How do you field dress/process CWD deer

[philsanchez76]

Hey yall, ive been fully processing my own deer for several years here in Davidson County. This year ive got the opportunity to do a deer camp in the CWD zone. My question for yall in that zone: how does this change how you process your deer? Do you still gut it out in the field? Do you save any organ meat? Or do you just debone the major cuts and call it good? Do you wear anything other than rubber gloves during the process? Do you actually disinfect all your tools after? Just looking for your personal experiences here; not what the CDC or any other gubment agency says to do. thx.

 

[arctic_cat]

We gut ours like normal, I do not take any other precautions and from what I've seen in and around our deer camp no one else does either. Now that I can't transport the deer out of the county we invested in a deer hanger that goes in a 2" receiver hitch to help hang, skin and cutting meat. Now that we do most of the cutting at camp, I cut backstraps, tenderloin into steaks then just cut the rest off bone and ready for the grinder. We started making summer sausage out of the ground so nothing goes to waste. I also live 4hr away so this saves me time. Dad and brother live a lot closer so they take a little more time cutting more steaks and such. They still have to debone before since they also live outside of CWD zone

 

[Andy S.]

1. Do you still gut it out in the field? Yes
2. Do you save any organ meat? No
3. Or do you just debone the major cuts and call it good? Yes
4. Do you wear anything other than rubber gloves during the process? No
5. Do you actually disinfect all your tools after? Clean them as I always have, but nothing out of the ordinary (bleach, etc).

 

[Omega]

I don't plan on doing anything much different except deboning the entire deer before placing it on ice. I always save the heart when I can, but no other organs, and I stopped cutting into bone a long time ago, so all my cuts are with a knife and I clean that very well afterwards. I did purchase a Havalon Piranta knife early on when cwd first was discovered here but honestly I don't see the need anymore, but it's an option if you have concerns about that.

 

[Remington700]

As stated above, most do it the same as they always have. We gut ours in the field and then transport it to the processor. I know people who have never stopped eating the CWD deer and have no side effects. I am sure I ate it for years before it was discovered as I hunt close to ground zero.

 

[Spurhunter]

I gut in the field as usual and take to a processor. He sends the sample off and has it tested. So far none off our lease have tested positive, but Henderson County doesn't have it bad. Yet.

 

[david k.]

1. Do you still gut it out in the field? Yes
2. Do you save any organ meat? No
3. Or do you just debone the major cuts and call it good? Yes
4. Do you wear anything other than rubber gloves during the process? No
5. Do you actually disinfect all your tools after? Clean them as I always have, but nothing out of the ordinary (bleach, etc).

I agree with everything Andy said but will add one more step I've incorporated.

I bring the boned meat home and put it in scent free plastic trash bags and get as much air out of the bags as I can...I keep all of it on / under ice until I get test results back, sometimes even up to 3 weeks on ice. If the deer tests positive, I discard the meat...if it comes back as 'non-detected' I process it as usual.

No joke, allowing that meat to age 2-3 weeks in a cooler makes it unbelievably tender....every cut is like tenderloin.

I originally was buying bags of ice every few days but started saving 1/2 gallon milk jugs which I freeze and put above and below the meat...I no longer have to deal with draining water anymore and I keep the cooler in my garage out of the sun and simply rotate jugs out as they thaw....works great...

 

[AT Hiker]

I do not hunt in "CWD zones" I do hunt out of state a lot and in areas with known cases of CWD.

I field dress as usual, or do the gutless method (that has nothing to do with CWD, just a matter of how far from the truck I am).
I clean my tools as usual (soap n water). I use a lot of havalon so I often change blades.
I bone out the meat, clean skull if necessary. Ill bring a pot to do a quick boil for a euro.
I start out using gloves and end up with bloody hands 99% of the time....

 

[philsanchez76]

I do not hunt in "CWD zones" I do hunt out of state a lot and in areas with known cases of CWD.

I field dress as usual, or do the gutless method (that has nothing to do with CWD, just a matter of how far from the truck I am).
I clean my tools as usual (soap n water). I use a lot of havalon so I often change blades.
I bone out the meat, clean skull if necessary. Ill bring a pot to do a quick boil for a euro.
I start out using gloves and end up with bloody hands 99% of the time....

Same here. Even double gloves I end up putting a hole in there somewhere.

Your point about the euro mount though, any concerns about pulling the brain out etc since prions are supposed to be concentrated more there? I pretty much only do euro mounts so I'd be interested in what others do here.

 

[AT Hiker]

Same here. Even double gloves I end up putting a hole in there somewhere.

Your point about the euro mount though, any concerns about pulling the brain out etc since prions are supposed to be concentrated more there? I pretty much only do euro mounts so I'd be interested in what others do here.

I mean, yeah, I am somewhat concerned but what am I to do? I just follow the rules put in place.
As for me touching it, I do not let it bother me. I actually take a screw driver or something hard and twist it around as much as I can. Then I find a relatively hard surface to smack the back of the skull to get as much of the brain out before I put it into the water. I also take the eyeballs out, screw driver to pry them out then I cut the cord attaching them.
I used to take them to a carwash once most of the meat/tissue was "cooked" off. As far as I know I was a CWD super spreader via the sewage system....

 

[ROVERBOY]

I've never talked to anyone that has killed one in a CWD area. Do very many test positive?

 

[Andy S.]

I've never talked to anyone that has killed one in a CWD area. Do very many test positive?

Depends on where in Unit CWD one hunts. At ground zero (SE Fayette County, SW Hardeman County), a good percentage test positive (upwards of 35-50% in some areas), and the further away you get (as the crow flies), less likelihood of testing positive. For the record, none of the deer that are tested result in a "negative" determination, the results are either "positive" or "not detected". A deer can be infected with early stages of CWD and test "not detected", whereas had the deer lived another 6 months to a year, would have likely tested "positive".

 

[backyardtndeer]

Pretty well the same as I have always done before. We hunt our small farm. I load deer from the field, bring them back to the garage. Usually gut them in the tractor bucket. Catch the guts and everything in a plastic tub and then hang them up in the garage with a gambrel and a come along. Skin and quarter them in the garage. All the guts and carcass goes in the tub and then gets put in the tractor bucket and carried to the bottom. Dig a shallow hole and bury it all. I have cut the lymph nodes out of the past couple that I killed for testing. I do have an extra freezer that I kept cwd unknown deer in.

 

[fairchaser]

Most of my deer killed are gonna be positive because of where I hunt and what I kill ( mature bucks). Therefore I'm not expecting to keep the meat. At most I will keep the backstraps and donate the rest to HFTH. I wear rubber gloves and clean my knives in bleach. Sad but necessary.

 

[gatodoc]

we quarter ours in Fayette county. Keep in freezer until test results come back. Negative gets brought to east TN and processed positives get buried.

we hunt ground zero we've had 3 positives out of 10 tested the last 2 yrs….

 

[Bell3wv]

Hey yall, ive been fully processing my own deer for several years here in Davidson County. This year ive got the opportunity to do a deer camp in the CWD zone. My question for yall in that zone: how does this change how you process your deer? Do you still gut it out in the field? Do you save any organ meat? Or do you just debone the major cuts and call it good? Do you wear anything other than rubber gloves during the process? Do you actually disinfect all your tools after? Just looking for your personal experiences here; not what the CDC or any other gubment agency says to do. thx.

 

[Wiley]

I wonder how many CWD deer I ate before CWD was a thing.

 

[philsanchez76]

I wonder how many CWD deer I ate before CWD was a thing.

I used to live in Sauk county Wisconsin. This was before I ever started hunting. I used to eat my neighbors venison. I had no idea the prevalence rate of CWD there was at least 1 in 4 deer! so I think im in the same boat.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Same as every other deer I've ever processed.

 

[Iglow]

I've been looking on Ebay for a used NASA space suit from the Apollo era....you'd think as outdated as they are you could get one for a song?