What does your butcher do with the hide? It may sound gay, but that would be one more thing I would want to take back with me. I don't think most of what we have in NJ could be big enough for a blanket, I could use it as an entry mat for my house

 

It costs either 5 or 10 bucks extra to get the hide. Then I mail it out to get tanned. I have 3 skins sitting in a cedar box waiting for me to decide what to do with them.

It costs either 5 or 10 bucks extra to get the hide. Then I mail it out to get tanned. I have 3 skins sitting in a cedar box waiting for me to decide what to do with them.

That's not that bad of a price. Roughly how big are they?

That's not that bad of a price. Roughly how big are they?

 

Maybe 3' x 5'?

We butchered two of ours so far this season. It's a time consuming pain in the a**, but defanatly the way to go to get the most out of your deer. The other one we took to our butcher (Earl in Little Egg) who does a great job and at $50 a head, he's unbeatable.

thanks for all the great info.. ultimately I will just have to bite the bullet and learn how to do it.. watching videos has really helped I think.. I at least kind of understand the process..

 

ok so hypothetically I make it through the butchering process.. what do I do with the carcass?

thanks for all the great info.. ultimately I will just have to bite the bullet and learn how to do it.. watching videos has really helped I think.. I at least kind of understand the process..

 

ok so hypothetically I make it through the butchering process.. what do I do with the carcass?

 

Just toss it in the trash. If you end up with some property you could bury it. It would have to be deep though so that scavengers don't dig it back up.

If you have some property..just throw it in the back...Buzzards will have it cleaned in a week.

And, Coyotes!

You could always start small, as in kill a turkey or squirrel and start out skinning and gutting them. Then move onto something bigger like a coyote, or a deer.

 

My neighbor showed me how to skin a squirrel last weekend, was insane how easy it is to just rip the skin right off.

I am sure this will fall on me at some point.. and I appreciate all the info and advice.. you guys have made it seem a lot easier than it initially seemed...

 

I spoke to quite a few hunters.. and it seems like while all of them DO gut the deer.. most of them have a "friend" actually butcher it.. in exchange for a small fee or some of the meat..

No prob, glad I/everyone could help.

 

In reference to gutting/butchering, you are right, a lot of guys gut the deer and then run it over to a friend/butcher to do the rest of it. I think there are many reasons ppl do this, the 2 main reasons being it's easy and it's rather inexpensive, but learning how to do it yourself is not only good to know, but also a very good experience. You could always take it to a butcher or friend after that, but you know that you can always do it yourself if you feel like it or need be.

 

The plus to having someone butcher it is they know how to make some really good jerky/steaks/burgers/all of that. It takes money to buy the dryers for jerky and that stuff (on your own agenda), so it's easy paying someone 25 bucks to have a couple pounds of venison made into some jerky...and some DAMN GOOD jerky at that!

I am sure this will fall on me at some point.. and I appreciate all the info and advice.. you guys have made it seem a lot easier than it initially seemed... I spoke to quite a few hunters.. and it seems like while all of them DO gut the deer.. most of them have a "friend" actually butcher it.. in exchange for a small fee or some of the meat..

 

 

Easy... I just made venison snack sticks and jerky this morning... Broke my a**!