Boning out the back leg of a deer

There are multiple ways of breaking down a deer.

Everyone will have their own preferred way of doing it. The method shown here is to remove the bone of the back leg first and then separate into various cuts.

Skin the leg first – note you don’t cut into the skin or meat but rather run the knife between the skin and meat.

Now the skin is off, I run the knife between the bone and the shank meat at the bottom of the leg.

Continue up the leg to cut around the knee joint and repeat on the other side of the bone.

I then make a cut along the bone from the ball joint back to the knee – following the bone.

Then separate the bone from the meat with the tip of your knife.

Once this is done you can run the knife down to the bottom of the leg removing the bone.

Now the bone is out all you need to do is to follow the natural muscle structures. The knife is used to separate the various cuts - there is no need to cut into the meat itself.

Note – cut out any bruised or damaged meat, excess fat, the fatty gland between the meat.

Trim the cuts to prepare for cooking or freezing.