Butchering Deer and Elk

I’ve been cutting my own wild game meat for a long time. And for much of that paid little to no attention to the various cuts save for the backstrap and tenderloins. If it looked like a roast I’d make a roast. If it looked like a steak, I’d cut a steak. I had no idea that various cuts, coming from different parts of the quarters, could lend themselves marvelously to different cooking methods. The different muscles have different characteristics, some tough, some tender, some full of sinew. Once I started paying attention and taking the time to make the right cuts, the possibilities of wild game cooking burst wide open!

Let’s dive in! We’ll start by breaking down the hind quarter into its various parts including the shank, top and bottom round, sirloin, sirloin tip and eye of round. Then we’ll move on to the shoulder. Backstraps are covered in another video here.

To get started, trim away as much fat and sinew as possible. Deer and elk fat tends to leave a waxy coating in the mouth so it’s best trimmed away. Once that’s done you can start separating the muscles at the seems. The hind quarter will break down into the major muscles mentioned previously. Some of those muscles had to work hard, supporting the animal’s weight and powering up the mountains. Others, like the top round (from the inside of the thigh) work less. And there’s a big difference in the tenderness because of it.

In the video I show how to separate the muscles and talk a little about how best to utilize them. For example, the top round is best for thick grilling steaks while the bottom round tends to be on the tough side. I like to cut very thin steaks from it and use them for fajitas or carne asada.

In my house we tend to use a lot of burger so I tend to grind a lot. Most of the shoulder will go into the grinder but there is one cut I take the time to get. From one shoulder you can get two fairly big flatiron steaks (one is actually called a blade steak but…), also shown in the vid. You’ll need a pretty sharp knife and a little practice to remove the sinew layer that separates them. Once you get the sinew out, they make great grilling steaks if you marinade them for a few days and don’t cook them to death. With deer and elk, rare is where it’s at!

I’ll let the video explain the rest. You might also want to check out the “Field Dressing” post I did earlier.