Great Venison Cooking

Quartering your deer is a seven-step process that takes anywhere from 1 hour to 2 ½, depending on the size of the deer and your skill with the knife. I’ve gotten to the point where I can be done, including clean up in an hour. You will need a knife, a sharpening steel, a cooler, bone saw, wax paper, and a trash can.

Quartering Your Deer: Video

Watch this video to see Bob go through the process of quartering the deer.

How to Quarter Your Deer

Keep the trash can with a thick bag near your work area for scraps. If you can fit it under your deer, that is best as it catches all the drippings and you’ll have less mess to deal with.

I prefer to have a boning or fillet style knife, but any sharp knife will work. You don’t want a big one though.

You’ll need to think about where you’re going to keep your meat cool. The meat needs to be kept between 32 and 40 degrees. It will drain some blood, so your household fridge may not be the best answer if you want to keep the family happy. If you have a dedicated fridge, that’s awesome. I use a large cooler, which line with dry ice on the bottom separated from the meat by some thick cardboard. I then lay the meat in the cooler as I quarter. If I can’t get dry ice, I will use one or two bags of ice and lined butcher paper on top of that. My goal is to get the meat to 40 degrees, but keep it relatively dry. I will let the meat sit in the cooler for one to three days, depending on my schedule. The cooler also keeps the juices contained and is easy to clean afterwards.

Now you’re ready to quarter your deer.

Prep: Trim away blood shot or contaminated meat first.

Step 1: Remove the shoulders.

Cut along the top of the shoulder blade, then lift the leg away from the body. Cut them free of the body under the shoulder. Put shoulders aside in a cooler.

Step 2: Backstrap.

Make a cut down each side of the backstrap at the vertebrae, from pelvis to neck, keeping knife on the edge of the vertebrae. Make the cut deep to the bone sticking out from the vertebrae. Along the ribs, insert the knife until it meets the vertebrae cut. Work the knife down along the ribs until the whole backstrap is loose. Cut ends of backstrap and remove. Set aside in cooler.

Step 3: Neck.

You can trim all meat from the neck and set aside for stews or ground meat, but if you want to roast or smoke it, make a slice around the base of the next where the backstrap ended. Then, with a bone saw, cut neck free. Set aside in cooler.

Step 4. Scrap meat (for grinding).

Cut stomach muscles away from pelvis up to the rib cage and set aside. With filet knife, remove meat from between the ribs and set aside the strips. Trim away superficial muscles from remaining chest area. Put all this aside for grinding (is will yield 3–6 lbs, depending on the size of the deer).

Step 4a. True Tenderloins.

Inside the abdominal cavity, running along the backbone down into the hip, are the tenderloins. I like to work my fingers underneath them, pulling them away from the backbone, then slip my knife under them and cut them away both ends. This seems to get the most meat. Pat them dry with a paper towel and wrap them up for tomorrow’s dinner. They dry out quickly and since they are the most tender cut, it would be a shame to freeze them. (Put a little olive oil, lightly pepper, and toss on the grill. Don’t over cook! They take about 3 minutes to grill to med rare on a hot grill.) Sorry there is no diagram for this…you’ll know what they are when you see them.

Step 5. Rear legs.

Work the knife along the top of the pelvis, keeping knife as close to the bone as possible. From underside, work knife down the edge of the pelvis until Ball Joint (hip) is exposed. Put tip of knife into the Ball Joint and separate. The leg is almost free at this point. Cut it free, making sure it doesn’t fall once it’s free from the pelvis. Insert knife around “ankle” and free it from the lower shank.

Step 6. All the rest.

Trim all remaining meat from exposed bones including ribs and put aside for grinding.

Now it’s time to get your meat ready for the table: butchering.