Quarter it up and put all meat on ice for a few days. Drain out bloody water then fresh ice for another day or so. Then take shoulders and hams to processor. Keep b-straps and t-loins in vacuum packs in freezer. That's how we have to do it down here.
Yeah I am lucky and have a good one close. He runs a clean shop and takes pride in his work. Plus he is a friend of my one long time friend and he cuts mine for free including extras like jerky. When I can afford an electric hoist and a fridge again for out there I might go back to cutting my own. Right now I can't hoist them or move them around on the ground unless I have help which isn't often.
Hang it, skin it, quarter then debone. Pack all the meat in a cooler full of ice for a day or two then package it for the freezer. Back strap usually heads directly to the refrigerator for the next evenings dinner.
Quarter it up and put in coolers with ice, drain the bloody water and add fresh ice as needed. Find a good football game to watch 48-72 hours later to keep me entertained while I finish processing it. Sometimes I do get lazy and just take my animals to processors though.
Quarter and/or De-bone it and let it soak in ice water for 3 days. Changing the water 3 times the first day, twice the second, and wash the 3rd day. Cut steaks, package and freeze. Freeze muscle groups for ground. We usually wait until we have 3 or 4 deer to process before we break out the grinder. I have also used a very large insulate tarp. Lay tarp on garage floor. place bags of ice on tarp > lay deer on bags of ice. Pack cavity of deer with ice. Lay bags of ice on top of deer. Fold tarp over deer. Then I will process deer the next morning after I am rested. This also works well for those that use a processor that can't get there before they close in the evening hours.
tag em and bag em, lol just kidding. I de-bone , vac seal, and get it into a cooler with ice. that's about it
With any luck at all, I take mine right to the taxidermist and he capes it out for a shoulder mount and bones and trims all the meat and puts it in big plastic bags that fit in the fridge. Then I cut it up the way I like in a day or so. If I'm not so lucky as to have a mount done then I hang it and fill the chest cavity with a couple bags of ice and get the hide off as soon as I can. The meat cools down nicely by morning and I call my hunting buddy's and we get to work cutting it up. We have 2 or 3 guys cutting and one guy manning the grill!!
If it's early in the day I will get the meat off the bone and cool it down in a freezer. With an evening hunt I leave the carcass on the cement floor overnight first. I like to process the meat while in a semi-frozen state, expecially when I am grinding.
I take mine home and quarter it up. I put each section into a big plastic tub and put them inside trash bags and tie them off. I will then place them into an ice chest, like the kind used at convenience stores with the double glass doors, and cut them up within a couple days.
I quarter mine right away let the meat sit in a cooler with ice let it bleed out for a few days draining the water and adding ice then process it.
I gut it on sight and then cut it up and freeze it right away. When you thaw it, it bleeds all out, taste best this way for me and everyone else that eats it. Too many people try to treat deer like cattle, bad idea.
If I cant get it to the processor immediately, and have to go overnight, I will grab 4-5 20# bags of ice from the grocery store and place one over each ham, one up inside the cavity and the other two over the middle. And cover it all in an old quilt that resides in the garage. If its in the 50s or less at night, the ice is mostly still there in the morning. Granted, I've only had to do this twice since I take the heat and whether the processor is still open into consideration and weigh that against what I would shoot that evening. I could learn to process the deer myself, but I like the local processor. It's cheap. And they do good work and make good products. They also have a set of guidelines they give you that details proper care of your deer and how to get it to them in good shape - i.e., no aging (its not beef, bring it in immediately) and no garbage bags and so on.
Iv never had a deer processed for me. I even prefer to butcher calves/hogs in house as opposed to going to a processor Team Red Sun Rising
Well currently we just take the pajamas off and quarter it up and put it in coolers on ice or in the freezer. By next deer season our butcher shop will be done and it is going to have about 4 X 12 foot walk in cooler in it made out of a semi trailer cooling unit. Temp should drop in the cooler I would think in about 30 mins. We know somebody who has done the same thing and it works great. We do all our own butchering beef, pigs, deer, whatever. We make some mighty tasty hot dogs, snack sticks, ring bologna, veni bacon.
I take it straight to the butcher after field dressing it. I am not a butcher and never intend to become one. I'll pay the $60 to have it done for me.
I keep an old refrigerator in the basement. I can quarter it up, put it in the fridge, and work on it at my leisure. I have thought about putting an air conditioner in my one shed for times like this.
I usually get it home asap and debone it. I separate the backstraps, tenderloins, shoulder meat, top and bottom round, shanks, and neck meat into individual containers. Over the next few days or so I then cut my steaks, stew meat and meat for the grinder up.
