DIY Deer Butchering

Butchering a deer can be a messy and time-consuming process. This is especially true if you have no knowledge on what steps to take first or which parts you would need to pay close attention to. Butchering a deer is almost the same as processing other animal meats. You just need to be careful at identifying the parts of the animal and using your tools to cut through the meat. Once you are familiar with all these things, butchering can be a lot easier to accomplish.

• 1

  Place the deer on a flat surface, allowing it to lie on its side. Grab one of the deer's hind legs and tie a rope to it. Tie the other end of the rope to a tree to hang the deer upside down and expose its belly for easier butchering.

• 2

  Take out the backstraps on the spine of the deer by using a knife to cut at its neck's base. Cut it down to the deer's pelvis, following a right angle to its original cut. The cut should run from the neck of the deer to its pelvis.

• 3

  Take out the shoulders of the deer by pulling them out from its carcass and slicing from the area where the deer's shoulder muscle is attached to the rib cage. Pull the shoulder outward while you continue cutting to the deer's ribs.

• 4

  Remove the shank from the deer's shoulder, using your meat saw. You will find the shank right below the elbow joint.

• 5

  Continue to cut along the pelvic area of the deer until the knife reaches the joint in the leg. Take out the bone's head from its socket while cutting from within the joint, which severs the ligament. Place the shanks in a plastic bag and set it aside.

• 6

  Locate the area of the neck near the body of the deer and saw from this spot of the neck to get two roasts. Use the same meat saw to remove the ribs from where it meets the spinal area. Place these inside a separate plastic bag and set aside.