Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food research group was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste test to determine the truth of these conflicting assertions once and for all.
First, a Grade A Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile and a half from a road and shot several times. After some of the entrails were removed, the carcass was dragged over rocks and logs, through mud and dust back to the road. It was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before being hung from a tree branch in the sun for a day.
Secondly, it was then lugged into a garage where it was skinned and rolled around on the floor for awhile. Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick the steer carcass, but most of the time they were chased away when they attempted to bite chunks out of it.
Next, a sheet of plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in the basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair, and fat left from last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to clean out the grass stuck under the lawn mower.
The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men worked on it with meat saws, cleavers, hammers and dull knives. The result was 375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a couple of steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an inch and a half thick on the other edge.
The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock in the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added along with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for two hours.
In the final step, the meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three taste-test panel volunteers who were intoxicated and blindfolded. Every member of the panel thought it was venison. One volunteer even said it tasted exactly like the venison he has eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years.
The results of this scientific test conclusively show that there is no difference between the taste of beef and venison.
More truth there than most would like to admit.I told someone once that it took me about 4-5 hours to butcher a deer by myself. He said he could do one in 45 minutes. I think I'll eat mine and he can eat his.
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I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life.- Hank Rearden
I can skin a deer in about 15 minutes[doe].About 20 for a buck if saving the cape for mounting.As far as quartering a deer it only takes another15 to 20 minutes,now the real work begins.Boning HIND and FRONT quarters takes 45 to50 minutes.separating sections of all hind and front quarters is another 60 min.Cleaning off all silver,fat and sinew is about another 60 min.Cutting backstraps,loins,quarter sections takes about 90 min.(includes wraping).20+20+50+60+60+90=5hrs.All this not counting hang time or cooler time or size of deer. 130 to 200lb deer.Skinning and quartering is the fastest part of job.I take my time with the rest. At times i have 2 or 3 deer at a time,makes for a long day. Personally i like the taste of deer better than beef but i like grilled t-bones as well.
Those are estimated times,-(boning,trimming,cutting,wrapping).SKINNINGandQUARTERING takes a good 30 to 35 minutes,at times im quicker,especially when its hot.Use to skin deer for 10 bucks per deer in 80s and 90s.Skinning and caping bucks 20 min.easy.Didnt want to cut holes in the hide. would skin 8 to 10 deer a day for butcher at eason taxidermy.during the bum rush of opening week.At times the back of that shop was wall to wall,fence to fence deer at $45 per. deer.When it slowed in later part of season 2 or 3 deer
Can be faster or slower depending on heat and attitude at the time.
-- Edited by manny on Friday 4th of February 2011 09:52:46 PM
I think I can skin and bone a deer in i'd say 30 minutes, though I've never timed it. Cutting and trimming the boned meat ,than packaging in vaccum sealed bags, may take another hour. Its really not that hard once you streamline the proccess. My trimming includes removal of silverskin and fat. I don't mess with the leg shanks, just to much of that. shoulders,hams,backstraps,tenderloins, and neck roasts. One day I may try cooking some ribs, but if you trim it out its a lot of work for very little meat, that has layers of fat and silverskin that I don't want in my summer sausage.
