Want to learn how to butcher a deer yourself? You’ve come to the right place! It’s a skill my family has done for years and a skill I had to learn once my husband got into deer hunting. It’s time consuming, tiring, but satisfying. Learning how to butcher a deer yourself will also save you quite a bit of money in the long run as well. It’s hard work, but learning how to butcher a yourself is an important life skill that we can all benefit from.
Learning How To Butcher A Deer Yourself
My husband started deer hunting a few years back. Which made me happy. I love venison. I grew up eating it and hadn’t had it in many years. And thankfully, it makes groceries cheaper in a time where groceries are…not so cheap. But costs can add up between guns, camo, bullets, feed, and then add the cost of butchering on top of it and it gets expensive.
But learning how to butcher a deer yourself can save you quite a bit of money. And that adds up as well. The first time I butchered a deer it took me almost all day. I was very slow, but I got it done. And as time has gone on, I’ve learned to butcher it a little faster. Practice makes perfect. But how do you go about learning how to butcher a deer yourself?
Related: Save the bones when you butcher the deer yourself and make delicious deer bone broth!
How To Learn To Butcher A Deer Yourself
I’m sure you’re wondering…where do I even start? Well, there are a couple different ways to learn. You can:
- Ask/pay someone to teach you- a relative, a butcher, friend, etc.
- Watch videos online
- Trial and error- though there may be some waste with this method
Unfortunately I had no one to ask. I don’t really talk to my family too much and those I do have no experience with butchering a deer. That was something the men did. Not a big deal. I actually turned online.
The problem is there are so many different videos about butchering a deer yourself and they’re all useful in someway or another, but not all may be suited for you. I was blessed to come across a series that I used that made my butchering skills way better! And the person in the video gave great tips so you don’t spoil the meat! Like watching out for certain glands. Amazing right?
And I wanted share these videos with you, share with items you may need, and tips I’ve learned along the way along with photos.
My Favorite Videos To Learn How To Butcher A Deer Yourself
Outdoors Allie is my content creator that teaches you how to butcher a deer yourself. She is very clear, concise, and goes slow enough you can follow along as reference. I’ll link the videos here, but there may be more on her channel that can be useful. She also has a number of great videos teaching you to make great venison recipes as well.
Video: How To Butcher A Whole Deer Yourself
Video: How To Butcher A Deer’s Hindquarters
Those are the videos I used to help me learn how to butcher a deer. They’re the easiest for me to understand and she goes fairy slow and explains all the pieces.
I also want to link to The Meat Eater. They have a number of videos, guides, recipes, and more and I use them on the regular when it comes to butchering meat at home.
Butchering A Deer Yourself At Home
Be aware that butchering your first deer will be very time consuming and a lot of work. It will wear you out! It’s a good workout… for me anyway. The first time you do it will probably be an all day process. But it is so satisfying and saves you money. But what kinds of things will you need so you can butcher your deer yourself?
Essential Tools Needed For Butchering A Deer Yourself At Home
Believe it or not you don’t need a bunch of fancy stuff. I only use a few items. If I had all the fancy gadgets, would it make it easier? I dunno, maybe? But these are some of the things you will need:
- Cooler
- Filet Knife
- Optional: A Small Short Bladed Skinning Knife
- Knife Sharpener
- Cutting Board
- Bowls
- Meat Grinder
- Kitchen Scale
- Freezer Paper
- Tape
- Marker
- Freezer Bags
- Gloves
- Saw
- Optional: Sausage Spices
- Optional: Old Towels or Tablecloth
Let’s get the optional stuff out of the way. The spices are only if you’re making sausage like Italian sausage or breakfast sausage. I will make a post about grinding up your venison later.
Also, the short bladed skinning knife is something some people use to de bone the venison. However, I use a sharp filet knife for the whole thing. My husband breaks down the pieces into quarters and such, and I take the meat off using the filet knife. And then obviously towels and a tablecloth keeps all the pieces off meat and blood soaked up. Still need to disinfect afterwards, but it makes clean up so much better.
The rest is pretty self explanatory. Like the cutting board to cut the meat and get rid of silver skin. Bowls for the meat, bones, and what not until you wrap it in the freezer paper, mark the date, then the freezer bag.
The scale is for the ground meat, but again I’ll cover that in another post. And gloves are great for keeping your hands safe and clean. Blood is hard to get off the hands believe it or not.
Butchering Yourself Won’t Be Perfect, But It Is Something You Can Perfect
Don’t be too frustrated if your cuts aren’t the prettiest the first few times you did it. And if they’re not, that’s okay. It’s a learning process and not something you perfect the first time. To be fair…is there anything anyone can do perfect the first time? To learn how to butcher a deer yourself, you need practice and time.
But I will say, as you learn to butcher a deer yourself… you will grow with skill and confidence. Here is an example. This is the hindquarters and this is what I ended up with (and scrap for grinding, and bones for roast, but those are in different bowls though you can kind of see it.)
This is the haunch as a whole.
And this is after I cut it up. This is the 2nd time I ever butchered a deer. Is it perfect? No. Did it still taste amazing when cooked? Sure did.
And if all else fails and you really just tear up the meat… use it for stir fry or turn it into ground meat.
Learning How To Butcher A Deer At Home Can Become A Great Family Endeavor
Learning to butcher a deer at home is a great life skill to have. But it’s an important skill the entire family should learn. Everyone can benefit from this skill because…well…we all need to eat. Our food doesn’t just come from a grocery store. And a lot of young people believe that. That the food just appears at the grocery store. They don’t understand the root of our food anymore that it comes from farms, hunting, and foraging.
And in order to take care of our families during these rough economic times, then we need to turn to times of old and start learning these skills again to take care of our family. Food security comes from growing, farming, and foraging. And we need to get closer to our food and get back to our roots! Or…I think so anyway.
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Do you know how to butcher a deer yourself? What tips do you have for someone who is new?
