| After skinning, the next step to process deer is | | | | set aside for stews or ground meat, but if you want to |
| quartering. You will need a knife, a sharpening steel, a | | | | roast or smoke it, make a slice around the base of the |
| cooler, bone saw, wax paper, and a trash can for the | | | | next where the backstrap ended. Then, with a bone |
| scraps. A boning or fillet style knife is best, but any | | | | saw, cut neck free. Set aside in cooler. |
| sharp knife will work. The meat needs to be kept | | | | Step 4. Scrap meat (for grinding). Cut stomach |
| between 32 and 40 degrees. A cooler with dry ice is | | | | muscles away from pelvis up to the rib cage and set |
| good. Lay the meat in the cooler as you quarter. | | | | aside. With fillet knife, remove meat from between the |
| First, trim away blood shot or contaminated meat. | | | | ribs and set aside the strips. Trim away superficial |
| Step 1: Remove the shoulders. Cut along the top of the | | | | muscles from remaining chest area. Put all this aside |
| shoulder blade, then lift the legs away from the body. | | | | for grinding (is will yield 3 to 6 lbs, depending on the size |
| Cut them free of the body under the shoulder. Put | | | | of the deer). |
| shoulders aside in a cooler. | | | | Step 5. Rear legs. Work the knife along the top of the |
| Step 2: Backstrap. Make a cut down each side of the | | | | pelvis, keeping knife as close to the bone as possible. |
| backstrap at the vertebrae, from pelvis to neck, | | | | From underside, work knife down the edge of the |
| keeping knife on the edge of the vertebrae. Make the | | | | pelvis until Ball Joint (hip) is exposed. Put tip of knife into |
| cut deep to the bone sticking out from the vertebrae. | | | | the Ball Joint and separate. The leg is almost free at |
| Along the ribs, insert the knife until it meets the | | | | this point. Cut it free, making sure it doesn't fall once it's |
| vertebrae cut. Work the knife down along the ribs until | | | | free from the pelvis. Insert knife around "ankle" and |
| the whole backstrap is loose. Cut ends of backstrap | | | | free it from the lower shank. |
| and remove. Set aside in cooler. | | | | Now you're ready to butcher! |
| Step 3: Neck. You can trim all meat from the neck and | | | | |