So I was wonderin gif anyone had any tips for processing a large bison? Any recomendations on a bone saw. Any books that would be helpful in knowing where the different cuts of steaks are. Recomendation on a nice knife set of any info would be helpful.

I have shot two, both went to a butcher shop. Except for the back straps. Only sugestion, a strong back. Lots of standing.

A good grinder.
Several sharp knives.
Never used a saw with any game animal, bone and cut across the grain for steaks. Envision store cuts, as you seperate the muscles. Back straps and inner lions, steaks, roasts our of the hinds, and lots and lots of burger and stew meat.! Just sat down from cutting and wrapping a deer. 1 hour and 15 minutes, boned, cut, ground, and wrapped.
Use the internet for a reference source.

I have a good heavy duty grinder. I figured the saw would be good to get through some of the bone like in a t-bone steak.

Have shot bison. Thought about doing it myself. I did a meat shoot and the rancher talked me into having his butcher cut it for a reduced rate. Still was unsure about it. Then I seen the critter on the ground after the shot. Only about a 800 pound cow. I was very happy for the tractor to put her in the truck and a butcher to take it to.

If you haven't process many critters a bison is big to start with.

You will need lots of time, cool weather, a place to leave it hang it, some way of hanging it.

Lots of work space ,wrapping frezzer space.

I done hundreds of deer, a few bears ,helped with a few steers.

I think I would hire it done.

My family has shot 6 or 7 of them. We cut, ground and wrapped all of them ourselves. It really isn't any different than doing a deer or an elk except it is bigger. You need at least 2 people to wrestle the qtrs around when cutting but other than that, it is easy. The griinding takes time because of how much there is so we have 2 grinders going vice one but other than that I did them just like an elk.

I grew up killing and cutting the beef and pork we ate so I didn't think twice about doing the same with any wild game. One thing with bison though, take the hump off seperately and befor you take the backstrap off. It makes a great roast!

couple thoughts - save a hunk of standing rib roast - it's prime prime eat'n and if it's an old bull - figure lots of burger

Having a butcher process your bison is worth every penny of the cost!

465H&H

x500 what the folks here are saying...

Let's put this in perspective... You are dealing with a whole COW sized animal... Probably 1 home stand alone stand up freezer 100% full... MAYBE 2 freezers full....

You really have several issues here to deal with....

1. Do you really enjoy spending HOURS and HOURS and HOURS processing Meat... or do you like to hunt and eat meat? We are talking you will spend at minimum - an entire weekend on processing it yourself... More likely a week....
2. How and where to hang it up, skin, gut, and quarter it...
3. Do you have freezer space immediately to be able to hang up a whole COW sized animal? OR... Is it going to be well below 28F outdoors in your area for the rest of the season.... If not - get it to the butcher...
4. Enough freezer space immediately available to be able to hold a couple hunded lbs of processed meat? Most folks just don't have several empty freezers at their house for 600+ lbs of meat...
5. The equipment to saw thick bone, process cube steak, process burger and make sausage? This is important too... as putting an entire hind quarter in your freezer is a recipe for failure... Freezer burnt meat and throwing most of it out...
6... AND Last... An easy way to deal with getting rid of 400 lbs of bones, gristle, and inedible mess... Most folks just don't...

Deer is pretty easy to deal with... but let me tell you - The money I spent last week on getting my deer processed was WELL SPENT! It came back all ready portioned and vacuum sealed... Burger and sausage bagged into nice 1lb rolls, Neat, tidy, labelled, etc.... Compare this to several deer taken by Dad and Me when I was younger... and we cut it up and bagged into ziploc bags... and most of it ended up freezer burnt and ruined....

Thanks

We, some friends and I, took 3 900-1000 lb bison last year on a cull hunt. It was handy to have a flatbed with a small crane mounted to manhandle the carcasses. I was surprised at the minimal amount of meat on a 1000 lb bison. We hung it in a walkin cooler for 3 weeks to age it and deboned everything. It was then I discovered that the majority of the weight on a bison is hide, bone and intestines. Not wasting any precious scrap, we got less than 200 lbs of meat off the biggest bull we shot. Now I know why it sells for 20.00+ per pound at the grocery store. But dang was it tasty.

I shot a cow in Custer State Park years ago and processed it myself. They have a full butcher shop there with knives, saws, overhead rails with sliding hooks, commercial grinders etc. I skinned and salted the hide there and then butchered and packed the whole 800 pound animal. It took me two full days and they were not eight hours long I can tell you that! It was an interesting experience because at the time I had more free time than money to pay someone to do it......but I would never do it again!

JMHO

http://www.env.gov.yk.ca/hunti...essingbisonvideo.php

hope this help.

We quartered the second and hung it in a cooler for three weeks and then to a processor for ground burger, steaks, etc.

The top one we delivered to a processor on a trailer and they did all the work. I'd advise the processor route.....

Aside from the butchering, did you do anything with the hide?

For that size animal a 24" butcher's saw is the best size . Many hunters now use a cordless Sawz-all which works well.Bigger knives than deer also .Instead of a 4" use a 5 or 6".
Invite some friends !

DTala that is a realy nice bison. How much did it weigh whole and dressed? Would love to hear the full story on that hunt, and did you mount the hide?

Well I have processed a few deer and wild hogs so I have a little experience. Im hunting on a hunting preserve so they include the skining and quartering in the price. Plus I will have the help of my father and four brothers to help process the meat and maybe ill get the wifes involved as well.

I've done a few moose up here and its three days to get it in the freezer. FWIW the wife and I can only eat a third of a big bull a year so how many years do you want the buff to stay in the freezer?

I've taken two lower 48 bison and kitchen table processed one of them. Theres no way I'd ever take another anywhere but a butcher shop. Ask for boneless cuts so as to avoid the saw smearing the marrow across the meat.

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
Well I have processed a few deer and wild hogs so I have a little experience. Im hunting on a hunting preserve so they include the skining and quartering in the price. Plus I will have the help of my father and four brothers to help process the meat and maybe ill get the wifes involved as well.

Most of the real pain the ass work will be done then. Plenty of help which is good as well. Still got to worry having some place to get the meat cold and keep it cold while your processing. Don't know what your shooting but an average quarter will be nearly as large as a half of deer and way heavier. If the meat can be kept cold in this case I would probable cut it myself since you will have it broken down for you..Just do it boneless like a deer. More meat to deal with but not as much trimming. Nothing wrong with bison fat no need to get rid of it like you do with venison. Peel the tenderloins and the straps before quartering cut the ribs down to manageable size then quarter. Save the ribs they are pretty good or use them for soup stock. If you do boneless cuts you should not need anything other than longer knifes for cutting steaks and a grinder that can handle prolonged use without overheating.

im shooting a large bull bison at about 1600 lbs estimate.

quote:

Originally posted by steel:
im shooting a large bull bison at about 1600 lbs estimate.

Hope you like hamburger. You are going to need a big grinder. Also you are definitely going to want to age the meat off a bull that size.

quote:

Well I have processed a few deer and wild hogs so I have a little experience. Im hunting on a hunting preserve so they include the skining and quartering in the price. Plus I will have the help of my father and four brothers to help process the meat and maybe ill get the wifes involved as well.

If you have help like that, and everyone is willing, and maybe get a piece of the action, go for it. It could save you a lot of money. Plus taking on a project with family, can be enjoyble. Biggest challenge will be keeping it cool while you work the meat. My son shot a 12 year old bull this fall, close to 2000# it only hung for a week, and beyond my belief, turned out to be excellent table fair. Hamburger, steaks, and roasts, all very good eating. Just go to the store and price meat cuts and you will see how much you will be saving. Good Luck!

how would one dry age? I figured I can just ice down the meat and cool it that way and do all the processing in one day, vacum seal it and freeze it.

To dry age you need a cooler to hang the meat in. Need to be able to keep the humidity and temp constant. You can age the quarters or break down into the muscle groups and age them before cutting into steaks. This is a long process. As for your plan on cutting in one day good luck with that.

The important thing with big animals is get the hide off fast and get the meat cooled. Then remove the front quarters, the "back straps" and tenderloins, then the rear quarters, finally cut off the ribs. Then go back to the quarters and break them down into the muscle groups, then cut into smaller roasts and steaks if you want or leave them whole and have some nice big roasts. I trim everything so it's ready to use when I remove it from the freezer, no yucky bits left on any of my meat. You can put your hamburger bits and pieces into 10lb. Bags and freeze it then grind it at a later date or send it out to be made into sausage.

Easy peaty!

I forgot about equipment.....a boning knife, sharpening steel and a bone saw to cut the ris off. You don't need all the fancy stuff.

we did three one year, they had gotten out and the farmer wanted me to shoot them, I saw them and shot all three..... It was a big chore and we had 6 people helping.

I would probably get it done unless you have 6+ people helping and access to a full butcher shop worth of equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
I forgot about equipment.....a boning knife, sharpening steel and a bone saw to cut the ris off. You don't need all the fancy stuff.

This......

I have done dozens of bison and all you need is a good boning knife and steel, plus a large knife for cutting roasts and steaks, some string if you want to get fancy and tie some roasts. And of course a grinder, which you said you have. Forget the t-bones and just bone it out. Unless you have access to a large bandsaw you are not going to be able to properly cut the loin, bone-in with a handsaw unless you have had a lot of practice at it.

For aging however, unless you have a really high ceiling and hoist in an outbuilding, where you can hang the carcass in one piece you will need to quarter the bison to hang it. As mentioned you can lift off the shoulders, remove the hind quarters and backstraps, ribs etc. You can breakdown the hump, loin and ribs with a handsaw easy enough.

After it has hung for a while you are going to have to remove the pellicle that forms on the outside, or basically 're-skin' the outside. This protective layer forms on the outside of a lean carcass.

It really isn't all that tough to do, you just have to have the space to work with and a plan.

My wife and I just did two steers last weekend. The two of us can process an entire steer or a bison in one day easily. I do the cutting, she wraps.