Those old bucks have an extra set of senses, I'm convinced of that. The one I saw walked out into the opening, stopped, looked all around, and then stared right at me. I'm 100% sure he didn't see me...and the wind was blowing hard in my face so he didn't smell me. Somehow that SOB at least had a feeling I was there. He turned around and just walked back where he came from.
The good part about that is that it is another measure to say it must be a deer that is being shot at. Way too many incidents of people shooting at "noise". Some farmers around here have actually painted the word "cow" on some cattle. More and more land being posted every year because of some landowners feeling that they are being taken advantage of in one way or another. It is too bad. I don't know many people who have not had an accident with deer in the road. The herd is kept large by restrictions. The state gets a lot of income from out of state hunters. But with that large herd is the high rate of motor vehicle accidents.
Something I'd like to learn to do.. Meat processor by me gets 85 dollars, anyway you want the meat done , all vacuumed sealed. Guy on the farm next to me said he has a really good video from Gander Mountain on deer processing... He said once I watch it you'll do your own... Anyone now of some other videos that shows some good technique? Me neighbor said this video has you break the deer down into simple parts which makes it easy to debone.. I have enough tags being a land owner to harvest a buck and 3 does, so I'm hoping to get them filled.. Be nice to save all the processing fees..
I'm not expert...and I don't really do any fancy cuts either. Most of the large muscle groups from the front shoulders go for jerky...rear quarters for steaks or roasts...loins for steaks...and grind everything else. It isn't hard to do and you can't mess up too bad. There are decent YouTube videos to show you how to quarter and remove the loins...after that it is pretty much a matter of getting the meat off the bones.
I use 3 knives. I use a Buck hunting knife with a thick heavy blade to dress, skin, and quarter. I have set of Henkel kitchen knives for the rest. One is a 4" general purpose...use it for boning of the legs and removing the loins...the a 6" for cutting and trimming. You don't really need a special knife if you have good kitchen knives. All of them are scary sharp...and get touched up with the hone a couple times during butchering. You'll need a bone hack saw for getting the head and hooves off...but you could technically leave them on and get the job done too. When you get into it, there's surprising little that holds a deer together. The front quarters come right off by cutting a little bit of muscle away...that back are slightly more difficult because you have a tendon inside the ball and socket joint to cut, but still easy.
That's what the neighbor must be talking about that he quarters out the deer.. He just tapes a clear plastic tarp over his picnic table and goes to town.. says you can wipe everything off easy... I just saw a video you have to buy, but it showed the guy hanging the deer and cutting the meat away yet the entrails were still hanging off to one side.. Let me ask you this, is it easier to gut a deer while hanging it? I could use my tractor and just hang the deer from my end bucket hooks with a couple of ropes... I think I would just cut the anus out on the ground, then hang it?
Never gutted one while hanging, but wouldn't hang it from the hind legs. Either front legs or one side seems like it would be easier to get everything out of the rib cage. Dunno. I would definatley gut it before butchering though.
Just watched this video... I never knew about cutting the wind pipe up by the neck and working it down to the rib cage...
You can gut them hanging by the head. Gravity helps get the guts out. Do it over plastic and you can wrap up the mess like a burrito to dispose of it. With that said I gut em where they drop. The faster u get em out the better. That and who the hell wants to a pile of guts in the trash can attracting yotes and whatnot. AS far as a bone saw goes...cordless sawzall is the ticket. I can gut skin and quarter one in 20 minutes with the right saw and knives. It's the deboning and grinding and packaging that's time consuming. Once you do it yourself u will never go back. It's the only way to get your deer back instead of a mixture of deer that got paraded around in the back of some hillbillies truck all day while he drank beer and showed his friends.
Done that a few times on different actions in my life, especially trying to close it home "quietly" out in the woods.
