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swampy

Well-Known Member
WHEN YOU SHOOT A DEER AND DECIDE IT WILL MAKE A NICE TROPHY SAW IT UP SOON AFTER SHOOTING.

I did a couple this morning after only a fortnight........
 
Sorry Swamps you have lost me! Are you saying, sort the trophy head out and then butcher the carcass as soon as possible? If so I agree. I prefer to skin out the Muntjac as soon as I can and then cut it up into portion sized cuts. I don't think you have to hang meat that long anyway. If a deer is old and tough, I marinade it in fruit juice/herbs and spices or cider/red wine. Tastes great! :D

I have a Fallow buck being portioned up at the moment. It hung for a week and bloody hell the skinning was hard work! :( Its taking me an age to chop it up and cram it into the freezer. :lol:
 
heads

I did the butchery bit a week ago after a weeks hanging, the heads had been kicking about the garden shed since then. when i ran the saw through them the brains had gone horrid and very smelly.

:eek:
 
Re: heads

swampy said:
I did the butchery bit a week ago after a weeks hanging, the heads had been kicking about the garden shed since then. when i ran the saw through them the brains had gone horrid and very smelly.

:eek:

If they get that far gone that they are gonna stink a bit mate, cover the antlers in black plastic, or anything that will stop the sun from getting to them and hang them outside or up a tree in the woods and let nature do the stripping out of brains and meat from the skull. I do it this way now, in fact i have a roe head hung on the fence in the field at the top of the garden which has been there since last august. :eek: Once it is all dried out, cut through and then bleach. ;)

PS, the bags on the antlers stop the sun from bleaching them white. ;)

wadas
 
Hi Swampy,

As well as the venison I stick the heads in the freezer until I am ready to boil them out. It does help to have a seperate freezer for this though.

PS Make sure the other half knows which freezer the venison is in.

Remmy7
 
I have a freezer full of heads! The misses has told me to sort them out and get rid of some. :cry: I didn't bring my first Fallow's head back from my stalk last week, she'd have gone ballistic! :lol:

So this weekend I'll be sorting through them and wondering why i kept the 'wonky ones'. :confused:
 
I have to chop my beasts up straight away as I don't have hanging facilities.

I generally chop the baest into the shoulders, haunches and then the loin but then put them in the fridge for three or four days to mature and firm up.

I have tried chopping and mincing very fresh roe and it has no structure to it, whereas let it rest for a few days it firms up nicely and then you cut it inot steaks etc.

I did once read from an american website a method of taking off the haunches, shoulders and back straps of deer in the field without even having to gut the animal. Can't find it on google now, but can find the www.nogutmethod.com.

Not sure how the powers that be would view you leaving ribcages, bones and guts out in the woods, but can't help feeling this would a useful method to have for that solo extraction of the beast that has fallen into the ravine type scenario - or that is a bloody long drag / bugger the argo has broken type scenario.

It always amazes me how much weight you loose from live weight down to on the plate weight - ie how much skin and bones you actually have to carry off the hill.
 
Beowulf said:
So this weekend I'll be sorting through them and wondering why i kept the 'wonky ones'. :confused:

As an old stalking friend told me "everyone tells a story" you will find somewhere to put them l stick a lot of mine up in the workshop.
 
Hmm well, the no gut method is OK but how do you extract the fillets without gutting the carcass? On a red or fallow the fillets are quite substantial and a prime cut (especially if the carcase has been hung for a month and has gone black and mouldy) mmmmm mmmmmmmm

Did two red stags for friend a fortnight ago that were in exactly this state. The venison has been exceptional and to think he would have thrown them away! To the uninitiated they did looka bit awe inspiring cos with their skins on they were furry on the outside and furry on the inside!
 
In the past i have done a few heads that were past there sell by date. Cutting them is bad enough but boiling them in the kitchen is something else. very few of the deer here have antlers worth keeping so i throw them in with the dogs. I bone out all deer meat before putting in the freezer. No bones to puncture the freezer bags.
 
I don't keep many heads but when I do I always skin them out, boil them and cut them as soon as possible after shooting. They are easier to skin, the boiling (with Ariel biological) get rid of everything before the fat has time to seep into the bone and the cutting of the still relatively soft bone is easier.

The bleached article is then much better.
 
Hmm well, the no gut method is OK but how do you extract the fillets without gutting the carcass? On a red or fallow the fillets are quite substantial and a prime cut (especially if the carcase has been hung for a month and has gone black and mouldy)

I think that may be a confusion of terms. One mans saddle is another mans fillet etc:doh:
 
There was a thread on here a while ago about that no gut method. Must admit i didn't see the point in it. He made a couple off cuts to take filets out but looked bloody akward with guts still in.
Nothing to stop u doing a ruff gralloch to give u some room to get the fillets out and skin and using the skin as a clean hygenic surface to butcher ur deer to carry out

The no gut technique is quite common in the usa because off the distances and size off deer but also esp in areas with a lot off bear seemingly that smell off opening up the belly attracts bear from miles around fairly quickly
 
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