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2022-2023 Hunting Thread


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14 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

I am taking my first run at butchering/processing whatever deer I bag this year.  Have field dressed and quarted previously (and removed backstraps) but never taken it all the way through the process.  Not looking for anything fancy as an end product, just some sausage, jerky, steaks, and I guess stew/burger meat.  As a noob, I am looking for any of the basic tips or tools/etc. that will help make this a success.  I know there are a lot of off the shelf options when it comes to jerky/sausage kits etc., but I am hoping to tap into the collective culinary knowledge of surly's greatest wild game bouchers/bouchère.

Wish I could help but I've never taken the full plunge.  I DO bone, cube, and bag everything for the processor so I can lose as much silver meat and tendons as possible.  I do mostly sausage/dry sausage, and you could tell the difference in quality immediately.  But I trust Bellville's ability to make a better final product than I could. 

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On 11/10/2022 at 9:44 AM, hookemATL said:

I am taking my first run at butchering/processing whatever deer I bag this year.  Have field dressed and quarted previously (and removed backstraps) but never taken it all the way through the process.  Not looking for anything fancy as an end product, just some sausage, jerky, steaks, and I guess stew/burger meat.  As a noob, I am looking for any of the basic tips or tools/etc. that will help make this a success.  I know there are a lot of off the shelf options when it comes to jerky/sausage kits etc., but I am hoping to tap into the collective culinary knowledge of surly's greatest wild game bouchers/bouchère.

Absolutely do it. I usually take one to the processor and do the rest myself. I have a few different butchery books, but I find myself using this one when I need a reference during processing or just need a refresh. Lots of pictures, spiral bound. 
 

https://www.amazon.com/Gut-Cut-Cook-Processing-Preparing/


Keep your knives sharp and wear one of those cut gloves. Keep all the shanks. Don’t bother trying to trim them out. Save them for stews and soups. Use the shoulder and hindquarter bones to make a bunch of stock for chili and soups. Back straps for steaks, shoulder and trimming for grind, hinds for thin steaks for chicken fry, roasts and jerky. Borrow a good grinder from someone the first time or do a group processing with someone that has one, and if it is something you are going to get into buy a good grinder from LEM or similar grade. Then a foot pedal and a sausage stuffer then a meat mixer. And a dehydrator and some pink salt. LEM also sells the high temp cheese if you are into that kinda thing in your sausage, and seasonings, casings, etc., but you can probably find them cheaper elsewhere.

 

 

Edited by Anastasis
double posted, merged because this site is run by an aggie.
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11 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Speaking of skinning deer, has anyone ever used an air compressor to balloon off the skin? I’ve seen it done with lamb and figure that it would work just fine for a deer as well except you have to work around the bullet hole. 

If you’ve got something strong and substantial to hang your deer from, you can pull the skin off with a jeep or four wheeler by tying a rope and gently reversing away from deer.  You’ve got to have a strong enough support that there isn’t much give and as already mentioned, it always easier if deer isn’t cold.

First, with deer hanging from strong support - cut the skin around the neck and pull down enough to put a rock behind the skin - something big enough to get a rope behind/around and tied off.  Tie the other rope end to the bumper of truck, jeep, four wheeler and reverse slowly and ease away from deer carcass with deer pulling away at roughly 45 degree angle.  If you’ve got a buddy there, have him help the skin off with a skinning knife as the hide is peeling off (again, slow and easy).

The above probably sounds complicated and possibly unsafe but if done gently, you can have a deer skinned in a few minutes with virtually no effort.  I’ve skinned dozens upon dozens of deer this way over the years with no mishaps aside from knot coming loose from the deer that required repeating the process.

Slow and easy like a Don Williams song…

Edited by MalibuSheriff
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Decades worth of trial and error on skinning 100's of deer in numerous ways under various weather conditions and fresh dead vs. hung has led me to this conclusion.......

Unless you have a permanent set-up at the ready and dedicated to either air or wench methods, it's far quicker, easier, and safer to just skin the SOB with a good knife rather than to dick around with all the shortcuts. 

Just like driving somewhere.....point A to point B - don't get delayed on the side roads looking for a faster way.

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23 hours ago, hookemATL said:

I am taking my first run at butchering/processing whatever deer I bag this year.  Have field dressed and quarted previously (and removed backstraps) but never taken it all the way through the process.  Not looking for anything fancy as an end product, just some sausage, jerky, steaks, and I guess stew/burger meat.  As a noob, I am looking for any of the basic tips or tools/etc. that will help make this a success.  I know there are a lot of off the shelf options when it comes to jerky/sausage kits etc., but I am hoping to tap into the collective culinary knowledge of surly's greatest wild game bouchers/bouchère.

@Anastasis put together a really nice summary.  This hits close to home as we just did over 300 lb of whitetail, axis and elk sausages this weekend (and still have some elk left over).  A few tips that I've learned over the years in addition to what @Anastasis noted.

-Get a group of people.  Kind of like making tamales, it's a lot more fun when you turn it into a social event.  If you're doing it solo, keep it manageable.  300 lb between my wife and I sucked and took all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and most of the evenings Monday and Tuesday to get everything packaged and vacuum sealed.

-Buy the good shit.  Spend as much as you can on the grinder.  Get lots of lug tubs.  You'll need more than you think.  

-Be diligent with trimming silverskin, removing tendons, etc.  IMO, it makes a huge difference on the quality of the sausage.  So much better when you don't have a big chunk of gristle or a wad of silverskin ruining a bite.  I think I'm going to buy one of these before next year.

https://www.lemproducts.com/product/silverskin-knife-kit/meat-slicers

-Keep everything VERY cold.  It's safer and the meat grinds so much better when it's almost frozen.  Clean your grinder parts between grinds, dry it and throw it in the freezer.  The friction will heat it up quickly, and when the fat gets warm it will start to gum up the grinder blade.

-Add ice water when you stuff into casings.  We do one cup per 5 lb and that seems to be about right.  It'll make it slide through the casing much easier.  

-Try different seasonings to dial in the flavor.  Keep a skillet nearby and make a little patty to try before you call it done.  We tweaked damn near every run in some form or fashion.  More salt here.  More pepper, there.  

-Vary the sausage you make.  This year we did pan, Italian, Greek and chorizo (pic below).  We'll do boudain, andouille, regular smoked and jalapeno cheddar smoked later this winter.  We did nothing but smoked sausage at first, and got tired of it after a while.  We bought half a steer as well this summer, so we're set for at least a year on hamburger and sausage.  We won't have to buy a single link of sausage or a single pound of ground.  It's nice to get some variety out of the same meat.

-Make sure you have a system set up to hang the links.  Cold smoking is awesome, but if you do the other varieties, you need to have a rack to hang them cold so the casings can dry out some.  We use our garage beer fridge and I rigged up some S-hooks to hang them in there.  

 

  spacer.png

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11 hours ago, MalibuSheriff said:

If you’ve got something strong and substantial to hang your deer from, you can pull the skin off with a jeep or four wheeler by tying a rope and gently reversing away from deer.  You’ve got to have a strong enough support that there isn’t much give and as already mentioned, it always easier if deer isn’t cold.

First, with deer hanging from strong support - cut the skin around the neck and pull down enough to put a rock behind the skin - something big enough to get a rope behind/around and tied off.  Tie the other rope end to the bumper of truck, jeep, four wheeler and reverse slowly and ease away from deer carcass with deer pulling away at roughly 45 degree angle.  If you’ve got a buddy there, have him help the skin off with a skinning knife as the hide is peeling off (again, slow and easy).

The above probably sounds complicated and possibly unsafe but if done gently, you can have a deer skinned in a few minutes with virtually no effort.  I’ve skinned dozens upon dozens of deer this way over the years with no mishaps aside from knot coming loose from the deer that required repeating the process.

Slow and easy like a Don Williams song…

We've done that with a jeep winch mounted on a steel frame.  Make a cut in the skin, wrap it in a tennis or racket ball, secure with zip-ties, and slowly peel it off with someone with a sharp knife helping.

Or just do it the old fashioned way.....;)

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3 hours ago, Spaulding Smails said:

Be diligent with trimming silverskin, removing tendons, etc.  IMO, it makes a huge difference on the quality of the sausage. 

QFMFT.  Our quality went way up when I started boning, trimming, and cubing it all before I take it in.  It takes time, but, I like drinking beer alone in the garage/kitchen. 

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Thanks again for all the contributions. One other side question:  if I get everything deboned and cubed/etc, how long is too long to wait to get the meat turned into sausage/etc?  Roasts/back straps/larger full pieces I assume I can freeze as long as they are packaged properly (butcher/Saran or vacuum?), but should the sausage/jerky/burger makings stay unfrozen and processed quickly ish?  Trying to schedule a processing party and want to know what kind of runway I have. 

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1 hour ago, hookemATL said:

Thanks again for all the contributions. One other side question:  if I get everything deboned and cubed/etc, how long is too long to wait to get the meat turned into sausage/etc?  Roasts/back straps/larger full pieces I assume I can freeze as long as they are packaged properly (butcher/Saran or vacuum?), but should the sausage/jerky/burger makings stay unfrozen and processed quickly ish?  Trying to schedule a processing party and want to know what kind of runway I have. 

Cold and dry (not submerged in water), you can keep well prepared meat a LONG time.  In fact, it probably enhances most if not all cuts and the final product.

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1 hour ago, hookemATL said:

Thanks again for all the contributions. One other side question:  if I get everything deboned and cubed/etc, how long is too long to wait to get the meat turned into sausage/etc?  Roasts/back straps/larger full pieces I assume I can freeze as long as they are packaged properly (butcher/Saran or vacuum?), but should the sausage/jerky/burger makings stay unfrozen and processed quickly ish?  Trying to schedule a processing party and want to know what kind of runway I have. 

I usually skin and hang my meat for 3-5 days.  We're fortunate that we have a walk-in at the ranch.  After deboning, I vacuum seal everything in the 15"x18" bags and throw it in the freezer.  The WT was from last January, Axis was from April and Elk was from October.  All the meat was great.  No freezer burn.  I pull everything out and let it get just barely thawed before we start cutting the muscles apart, removing silverskin and cubing.  And, I make sure it stays super cold throughout the whole process.

Like @Reagan1k said, I think you can leave it for a pretty good chunk of time if kept cold and dry.  So, if you shoot a deer and you're going to process two weekends later, I think you're good.  I'd freeze it in vacuum seal bags if you're going to wait any longer than that.  

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7 minutes ago, Spaulding Smails said:

I pull everything out and let it get just barely thawed before we start cutting the muscles apart, removing silverskin and cubing.  And, I make sure it stays super cold throughout the whole process.

That's a pro-tip.  Easier to work with and you can be more precise with your trimming and separation when the meat is in this state.  Even if the meat hasn't been frozen before, popping it into a freezer for a period of time to firm before you trim / separate is a helpful practice.

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On 11/8/2022 at 2:49 PM, Brisketexan said:

Thanks for the recs.  I shot a small doe, and still have meat from last year in the freezer, so I'm just getting some sausage and snack sticks made, went to Hudson's over lunch.  I'll see how it turns out.  Good to know there are some options out there now, though.  Hell, I drive by the one in Liberty Hill on my way back from hunting -- would be an easy drop off, and not a bad pickup.

I’m not a huge fan of their sausage but it’s definitely not bad. Their chop steaks and snack sticks are legit.

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Had a little twister go through my folk’s Lampasas place this morning, lots of small hail as well. Several big trees down close to the house, one tower blind destroyed, and the roof peeled back on a second tower. No damage to the house or barn we’ve seen yet. Lightning blew up a power pole at the road and we didn’t have power for about 8 hours. Back to normal now, but lots of clean up once the mud dries up.


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Last weekend after my oldest shot her doe I got my food plots planted, and we’ve gotten about 2” of rain this week which was great.

Saw a nice 10 point this evening running a doe while we were driving around in the mule checking feeders and blinds. Almost talked myself into pulling the trigger on him. Would probably have been the highest scoring buck we’ve shot on this place. Cell phone pic from -150 yards:

f87012d51ccbbb1c7bf969c7e68a90ca.jpg

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12 hours ago, 686 said:

Had a little twister go through my folk’s Lampasas place this morning, lots of small hail as well. Several big trees down close to the house, one tower blind destroyed, and the roof peeled back on a second tower. No damage to the house or barn we’ve seen yet. Lightning blew up a power pole at the road and we didn’t have power for about 8 hours. Back to normal now, but lots of clean up once the mud dries up.


f2a865fd83f4342d50edac70d8627ee4.jpg

01bf7dc45355d4df0ab5ae4577bf4ab8.jpg

86e7bcd07c2327a2cf6d984c5f3694de.jpg




Last weekend after my oldest shot her doe I got my food plots planted, and we’ve gotten about 2” of rain this week which was great.

Saw a nice 10 point this evening running a doe while we were driving around in the mule checking feeders and blinds. Almost talked myself into pulling the trigger on him. Would probably have been the highest scoring buck we’ve shot on this place. Cell phone pic from -150 yards:

f87012d51ccbbb1c7bf969c7e68a90ca.jpg

Our place is just up the road in Mills county, hope my pop up withstood that storm. 

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Good grief another one tonight. Was watching a herd of doe on the south end of my hay field and they started acting funny. Turned back to my right and on the north end was a dingo sniffing around the blood where I popped that one this morning. Click bang pow. Dingo #2 down. Fucking aggravating because I had a big fella sniffing around the doe that is at least a 10 and this would have been my first good look at him in person

Edited by Herbie Hancock
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On 11/12/2022 at 7:12 PM, Brisketexan said:


Yes. That something is “I didn’t see him on the ranch last weekend.”
They actually nap on the island by our house all the time. Usually not a big boy like that.

This monster 8  point used to lounge around our hood a few years ago.  I’d be 4-1/2 hours away in Shackelford County, freezing my ass off in a stand and my wife would text me photos of this deer lying around the yard and “you should have stayed home”.

AFAF7E02-B049-44AF-8AA4-2903D4BE5771.thumb.jpeg.9b773a251f5e269206e4e6b7181dac9b.jpeg

 

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Something incredibly odd is happening and idk wtf the explanation is.

I’ve watched one very good looking but very young 10 point that’s obviously been fighting by the condition of his rack, and two doe all in the last 20 minutes limping around with leg injuries. I can’t recall ever seeing more than one injured deer every couple seasons, and I’ve seen 3 in less than a half hour.

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12 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:

Something incredibly odd is happening and idk wtf the explanation is.

I’ve watched one very good looking but very young 10 point that’s obviously been fighting by the condition of his rack, and two doe all in the last 20 minutes limping around with leg injuries. I can’t recall ever seeing more than one injured deer every couple seasons, and I’ve seen 3 in less than a half hour.

Coyotes need to eat, too.

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23 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:

Something incredibly odd is happening and idk wtf the explanation is.

I’ve watched one very good looking but very young 10 point that’s obviously been fighting by the condition of his rack, and two doe all in the last 20 minutes limping around with leg injuries. I can’t recall ever seeing more than one injured deer every couple seasons, and I’ve seen 3 in less than a half hour.

My take is that they are using the injury to opt out for the rest of the season. Will probably portal to a different lease next year after getting healthy in the off-season. 

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Coyotes need to eat, too.

I would agree but we don’t have much of a coyote problem and I took two of them out Sunday morning (see up thread a few posts). I rarely hear them and usually only see 1-2 a year and it’s usually after I pull through the gate late at night/early AM. I mean it’s not as if the artificial turf on the playing field is to blame, so I don’t have a better explanation than you do about it being ‘yotes. It’s just….unusual?
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