Deerhunter,
I was pretty much in your shoes early last year - stalk, shot, gralloch going like a dream but the butchery taking an age with too much waste. I wanted to understand the meat and get good so threw money at the problem (well the missus did as a birthday prezzie!) and went on a one day butchery course at the School of Artisan Food in Welbeck. It was run by Ray Smith, the 'River Cottage' butcher with his wife cooking up the meat as it came off the carcass. It was an excellent day with a top lunch, some good laughs and enough carcasses so everyone who wanted to (some didn't bizarrely) could get stuck in. I came away a far more confident butcher with a set routine for taking down a carcass and now relish the opportunity to get the knifes out rather than see it as a chore. I can't recommend it enough.
Collimator