Can you eat a whole deer?

[JimL3222]

When reading the original post the first thing that I thought about was the difference between deer hunting as an annual activity under a license method and how it would be different under a survival situation. In fall when I am hoding my permits here in Michigan the first days are looking for bigger animals, allowing the smaller deer to pass and grow for next year. If I were in a survival situation I would likely target the younger, careless animals. Reason - less time spent hunting them, they wander our into the open rather than holding back that the larger deer have learned to do. A mature deer here in MI will dress out to anywhere from around 100 pounds to, well, whatever your buddies believe ("OMG! I shot a MONSTER buck back in the woods!" LOL) That 100 animal - say 155 pounds of field dressed deer in going to provide you with roughly 30 pounds to 40 pounds of boneless meat in the freezer.

Now if I were instead to target a yearling, the dressed weight is going to be something along in the range of 40 pounds to 60 pounds. The amount of meat is going to be dramatically lower in preoprtion to the bone and hide weight. Less effort to drag out, and very little need to age the meat to tenderize it (since this may be summer and not fall/winter) and therefore less chance of spoilage.

If you do get a bruiser I would opt first for boning it out and freezing it if in winter or electricity is still available. Canning would be the next option, and that is done a lot by the folks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I myself do not know how to do that, but now may do a bit of reading. Smoking the lean meat to buy me a few days would be the next option. Making pemmican out of venison fat would be just nasty IMHO. Deer fat is pretty rough tasting.

[slim pickins]

you can hang dry it over a fire pit to cure it ,smoke,can,or dehydrate it to make it last longer.canning the meat will preserve it for about 1 yr.

[Iron mike]

while growing up in Michigan whatever was not eaten was recycled into the compost for our orchard now it was pretty gross involving a woodchipper-like device but our apples were huge

[nakadnu]

I have put a bit of thought into this thread since it was first written. If you were to eat everything edible on a deer, bone marrow, liver, kidneys, brains, eyes, heart, stomach lining, tongue, glands, etc. there would be a lot more meat in these "parts" than those of us are accustomed to eating.
If any of you have read the journals of Lewis and Clark the men were eating 9 lbs of elk meat a day per person when they were in the Great Falls MT area. Think about that, 9 lbs of elk meat in 1 day! Of course these guys were working harder than probably any one of us have ever done in our lives. Plus that was all they had to eat was elk meat. Yeah I know I am getting off track here so that is all I have for now.

[chunkee]

jerky, if done right, will last at least a year. Cut the meat into strips, with the grain, 1/2" wide and no thicker. Dip each one in very, very "salty" tasting salt brine/water, and hang it where the sun and air can get to it, with bug netting keeping off the flies, etc. Usually 3 days of bright sunshine suffices. If you lack sun, then you will have to run the risk of having a fire to help dry the meat, with the smoke and light calling in your killers, if it's shtf we are talking about.

[bambam55]

you could make a solar oven and modify it to make a solar dehydrator to dehydrate it you'd need a 12v battery (car) small solar cells and a 12v muffin fan to move the air . my Idea would be to make 2 solar ovens . make 2 holes in the solar oven directly acrossfrom each other, one that can be covered partially to control the heat flow the other hole to put the fan in . make two alike holes in the other box one that aligns with the fan side of the 1st oven and ajoin them. your meat, fish, etc should be put in the 2nd oven as in a dehydrator the heat convexing through the 1st oven and being blown into the 2nd oven and out the vented side of the 2nd oven should dry it out,you might be able to puy some meat into the 1st oven as well if you can build a sun multiplier,this can con sist of ant reflective mat you can angle on top of the ovens to reflect more sun into the ovens.you can use anything such as cardboard with alum. foil shiny side out 2way taped or glued or just taped to it, or mirrors

[countryboy6685]

I took one of the hams off the little buck that I got this year and am trying to preserve it like a country ham. I already have salted and smoked it and I hung it up yesterday to start aging. I'll let it age for 3 to 6 months before I try to eat it. I cut a little piece off yesterday and cooked it up and tried it and it tasted just like country ham. Will let you know how it turned out in a few months.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3907[/ATTACH]

Yes please keep un informed as I am very interested in doing some of this myself .
Thanks
Robert W

[10eckid]

I took one of the hams off the little buck that I got this year and am trying to preserve it like a country ham. I already have salted and smoked it and I hung it up yesterday to start aging. I'll let it age for 3 to 6 months before I try to eat it. I cut a little piece off yesterday and cooked it up and tried it and it tasted just like country ham. Will let you know how it turned out in a few months.

[RICHFL]

You can Canning meats that will last for up to 5 years. Chicken, Fish, Beef, Deer, etc. Just keep the fat out as that is the one thing that will cause it to go bad. Smoke it I do each year. You can look at what our families did before 1910's by using a "Spring House" to cool and keep milk, cheese, meats, etc. Google it to find out more.

[TNap]

I used to put away 30 White Castles...a deer...no chance! Smoke/Jerky/Can is the way to go!

[RatLife]

I've never tried the canning but i have the smoking and making jerky. I enjoy both. Hard to beat a smoked hind quarter. The meat last a reasonable amount of time. Certainly long enough for you and your family to eat it. Growing up in Arkansas one ingenious method i found out about was from an older gent who had a wood burning stove. The stove pipe went through the wall (he had the heat shield and what not) and into his smoke house on the other side of the wall. Wouldnt want to do that in bear country perhaps but there it wasnt a problem. In virginia i saw some that were stone smoke houses and they built small fires on the dirt floors.

[JLBIII]

All the responses have been really good and I don't really have much to add, but if you're in a survival situation you could also make a in ground cooler, which when built properly would help keep the meat edible for a few days. There are a lot of good resources out there that can show you exactly how to make one.

Joe

[10eckid]

Well, I have a deer ham in salt cure right now. Next week will be time to carry it to the smokehouse and get her smoked. Will keep you updated on how it goes.

[alvin]

I guess it will take a month for a person to eat the whole deer. LOL

[Mooswa]

I have no experience with whitetail as I live in the Yukon. I do however have a lot of experience with moose, and I can tell for sure that one man in mid summer can turn a whole moose into dry meat in a week. Thats 800+ pounds of meat using no salt, Just smoke and sunshine.

Yes I have done this as well with moose and caribou. Dene friends of mine showed me how they do it.

I also brine cure cuts and my wife and I learned how to can meat a long time ago. I also make jerky and it is quite easy to make biltong like they do in southern Africa. I know guys here in Canada that moved here from South Africa who make biltong in the basement of their home.

Lots of options out there if a guy does a bit of research.