tiny deer down - the wife's gonna kill me

[Hunter115522]

Congratulations on the kill! 

[Jim_]

1 hour ago, mazzgolf said:

… But - because it's a small deer, I don't really want to take it to a butcher. Too small to pay a guy to do it

Who was the guy on NJH who had the signature … "I once got a small deer discount from the butcher."  lol

Congrats on the harvest! All of my kills were from the ground, too.  I bet you will find butchering  to be a rewarding part of the hunt. I learned how to do it pre-YouTube days. Learned it pretty quickly. Fun. The grinder/sausage attachment I got for my wife's stand mixer is adequate for my uses..

Have fun.

[Buck154]

Congrats. It's not hard butcher it your self. Good Luck

[rgw]

Congrats

[archer36]

One last thing on your own butchering. Keeping hair off your meat is a real challenge. If you can remove the hide in one shot you will minimize it. No matter what, always put the blade under the skin and cut out instead of cutting the hide outside in. You will reduce the amount of loose hair by at least 80%. 

[mazzgolf]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm looking forward to trying it. It's a small deer, so I figure this is the perfect opportunity for me to finally try. Small enough to work with and I won't feel bad if I screw some of this up. At least I'll be able to say I tried. Just have to figure out the logistics - where to put the quarters while I'm cutting it up, where to do the final deboning and grinding, figure out how I'm throwing all the scraps away without making a mess in the garage and kitchen

I watched a few good YouTube videos - doesn't seem complicated. But I'm a little worried about the sausage - I really like sausage, so I want to find a good mix and instructions. I also need to hit the supermarket for some beef and/or pork I want to mix in for the ground meat and sausage.

What kinds of beef or pork do you all buy to mix in with your ground meat and sausage? Style and type of cuts?

What about sausage mix? Anything at ShopRite or Walmart that you use?

[rocky]

A folding table with a opened up trash bag taped down works great as a work station if you don't have meat lugs. Wear latex gloves so you can take them off and have clean hands to touch other things. Have all of the knives, gloves, trash bags and whatever else you think you might need handy and within arms reach. Good luck and once you get used to it you will never take another deer to a butcher.

[KBfishing]

18 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

Thanks for all the tips. I'm looking forward to trying it. It's a small deer, so I figure this is the perfect opportunity for me to finally try. Small enough to work with and I won't feel bad if I screw some of this up. At least I'll be able to say I tried. Just have to figure out the logistics - where to put the quarters while I'm cutting it up, where to do the final deboning and grinding, figure out how I'm throwing all the scraps away without making a mess in the garage and kitchen

I watched a few good YouTube videos - doesn't seem complicated. But I'm a little worried about the sausage - I really like sausage, so I want to find a good mix and instructions. I also need to hit the supermarket for some beef and/or pork I want to mix in for the ground meat and sausage.

What kinds of beef or pork do you all buy to mix in with your ground meat and sausage? Style and type of cuts?

What about sausage mix? Anything at ShopRite or Walmart that you use?

@Ringtail had a sausage recipe earlier I believe. Maybe she can post it for you.

[Cripple Shot]

3 hours ago, archer36 said:

cutting off the front shoulders, rear legs, remove backstraps, and tenderloins. I would keep the front shoulders whole. I would separate the muscles off the back legs and make roasts and steaks. The odds and ends go to stew meat or ground meat.

Congrats Mazz. 

I too learned before YouTube.  Not to hard as I also would do the same as archer36. All my cuts were done while the deer was  hanging from htambrel. 

Here is a YouTube link by Scott Rea who butchers the whole deer on the table...

How To Butcher A Deer. Fallow Buck Butchery.

Your only difference should be not having enough trim met to make sausage. You may need to t use a front leg to have enough for that.

Best of luck

 

[tpr1921]

Congratulations on your buck. Monroeville has some great bucks roaming around. Best of luck getting one.

[Shootemandmountem]

Congrats!

[Ringtail]

2 hours ago, mazzgolf said:

Thanks for all the tips. I'm looking forward to trying it. It's a small deer, so I figure this is the perfect opportunity for me to finally try. Small enough to work with and I won't feel bad if I screw some of this up. At least I'll be able to say I tried. Just have to figure out the logistics - where to put the quarters while I'm cutting it up, where to do the final deboning and grinding, figure out how I'm throwing all the scraps away without making a mess in the garage and kitchen

I watched a few good YouTube videos - doesn't seem complicated. But I'm a little worried about the sausage - I really like sausage, so I want to find a good mix and instructions. I also need to hit the supermarket for some beef and/or pork I want to mix in for the ground meat and sausage.

What kinds of beef or pork do you all buy to mix in with your ground meat and sausage? Style and type of cuts?

What about sausage mix? Anything at ShopRite or Walmart that you use?

I buy a pork butt and grind the whole thing up to mix in 50/50 with my venison meat for sausages. I have never heard of anyone mixing beef in with sausages. 
I always mix up my own spices for sausages. I have two sausage recipes that I use one for hot Italian and one for sweet Italian. Depending on how much ground meat you want to dedicate for sausages, you could either make one or both. I made 40lbs of sausages this year, 1/2 hot 1/2 sweet. If you want to go the DIY route I can get the recipes out and post them. If not I’m sure there are good pre made mixes out there, I just have not tried them. 
As for the casings the butcher section of any grocery store should have them. They are usually in a sealed bag. They come salted so you let them soak in a bowl of water for a bit then rinse them out to get ready to stuff. 
 

I have a crock pot of venison sausages and red sauce simmering in the kitchen right now 

[mazzgolf]

1 hour ago, Ringtail said:

If you want to go the DIY route I can get the recipes out and post them

@Ringtail Can you please? I'm not sure if the supermarket will even have the pre-made mixes... but I have a bunch of spices here at the house already.

[DV1]

Just reading this now. I hope you have it in a cooler somewhere, and if so, I can show you how to do it if you bring it here Saturday afternoon. Can't do it before then, but I have the space, and tools to do it here, and show you how for the next time. 

[Lunatic]

11 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

@Ringtail Can you please? I'm not sure if the supermarket will even have the pre-made mixes... but I have a bunch of spices here at the house already.

Take this from me, you will thank me later. Go on line and for your first time sausage making buy premix spices for whatever sausage you want to make. They are not expensive.

you may have spices at home but you will not have all of them and I bet not any with sufficient quantity. By the time you buy what you need one by one you will be triple cost of buying premixed. Also premix gives you some instructions you may need if this is your first time. 
Anyway if the remember Ringtail just adds to premix spices anyway. 
I do like this brand :