Last Day, First Light

[Little Red Man]

Got this young feller on the last day of the regular season at first light. Decided I was going to butcher him myself this time. I let him hang in my garage until this afternoon at about 5 or 6 degrees. Just finished the tenderloins for supper....mmmmmm....good!

Anyway, I had a question for other folks who butcher their own. Do you cut off the layer of "scab" (for lack of a better term) when you butcher the animal. I did, as it did not look the least bit appealing, but was difficult to do and wasted a bit of meat. My elk from last year was butchered by an outfit in Sundre and clearly this layer of yuck was left on a good portion of the steaks and some of the roasts. Definitely not very appetizing. Thoughts?

Deer - 2008 (Small).jpg

[moosemad]

Noting wrong with that for the last day, congrats. The shiney layer should be cut off, it will save you time from cutting it off at the dinner tble.

[yellowknifedave]

I take off the thin dry layer that forms when it hangs for a while, and the silver skin inside (tendons?) when I butcher it. I use a couple of sharp filleting knives once it is deboned, and it doesn't take too long, and if you are carefull, doesn't waste any meat.

YKD

[Little Red Man]

Yeah....first kick at doing butchering myself. Definately will use a fillett knife next time.

[Cowboy Al]

Your meat will taste better if you get rid of the white stuff. The outfitter probably didn't do it to save himself some time and effort.
Not trying to stir anything up but is the pic photoshopped? The background doesn't seem to match you and the buck.......just wondering??

[BigRackLover]

the dried on meat is called "age". Yes - cut it off, it takes time and wastes a very small amount but nothing you can do when you hang in garage. Even happens on stuff that hung in coolers.

[Little Red Man]

Actually, I am a computer geek and have absolutely no time to be farting around with photo shop.

However, my lovely wife was nice enough to purchase a Canon Rebel Xti for me last Xmas and it does take good photos. Must just be the focus and the lighting that makes it looked altered......

[jaylow?]

im not sure what your talking about, ? are you talking about bloodshot meat or talking about what we call silverskin?

[gunsnreels]

eol

Originally Posted by yellowknifedave

i take off the thin dry layer that forms when it hangs for a while, and the silver skin inside (tendons?) when i butcher it. I use a couple of sharp filleting knives once it is deboned, and it doesn't take too long, and if you are carefull, doesn't waste any meat.

Ykd

x2

[russ]

Originally Posted by Little Red Man

Actually, I am a computer geek and have absolutely no time to be farting around with photo shop.

However, my lovely wife was nice enough to purchase a Canon Rebel Xti for me last Xmas and it does take good photos. Must just be the focus and the lighting that makes it looked altered......

It's the aperture setting that causes that. Nothing wrong with it, we're supposed to be focused on you not the background anyway. I choose aperture settings like that all the time for just that reason.

[Justanotherbuck2]

Picture looks great to me! Congrats! I would recommend trimming away the silver linings and as much fat and white cartilage as possible.. that's one of the benefits of processing yourself you can take the time to trim a lot better than a butcher shop can. Welcome to a growing number of hunters that process their own game. Most of the silver (blue) comes from the heavily used thinner muscles of the lower legs, I trim this all and grind it for sausage, the sausage cures help break it down even more and its not that great to grind this area of the animal for burger.

[hunt_and_fish]

Congrats on a nice buck Little Red. Way to go.

You can add me to the list of people that trim the dried crust off. It does take some extra time and waste some meat but it's worthwhile. As others have said, it's also very important to remove the silver skin (except for on stew meat) and every bit of fat possible.