That went well for you.....good job on some great eating!!

That was a lot of fun. Thanks so much, guys! You're the greatest!

Willy, thanks for the tenderloin ideas! We have a few recipes we use to celebrate the hunt, but it's always nice to add a great new one. (The only difference is that we'd keep the meat very rare.) That could easily become a classic around here. Thanks!

Danny, that looks like a masterpiece! We need to smoke more venison! Thanks for that photo!

Nice, TDHP. Thanks for the photo!

Oh, Pcr2! Is she a Buff Orpington? I need to show that to Daisy! She'l be jealous! Thanks for the photo!

When I shot this deer, I did the gutless deer processing in the woods and left the carcass right there. I know for you guys out west who cut up and carry out big game all the time, that is routine stuff, but it is only about my 7th deer handled that way - what a joy! I first heard about this only a couple years ago! I could understand how you could pull back the hide and get loins and quarters and other scraps off of the deer without gutting and dragging it, but I didn't see how you could get the inside tenderloins out - that was until Sharon sent me links to a couple of videos on it. Perfect anatomical sense! Sneaking them out from the outside around the edge of the spine without cutting into the abdominal cavity. Beautiful! I really don't mind gutting deer at all, but the thing that is so cool to me about this is that after I get this done, I have clean meat going right to the house and a carcass left in the woods - no deer hanging in the garage that I still have to deal with! And pulling the hide back on a hot deer is really easy. It takes me a little time in the woods, but it goes from woods to fridge with no mess in between. I do age the meat in the fridge before I freeze it, but at a perfectly controlled temperature. That beats hoping for good weather! Thanks again, Sharon, for the heads up on that one!

I think I found the perfect food safe bags for that clean skinned meat too - I ordered ice bags online! They are food safe, clear and tough! As soon as I get a quarter off, I lower it into an ice bag without letting it touch the ground. Beautiful. These are 20 lb. ice bags and they seem to work for whitetail processing just fine. I found that even when I cut up a big buck for Zim two years ago, I could just sneak that ice bag around a hind quarter (like wiggling a pillowcase up over a fat pillow) - but it worked! Now I go out hunting and have 5 ice bags with me - one for each hind quarter, one for each front quarter, and a fifth one for tenderloins, loins and all extra pieces I save. I throw those in a fridge until I get a chance to cut it all up and vacuum seal it. I still give it time to age before I transfer it to the freezer.

Boy, am I in the mood for some more venison! And good luck to every one of you out there this season!

(Tinknocker, I just posted the Canada thread on Friday, so it's not too far from the top. Hope you enjoy it!)

That's awesome. Way to go.
The bones make good stew and soups and add tremendous flavor to other soups and stews or broth. Just cut the bones up with a saw or hatchet & put them in the freezer.
I haven't tried to turn them into real jello.

Too late, Adam! The bones are all gone now! I'll have to keep that in mind for next time. Thanks!

Bummer. Ok I hope you enjoy the added flavor.

Warning: It will add extra fat to the stew, soup, broth

Nicely done.. Looks delicious..

Just do another half dozen to make it worth the drive for me to pick them up

nice job Patrice!!!!

I don't care for the liver, but I love the heart! Will this method work for keeping the heart, if so, how?
Dennis

Thanks, guys!

Iaduckhunter, if you've taken off all of the cuts of meat I did, you would need to cut into the chest cavity to get the heart and would then spill some blood doing that (which doesn't bother me a bit), but I would think you could still cut into the deer just under the rib cage in front and get that heart out and still not have to pull all of the guts out of the abdominal cavity or drag out the whole deer and hang it. I would say yes, it would work with a little more mess in the field, but still most of the advantages.

For you guys who have not cut up a deer in the field this way, here is a link to a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhns4hfLEjU
These guys are selling a knife set, but the video is decent enough to get the idea.

you can get the heart out by cutting at the bottom of the sternum. make about a six inch cut. cut the diaphragm enough you can reach through it. cut the deers throat cutting all the way through the windpipe. reach in through the diaphragm past the lungs and grab the windpipe from the inside. pull. it will come out with the heart and lungs attached to it.

Interesting video. Thanks. Don't think I've seen the gutless method. Yes it is easier to remove the hide in the field where it lays. You and Zim don't eat the ribs? Deer and elk ribs are a favorite of mine.

Lol Danny, you reminded me of when we were younger we would get the elks windpipe and diaphragm and try to make it boggle. Good times right there

Very cool. Looks great!

Adam, we never keep any bones from our deer. Maybe we've been missing out!

Thanks, guys!

very nice now I have to go look up the gutless method

I started leaving them hang by the neck in the tree last year the way we hang them when they get back to the house and skinning neck down rather than trying to move them into the garage and hang by the hind legs.

as I remove quarters I carry them in the garage where my dad and brother and son cut the meat off the bone and bag it. I am good for about 3 deer a night , they might prefer if we didn't do three a night.
but honestly it is the skinning that takes the most out of me , doing it while the deer is still warm might make that a lot less work.


Adam WI DNR has discouraged us from making any cuts through bone because of CWD been boning out with no cut bones since 2002

Pete, my hands and wrists don't care much for pulling cold deer hide anymore either. Just like any animal a deer sure peels nice when it is still warm. It is even less work for me when the little woman does it! She does a great job and is better with a knife than me.

Zim

Gcp dang that stinks. Is that statewide or county specific?
Patrice, I know some on here can't stand deer or elk ribs mainly because of the grease/fat. I just bake them with salt. To pack them out use a hatchet at the spine.

Man you all are making me want to go hunting. There's a leftover archery bull elk tag sale coming up too. Just can't imagine packing out a bull right now + not sure when or how often I'll be in Cleveland for my drs