Butchering - A Good Skill to Learn

My husband, Daniel, is new to hunting so every year I beg him to ask the guys at work to get me a deer or two. They didn't really start coming through for me until I told them that I would butcher it myself. Daniel asked one of his co-workers if he would come out and teach me how to do it the right way, hands on, my favorite way to learn. He did and I've been doing it by myself ever since. This one is fairly little. *2007* This day it was freezing cold, about 23 degrees. My hands and nose were frozen. I didn't have a pair of gloves that were big enough or thin enough for me to use and do what I had to do, so I just suffered through. It took me longer than usual because I kept stopping to warm my hands up in my pockets.

I think everyone should at least learn the basics of butchering. If you never need to do, more power to you. But if you do, and you don't know how, you could seriously compromise your meat. Plus, if you know how to butcher you save A LOT of money. You don't have to buy meat at the store or pay a processing fee at the butcher's. The other up side is that you can cut the meat any way you want. We don't eat very many steaks, but we use a lot of ground meat and roast, so I generally cut off the roasts and grind everything else. Every now and then Daniel wants to try to cook the meat a different way, so I cut it to his desires. It's a wonderful thing and a great skill to learn. Try it. You just might like it.

Leo