re: Processing deer at home

My advice.

With the right set up game processing at home is pretty simple. If you are going to grind the meat anyway you are only 2 steps away from great sausage (adding spices and regrinding/casing)

I have tried a few different things but find this set up works:

1. A large under the bed plastic storage bin the ones that are 16" or so wide an 3-4 ft long and only 6 or so inches deep. And a plastic cutting board that will fit in the bin. This is used for deboning meat inside the house without the mess.

2. 3-4 large semi flexible plastic bins for bulk storage of deboned meat, basic ground, and sausage grind. 9 inches deep or so and large enough that two of them will take up a shelf in your deep freezer. You will want a large roll of plastic wrap to keep things stored in fridge or freezer from drying out during the processing.

Make sure the trays in step 1 and 2 will fit at least part of the way into your sink.

3. I use a grinder I caught on sale at BPS for $75 I think, It does a good job. I would make sure all the mechanical parts are aluminum or stainless and not plastic. When grinding wet stuff go ahead a block the back side of the grinder so it tilts forward preventing back drainage of the juices.

4. Kinves, use what you like but I usually debone using a filet knife and cut pices up with a 5" drop point hunting knife. I keep both sharp with a diamond sharpener through out the process. You will also need a scale that measures up to 4-5 lbs in small increments.

5. Vaccum sealer- dont skimp here. The more expensive versions will have dry and moist settings, various suction power levels, and the sealing element will not over heat as easily. The better ones will also seal a bag even if there is a little grease or fluid in the seal line, the cheapos will not. Lots of 11" bags.



That is 40lbs of wild hog breakfast sausage we did last night. and it is in the under the bed storage container I mentioned above.



ETA: you can see the small holes I melted in the rim of the processing bin on the left of the picture to hold my knives while I work.