Bowsite.com

How does everyone hang/process their dee

I’ve many pictures of people hanging deer head up. I’ve been doing it legs up. What’s the best.

Head down rear legs up

By the hind legs. Went to Harbor Freight with a super coupon and picked up an electric cable hoist. Just need to mount it up now.

I’ve butchered about 250 deer and the only ones I’ve done (about20) with the legs up are the ones we were going to cape for shoulder mounts. I find it much easier to handle the hind quarters last and hanging off the carcass. Then lowering the carcass into a bag lined garbage can for disposal. It might just be me but I seem to have less hair to deal with on the meat this way too. I’ve always done it in this order- 1) shoulders. (partly because after I take the roast off I give them to the kids to debone) 2) fillet out the neck 3) backs straps 4) hindquarters 5 trim carcass

legs up.

Always legs up. I get much less hair on the meat. My order would be #1) hide off, #2) back straps, #3) front shoulders, #4) Neck meat, #5) Hide quarters. There might be a better way but I have been doing it this way for 30 years. I also have a HF winch that makes lifting and lowering a dream.

I've always done it legs up for 50+ years.

We too have always done it legs up.

So- Question- When you get to where the hind legs are the last thing left hanging on the gambrel, when Thiers one leg left how do you keep one leg from balancing and not swinging all over and creating a shit mess unless you bone it out hanging?

Shedhead, I always bone it out hanging.

I bring the quarters in the house and place parchment paper on the table and the wife and I whittle away at them. I pop the fronts off first and she takes care of them while I work on the back straps, inside tenderloins, and neck meat.

A big zip tie should fix your problem shedhead. Personally, I do the deer as you do, but the last thing I do, and I used to filet the meat off the hind, but changed recently. I finish the lower half the same, and the last thing I do, is put a big garbage bag under the carcass. I take out the sawzall, cut the neck off at the brisket, then the spine at the top sirloin leaving just the two rear quarters hanging on the gambrel. The already cleaned carcass and bone falls in the bag. The last thing I do, is split the hinds with the saw. It seems to be easier/cleaner to work on each rear leg separately at the counter sitting down. Started doing that a few years back, and have never looked back. I do the same process if I'm just quartering as well. A few bags of ice in a cooler inside an industrial garbage bag keeping the thawed ice-water from making contact with the raw meat that I also keep in industrial garbage bags as well. I just prefer working on cold meat, so normal practice is quartering and chilling at least a day in a cooler first.

I was trained by a butcher on doing my deer. I use to hang by the legs and still do, if it has to hang in camp. I now quarter and do my deer on a table, in a heated mud room. Easy on my back, easier on me...... of course I ruin the hide, that way, but it is easier. Early this year I did an entire deer on the tail gate of truck, again for convenience....... If I hang I have electric winch to use. Cheap and easy.

I always do my dear Legs up, she prefers it that way ??

"The last thing I do, is split the hinds with the saw. It seems to be easier/cleaner to work on each rear leg separately at the counter sitting down." For sure. My back is much more at ease sitting at a table when separating muscle groups and boning it out.

What’s best is what’s easier for you with less hair and easier to handle. I hang mine by the neck if I’m not gonna cape them. I debone all my meat while hanging and put it in salt water and lots of ice. Not tap water.

What’s best is what’s easier for you with less hair and easier to handle. I hang mine by the neck if I’m not gonna cape them. I debone all my meat while hanging and put it in salt water and lots of ice. Not tap water.

Always done legs up. Skin as quickly as possible after hanging. Pull off the front quarters first and debone. Then backstraps. Finally debone the hind quarters while hung. Seems to be the easiest, cleanest way to do it. After that, I only have to cut the spine behind the cage and split the Femur from the Pelvis to discard the bones.

I talked to a butcher yesterday, who does deer. They put the deer in a beef cradle, easier for faster skinning .

Neither , I lay the Deer on a picnic table & go to work . Am I the only one ?

I hang legs up. Allows for better air circulation as it holds the carcass open. Also allows you to get full length from your back straps up by the shoulders as you can literally just pull them out when you're down to that point. The neck is alot easier to debone legs up too as gravity pulls the broader base of the neck down as you go. If it's warm, a block of ice or frozen milk jug can be dropped in the rib cavity and a bag of ice can be laid over the hind, but I typically debone them immediately. I use a gambrel and a fence stretcher/block and tackle to hoist the deer. I place a cut off plastic drum under the deer to catch any blood and for anything not edible to be tossed in. I have meat hooks hanging from parachute cord in my pole shed and depending on weather and plans, either hang to cool or place in cooler. I do my deer in the same order that Maxx stated, deboning each piece on a cutting table. Once I'm done up to the hind, I cut off the neck, then saw off the backbone just before the hinds. I then remove the first hind by cutting the achilles tendon with a knife to free it from the gambrel. Then using a knife I cut around the ball joint at the hip to separate the hinds. Moving the leg that is now free from the gambrel allows you to locate this joint easier. I typically place the first hind on the cutting board and debone it before coming back for the second. Again cutting the tendon, as it's much easier than trying to lift it off the gambrel. I have a stainless cutting table with a shelf beneath it where I keep a large tote with all my butchering and packaging gear as this reduces setup time significantly. I save the tallow and put it in onion bags zip tied to trees for birds.

I must be dyslexic. I can’t see the advantage to this. I guess it doesn’t make any difference as long as it makes it in the freezer. I’ve had lots of people tell me we make it look easy. And never had bad meat

I must be dyslexic. I can’t see the advantage to this. I guess it doesn’t make any difference as long as it makes it in the freezer. I’ve had lots of people tell me we make it look easy. And never had bad meat

Shed, I do it exactly the same as you. That's the way my dad taught me 30+ years ago, I've never tried it legs up.

Weekend deer kill was down 16%, so 16% of you guys don't have to worry on how to do it

Geez oldie, any ideas what might have caused that?

Geez back at ya. Maybe you should read the official dnr report for reasons. My guess would be maybe to many crossbows in the repair shop.

I skin remove shoulders and clean/trim up hanging legs up. Hinds and the rest is done laying down on a table. Easier to pop the hinds off.

Ruger my neighbor down the road uses a picnic table, inside his heated garage.

Mike , it works for me . You body & your hands are in a normal position not above your head or below your knees . And when you trim the meat you let it Lay on the table instead of turning to put it somewhere else .

I like to hang legs up and then I actually flip them when it's time to skin and quarter up. Electric hoist in the walk in cooler helps. I've always done head up skinning and quartering so I just kind of have my system down. I've done both but just prefer what I'm good at I guess. I hate deboning the neck while it's hanging so I will lop it off the rib cage and behead the beast so I can work on the log o' neck on the table. Easier to keep it from moving around while I do my surgery.

Glenn, I have been doing deer on tables for years, I hear ya..

Mike in 2004 I arrowed an Elk & did my 1 st gutless skin & quartering while it was on the side of mountain. Been doing all my big game the same way now .

I have done my own deer since 1976. Did head up once. Cut hair everywhere. Never again. 1. Cut legs off below knee and start skinning hind legs before hanging - legs up. Skin/pull down. I cut off front legs above the knee and slip the hide off turning it inside out. Kind of like a sock. 2. Cut off head with hide. 3. Cut off shoulders. 4. Cut/pull out tenderloins. 5. Cut out backstraps. 6. Remove neck/rib/brisket meat. 7. Cut spine at hind quarters. Spine/ribs falls in garbage can. 8. Cut pelvic bone to split hinds.

In less than an hour I can have it all in a fridge.

You guys torch them after skinning, don’t you? Burn the hair off?

L2H, personally I don't. I don't get much hair on the carcass to begin with, because I make my cuts starting at the shins of the legs, and running the knife so the skin splits at the hair follicles, and doesn't cut through the hair. I do not split or cut the hair at the crotch in the field, which leaves the deer much cleaner. Bearded Butchers has a video that demonstrates the skinning process almost exactly as I do, which is about as clean as you can be. If you skin the deer the day you kill it, it of course helps the process, and less cutting is involved, therefore less hair gets on the carcass. I also find that most hair is removed from the butchering process as you remove the outer membranes of most muscle groups. The hair seems to leave the flesh as you remove that clear membrane first. Ultimately, I find being way cleaner in the field and skinning process, results in very little hair to begin with. I cringe at what I see sometimes hanging from the meatpole. There's too many people that don't have a clue on what's really necessary. Throats cut, legs split through the hair and bone, breasts cut past the sternum etc. Letting them hang in the frozen air for days. All of this long before they attempt hacking away at a carcass or taking them to a butcher. I admit I keep refining my process, but I feel I'm pretty quick and clean, and I don't mind picking a few hairs during while making the primal cuts.

I don't get much hair after skinning either. Burning just catches the hairs that do get on the meat. Skin, quick torch, and wipe with wet towel.

Eating burnt hair residue instead??? Ripped up cotton sheet dampened with vinegar/water wipes it off easily. BUT I do take extreme care to not get hair on the meat.

40 years ago I switched to hanging deer head up but after a 5 year trial with too much hair on the meat, I am back to legs up.

Buck, there is not much to begin with and you wipe it off after. Plus, this is done prior to trimming fat/silverskin/outer stuff.

Just take a piece of tallow or any scrap meat that you are not intending to keep and use it to "blot" any hair of the carcass. Works great.

B2K, exactly!

LOL, I will stick with the torch.

A friend of mine used these this year. They worked great. I still use a torch though. Maybe next year I may give game grip a try.

I used duct tape, already. But honestly correct skinning, you should have little hair.

Register here to reply to this topic