How Do You Break Down Your Venison Carcass?

How do you break down your venison carcass? I'm Gary Abdullah with Penn State Extension. Let's walk through a simple breakdown of a venison carcass into the major cuts, the front shoulders, back straps, tenderloins, Then we'll show how those larger cuts can be trimmed into practical portions for the freezer. We'll start with the front shoulders. On a deer, the front shoulder is not attached by a bone. Instead, it's held to the carcass by muscle and connective tissue. Pull the leg away from the rib cage to expose the natural seam between the shoulder and the ribs. Start your cut where the shank meets the rib cage. Then follow that seam up along the curve of the shoulder blade. Keep the knife in the connective tissue and avoid cutting through the shoulder muscles if you can. As the seam opens, the shoulder will come free. Repeat the same process on the other side. Next, remove the back straps. Make one long cut along each side of the spine, starting near the tail and working toward the base of the neck. Keep the knife tight to the vertebrae so you leave as much meat as possible on the backstrap. Then make a short cross cut at the rear of the loin where the hip and back meet. Lift the backstrap away from the carcass and use the knife to follow the connective tissue along the top of the ribs. Gentle outward pressure helps expose the seam and makes this cut easier. Continue forward until the back strap is free. Then repeat on the other side. To remove the tenderloins, first free the flank muscles from the back legs so you can better access the inside of the carcass. The tenderloins sit along the underside of the spine. Make a careful cut along the bottom of the vertebrae, keeping the blade against bone so you do not cut into the middle of the muscle. Then make a short cut at the rear where the spine and hip meet. Work the knife along the vertebrae to loosen and remove the tenderloin. Now remove the hind legs. Follow the hbone and hip with the knife to free the ball joint of the femur from the pelvis. Stay tight to the hipbones so more meat stays on the leg and less remains on the pelvis. Once that joint is freed, the hind leg With the major cuts removed, the next step is trimming and portioning. For the front shoulders, work around the shank, armbbone, and shoulder blade to free the meat from the bones. Shoulder meat is commonly used for stew meat, grind, sausage, or trim. As you work, remove thick connective tissue, large pieces of fat, and any bruised or bloodshot tissue. The backstraps are usually cut into stakes or left in larger sections as roasts. If desired, remove the heavy ligament along the top of the backstrap, but be careful not to trim away too much meat. Then cut steaks to your preferred thickness. The ends can be kept as smaller roasts or cubed for stew meat. Tenderloins usually need very little trimming. In most cases, you only need to remove small pieces of connective tissue or excess fat. For the hind legs, one simple option is to remove the shank, bone out the femur, and separate the large muscle groups along their natural seams. These can be kept as roasts or cut further into steaks, stew meat, or trim, depending on your preference. Whether you choose roasts or steaks, cut cleanly along the natural muscle seams and trim away any heavy connective tissue. To finish the carcass, you can remove the flank meat and outside rib meat. Depending on body condition and shot placement, there may be a useful amount of trim in these areas. Once removed, trim away connective tissue and excess fat. Then add the usable meat to your trim pile. From one venison carcass, you can produce a variety of useful cuts, including backstrap steaks, tenderloins, hind leg roast, or steaks, and additional meat for stew, grind, or sausage. Clean cuts, careful trimming, and following the natural seams will help you recover the most usable meat from