Butchering My Deer

I have two packages of venison left in my freezer. One is burger and one is steak. I’ve been saving them, but will probably eat them soon. I wish I had more.

I hunt deer every year, from the beginning of October until the end of December. In the last couple years, I’ve seen a lot of deer while in my shack. But I buy only one doe tag and one buck tag a year.

After you get a deer and tag it, you can buy another tag. The tags are $20.00 each. That’s not bad. I would sure like to buy a new tag after harvesting a deer. At $20.00 a tag, I could definitely buy more tags.

The problem is, having a butcher process your deer is expensive. I mean, it’s a reasonable price if you’re just bringing in one or two deer a year. But if you want to bring in more deer and you’re not particularly rich, it’ll hit your wallet pretty hard.

For a while now, I’ve thought to butcher my deer myself. It would save me a lot of money. My brother worked as a butcher and meatcutter for years. He told me that all I’d need is a good knife, a small meat grinder, freezer bags and practice.

Seems simple enough and not very costly. So, this year I’m going to get that stuff together before Archery Season starts on October 1st.  I will probably need my brother’s help until I get the hang of it, but eventually I’ll be doing it myself.

If I do my own butchering, I might be able to harvest enough venison to feed me for a year.