By Johnny Vesper, Contributor at Wild Nexus

This is not an in-depth ‘how to.’ This is also not an accusation of wrongdoing toward fellow hunters. I fully understand others run a different program, and who am I to discredit anyone? 

I will call it a mini treatise, designed hopefully to encourage some of you to rethink the way you may be doing things, because I believe there is a primal instinct inside us all, that drives us to hunt, more than any amount of horn-score, or other trophy metric, ever could. 

I am talking about the desire to provide food for ourselves and our families. 

From the earliest humans to the present, many hunters’ motivation to hunt has been to survive, thrive, and provide for those they love and care about. Indeed, a lionization of brave individuals who provide through hunting has been well-documented throughout human history. You need only look at the oldest archaeological records in North America for the support of this claim. 

The very identification of the earliest human civilizations here, in fact, is classified by the unique stone spear and arrowheads that are specific to each of these individual groups. The famous ‘fluted’ stone points of the Clovis and Folsom peoples are the only reason we even know these groups were here or had their own distinct cultures. And we see that these incredible stone tools, made with skill and precision, were clearly for the purpose of hunting, processing, and providing food. 

In the beginning, the idea of hunting was surely a basic instinct to leave one’s shelter, cave, or encampment, and risk the dangers of the wild for the simple necessity of returning with food to sustain the tribe. As civilized innovations, such as agriculture, food production, and refrigeration, became commonplace, society in turn became increasingly less dependent -and less reverential- of the mighty hunter. 

Simultaneously, at the tipping point of this societal shift, ‘market hunters’ of the day had left most North American big game on the verge of collapse. In response, famous figures like Theodore Roosevelt and other forefathers of modern hunting conservation helped create a culture of “trophy hunting,” which positively shifted the emphasis from ‘pot hunting’, or hunting for food, toward the motivational challenge of downing a particularly impressive, and most importantly, old, male specimen. This shift ensured hunters would, in practice, target aging out males beyond breeding age, whose removal from the landscape would have the least negative impact on the health, longevity, and success of the population. This was a good thing and resulted broadly in rebounding numbers of species that had been steadily declining, even near extinction.

This shift created a new motivation to hunt, beyond food procurement, though this original instinct has continued to remain a part of our ethereal hunting culture and heritage, whether we realize it or not. It is who we are as meat eating, intrinsically 

predatory, adaptive survivalists. And I believe, no part of the modern hunting experience exemplifies this deeply rooted proclivity to provide more than skinning and butchering one’s own kill. 

Now, if you could have been a fly on the wall as I fumbled through the processing of my first deer, you would certainly be wondering why I am now writing this “treatise.” And although experience and years of practice has now greatly developed my skill and ability, I still do not consider myself an expert. But as I always say, lack of experience should never be a reason not to try something new— just the opposite. The only way we grow is by trying new things, learning from our failures, our mistakes, and our successes. When it comes to processing your harvest, lack of know-how or experience should not stand in your way. 

Another point I often hear, when bringing up the topic of diy processing, is the lack of time. This is a reasonable and valid point. It certainly takes more time to process on your own than simply dropping the animal off at a local butcher, only to return later to pick up neatly packed meat. But I would argue that a bit of extra planning, some creative time management, and a little knowledge can lead to satisfying results for those who have yet to, in this way, complete the full range of hunting experience. 

Here are a few things to encourage you, if you have not yet, but are beginning to feel ready to take the next step. 

Just Skin It 

The first hang up for many is removing the hide. It seems daunting, difficult, and time consuming. There is some truth to this, but the reality is, unless you are planning to save the hide for later use, skinning does not need to be an exact science, and therefore, anyone can do it. Once you get some of the basics down, it begins to become clear that skinning is intuitive and simple. There is no need to worry about making a mess of this step. You can do it on the ground in the woods, or more conveniently, while your animal is hanging back at camp. All you need is a sharp knife. Of course, there are a few tricks of the trade that can make this easier, cleaner, and faster. But this will come with experience. At the end of a successful hunting day, if you are a beginner, just skin it. 

Have A Plan-

The most important aspect to DIY processing is having a plan. Everyone knows about the importance of getting and keeping meat to a safe temperature as soon as possible. Depending on the location or time of year, outdoor temperatures above freezing can make this difficult. If it is wintertime and temperatures outside are already in a safe zone, meaning cold out, you can plan to take your time. After removing the hide, you will need to butcher the animal down into pieces that will fit in a freezer, cooler, or refrigerator. If outdoor temperatures are above a safe threshold, you will need to work quickly. When working quickly, remove whole body parts- legs, back straps, tenderloins, neck meat, heart, and any organs you plan to save. Wrap, or bag, and store these larger pieces in a cooler or fridge as soon as possible. Once you have the meat cooled, you can work on getting these larger parts into smaller pieces at your leisure. Then debone, trim, or separate muscle groups, before returning them to your freezer for longer storage times. Breaking down an animal in this way can happen in the field or at home, but either way, you will need to have a plan to get the meat cooled and stored in a reasonable time. If you are in the field, plan to bring some game bags, or some para-chord, and hang the meat in a tree to get air moving over it, thus creating a natural layer of dryness, ie, ‘crust’, to prohibit insects from getting in the meat. Also, in my experience, meat can travel in and out of the freezer safely more than once if it is staying at or below a food safe temperature throughout the process, even if it is thawing and refreezing. 

Get A Grinder 

A good meat grinder is a beginner processor’s best friend. There has been more than one deer that I have entirely ground into ‘burger.’ Grinding meat removes the skill involved in butchering, as you will need to cut it all into small enough pieces to go through the grinder anyway; there is no need for knowing individual muscle groups or making steak cuts, etc. Decent grinders are reasonably priced and will pay dividends well worth the original cost. Besides, who does not love a good burger? Or meatloaf, meatballs, stuffed peppers, homemade sausage, even ‘deer bacon’… should I go on? My point is, ground meat is incredibly ubiquitous in every home kitchen, used in countless cooking applications, and is one of the easiest ways to process an animal with the least amount of know-how. Befriend a butcher and request trimmed fat that they may be throwing away or ask if you can buy some or just grind the meat without adding fat. After grinding, pack gallon-size freezer bags and flatten out the ground meat in the bags before putting it in the freezer. These flattened bags of meat will maximize space in the freezer and thaw more quickly when you take them out. 

I have found that nothing gives me more personal pride as a hunter than knowing that the meat I am providing for my family is solely an act of my own hand. I love reminding myself that even more than being a wild, free ranging, healthy product, there is also no other person handling it. 

If you have not yet begun processing your own wild game meat, I hope this will be an encouragement to you. I am so glad you are getting out in the field, connecting with nature, disconnecting with the electronic world we find ourselves in, and helping to conserve this amazing resource we all enjoy. And, I am glad you are already tapping into your primal desire to provide. 

So I say, next time you find success out there, sharpen your knife, and bring it all the way home.