How much gets thrown away?

[dubbleA]

Been processing my game animals since I was a young'n.

I have been there and done that with small hand powered equipment. Nowadays I use powered grinders, mixers and stuffers and have a dedicated smoke house, it still takes time but it's easier on the ol body.

This is a 100lbs of venison hamburger made from my daughter's deer taken a couple of weeks ago. It was made into smoked snack sticks.

Using this 1 1/2 HP #32 grinder it took less than 10 minutes.

 

[dubbleA]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh .....forgot to mention the rewards. One can take pride and great satisfaction on making excellent eats yourself. You'll have lots of friends you didn't realize you had.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Thi might help anyone who's unfamiliar with processing a deer. There's 4 videos total http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-aD43mDtk70

 

[Centurian22]

DoubleA do you add fat / bacon when you are grinding it for burgers or sausage?

 

[DM~]

Here's my grinder,



I bought it new in the 70's.... It's never given a minutes problem and with the thousands of pounds of moose/caribou/bear/deer/fish/cow /pig/fruits/veggies and so much more that i've put through it since then, it's paid for itself a thousand times!

BTW, i add any fat to my meat when i "thaw it out", as i don't always want fat in my meat, and meat keeps much better without the fat in it. Also, i hate buying fat and then have it take up freezer space...

DM

 

[HankR]

Look for #8 or larger grinder if you do more than 1 or 2 deer a season. The best grinders have metal gears but are more expensive.

Probably 2-3 a year max. Of course, if I have a nice grinder I would probably be inclined to loan it out. Apparently Lem has a #5 w/ metal gears for cheaper than the #8, but also some higher power with plastic gears for similar. I guess I'd go metal and small?

I grind most all of my deer, only "steaking" the tender loins and back straps... I'm just not that fond of venison roast ect...


"Me too". Normally mix 1-1 with cheapest/fattiest ground beef for chili, spaghetti sauce, burritos, etc. If I had a grinder I'd grind a lot of the deer. If it could handle the lower legs I'd grind them, as the above meals are more of a staple at my house than stews.

Sounds to me like these guys have never gone hungry before....

That's what I was thinking watching them. Thankfully I've only gone hungry due to my own poor choices and for short periods of time. However I was raised by parents who grew up in the depression era who made wise choices and sheltered me from the leaner years when I was younger. I get very concerned if food is wasted in my house. Hence the initial question. If I couldn't grind the lower legs, I'd start eating more stews before I'd throw any away.

I will NEVER take one to a processor.

Well we had a few issues with the only local processor last year, and then asked around and heard some pretty bad stories.

DM~ and doubleA: Now I'm hungry for some reason. My stomach just started growling when I got to your pictures. Looks yummy.

Thanks for all the help guys. I will check out the links when I get some time, and appreciate the continued help.

 

[BP Hunter]

No meat is truly wasted. You keep the best and the left is for the varmints...back to nature.

 

[buck460XVR]

How much gets thrown away is entirely up to who's gonna eat it. It also depends on how badly the animal is shot up, the size of the animal and sometimes the sex. Large mature bucks have quite a bit of meat on the neck and to me are more than worthwhile to bone out. Small does and yearlings not so much. Same goes for the ribs. That and Rib meat is better if it is removed immediately and not allowed to dry out and get strong flavored by hanging. A lean buck will have no fat protecting the rib meat and it will dry out when left to hang skinned in a matter of only a coupla days. This is where some of that "strong, wild gamey" taste that many dislike comes from. Same with blood meat or other cuts that have "rinded over". If this dry membrane is not removed and is included with the meat, it will have adverse effects on the taste of that piece of meat. Even small pieces of this and/or blood meat damaged from the shot can taint the whole batch of hamburger and take it from delicious to so-so. While I try to utilize the most from an animal, I am also very picky what I keep to eat. That means all fat is removed as venison fat has a low melting point and strong flavor. It also tends to rancify quicker than most other animal fats. I also remove and dispose of any dry rind from the meat along with tendons. Small deer that are allowed to hang will have the very little meat in the lower leg areas dried to the point, that when butchered, to me, aren't worth the twenty minutes it takes to remove it from the tendons. As you process your own, you will learn what works for you and how picky you want to be. I save the heart and liver.....many others don't. Don't make them wasteful to me, just that they don't like it, so why keep it. Same goes for the rest of the deer. Leaving a small amount on the ribs or lower legs because you don't like it is not a waste. Pulling the backstraps and rear hams and trashing the rest is. I too worked with a Kitchen-aide Mixer grinder for a few years and it worked well enough if the amount was small, cut in small pieces and at that ideal temperature right above being froze solid. I now use a commercial grinder and have since given the grinder attachment away.

 

[hipoint]

you are correct sir, we are taking that animal's life and we should respect it by using as much of the meat as possible. All those little bits are great for grinding, however using a hand grinder is RIDICULOUS... I own one, more of a prepper supply than a real usable thing though. My electric grinder cost about 60 bucks brand new from one of those mobile tool sale things they have from time to time. Works great, has plenty of power and is better than some of the more expensive ones I've used.

With a grinder, the bigger the motor the better, you don't want to sit there all night grinding meat.

anyhow, what I do is I'll process what I can when I can, then freeze the bits that I can't get to. I'll go back when I'm feeling up to it and thaw out the ribs, legs, neck, etc. and strip them of meat to throw in the grinder. I tested this out once, and I got almost 15 pounds of meat off of the "trash" parts. 15 pounds is alot of meat, that's 2 weeks worth of meals!

the advice above me is spot on though, most of that gamey flavor comes from the membranes but especially the fat. I'll grind up stuff with lots of membranes since spaghetti and chili get lots of seasoning anyhow, but I do throw away all the fat.

 

[oneounceload]

Personally, NOTHING should be wasted. Start watching some of those food TV shows where they go to other countries and you can get some ideas as how other folks manage to use everything with zero waste

 

[Elkins45]

If you have access to either a crock pot or a pressure cooker then there's really no such thing as a "too tough" cut of meat. I take all the stuff that's too full of sinew to properly grind and dump it into the pressure cooker with an onion and a pouch of beef stew seasoning, then let it chug away at 15 pounds for an hour or so. I might add a few potatoes, celery and carrots if there happen to be any in the fridge.

Once I discovered this method of cooking venison I really started enjoying the parts other than tenderloin and steaks. For years the only real enjoyment was the hunting and processing, and I was happy to give most of the meat I harvested away. Now that I know how to properly use a pressure cooker, grinder and dehydrator I finally enjoy consuming the deer as much as I enjoy hunting them.

I don't put any bones in my freezer, and I cut off as much fat as I possibly can before storing it. I have also discovered that pressure canning with garlic, salt and onion makes for a delicious product that doesn't take up space in the freezer and can be used in a whole bunch of recipes, and it is SO tender!

Anything that doesn't go into the freezer gets used by our two dogs.

 

[Liberty1776]

dubbleA - sorry, lost your address... When will those links be coming out of the smoker, exactly?

 

[Liberty1776]

DM - if your in central MN, please private message me with that processor's name. The guy I work with is totally bummed out with the one he used this year, and is still waiting for his sausage and sticks three weeks after he took his deer in. His processor told him he's still waiting for enough to come in to "do a batch". Which would be a good trick as the season closed several weeks ago and there's unlikely to be many muzzleloaders hunting in this weather.

Thanks.

 

[DM~]

Sorry, i'm not in central Mn.

DM

 

[DM~]

Cabela's has their electric grinders on sale right now...

DM

 

[twofifty]

got my first deer ever a few weeks ago and my mentor and I
processed it. It is detail work but worthwhile and adds to the total experience. You sure learn a lot about skeletal anatomy and the effect of gun shots, etc.

Mentor commented that some processors will kind of mix and match
your animal with others when making sausages, ground meat, etc.

To those thinking that processing their own is a lot of work, consider the possibility that while you took proper care of your drt deer, the other guy might have tracked his gut shot buck for 6 hours on a hot day.....

 

[travisd]

Around here it's hit and miss about getting your own meat depending on how much you bring in and how busy they are. So basically you never know but it depends who you take it to. Some are better than others.
One thing i can say is when you take a deer in to get processed make sure you know how to gut it well. For example if you don't get all the butt hole out.. its going to end up in your burger...

 

[MrMarty51]

A good thing to use if You are wanting a venison/pork type of sausage is those pork shoulder roasts.
They have one bone in them, a few ounces, and the rest is meat and fat, mix it 30% pork and the pork fat and 70% venison.
I like to use My Kitchen Aid mixers grinder attachment for grinding things like the heart and leftover roasts, after they have been cooked, makes wunnerfull good samich meat.
Cleanup with the grinder attachment is quick and easy, saves making a mess in the big grinder.
Also, I always run a slice or two of bread through the grinder to grind out the meat that would other wise be left in the grinder, unground.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

If you think what your friends did was wasteful, you don't want to have it processed. I'm always shocked by how little my friends get back. I will NEVER take one to a processor.
Now, I do take grind meat to a local place and have jalepeno/cheddar summer sausage made. Mmmmmm

Agree 100%. I have a meat grinder and then built a sausage stuffer. have yet to use the stuffer.

 

[hq]

Personally, NOTHING should be wasted.

I'm with you here. Parts that contain more veins/membranes go through the grinder 2-3 times and are mixed with pork to make wurster/salami-style sausages, anything that is burger-quality will become burgers. The hides go to a tannery that makes heat-resistant gloves for firefighters and so on.

Guts are piled up, frozen and used as bait for varmints. That's one of my favorite parts, a sort of a recycling procedure that turns waste into nice fox and raccoon dog hides...

Dollar for dollar, it isn't "worth" your spare time but using some of your spare time to make the most out of the game you hunted is a very rewarding feeling that can't be measured in cold hard cash. Hunters are the only real environmentalists left in the world and it's worth the effort to live up to that reputation.

 

[Ankeny]

Depends! There's a place here that makes sure you get YOUR deer back. YOUR license number stays with YOUR deer all the way through the whole process, and i've stood there and watched them push deer through. They cut/wrap/freeze them anyway YOU want them and do a VERY good job. The cost is 50 bucks...

My processor does a fantastic job, but the cost for a deer is over twice what you are paying for the standard cut with no specialized meets (breakfast sausage, cold cuts, jerky, etc.). You get your animal back and everything is vacuum sealed.

When I was a kid we processed everything ourselves and there was very little waste. I don't have a decent place to process meet and I end up having 2-3 deer and 2 elk processed each year. Sure, processors operate under the time is money concept, but they can still do a good job without an excessive amount of waste. In fact, my processor tells me there is more waste before the animal gets to him from improper handling and/or being all shot up.

Last year and again this year I had to bone elk out (five total) to get them out of the field. By some of your standards I probably had a lot of waste, but as long as a person does the best they can...

 

[buck460XVR]

Guts are piled up, frozen and used as bait for varmints. That's one of my favorite parts, a sort of a recycling procedure that turns waste into nice fox and raccoon dog hides...

Not legal in my state. While you can hunt over a gut pile deposited on that spot by the act of legally taking and field dressing a deer, you cannot collect or redistribute any animal part for the sole purpose of baiting any animal.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

if your going to do more then one deer a year id recomend a good quality grinder like lem or a weston. If your just doing burger and its only a couple deer a good #8 will do it. A #12 would be better though. If your doing second grinding for sausage ect i wouldnt fool with anything smaller then a #22. My buddy has a #22 lem and it is a real nice grinder. I have a weston #32 and its an animal. It weights close to what some of the deer i grind do and i think if you stuck a hoof in the grinder it would suck the whole deer through and grind it bone and all. Its one thing id recomend you dont go cheap on. A good grinder makes a tedious chore into an enjoyable one.

 

[HankR]

Does the # mean anything?

I see that #8 (number 8? Pound 8? Guessing not "Hashtag 8") is bigger than the #5 and smaller than the #12. But the hand grinder was a #10 (and, I think the bigger hand grinder was a #32).

Is that just a model number, or some kind of ranking? I thought a saw two different Lem #8s, one w/ plastic gears for cheaper (but a bigger motor) and the one you guys are talking about. Maybe I imagined that part though.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

hank i dont now how the come up with it but its the size of the grinding plates. Bigger number is a bigger plate, bigger cutter ect and being there bigger they need more power so bigger motors too. Keep in mind though that a high quality all steal #8 will outgrind and out last a #10 that is plastic and uses plastic gears and probably has a smaller motor too to save money.