BDD

BDD stands for Big Doe Down! and that's what we got last Sunday. My hubby shot her Saturday night. She had bedded down to die so my hubby went to get her, but jumped her instead. For fear she would attempt to wander too far he backed off and left her over night. Something he hates to do and makes him all but unbearable to live with until we get her home. So off we went Sunday morning to find her. I had never tracked a deer before. It was kind of fun like being a CSI. I was actually the one who found her so that made me extra happy.

The down side was something took advantage of a free meal over night. It was something small I think it was a hawk, cause they do the same thing to chickens eating the breast meat and leaving the entrails intact. A coyote or dog would have gone straight for the organ meat. Anyway we were concerned we had lost a substantial part of the meat, but after we got her gutted and cleaned up we were very lucky we didn't loose anything at all. We do not eat the rib meat anyway and that is all they touched.
We wound up dragging her about a half a mile. We went through two small woods two cornfields through a creek over a fence and up a very steep hill to get her up to the truck. You can see where the hair was pulled out, I think from dragging her across the rocks in the creek.

Kids are always excited when we get to put food from the field into the freezer.

We used to have our meat processed, but the guy went out of business so we started doing it ourselves. Sure there are other folks around that process, but this way I know how the meat is handled and can be sure I get the cuts I want and that the fat is trimmed off to my liking. So here she is hung in our garage and ready to go.

I do all the skinning. First you start by making cuts in the skin around the ankles or hocks.

Then a cut down the inside of each leg.

Then it's just pulling the skin down till you reach the front legs. Then you make a cut down the front legs and around the carpus.

Lastly the head then I'll take off the front legs.

Next is the hard part that I leave to my hubby. Sawing the deer in half. then we cut each half into four sections. First the shoulder, we cut through at the fifth rib. The shoulder becomes burger. Next the back strap, sirloin and tenderloins come off. Then the knee becomes a little burger and some steaks. Thinking about doing some sliced lunch meat type cuts with it next time. Then the rest of the rear leg becomes a mix of burger and steaks. Of course you could do roasts, but I don't cook many roasts so it's not something we do.

Here is my very messy kitchen during the process. I do the cutting and put the grind into a bowl. Hubby cleans off and fat, tendon, and silver skin and places it into the grinder to become burger. He weights it on the scale into 1lb portions and packages it in first plastic baggies then wraps it in freezer paper. I package all the steaks. We also have a bowl going for all the trimmed off fat and waste. A 2 person processing usually takes 5 to 6 hours start to finish.

This lovely doe gave us 18 packages of steak and 19 packages of burger. It usually takes at least three deer for us to make it through the year. I am happy to have the first one done. I'm also happy my family can enjoy healthy low fat low cholesterol venison year round. It is our staple meat, we buy no beef at all from the grocery store. I know my kids are not eating a bunch of growth hormones and steroids and dewormers. I am a happy girl!