How clean do you clean your meat?

[muddydogs]

So with all the elk packing threads going on now and what weights what I have been pondering just how clean does the elk meat need to be? I'm talking about silver skin and all the little bits and pieces that aren't meat. It seems that I take a lot of time and have quite a bit of waist cleaning everything off the meat.

Last deer I shot the 4 quarters bone in weighted 50 lbs., I ended up with about 10 pounds of stuff I trimmed off and 7 pounds of bones. I don't take a whole lot of extra meat but even filleting the silver skin off with a good sharp knife a little meat is lost.

Every time I have dealt with rib meat it just seems a waist of time and energy as by the time I remove all the non meat stuff there is very little left. Are guys just removing the bulk and grinding the rest?

I guess I'm wondering what others are doing as the last few threads on elk packing others are claiming to get 200+ pounds worth of elk meat out of cows and bulls depending on who's posting and I have yet to get more then just over 100 pounds out of a cow and right around 150 pounds out of bulls.

 

[wesGiddingshunt]

In my opinion when you remove that rib meat it should go straight to the grind without removing anything else unless it’s a purely tallow piece. You don’t need to trim every last bit off of ribs, think of them like they are the trimmings (but they’re saveable.) a lot of your other trimmings off of the quarters can go straight to the grind as well. As I shape up a roast off of a quarter, almost everything I cut off goes right in the grind bowl.
Also the silver skin doesn’t bother me as much but if you’re giving it to a friend or your wife or kids, it’s much chewier and you people don’t experience that great tender wild game meat.
Keep in mind though if you go putting too much silver skin/fat in your grinder you’ll get quite the back up. This is all a long way of saying keep everything you possibly can. I’d bet some money you should get more than 33 lbs off of a deer on your worst day of butchering.

 

[wesGiddingshunt]

I understand you’re just talking quarters when I referred to that 33 lbs. with neck and back straps and what not you’re not extremely far off depending on how big a deer you get.

 

[wapitibob]

I keep it as clean as I can but don't get too twisted up about it. I fillet off the outer casing, so hair and such isn't that big of a deal. I now only leave the femur in a hind quarter, separating at the joint above the knee.

I shot a NM Bull, hung it from a tree and we separated all the muscles, filled two 120 qt coolers to the top, drove to Oregon and weighed the meat on certified scales; 330 pounds. Haven't come close to that since.

 

[diamond10x]

For me unless it’s a cut that’s going to be turned into steaks, I don’t do much cleaning at all. Obviously make dang sure to keep hair and dirt off but other than that I just remove tallow and thick sections of silver skin. I used to be really maticulous about cleaning everything but I’ve gotten tired of spending so much time processing than enjoying the rewards on the dinner table and realized I don’t have to be so OCD about trimming meat up.

 

[Sundance]

I cut every scrap off the animal then trim the meat and all the silver skin at home while processing. We brought out 409lbs. of meat off my bull last year as bone-in quarters and trimmings. Of that meat 38lbs. was bones (front and rear quarters) and 73lbs. was trim. The trim was meat that got dirty, silver skin, fat and bloodshot. I cut and packed 298lbs. In the freezer. Bones and trim were portioned and frozen for dog food. I like clean meat so I might trim heavy but there is no waste in the field or at home. I look at my yield to be roughly 75% of the weight I pack out with bone-in meat and 65% for bone-out. I don’t like to trim when I thaw to cook so everything is done at processing- that way if I give a steak or a roast to a non-hunter it looks like it came from the grocery store. These weights did not include the head, tongue or organ meats which was another 55lbs. For reference there was three of us, two trips per person or 6 pack loads total.

 

[5MilesBack]

I cut the hide down the backbone and skin down one side laying the hide flat. Then I cut out that side's back strap which comes out clean and goes directly into a bag. Then I removed the front leg and shoulder and debone it while it lies on the clean inside of the hide. Then I finish the rest of that back strap that was under the shoulder and continue to the neck and to the base of the skull, taking all the neck meat that I can get. Then debone the rear ham and take all the brisket and rib meat I can get or cut out between the ribs.

Then I flip the hide up and onto the bull, roll him over, and do the other side in the same way. Then I go in behind the ribs and cut out the tenderloins. There's not much meat left after that, and it all stays very clean because there's nothing to get it dirty. All the meat goes into a bag as soon as I cut it off the bone. Then at home I'll clean up any of the heavier silverskin etc, but I grind most of the meat so it goes through the grinder and the silverskin usually collects inside the grinder and can be removed at some point.

There are a couple variations in there if I'm caping the bull and keeping it to mount, but the process is still the same.

 

[Nick Muche]

I cut every scrap off the animal then trim the meat and all the silver skin at home while processing. We brought out 409lbs. of meat off my bull last year as bone-in quarters and trimmings. Of that meat 38lbs. was bones (front and rear quarters) and 73lbs. was trim. The trim was meat that got dirty, silver skin, fat and bloodshot. I cut and packed 298lbs. In the freezer. Bones and trim were portioned and frozen for dog food. I like clean meat so I might trim heavy but there is no waste in the field or at home. I look at my yield to be roughly 75% of the weight I pack out with bone-in meat and 65% for bone-out. I don’t like to trim when I thaw to cook so everything is done at processing- that way if I give a steak or a roast to a non-hunter it looks like it came from the grocery store. These weights did not include the head, tongue or organ meats which was another 55lbs. For reference there was three of us, two trips per person or 6 pack loads total.

You talking about a Moose? haha... That's a pile of meat for an Elk, good on you for taking every bit you could!

 

[Sundance]

It was the definitely the largest bodied Roosevelt to date for me. Front shoulders were 58 &58.5, hind quarters were 78 &79, back straps at 36, tenderloins at 12, and rib/neck/brisket at 87.5. Made 225 pounds of burger, the rest in roasts and steaks.

 

[muddydogs]

It was the definitely the largest bodied Roosevelt to date for me. Front shoulders were 58 &58.5, hind quarters were 78 &79, back straps at 36, tenderloins at 12, and rib/neck/brisket at 87.5. Made 225 pounds of burger, the rest in roasts and steaks.

I didn't really believe your post thinking ya right 300 pounds in the freezer but your weights are close to the last bull I shot except for the fronts are about 20 pounds more. Not saying anything negative here as your weights make sense.

I do have to ask, 87 pounds off the ribs, neck and brisket really? This is bone out weights? If so I guess I need to pay closer attention to these areas because thats a lot of meat. I am planning on taking the whole neck on my next elk and trying some neck roasts.

My next animal I might try and not be so heavy handed with the trim, it'll be hard to do as I like super clean meat but I think i'm getting carried away. The deer I shot last year I didn't spend near the time cleaning up the lower legs like I usually do and I didn't notice a bit of difference in the grind.

I do grind everything, came to the conclusion if I want a good steak Costco sells good beef steaks and I would much rather eat a beef steak then elk or deer. I know I'm just wrong but thats what I do. I turn the grind into burger, breakfast sausage, stuff my own link dinner sausages, summer sausage among other things depending on the amount of meat I have and the amount of burger and breakfast sausage thats in the freezer. This last year I turned some antelope into ground and formed bacon thats very tasty. I think I have more fun messing with the meat then I do harvesting the animal sometimes.

 

[rayporter]

if you can some the neck brisket and lots of rib can be canned without trimming anything off. just dice it and pack it in the jar!

 

[Sundance]

I didn't really believe your post thinking ya right 300 pounds in the freezer but your weights are close to the last bull I shot except for the fronts are about 20 pounds more. Not saying anything negative here as your weights make sense.

I do have to ask, 87 pounds off the ribs, neck and brisket really? This is bone out weights? If so I guess I need to pay closer attention to these areas because thats a lot of meat. I am planning on taking the whole neck on my next elk and trying some neck roasts.

My next animal I might try and not be so heavy handed with the trim, it'll be hard to do as I like super clean meat but I think i'm getting carried away. The deer I shot last year I didn't spend near the time cleaning up the lower legs like I usually do and I didn't notice a bit of difference in the grind.

I do grind everything, came to the conclusion if I want a good steak Costco sells good beef steaks and I would much rather eat a beef steak then elk or deer. I know I'm just wrong but thats what I do. I turn the grind into burger, breakfast sausage, stuff my own link dinner sausages, summer sausage among other things depending on the amount of meat I have and the amount of burger and breakfast sausage thats in the freezer. This last year I turned some antelope into ground and formed bacon thats very tasty. I think I have more fun messing with the meat then I do harvesting the animal sometimes.

I know it sounds crazy, but the largest load is always the trim bag on elk for me. The neck slabs come off at 15-20lbs per side going from the top of the back strap to the atlas joint at the base of the skull. I remove the head with a knife at the atlas joint so that portion of the meat is fully exposed. I scrape the brisket clean then I roll the shield meat off the rib cage. Lastly I cut the strips of meat out between the ribs- this all gets made into burger. When it’s all done with the guts removed I can pick up the skeleton (backbone with ribs attached) with one arm.

Cut and packed boned-out meat on Roosevelt bulls I’m usually 230-250 and 200-225 on cows. This was hands down the largest bodied bull I’ve shot last year at #300. My friend who hunts Rocky Mountain elk in eastern WA is getting 150-200 off his cows/spikes.

 

[Bradolf pittler]

If you're taking it to a butcher they can be pretty picky when it comes to how dirty your meat is so it's better to err on the side of neurotic when cleaning it in the field. I hunt alone and grind all my own meat so I dont mind if it gets pine needles and other stuff on it before it goes in the game bag. I know when I get home to butcher and clean the meat it's going to be a several hour endeavor of pulling any foreign substance off the meat before cutting it into manageable pieces and grinding it. It's ok to lose a lot of dirty gross meat in this process because the last thing you want is to be dreading pulling some frozen meat out of your freezer because you did a quick and careless job. Dont get too hung up on lbs of meat a bull will yield. Bone out everything and when you get home you can discard or shave off anything unusable.