Processing a deer at home.

So does processing a deer at home make you a hillbilly? If so, than I better change my name to Bill Bob and marry a cousin. It would only though take a hillbilly to realize the savings by processing a deer at home. Does it take a rocket scientist to figure out how to butcher a deer, absolutely not. At the average cost of $100 per deer to get it processed by a butcher and a few you-tube videos was enough to give it a whirl at home.


The equipment you need to do this at home is actually not much. I can tell you that you don't need a shop full of high priced machinery. So a few sharp knives, a sharper, a saw that is capable to cut through a couple of bones, a hoist (which is probably the big ticket item), and some general supplies and you are in business. So I sat back for an hour and watched some you tube videos of a butcher that was willing to share the butchering process and his secrets.

My garage happens to be equipment with a metal beam in the overhead so a pulley was easily installed and I lifted the deer up to working height. With few short cuts of the hide and some pulling the deer was skinless in about q0 minutes. I have to giggle here, because the wife walked in just as I finished this task. She was terrified and ran back out of the garage.

Now came the quartering process, I removed the front legs and shoulders which was relatively easy. Just cut right up the armpit and ensure to cut all the way around the shoulder plate. The next step is downsize the rib cage and half the the body. Take the tip of the knife and score the inside of the ribs at the halfway point. Then taking you saw cut straight down your lines on both sides. The remaining intact section will now get detached just below the loins. This spot is basically right along the last rib and follow it across to the backbone. Use a knife to first cut any meat or tendons and then finish off the backbone with the saw.

There is one more section to cut out before separating the hind legs. Use the tenderloins as template to cut out this portion. So cut up toward the inside of the legs above the top of the tenderloins. Again cut all the way through until the backbone again and saw through it again.

The last thing to do is cut the pelvic bone out which is holding the hind legs together. Basically take you knife and follow the contour of the bone to do so. If you get close enough, you may be able to pull the legs apart exposing the bone. Just finish the removal of the side that is left en tact. This portion is could be easier by removing the two hind legs from the hoist and doing it on a table.

So lets review what parts you should have in front of you now. The two front legs with shoulders, the rib sections, the neck and upper back section, the lower back section with has the loins and backstraps, and the two hind legs. I can describe the most of the sections and how to further remove meat except for the legs. I would suggest watching the you-tube video as is helps to see it in performed.

I have included a picture below on the general breakdown of meat cuts from the body.

So I will briefly describe how I processed my sections. I do not have a grinder yet, so any meat that did not get steaked, put into a loin, or a roast then I just cubed up the meat for stew. The next deer will allow me to do some grinding for ground meat or sausage. So the first section that I did was the neck and up back. I cut the loin meat on the top of the back. Take your knife and follow the backbone down and the contour of the ribs. You can trim this up to make a loin or steak out the meat into medallions. Any remaining meat on the neck and trimmings can start your ground meat or cube meat pile.

Next was the lower back section. On the inside of the section is the tenderloins. On the top are the backstraps. For the backstraps follow the same process as the upper back and neck section. The tenderloins on the underside just need to be trimmed out of the body. The back straps can be kept whole or cut down into smaller steaks. Again, any extra meat from trimmings can go into your ground meat or cube meat pile.

The ribs can be kept whole, or you can cut all the meat out that you want. I kept them whole and am going to attempt to smoke them later today. This is the extent of my experience as this was my first time butchering a deer. You want to make sure you have your knife sharper ready as your knife will dull over time. Also have your working surface prepared and cleaned. I use large trash bags to lay out all the sections. Then laid a wet towel with a cutting board on top (the wet towel keeps the board from sliding around). I had a five gallon bucket for crap meat and fat as you make your cuts. It also contained the head and hide from the skinning process. By the end the bucket was full and simply dumped it into a heavy duty trash bag for disposal.

This was my first time processing the deer, if you are handy with a knife and brave enough to try it then you will join in the savings. Remember to have you packaging ready for finished cuts. Before cutting your steaks out, you can put that meat in a freezer or cooler with ice to firm up the meat. Hope this is helpful and enjoy your harvest.