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Old 10-21-2009, 08:31 AM
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hwkirby hwkirby is offline
 
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Originally Posted by JJRND View Post
I'm new to hunting, and before I harvest any animals I want to know the steps I need to take to butcher the animals. I want to take any deer I harvest to a butcher to be made into jerky, sausage and pepperoni. But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. Whether I take the deer home and age and cut out the meat myself and then just take the meat to the butcher? Or just take the deer to the butcher and they'll do the aging etc. Also can anyone recommend a butcher in southern Alberta? Thanks!
The more you can do yourself the cheaper it will be in the long run. Deboning a deer is easy and requires very little skill. Nothing to wreck if it is just being further processed into jerky sausage etc. As SH mentioned above be sure to remove hair, fat and bone fragments and the like to make your eating experience that much more enjoyable in the future. Larger game (elk, moose) is a different story though. You can watch videos and take a class to learn how to make cuts from your big game animal. But if you can afford it and want it done right take it to a local butcher shop and have it done professionally. You are on the right track looking for reccommendations, not all butcher shops are created equally!
Most big game does not need to be aged very long if at all imo. Again especially if your going the sausage route. Game typically has little to no exterior fat and just dries out to fast. Leaving a "jerky" type crust over the lean meat which just has to be cut off and thrown away later. Lots of wasted meat and labour for nothing.
Your deer tag will have most of the information needed for the butcher to process your game. However, some take more information to be on the safe side, and it would not hurt to take in your certificate as well. With the new computer generated tags you will have to take in your license.
Good luck!
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