Agree with most of your reasons . We have fed our family with venison , burger , steaks , roasts for over 40 years . The quicker , and cleaner you prepare your deer , the better it will taste . Especially if it is a younger animal that was fed on orchard grass , clover , corn , beans ; compared to fescue and acorns . Be selective if possible . Antlers feed the ego . A young buck or a 2-3 year doe can make excellent table fare . Do you want to hang it on the wall , or stack it in your freezer ?
Meat in the Freezer is my goal. The only time I care about antlers is after I filled my freezer, and gave away an abundant amount of venison to family and friends - then and only then do I care about antlers. Obviously by that point the season is over 🤷🏽♂️
My family has been butching and processing our venison for decades. Frankly, this is all great advice, but I have to add my 2 cents regarding trimming. Your belt knife "can do it all" but a fillet knife is by far the best trimming knife around. Silver skin and fat removal goes twice as fast, and it gives you a lot more control.
Same here I learned how to process my own deer at around 14-16 years old. Now I’m one month shy of 62 and just processed my deer three days ago with my 9 year old grandson by my side. Someday I hope he can pass it on to his grandson.😉
You have exactly the same ideas that I have used for years. Most folks who eat my venison are surprised with the good flavor. The stuff that goes to dog treats or the chicken pen seems like waste, but if it makes all your meat taste like a$$ then the whole animal is wasted. I learned this over the years on my own. I think it's wonderful that you are telling folks about it here!👍
One key point I've learned over the years is that instead of steaks, I get much better results cooking whole roasts and slicing them similar to London Broil, pink in the center. Venison does dry out very quickly when overcooked and this is one way to avoid that. Another is to simply brine a roast in saltwater prior to cooking. This helps get rid of a lot of blood taste and preserve moisture.
It all matters when it comes to putting up food, it all comes down to how it was killed, and taken care of. Prepared for storage, and cooked. Hunting might be fun on a primal level, but the work starts after the fun, I find it very satisfying to have a full freezer of edible food, but I feel the same way about a full wood shed, or a barn full of hay going into a long winter.
You da man! Spot on with the video. It’s great to hear each step you talk about for keeping the meat clean which makes a better product to eat. I’ve done this for years and people can’t believe they’re eating venison. Thanks for taking the time to talk about this.
Young man do you have a book??? You are a born teacher. This is the first video I’ve seen that you have done. I am going to venture and I feel very strongly that you are A Good Christian Man .
I agree vacuum seal is not good. Try Glad Press'nSeal Wrap and then Bucher paper. You will thank me. Meat stay good for a very long time. Thanks for your video
It's been more years then I am willing to say for my son and I with no deer. That's northeastern Minnesota for you tho,they have had to many severe winter's. We decided to use the deers fat to mix in our hamburger mix this time around. It's unbelievably Good!!!!
Another recipe tip: look for “old world” recipes from Europe. Most of them are from times when people are more game or when farm animals were closer in leanness to game meats. Goulash is one of my favorite examples.
We eat nothing but venison, with no added fat to the ground. To add some moisture for burger patties, you can add some mushrooms minced up super fine (4 oz. mushrooms per lb. of venison) with a few dashes of Worcestershire. Gives good moisture for thicker patties. Another way I have found that works really well is make 3 oz balls of ground, seasoned venison, and make Smashburger patties. Hot griddle, big spatula, place a piece of parchment paper on top, smash it super thin, you get wonderful crispy edges. Flip over, when almost done, add a slice of cheese. You can place 2 super thin patties on a bun. Yummy!
I’ve never had it and would like to give it a try. This older lady I know that makes the burgers adds a splash of milk she said it’s to add moister. I wouldn’t know. The mushrooms sound like a far better option though considering I love mushrooms.
Seasoned Venison ? that is gorse to eat rotten meats. I bet you like week or 2 week old road kills also. I've done guide work for other AK guided that let Moose hang for 2 or 3 months as the meat turned black and grew green slime over the meat and when the meat was ready to fall off the bones this is when these idiots called it good meats for eating
Process your own. You get the best quality. Plenty of videos on RU-vid to help you get a deer broken down. We don't have a walk in. We butcher everything after 2 days in a cooler and vacuum seal it. Leave in in the fridge for 3 days to a week "wet aged" and then freeze. Thaw, do some final trim and cook. We never cook a steak past 125 degrees, let it rest for 10 min it will continue to cook up to 130. Utter perfection.
I've been processing my own deer for 60 years and I completely agree with everything stated here. It's funny. I use freezer paper and always wondered if I was missing out because everybody tells me that vacuum sealing is far superior. Because I've never owned one, I thought perhaps they might be right, but I didn't know. I do know that I've pulled up ground venison that was left in my freezer for 10 years in double wrapped freezer paper, and it looked and tasted just fine. So I wondered how a vacuum sealer could improve on what I was doing already. This is confirmation that it wouldn't and I will NOT be investing in a sealer!
If you put the meat in zip lock bags then use a 5 gallon bucket of water you put the meat in the bags then dunk in the water to use the water to force the air out then press the zip lock to seal the bag. Next is freeze meats on trays first them put meat in zip lock bags and use the water method to push the air out and seal the bags. Air is the evil to causing locker burn.
I don’t know about 10 years!! But I had a bag of doe burger that froze on the bottom of freezer that I could never get til I defrosted that was shot 8 years when I got it free, and it wasn’t burnt at all and tasted fine..
Thanks for confirming many if my thoughts on deer processing. I cut meat for 27 years, retired and now processing deer. Only cut one a day, freezer wrap and trim extremely well. Only open for a month and already having referrals. I want my customers to enjoy a good palatable piece of meat. Buddy
Absolutely agree with 90% of this Gut and skinned within a couple hrs of shooting. Aged hanging 2-3days weather permitting. Otherwise in fridge. Even up to 5 days there. Sliver skin fat etc has got to go, imperative step to avoid being chewy Cook steaks like beef. High heat fast with bunch of butter or even. In bacon grease. Burger gets about 20% bacon No need for over seasoning. Just the normal season salt onion and garlic powder. With a touch of your preferred seasoning. Montreal. Or Tony cach here Where I disagree is marinate but only for jerky be it whole muscle or ground. Great video. Wish I would've seen it 15 b years ago before learning on my own.
My last deer was a 142lb doe. I took to local processor for all burger. 3 weeks later he brought out a tray with 12 lbs of burger. I'm done getting ripped off. Processing my own now.
The only disagreement I have with this video. Is if you plan on dry aging try to keep the hide on. With the hide on, you don’t form as much crust resulting in less waste.
A great marinade for game is called allegro marinade. Kroger used to carry it .can be found online. I like the original , they have many flavors available now.
A butcher got me with some old freezer burnt me when I was young .early 20s.. 50 yrs ago... So I when up on my roof .measured the turbine.. went to his house one day an lowered all that bad meat down in his attic.😊 About 10 yrs later .while at a bar he was telling story how they found 100 lbs of rotten meat in his attic. 😊 I learnt how to harvest my one after that
I grind all but the back straps mixed 80/20 with pure pork belly fat or beef fat (depending on what I can get at that time). I vacuum pack it into 2 lb bags pressed flat so they stack in the freezer like file folders.
i have only had one deer that really tasted bad . It was eating sagebush I am sure. I usually hunt does and do not hang long . Does are usually tender without hanging . The ones i hunt in June and July are always packed with ice . Either filling the body cavity or deboned and bagged in freezer bags and stuck in ice in the cooler . We are allowed up to 3 deer a year each .
Your 100 0/0 right. I've guided big game hunts for 30+ yrs it's all in getting it taken care of as soon as possible , I've had all kinds of clients and friends say that pronghorns not fit to eat , it's one of my favorite meats , the hunts are in early Sept. and in New Mexico it's hot and your in low plains or desert, most hunters don't take care of it even most of the outfitter don't they kill one like daylight and keep hunting till they fill out the other hunted or come back in ay noon, by then it's to late especially on a antelope you get get it gutted immediately and don't get any hair on it
I dont remember you talking about storage of the processed meat. If you vacuum seal or use butcher paper......its important to use a freezer that IS NOT a frost free freezer. my deep freezer is not frost free......so I have to defrost it each year or 2, but its also not sucking the moisture out of the meat I store in the freezer. I learned this from my dad years ago.
I do every step you do and agree totally. I also do the same with my moose, wild turkey, and black bear. I can have people over and they have no clue what they’re eating. They just love it. An old butcher said if you want the wild taste out of game, debone it. It’s true. I also can some from time to time, when I’m running short on freezer space, and we love it that way too. I butcher all my own game and am very particular about it. The results are incredible. Remember good venison starts as soon as you squeeze the trigger.
Growing up we never ground our deer it was stakes stew meat or canned. I have only eaten other peoples ground venison until I was a adult. A lot of people don’t properly trim their ground meat and gives it that waxy off taste. To this day even though I know better I associate ground venison with that waxy off taste. If you don’t properly handle you wild game you can completely ruin someone who has never had it before. I grew up with a friend who hated venison and I couldn’t understand why until one day when I went to his grandparents for lunch and he cooked venison, it tasted like he rubbed the sent glands and bladder all over every steak. Don’t ruin people for the adventures and experience of hunting and eating wild game because you don’t properly process you meat
I keep mine in ice water while processing as i go. Just go to the grocery store and get beef fat grind that 20% and you can’t tell difference between beef and venison.
I will say this as a first year deer hunter at 44 (spent most of my life waterfowl hunting). I made the decision before I started that I was going to do the whole processing of every deer I killed. Now, so far I only have got 1 and I'm sure I left meat on that most would scold me for but I did the entire deer SOLO, now I have hams, ground, backstraps and loins in the freezer. Currently working on making some deer sticks, already made burgers which my family smashed like they hadn't been fed in weeks! I keep telling myself I will continue to do the whole thing myself, however the reality is if I have 2-3 deer in a trip, then odds are I will dropping at least 1 off to be processed. It is a bit of work for sure, but I gotta say well worth it in the end, not only in $$ saved but the feeling that you did it.
Similar position as you. Stumbled through my first. 2nd was a little better but its a ton of work if you're not completely set up for it, but its the only way I'll do it. Theres something special about field to table done by yourself. You also know everything about how it was handled, peace of mind eating
@@GoodVibesOnly1914it's not that much work. Go watch some videos. I took my time this season and harvested about 35-40lbs from a small buck. Took my time processing and vacuum sealing. Was like 3 hours. I enjoyed it
Have you ever heard of marinating the venison in milk and one tablespoon of vinegar for about 5-6 hours to take the game taste out of the deer meat . I’m relatively new to hunting and take my deer to a small butcher. Great video by the way, city boy raised, started hunting about 5 years ago in my early 50’s. Wish I started 40 years ago. Nothing like the peace of hunting, sitting in a tree.
Hell is a strong statement. If your deer tastes that far gone it is that far gone. Can’t hang it for 2 weeks inn90 degree temps and expect it to be good. Can’t let moisture stay on it and expect it to keep. If the deer stinks when you shoot it you guy shot it OR it’s rusty and a rusty deer can be aged and eaten but the biggest cause for foul tasting deer is spoilage. I process my own deer and they don’t stink and while they have a gamey flavor they aren’t unpleasant to eat. If you want meat that has no wild taste go eat whatever is sold at the grocer.
Deer fat is very strong don't eat that stuff. Deer glands are strong Don't eat that stuff. Clean those deer as fast as you can. Good deer food makes good Deer meat. I put mine on ice and salt it for a few days then cut it up and freeze it in vacuum bags.
Agree. Deer fat does not keep well, and many mishandle field dressing the animal, especially not addressing removal of the glands. Younger deer make better table fare. As we use to say, "You can't eat the antlers."
Wild to me that a processor would have a communal source for ground/sausage. I would've told him to give me my deer back and gotten out of there. Question for you, Will: you said on average your family eats venison three nights a week year round. If you live in Kentucky and only fill one tag per year, how is that possible? Do you hunt across state lines or get gifted a lot of venison?
There's only about 1 out of 100 people that actually like the taste of venison. That's why every recipe has u add bacon, other animal product or tons of herbs & spices. My neighbors a big hunter & fishermen & his dogs eat good.
Honestly, most people are comparing it to beef.....period. No matter what's anyone says, beef is accepted as much better. That is why cattle are farmed across the globe and deer are farmed for antlers and sport....
I don't disagree with anything you said. But a grain fed deer, not to big or old, not run hard, walk in cooler close by, processed immediately like a full time butcher. That's a tall order for about 90 % of the deer hunters out there.
These are all great points that I practice myself except that I use a vacuum sealer. But the best point by far is aging your deer! I leave mine on ice for up to 2 weeks.
We have a processor in our area ran by two former usda inspectors. They are the worse processors I have ever seen. They group ground the meat...not me.
I think the number one reason is bc of poor shot placement. Im not just talking about gut shot. That is a given. The longer the deers blood is pumping the more adrenaline they release. The more adrenaline the tougher the deer is going to be. It is of the up most to make a good quick kill. If you shoot your deer right below the ear it dies with in 5 seconds. Also aging the meat plays a huge role in how it tastes. In a cooler 8 days on an incline like you said. Walk in or refrigerator it needs at least a week i hang mine for 14 days. It takes 5 deer hung for 14 days to feed my family of 4. Ill tell you what though the best is if you can hang it outside with the skin on, gutted for about 5 days then skin it and put in a cooler for another 5 days. I did that last year around christmas when it was in the teens and never got over freezing for a week. I dont know if it was the temperature going up and down or what, but i did that last year with one and it was gooooood.
I hunt Florida for many years. Typically 80 to 90 degrees. By the time i get it home it could be four or five hours. I don't gut the deer in the field. I quarter it out and place it in the cooler and allow water to run over it for 1/2 hour. I then place it in the cooler and keep it on ice draining for a week to ten days. NEVER had an issue with poor taste. EVER. I think the theory of the meat going bad quickly is a mite over thought. I hunted GA very cool weather. Shot a massive older nine point. Hung in a walk in cooler for three days. Attempted to cook it and my DOG would not even eat it, was awful. I think older is worse and if they run a along way makes the meat worse. I hunted Indiana in the winter, shot a good deer, went right to the processor and the deer was disgusting. Will stick with a ice water age.
I'm in Ga. and I put mine in a big cooler straight away too but I add salt on top of the ice each time I top it off. Makes the ice last longer and kills bacteria and the meat never tastes funny. 10 days is my magic age time. After butchering, all the bones go into a canning kettle with water and a few veggies for bone broth and delicious shredded tender meat for sandwiches after couple days of simmering. A water bottle laid in front of the drain plug keeps the meat away for drainage. Gluck out there friends.
A good way to store ground I’ve found in recent years. 2lb of ground venison fits in quart size Ziplock freezer bag, then wrap that in freezer paper. Found a 2 yr old pack the other day in the back of the freezer I missed and it was fine. No freezer burn. Tasted great.
Vac sealers are cheap anymore. Big time saver. Can even throw whole chunks in. And decide how what you will process it for later when you pull it from freezer. Everybody's got their own way. Though I've found I have less waste with the sealer bc I'm not in a hurry to have everything done up before spoiling.
I have heard that aging venison is not needed…there was advised an article on a major butcher supply website. In western pa. Whitetail deer immediately gutted and skinned thus cooled produced excellent meat with no gamey taste at all.
You let any game animal stay longer then 2 days hanging you are going to get spoiled meat taste. So many knuckle heads think as beef is aged so should deer and other game then when hung log time is when you hear people say the deer taste horrible
@@lurebenson7722 Old time framers around here use old Pepsi Cola glass bottle machines with the stainless steel racks. Each rack has a tray under it that catches blood perfectly. The game taste is in the blood. So after the deep is butchered, they lay the meat on these racks and everyday they flip them. They do this till the blood is finished draining. Could take a few days. Could take a week or so. It makes a difference.
Very useful, thank you. The long-term storage problem is an interesting one. I'm wondering if anyone has tried using a combination of both butcher-paper AND vacuum sealing before freezing. So dry the meat off, wrap with butcher paper so none of the plastic is sealed to the meat, and THEN vacuum-seal the whole parcel before freezing.
Great video. I only eat Doe and live in farm country. I took a young Doe last fall and it's a hit with the family. My stepdaughter took a buck with her fiance in the UP of Michigan. No farm land. It's inedible.
Rose Water. The wife went from dry heaving on ground venison 80/20 meatloaf to eating everything from the same bag of ground. I do not know why, but I emplore anyone who is struggling with an issue to try it. A bottle is under $5 and more common than you'd think.
Question: so I usually prefer bucks over does- what do you do when your doe (i dont see this in bucks) has lots of tallow in her meat, it iterally looks and tastes like candle wax. I notice it when does eat a lot of shelled corn, it's the fat they get from the corn i believe- it's not a good taste because it leaves a film in your mouth and you can't clean your forks or plates without hot water to melt it away. I don't add any beef fat to my venison, I want it lean
I'm in a northern state, and our gun season is usually at the tail end of the rut; so bucks are skinny, and most does have 2-3" of fat on them. The best thing you can do is to remove anything that isn't red when you're butchering doe. A good fillet knife is your friend for that job. Tallow is absolutely disgusting. Edit: spelling mistake.
I fill 10 liquid laundry detergent jugs with water and also make about 15 pounds of ice and store it in my freezer’s venison space (all of which is consumed by August). I hunt in Wisconsin and HATE hunting early season warm weather due to how quick an animal can degrade. This past season we had perfect weather for the week after I killed my super fat pre-rut 3.5 year old buck (below freezing temps each night and nothing above 40 in the day). It sat with the fur on in my shaded 5x8 trailer packed under ice and thick insulation - when I butchered it 8 days later the meat was incredibly tender and lacked any gamey flavor. On warmer years I have had success butchering the meat the next day and aging it in the fridge. I always use a clean pot of water to drop every trimmed piece into prior to a secondary transfer into my final processing bowl. All hair floats to the top and it keeps the meat super clean / blood free. You can buy the bacon ends / pieces for very low cost - mix it in at a 30-40% rate with venison / garlic and you have a result that is hard to beat. I put it into snack bags and create super flat square burgers but it would also make great polish Sausage links too. I feel sorry for anyone that doesn’t butcher their own venison - no butcher on the planet can make any money while decontaminating all of their equipment between every deer.
100%. Get it chilled and get that meat off the bone! At 55 degrees by the time some guys find their deer, take the photos, get their buddies to help drag, drive to the processor and the processor does anything with it like 4-5 hours has gone by. I process my own and I just debone like I do out west with an elk. Dragging is for the birds anyway.
Hunt in fl Old trick for bear, hog and deer. Cooler ice and salt. Its Cooler than ice it brines the meat. Drain the water off every day add more salt and ice as necessary. Works well especially for hogs when its hot. And deer knife? A case stockman or trapper is just fine. Do like a fixed blade for hogs though and thats because the fat gets everywhere
Trusting a processor when you have the ability to do it yourself is the biggest mistake. Get the right gear and learn the proper processing techniques and your product is 100% better. Far more satisfying too. 👍👍
23 shots 23 deer. Bucks, does and shot early morning, midday and late evening and never had one the tasted like hell or bad. With all do respect maybe it is not how but more over where you take the deer. I have hunted mountain deer ,valley deer near water sores and near farms. Now I have dressed deer with in 15 minutes of a kill, I dressed 2 an half hours and even a full day and yet to ever have a deer taste like hell or bad so not sure what you're trying to say but I guess maybe it is how you dress a deer out and you have had quite a few taste bad. Not me though.
Something I used to do and loved the end result was mixing deer burger with pork sausage! Since deer meat is so lean, it really adds something to the pork, especially if we'd get whole hog sausage, because it's sometimes made with old boar hogs. We mixed it with really fatty hamburger too and it makes a really good meatloaf!
I definitely agree with using cellophane and freezer paper for storing game meat in the freezer. ❤ Been cutting, cooking, and eating venison for 60+ years. 😋
Why would anyone jeopardize the health of their family and themselves with venison that may be contaminated with CWD? There is hardly a state, where the deer population is not infested with this fatal, no remedy disease.
When I used to take deer to a processor those were the first questions I asked. Will I 100% get my deer meat back and how long do you let them hang in the cooler before processing. If it's 1 or 2 days no bueno and off I went.
Pretty much on point with everything you said. Those facts are pretty hard to argue with. I’ve been butchering game for 39 years. All my big old rutted up bucks go into jerky and sausage.
All sounds good. But, I dry age my deer hams for two weeks. I cut up everything else and the tenderloins and back strap never seem to make it to the freezer.
My wife and I buy a cow from a farmer for steaks and such. Deer are for sausages and ground meat. I can make good deer steak. But I can make awesome beef steak. So don't bother with deer steak if you are used to great food. We use suite for ground deer and it works great.
Couple years back, I built a walk-in deer cooler for two reasons: To age my deer, and to be able to butcher it on my terms, not be held hostage by the outside temperature. It's 4 ft square and 8 ft high with 2" blue foam insulation. It's powered by an old air conditioner that I hacked to maintain 36F, and there's a pulley and cable system for the gambrel. First year I aged my deer, I noticed the meat had a strange mushy texture compared to previous years. It would "melt" in my mouth, and not in a good way. I didn't think much of it until the same result the following year. At first, I thought I was just losing interest in eating deer meat, as my interest in hunting had been slowly declining over several years. The following year, I got two deer, so I did an experiment. I aged one in the cooler (36F) for about a week before butchering. Other deer I butchered the next day. I discovered that the non-aged meat had a much better texture, and did not "melt" (more like disintegrate) in my mouth like the aged deer. No more aging deer for me. Further, I DO NOT remove the bladder from the pelvis when field dressing or butchering. There is no upside to such a difficult and risky operation. Just leave it in there. The entry and exit tubes will close and seal by themselves when the deer dies and begins to dry out. I've been doing this for years and have never had a leak. Get yourself a Butt Out tool for the anus, and you're set. IF you're concerned about getting urine on the meat, gently squeeze the bladder before cutting anything in that area and it'll empty on the outside of the deer as nature intended. Also, don't split the hams in the field! No matter how careful you are dragging it out, dirt will ALWAYS get stuck there and it's impossible to fully remove. Split the hams when you get it home and hung. By the way, I do not skin my deer before hanging. I don't want that dried crust on my meat; I don't like it on ham and I don't like it on venison either. Yes, it's more difficult to skin after the carcass has cooled, but it's worth not having all that dried out meat. My two cents... Shoot straight!
I had a processor bring me an 8:pt rack in my box of meat and I shot a doe. I said this isn’t my deer. He said ok but I don’t see what the big deal is…he said I’ll call u when ur tag comes up.
It's a huge deal. You don't know how that meat was cared for. Did they bust piss sack all over it. Hair and leaves all up in it. Hell NO! I want my deer. That's why I've always said I'll do it myself!
What about the idea of soaking the meat in salt water over night in the refrigerator . The next day rinse,all the blood is gone,and put back in the refrigerator for a few days,draining the meat every day
At 63 years old and growing up in a family of hunters and becoming a single income professional hunting guide from the Pacific NW to Alaska I can say from many life experiences is to get the hide off game fast - get chilled and never let deer - Elk - Moose age it has to be cut up and in the freezer not more than 2 days from the kill. Beef can be aged by not wild game, now if you like the taste of rotten meat fine that is your own thing you like but please don't go giving your spoiled meats to first time people trying wild game. I worked assistant guide work for a 2 old Alaskan guides was Phil Driver and Neil Webster of Bear down adventures who are so cheap ass they served the clients extreme spoiled Moose meat that hung out in the weather for at least 2 months and the meat turned black and grew green over the meat it was so rotten and stunk. Those 2 idiots swore the best wild meats had to age outdoors for not less than 2 to 3 months and the best meat was when the rotten meat started to have a green slime and was coming off the bone from rot.
Good Job. You young guys need to really listen. Gut that as quick as you can. If you can get access to a water hose, do it, washing out that cavity always helps. Don't skip this and then pay the processor extra to do it. Power saws? Holy crap.
