Question 1

How should I prepare my deer for processing?

Accepted Answer

Once you have tagged the deer, the next step is to field dress it. There is no need to cut the throat to bleed it, as the heart has stopped beating, and blood is not flowing anymore. Remove the internal organs. Don't forget to remove the large intestine and anus. Leaving them in place may contaminate the tenderloins and may promote spoilage in the surrounding tissues.  You may wish to split the pelvic bone if needed to facilitate removal of these tissues. The hind legs will generally cool out better if you do split the pelvic bone, but you also expose some of the leg muscle to contamination, which we will have to trim away. Rinse out the body cavity with drinking water to remove any blood or other contamination. Use only drinking water, not water from a creek, river, or mud puddle. If it is a warm day or if it will be a while before you can bring the deer in for processing, you need to use several bags of ice to begin cooling down the deer. Place one bag between the hind legs and a couple in the body cavity.  If it is a big buck, you may need to lay bags of ice under the front shoulder and neck as well as on top of the shoulders and neck.  There is a lot of body-temperature muscle that needs to be cooled down to preserve the quality of the meat and the hide if you are intending to have it mounted by a taxidermist.  Thorough cooling is crucial for keeping your deer in top condition for processing into our delicious meat products.

Question 2

Won't removing the hide prior to bringing it to you save you some time?

Accepted Answer

Removing the hide from the carcass prior to transporting the carcass to be processed, increases the likelihood of contamination of the meat. We must trim all of this contamination from the carcass prior to processing it. This trimming reduces the amount of meat that you will receive in the form of delicious steaks, roasts and sausage. It takes at least twice as long for us to trim a carcass  than it does for us to skin the carcass in the controlled environment of our facility.  All of the tissue that we would have to trim from a previously skinned carcass is that much less yield of meat that the customer will get in the form of steaks, roasts, and sausages.  Because it takes longer for us to process and  because the yield of meat is less is why we do not accept deer that have been fully or partially skinned.