HOW TO BUTCHER A DEER

 My paternal grandfather was a butcher in the village of Montgomery. We were inseparable. By the time I was old enough to lend a hand with the meat cutting, he had closed up shop (due to ill health) picked up work as a school janitor and traffic cop, but still kept all his knives and butcher block. During deer season he was the go-to guy for the town’s hunters. That’s when I learned how to butcher a deer.

   Gramp did it old school. He would skin, then halve and quarter the deer with a meat saw. The prime cuts were steaks, roasts and chops. Scrap meat was ground into hamburger. He had lost half a finger in an old grinder and always warned me to keep my hands far away from the spinning corkscrew. I learned how to butcher a deer years before I was legally old enough to hunt one. I don’t butcher the same way, but skills I learned as a ten year old remain with me.

    These days I hunt as much as I can and still butcher my own deer. It is one of the great joys of living in the country, to walk out of your house (or take a short drive) and hunt the illusive whitetail buck. I can still drag one out of the woods and hang it from a tree. I usually hunt alone. The only other artist I know who deer hunts is the photographer George Holz. Otherwise my brother Bird, Bill Voegelin, Bobby Rowe and my nephew Wade are my only companions in the deer woods. I don’t trust any other men (or women) with loaded guns in the same hunting territory. But hunting is not the only way to score a deer. A couple of nights ago I got a call from Ambika Conroy. She’d spotted a hurt deer and wanted me to come shoot it. I was on the other end of the county, so she called the cops (who shot it) then loaded it in her truck. Venison. If you haven’t butchered it yet Ambika, here’s some tips.

Step one- Field dress. Take a sharp knife and cut around the deer’s anus. Then slice carefully from ass to sternum. Reach in and sever the windpipe, while cutting around the lungs. Pull from both ends, spilling the guts onto the ground.

Step two- Hang the deer. Some like to hang from the feet. Others swear you must hang by the head. I hang from antlers first, hosing out the cavity and draining all the blood, then invert after two days.  If the weather is cool—low forties—I like to hang for five or six days. If the weather is too cold or too warm, butcher sooner.

Step three- Skin the deer while hanging, carefully removing the hide like a coat.

Step four- Remove two small tenderloins on the inside of ribcage. 

Step five- Cut away back strap. These are two large tubular cuts of meat running along both sides of the backbone. Trim away all fat and membrane. Cut into filet mignon size medallions. This is the best cut of meat on the deer.

Step six- Remove front shoulders and saw hindquarter from backbone and cut in half. All your steak, stew, and hamburger are on the hindquarters and front shoulder. Take your time trimming. Just follow the lines. Trim all fat, sinew and membrane from the meat and bones. Vacuum seal in quart bags and freeze. Cook like you would a fine beefsteak. I prefer bloody rare. The more work you do during this process, the better your venison will taste.

Roadkill or hard earned eight pointer, they all taste the same. Enjoy.