer. Acorn crop got gobbled up early. Deer smell better and meat tastes better. 

 

[Seth]

I've got two bucks, a doe and a fawn deboned and wraped in plastic and freezer paper and in my freezer, which is all I need till next year. Any other deer that I get this year will be given away to other folks I know who want the meat. Each deer gives me three roasts, two eye or rounds, two inner loins, two backstraps and a varying amount of grinding scraps depending on the size of the deer. I'll usually double up on the cuts on small deer so that we have enough for a meal and lunch the next day. I think I've got about 70# of grinding scraps from those deer. I'll use some for making brats, take some to Swiss for deer sticks and probably grind the rest as straight deer for making jerky. If I want to make deer burgers, I'll mix it 50/50 with some cheap 70/30 beef burger. In the past, I mixed beef tallow in when grinding, which was great for burgers, but made the jerky greasy. I do several different things with each cut so I just freeze everything as whole muscle cuts and slice it up as needed after it thaws.

Slow cooking roasts in the crock pot, grilled steaks and stir fry are what I do with most of my muscle cuts. The inner loins get dipped in egg wash, floured and deep fried. We don't fry much of the backstraps anymore.

[nomolites]

Bow buck vacuum sealed and put up as tenderloin, loin, roast, jerky meat and grind.  I have not seen a good buck yet while gun hunting and will be out again in the morning and ride a stand until the storms hit...may be the day.  Will likely take a second deer(doe)with the bow later.  I leave my cuts in larger sections too like Seth for flexibility(and I like fresh cut chops, etc.) and do all my grinding at one time at season end, make/stuff my own andouille, sweet Italian, breakfast, brats and goat and mild summer sausage the same day I grind.  The andouille and summer sausage get smoked to finish the "work" portion of the process.  The rest of the year it's enjoy....

Mike

[Seth]

We do all of our grinding after season as well. Dad and I went halves on a 1.5hp grinder from Cabela's several years ago for doing our deer and hogs. It will grinding up 100# of meat in short order.

[Mitch f]

Father in law leaves no piece of meat unaccounted for. When he's done with butchering, he puts the large bones in a big Pyrex dish and places them in the oven for 2 hours, then scrapes all the meat off the bones with a knife. He gets a huge bowl full of scrapings and makes stir fry that lasts for days. He's as happy as a pig in the mud. I'm busy next to him with the vacuum sealer.

[Huntingducks117]

What is your summer sausage recipe.  I am looking for a good summer sausage recipe that I do not have to have a smoker for, since I don't have a smoker.  I tried a kit last year and added high temp cheddar, and finished off in the oven.  I didn't care much for it. 

[Seth]

I'll see if dad will share his recipe with me. He doesn't smoke his and it is one of my favorites.

[Seth]

48 minutes ago, Huntingducks117 said:

What is your summer sausage recipe.  I am looking for a good summer sausage recipe that I do not have to have a smoker for, since I don't have a smoker.  I tried a kit last year and added high temp cheddar, and finished off in the oven.  I didn't care much for it. 

I'll see if dad will share his recipe with me. He doesn't smoke his and it is one of my favorites.

1 hour ago, Mitch f said:

Father in law leaves no piece of meat unaccounted for. When he's done with butchering, he puts the large bones in a big Pyrex dish and places them in the oven for 2 hours, then scraps all the meat off the bones with a knife. He gets a huge bowl full of scrapings and makes stir fry that lasts for days. He's as happy as a pig in the mud. I'm busy next to him with the vacuum sealer.

Mitch, how does he do his stir fry? I make a lot of venison stir fry and always curious as to what sauces and blends other people use. Heck, I don't even know if I am technically cooking it right, but it sure does taste good. Here is what I do.

I heat up olive oil or butter in a skillet and throw in  sliced bell pepers and onions for a few minutes and then throw in some sliced mushrooms. I'll season them with a little garlic salt and black pepper while cooking and remove. Next, I throw in thin slices of venison for a minute or two until they are browned on each side. I'll throw the veggies back in and add in my sauce (3 parts soy sauce, 2 parts oyster sauce and 1 part sesame oil) and stir it around until everything is hot and then serve it over a bed of rice.