The deer hunting season is over in most states now. Here in Oklahoma we still have a few weeks left in bow season and one more special antlerless season (Dec 28-30). We’ve got our harvest and now we need to decide what to do with it.


Most people will take their deer to a butcher and have it processed there. I remember some years back when I lived in Texas I was able to take it to a butcher and he would process my deer for half the weight in meat. It wasn’t a bad deal back then. I was single and didn’t need all that I harvested so I was satisfied with that. Now days with a family of 5 we eat a lot more venison than I used to alone. Getting your deer processed by a butcher now days can get kind of expensive if you want anything more than just ground.


These days hunting is expensive enough so you may want to consider processing your own deer. It’s really quite simple to do. Not only will it save you money, but it twill get your meat on the table much quicker.


I learned to process my own deer from a friend of mine. He uses a de-boning method that works pretty good and there is no meat wasted. But if you don’t know anybody that can show you how to do this it can be very time consuming and you will end up wasting a lot of your harvest.


There is a DVD out called “Deer, From Filed To Freezer” that does an excellent job of taking you step by step on on how process your own deer. There are Other DVD’s on the market that show you how to take the proper steps without wasting anything so that you have more venison and less waste.


You can also get books on the subject. The one that I recommend would be Butchering Deer by John Weiss . This book takes you step by step on a very simple method of processing your own deer.


Unless you are planning one heck of a big party, which I do occasionally on good years, you will need to properly store your meat in the freezer. Just like processing you have a couple of options. I used to use freezer paper exclusively until I purchased my first vacuum sealer. Now it’s the only way I will package my meat. Not only venison, but just about anything that I plan on freezing for any extended period of time. Anything you freeze will last a lot longer if you vacuum out the air before you freeze it.


Regardless how you process and store your meat, the important thing is to waste as little as possible. If you try the methods that I have just mentioned I will guarantee you will have more meat to enjoy, and it will cost a whole lot less to do it.

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