How long does it take you to butcher deer?

[Wlog]

Just curious how long. It takes me forever because I go through and trim out every little bit of silver skin, sinew, etc. I sometimes think I’m going overboard. It takes me around 2 hours to skin quarter and debone. Then 3+ to cut up, trim and package. I think I could get less picky about the trimming and shave off some time but don’t know if I’d be making a sacrifice on the taste.

[Wlog]

Had a butcher tell me it takes an hour to do. I can’t see that being possible.

[jmaas07]

8ish hours from set up to clean up

[cspot]

If not cool enough to hand in the barn, I skin and quarter one in under 30 minutes and have in the cooler. Usually at least a couple of us do the butchering, but if I was doing solo, I would guess that it would take around 3 hrs. Cleaning of the grinder and equipment takes alot of the time. If doing 2 at one time then the average per deer would come down. Usually at least a couple of us doing it and it then only takes a little over an hr working together. Doesn't work out that way too often, but I would rather have 3 or 4 deer at one time and all 5 of us working on it as you can really make some time then.

[Racks&Beards]

Since I don't do any grinding, I'd say from the moment the skin is off the deer till the last vacuum bag is sealed I'm looking at about 3 hours...give or take a few. That's with really being meticulous in cleaning up the silver skin and stuff too.

[Seeker529]

8ish hours from set up to clean up

x2... by time i set up everything to clean up... but anymore I cant take doing it in the freezing cold of my uncut garage so I stretch it out over two days!

[Noreast10pt]

I've only done my own 3 times now and the last one was skinned and de boned in 1.5 hrs.
Then trimmed up, ground and packaged in another 3.5 hrs.
So about 5 hrs total.

[Edcyclopedia]

I've done one 80#.

Skin, debonned into roasts, scraps for grinding burger, vac sealed, throw bones away and cleanup = +5 hours.

I'll easily have this done for $100 from now on...

[Dewey]

I skin and quarter then put in an extra fridge to keep cool and take it out as I have time. Sometimes this takes 2-3 days to complete.

In the past I have cut and packaged a deer in about 4 hrs but don’t feel the need to rush anymore with the extra fridge to keep everything well chilled. It’s a fun process so I like to take my time and do it right.

Been a few years so I might be out of practice.

[Rich M]

Takes say 1/2 hr to quarter and place on ice, home and in cooler or spare fridge for 7-10 days, then I'll process the meat one evening after work, say 4 hrs - cube steaks, roasts, stew meat, burger. Wife helps package. Clean up mess in say 1/2 hr to make it an even 5 hrs to process a deer or two or three. It doesn't take an appreciably longer time to do the 2nd or 3rd one cause I'll be grinding more of the meat. Cubing makes it go faster too.

To me, it is a part of the hunt.

[headgear]

Shot a doe when it was 90 out, 2 hours from shot to freezer but that is mostly just deboning and packaging. I don't trim or cut into steaks or whatever until I am ready to cook and eat.

[UntouchableNess]

Just curious how long. It takes me forever because I go through and trim out every little bit of silver skin, sinew, etc. I sometimes think I’m going overboard. It takes me around 2 hours to skin quarter and debone. Then 3+ to cut up, trim and package. I think I could get less picky about the trimming and shave off some time but don’t know if I’d be making a sacrifice on the taste.

Best tasting venison is when you take your time, no doubt about it. Like Dewey, I had a second fridge so was able to skin, bone out quarters, hold them in the fridge to work on it over the next few days.

[Mopar1169]

Takes about 30 minutes to skin and debone one. Then takes me about 2-3hrs to clean everything up for grinding and packaging. I normally only keep back straps and tenderloins for grilling rest goes to Burger. We eat alot of venison burger. I put 5 deer into burger last year and just running out now.

Get yourself a good skinning knife and it will speed up skinning alot. Then get a good hard back salmon fillet knife, one that doesn't flex. It makes slicing meat and cleaning up silver skin a breeze.

[Jackson Marsh]

I'm not sure, but probably somewhere in the middle. I usually Debone and put on ice...then wrap/grind/can when I have the time.

[ZSV]

I did 2 in the same day a couple weeks ago. It took close to 7 hours to skin debone and package. I didn’t grind any though. I normally do that as I need it.