Time For Some Deer Meat Processing

Frozen deer legs take up too much freezer space!

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I went to go put more food in the deep freeze and I realized I was out of room. This usually isn't a problem since we have 4 chest freezers and normally there is room in at least one. Well, we appear to have filled them all up to capacity. The need to empty something became a bit dire so I had to do something.

I have a deer that I never fully processed, I just tossed the wrapped legs in the freezer planning on grinding it up shortly after. That "shortly" did not end up being so short of a time. So here I am a year later and I need some space in the freezer. The 2 front legs had been bagged together since they were not very big, and they had been on top of everything else in the freezer, in the way constantly.

I set up the new Lifetime brand folding card table, covered it in plastic sheeting, and set out the tools I would need. Since we have not thrown down the money on a pro meat grinder I use our Kitchen Aid with the grinder attachment. It works pretty well but is not suited for extended use. The motor on the Kitchen Aid gets a bit hot after 20+ minutes of use and requires a rest. It works out since the rest of the motor allows for cutting more meat in prep for the next run.

First leg stripped and ground. The most difficult part of the process is trying to remove tendons and sinews from in and around the muscles. Grinding the tough bits, tendons, and sinews leads to a bit gnarly of a meat so it is best to remove as much as possible before. Both legs were stripped and ground into one bowl, then after cleaning up the work space the meat was packaged into quart freezer ziplocks.

Seven pounds of ground deer meat is now in the freezer and it takes up a small portion of the original legs. I still have the two rear legs to get to, but since they are in the bottom of the freezer, it will take a bit more ambition than I have right now to dig them out and process them. Another rainy day soon maybe.

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