I managed to get lucky enough to bag a buck on Saturday, and I'm working on getting it all boned out and trimmed. Usually, one deer takes me about one work week to process at home, doing about a quarter per night. I know, I know, I'm super slow, but I'm usually pretty picky about getting as much silver-skin, tendons, and fat out as I can. This year I'm thinking about not being quite as picky about getting every last bit of silver-skin off, but I'm not sure how relaxed to be about it. I still get as much fat off as possible, but not sure how picky I need to continue to be with silver-skin. Most of this will end up mixed with pork as burger, sausage, or ground jerky. Does anyone have any pictures of what their venison looks like right before it hits the grinder for sausage or burger? I plan on grinding everything twice - once through a medium plate, then through a fine plate.

Thanks!!

nice looking deer, congrats!

Thanks! Was the first time shedding blood with the 6.5 Creedmoor. Heard both good and bad things about the 143 EDL-X so I figured I had to try it for myself. One pass-through shot at 165 yards, missed all bones and blew out the top portion of the heart. Left a blood trail Stevie Wonder could have followed!

I'm not a lot of help without pictures but basically I just remove the silver skin from the loins and only where its real thick near the ends of the tendons. I cut the meat into chunks across the real thin silver skin so it doesn't wrap in the grinder and go ahead and grind it. I agree with removing all the fat and any meat that doesn't look pristine.

Personally, I do not worry about silver skin OR fat. If you vacuum pack the meat, very little oxidation takes place with the fat. It is the oxidation that gives it the rancid (but still very edible) flavor. I can kill a deer on my own property and have it in the freezer in about 3 hours! Of course I’ve done a couple before!

A lot of people go nuts about taking fat off and other not pure meat. Making work for themselves. A lot of books say trim all the fat. Not me; save all the fat cause fat is flavour - kind of like trimming all the fat off a pork roast and expecting it to taste great. I don't eat pork fat (rarely eat any farm meat) but the fat is the flavour but you don't have to eat it.

Bull moose and caribou are leaned right out now after the rut so I save cow moose and caribou fat from the females to mix in with lean bull meat. Vacuum pack the xtra cow fat as they have lots that can be trimmed for that purpose and still leave lots for flavour.

Unlike farm animals we eat all the wild animal fat either cooked or just raw.

Big paranoia being perpetuated about eating fat - wild fat is quite fine and will not make you fat either.

IMO LOL.

And yes great deer regardless.

Interesting to hear other folks' experience with deer fat. The deer fat that I've had in the past was horrible - stuck to your palette, teeth, tongue, gums - everything. Like eating a crayon.

Ya it does a bit when you eat raw but tasty. Eat a lot of it that way for snack food. Just keep in the fridge freezer and take out now and then and shave off bite size pieces. You don't even need to keep in fridge freezer really as long as it is dry and not too warm. Might be just a more traditional northern thing I suppose that has died out most places. Acquired taste I suppose.

Cooked up fine enough too BUT different strokes for different folks. Main thing is enjoy to your own way.

the silver skin mostly comes off in the grinder , don't notice it in the grind

my dad would get every bit off I couldn't tell when I ran his bucket of meat vs mine in the grinder other than cleaning the grinder there was less wrapped around the spindle

I steak the straps , loins and cut jerky form the rump the rest gets ground

and the trim gets ground last for dog food that is really full of silver skin but dogs don't seem to care

congratulations

Nice deer. Congratulations!

I start the work of processing a deer as soon as I shoot it. From shooting this deer to wiping the table clean it took me 13 hours this year. One long day, but it’s done and I can continue on with life for the rest of the week.

I used to be pretty picky about the silver skin. Then I realized that Deer Processors are definitely not picky. They are cutting those deer up fast, running everything through grinders. So I stopped being so picky. Have not noticed anything different. The silver skin melts when cooked. It will clog the grinder though. So I only trim thick silver skin and fat. Any other cuts, like the forearms, I just cut into smaller pieces and mix them around with other chunks before grinding. The fat and glands are the most important to get rid of. I still trim silver skin when it is easy and big sections. The rest I just cut into smaller chunks. Saved hours off my processing time and saw no difference in my brats, sausage, snack sticks or burger jerky.

We take everything off. I don't like the fat taste on deer.
Silver skin doesn't bother me as much.

I think back in the day folks ate the fat as a source of energy. Today that's not needed as much since McD is just around the corner and so many work sitting on their duff.

I just get all fat out for grinding, add beef fat and grind twice.

It all works out.

I take it ALL off. Look into what that silver skin does in your intestines.
Silver skin comes off just like the skin on a fish.

Your image isn't coming through on my end...I've noticed this a bit here lately for me. Wonder if it's just my PC?

I get the bulk off but I don't waste a lot of time trimming anything.

I remove the fat where I can get it usable chunks for the birds. Suet here is hard to get and pricey as little is butchered locally anymore. I don't mind some chew to my meat - good for the teeth and carnivore in me. I rarely cut my meat it pieces. Bite, rip and chew, lol.

I made gravy from the first deer meat I fried in a pan. Never again! My mouth felt like it was coated in vaseline. I now get rid of all, all, all the fat. I take off most of the silver skin and the heavier tendons that I can get to easily. I agree that silver skin probably doesn't contribute much to flavor and I don't notice it in stuff I grind. It does clog up the grinder plate sometimes though. The second finer grind takes care of whatever sliver skin makes it through the course grind so that there isn't any fibrous kind of meat in the burger. I'm talking mule deer and maybe white tail fat isn't as gamey?