Popular searches
Articles
Topics
Shop
Recipes
Sign In
Shop
Butchering & Processing
Butchering & Processing
How to Tan a Deer Hide
One of the first steps after a successful deer hunt is skinning your deer, after which the skin itself often becomes an afterthought as you attend to the important process of filling up the freezer with meat.
Sure, there are services you can send your deer hide to and pay for it to be taxidermied or...
Silvan Goddin
Feb 13, 2023
Read More
Butchering & Processing
What to Do With Wild Game Fat
One of my favorite things about acquiring my own wild meat is that it comes with an added bonus: fat. Many hunters overlook wild game fat and dismiss it as they would most stuff from the gut pile. Wild game fat has great value, though.
Duck fat, for example, is treasured by foodies and some folks...
Danielle Prewett
Feb 3, 2023
Read More
Butchering & Processing
How Much Fat Should You Add to Ground Venison?
For some hunters, adding domestic fat to venison is taboo. For others, it’s a necessity. One thing is for sure (and no more evident than here at MeatEater): at-home butchers have a wide range of preferences regarding fat content and there are no set rules. Here are some of our thoughts on adding fat...
Danielle Prewett
Jan 4, 2023
Read More
Featured Gear
Shop All
Save this product
Meater
Meater+ Bluetooth Thermometer
Butchering & Processing
How to Harvest, Clean, and Cook Tripe
The English language does little service to tripe. The dictionary tells us that the word means guts or entrails used as food. Alternatively: nonsense, gibberish, worthless, rubbish. Offal does no better. One must spell the word rather than say it to get their point across. How to convince the wary...
Anna Borgman
Dec 20, 2022
Read More
Butchering & Processing
Do You Need to Bleed Deer?
My first in-person experience with dead deer was when I was a kid and saw a few does hung up on a meat pole with their throats slit. I asked why their throats were cut, and I was told: “to bleed them.” I didn’t start hunting until much later in life, so I just tucked the whole experience away in my...
Wade Truong
Nov 14, 2022
Read More
Butchering & Processing
Undercooked Venison Can Cause Rare Blindness Disorder
Adam Crockett lay death-still and unblinking as a doctor pushed a needle into his right eyeball and withdrew built-up fluid.
With that task complete, the doctor at the Cole Eye Institute in Cleveland pushed a second needle deep into the back of Crockett’s eye, all the way to the retina. Stopping...
Patrick Durkin
Apr 6, 2022
Read More
Butchering & Processing
How to Make Venison Sausage Without Pork or Beef
Like so many Americans during the pandemic, I’ve found myself eager to try new things in the kitchen. Recently I wanted to make venison chorizo and andouille sausage, but I had one problem—no pork fatback. So I wondered, can you make sausage without animal fat?
A sausage without fat isn’t a sausage...
Danielle Prewett
Dec 29, 2021
Read More
Butchering & Processing
How to Make Birdseed Suet with Deer Fat
Whitetail fat isn't something that you'd typically keep during the butchering process. It’s often trimmed off, tossed into the waste pile, or “left for the birds.” However, it's worth knowing that the waxy fat melts nicely and hardens up as it cools, making it perfect for a few out-of-the-ordinary...
Josh McFaddin
Dec 6, 2021
Read More
Butchering & Processing
Photos: How to Make a Pheasant Tail Mount
Rooster ring-necked pheasants are the most beautiful upland game bird. You can’t change my mind.
I’m likely biased because I’m a native South Dakotan who’s been lucky enough to chase these birds for over three decades. But even after all these years, I’m still in awe every time I pick one up. The...
Andrew Johnson
Nov 8, 2021
Read More
Butchering & Processing
Video: How to Make Bear Grease Beard Oil
Bear grease has many uses, and making beard oil is one more fantastic way to utilize the multipurpose fat. Beard oil has become very trendy in recent years and is often for sale in hardware stores, gas stations, and grocery stores. But why purchase it when you can make your own?
This recipe is...
Clay Newcomb
Jul 13, 2021
Read More
Butchering & Processing
What Cowboys Can Teach Us About Cooking Testicles
The American cowboy is a dying breed. Customary grazing rights have been lost or rescinded. Homesteads have been sold to the wealthiest bidder. All the while, beef production has increasingly been shipped overseas. Yet, some traditions of the West refuse to die off.
Annually, ranchers across the U.S...
Christopher Bancroft
Jun 2, 2021
Read More
