The Columbian Black-Tailed Deer is a smaller subspecies of the Mule Deer, that resides on the west coast from Oregon to Alaska with some differing regional variants.
The process highlighted in this article will teach you my way of skinning and butchering this animal, and doing the biggest job in self sustainment and hunting, The processing.
The Tools
The tools you can use to process an animal massively vary with preference and from the task at hand. The tools I have on the table are just what I had on hand. Out of the bunch I must say the most useful were the “Helle viking Knife”, the “Hults Bruk hunting axe”, and the “Buck Frontiersman Knife”, and of course my sharpening stones. With these tools the whole animal can be processed comfortably. The other knife on the table was just there to equip my helper. I will mention these tools specific tasks throughout this article.
Skinning and Gutting
To begin with we will remove this Deers hide . Firstly remove its head then start by carefully breaking the skin in its lower belly “without breaking the stomach wall” and spoiling the meat, thus making your life harder. Then begin separating the skin carefully away from the body without puncturing the internal organs of the animal. Also avoid rupturing testes if a male animal, if female there is no problem cutting through the udders. After the skin is out of your way you can begin cutting the deers abdominal wall and then removing the guts. This is when it gets dirty… You will now detach the guts from the intestines and save the valuable organs such as the heart, liver, and lungs for yourself or your dogs. After that is done, start hosing out body and getting the blood out. Holding the deer by the legs belly down helps get it all out. With all that completed the deer is now cleaned and ready to be hung and butchered. Another thing I should mention is if this is done in the field it is best to leave the skin on until the deer is hanging to avoid dirtying the meat of the animal during its transportation out of the field to your camp or home. I tend to leave the skin on until the animal is hanging always.
Quartering
After the skins off and the animals hanging, you can leave him up and let the blood drain out and also give the flesh a wash with a water and vinegar solution to keep the flies off. This should all be done in a cool dark place if possible.The animal will be held by the sinew above its hooves on its back legs(do not cut the sinew). Now for the quartering.
Begin by removing the front legs by first following the line of the deers scapula with a sharp knife(the buck frontiersmen is useful for this or any large knife), after most of the flesh attaching the leg has been removed, you can use your axe to break the bone and tough sinew. After that the leg should be quite easy to remove and placed aside for butchering. ( I forgot to take more pics of the removal of the front legs but the process is the same as the back, which I have pictures for).Repeat this process for the hind legs and separate the parts for butchering. The only difference between the hind legs and the front is that you will need to use an axe to break the pelvis so that the legs spread easier. After all this is done you can begin butchering.
Butchering
The butchering is the most time consuming part of the process, and the goal is to separate the desired pieces of meat into their respective cuts. It is a fairly simple process which only requires you to follow the natural lines of the muscles on the animal and separate the groups.
On the body of the animal you must cleanly remove the back straps for steaks, the ribs may be taken but tend to be tougher and gamier. The rest of the meat on the main body can be taken for either burger or dog meat.
The front legs are tougher and smaller than the hind legs. Burger and stew meat and perhaps a few steaks can be taken from these.
The hind legs of the animal hold some of the best meat on the animal. You should be able to obtain 1-2 roasts per leg. A good amount of steak meat and several pieces of stewing meat from each hind leg.
There is some decent burger meat near the ankle of the animal which can be taken, but on the males you must be cautious not to puncture their tarsal gland which contains scent glands. This will spoil any meat it touches.
After you have butchered all of the meat you can package and preserve your meat, and switch your attention to tanning your hide from the animal. A good trick with avoiding freezer burn is to wrap the meat in saran wrap first before putting it into a freezer bag.
And that's it guys, you should be closer to the road to complete self sufficiency and fitting the description of a vikinger if you are able to obtain your own wild meat.
