how much of the deer do you use?

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:41 am

Just thinking (and that can be dangerous

) about how much of the deer I use when I kill one.

I'm sure the ancestors from the Shawnee side of my family used a lot more than I do today, but I still try to use more than just the prime cuts of meat.

I know a man that tans hides and give him the hide unless it's in bad shape, then I save some of it for hair for fly tying.

We also try to use some of the organ meat (heart & liver) for food. (but I'd advise moderation in consumption)

Some bones can be used for various applications, but I rarely save any of them unless it's for a specific project (better tools are available, and bone marrow would be questionable as food with the pollutants and diseases these days).

I even save those nasty old mud veins (those strips of muscle tissue located inside the body cavity running along the spine), and I sometimes share them with the rest of the family! (label them "mud vein" when I wrap & freeze them so they will still be there when I want them)

There are uses for more than I've mentioned (such as legs & hooves for a gun rack), but I seldom save them.
How much of the deer do you use???????

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:47 am

I use everything except the antlers . . .I have found no use for those.

hikerman · Post by **hikerman** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:07 am

Today I am cooking the heat, shot above double lung.

Making a goulash out of it.

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:21 am

Tenderloins, backstraps, hams, foreshoulders.

Love deer heart. Hate deer liver.

Never have fiddled with ribs, and gave up on shanks.

'Shucks has nearly talked me into the neck roast thing, though.

Cossack · Post by **Cossack** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:28 am

I use everything except the antlers . . .I have found no use for those. _________________

Any antlers that I don't mount get put ti use as handles, buttons, etc.
Much stronger than most plastics, glues well, can even drill and tap.
Any time a handle or knob breaks it gets fixed with antler material.

Galgo · Post by **Galgo** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:30 am

I rigor the legs and hooves at 90 degree position and use them as hooks in the garage - strong as heck and never break!

deer jamie · Post by **deer jamie** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:36 am

in past years i have used the neck for roasts but find that the meat is full of slimy fat between layers when cooked , kinda difficult to seperate:? As of this year it just goes in the trimmings bag to be made into fryin sausage or summersausage and pepperets

i use a fillet knife and fillet the silverskin of the meat it works like a charm. I tried to be a hero the first deer i butchered with my big Buck huntin knife 8-10 hrs later, now with a fillett knif 3-4 hrs so to all you hunters a fillett knife is the key to a swift and minamual loss of meat

one shot scott · Post by **one shot scott** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:44 am

You guys got me curious about heart. How do you go about cooking that? Ive had chicken heart at a resturant once and enjoyed it. Show me some heart recipes!!

bucont · Post by **bucont** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 4:36 pm

I spend about 5 to 6 hours to butcher a deer (ya I am slow). I bone all the meat and trim every pc of fat off it I can. Everything is cut into butterfly chops or steakettes. All rib meat, short neck and other short cuts are trimmed ready for pepperettes. (about 10lbs worth per deer). We don;t get into the heart ect and the antlers go to the nieghbour, he makes pens out of them. The hide gets donated, so there is not much left at this point.

prossbow · Post by **prossbow** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 4:52 pm

I've not taken a deer with my crossbow yet, but when taken with rifle we generously trim around the wounds discarding any damaged and bruised meat. I tend to let the deer hang after being skinned for 3-4 days if the temps are cool enough. I take the deer to a butcher, (haven't tackled this on my own before) we make use of any meat, roasts, chops, stew meat, hamburger. Any meat is cut from bones, I usually keep one feed of ribs and the rest gets boned and used in hamburger.

The bones get given to my dogs or some other dogs, fat discarded of course and the hide is sold to local buyer to clean, tan and I believe goes to fly tying material.

Cossack · Post by **Cossack** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:08 pm

Heart makes great chop suey. Cut into strips, dust with flower and brown, simmer, add vegis fresh or canned version. Thicken with corn starch.

DuckHunt · Post by **DuckHunt** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:44 pm

I don't save any organs or the ribs. Everything else gets boned out and made into steaks or roasts. I trim away all fat and silverskin and only put away good red meat for consumption.

I don't throw away any meat though except for the ribs. Everything that I don't package for human consumption gets packaged into 'doe pops' for my dogs. They eat like kings. I typically end up with 10-20 pounds or more of trimmings from each deer that I put in 1-2 pound bags in the freezer. The top of one fridge/freezer is all doe pops.

DuckHunt

B-Logger · Post by **B-Logger** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:02 pm

Does anyone except us hang the suet out for the birds?

frisky · Post by **frisky** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:02 pm

sumner4991 wrote:I use everything except the antlers . . .I have found no use for those.

Antler soup

Very good LOL

Other than that I do much the same as Bstout said.
Bone the meat, hamberger and sausage.

hikerman · Post by **hikerman** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:03 pm

The hart did not taste good.