Butcher a front quarter? Never again!

[JPH]

If you are one of those hunters who butcher their own deer I'm sure you dread the chore of getting all the usable meat from the front shoulder and leg. I know I do! I usually put them in the bottom of the cooler and put it off as long as I can because there is no much connective tissue to remove. A lot of times I end of feeling guilty because I know I leave more meat behind on the front quarter than I should.

Well EHD has decimated the herd where I hunt (the two counties I hunt in Iowa hold the number 1 & 2 spots for confirmed cases), so I know meat is going to be scarce for me. As I prepared to finish my butchering of my archery buck, I looked around on youtube for videos that might help me do a better job with the front quarter. Sadly, there was not much there, but one comment below a video caught my eye. The guy said, "I'll never bone out another front quarter. I just saw them up and toss them the crock pot at 250. 6 hours later it's falling off the bone." Say what? Could it really be that simple?

Yesterday morning I cut off one of the shoulders at the first joint, trimmed off the tallow and tossed it in with a few yellow onions, a bag of baby carrots and a couple cups of water. I turned it on and went back to work meticulously trimming the rest of the meat as I always have. 6 hours later you could literally shake the meat from the bone and cut it with a fork! Unreal! From here on out, my front quarters are coming off and going in a freezer bag as is.

[Deebz]

sounds awesome... I always struggle with the lower legs, or shanks as my dad calls them. There are so many tendons and such that it's almost not worth the time to separate all the meat out. What do you do with that?

[JPH]

sounds awesome... I always struggle with the lower legs, or shanks as my dad calls them. There are so many tendons and such that it's almost not worth the time to separate all the meat out. What do you do with that?

Well I've always worked my fingers to the bone cutting away each muscle group and trying to trim off the tendons. It takes forever and really does not yield much meat. From now on they're going in the crock pot too.

[Sailfish]

It really takes less than 2 minutes to debone/butcher both front shoulders.


Of course, it helps when you can do the entire deer in 8 minutes

Go to the 2:54 and watch the front shoulders, or just watch this man at work WOW
(sorry if this has been posted before)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xijmge8_ ... r_embedded

[JPH]

That is amazing, Sailfish! That being said, I think I'll stick with the crock pot.

My steps with the crock pot are: 1. Remove the front shoulder. 2. Trim a little tallow. 3. Place in pot with veggies and water. 4. Turn on to a med-high setting. 5. Wait six hours and enjoy.

The steps I'd follow if I used that video are: 1. Wield the knife as shown. 2. Apply direct pressure to the wound. 3. Apply pressure to an artery above the wound. 4. Apply a tourniquet. 5. Rush to the trauma center.

[Deebz]

Yeah that dude is amazing... I have a feeling he does that once or twice a day more often than I do...

[buckwild]

I have butchered my last 4 deer and have learned by youtube and just diving in.

This idea of cutting the front quarter for the crock pot is interesting. A few questions... How big of section are you cutting it into? What are you using to cut through both meat and bone? Are there bone fragments left after the cut?

Thanks!

[Deebz]

find the joint at the "knee" below the shoulder, and you won't have to actually cut through any bone. Then cook the whole thing with the bone in.... I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to for sure. This sounds like a good way to start my Italian Venison recipe that i like.

i wonder what it woudl be like if you smoked the whole shoulder a bit before getting it in the crock pot...

[JPH]

find the joint at the "knee" below the shoulder, and you won't have to actually cut through any bone. Then cook the whole thing with the bone in....

^ What he said.

I think a lot depends on the size of the shoulder and the size of the crock. It really does not matter what goes in b/c the meat literally falls off whatever bones you toss in. I would avoid sawing though. You can work a joint back and forth and cut the ligaments until it comes off.

[Sopchoppy]

I watched a buddy of mine debone a deer while it was still hanging whole. Not an 8 minute job, but a lot quicker than I do it. He never quarters a deer like I do.