Many people don't like to eat game meat, mostly due to the fact that they never had it prepared properly. I've had friends tell me, "When I bring home a deer, my wife wants nothing to do with it. She won't cook it or eat it. Yet, when we come to your restaurant, she orders venison and loves it! Why is that?"

The reason, I would assume, is that he takes his deer to a processor to have it butchered. I cannot blame his wife. I wouldn't want to eat that venison either.

If you think that processing your own deer is too difficult, it isn't. I recently met a man who told me his nine-year-old son processed their deer, unassisted, following instructions in my Big Game: Field to Table video in his garage. If a nine-year-old can do it, then so can you!

To enjoy great-tasting venison, you need to follow these simple steps:

1. The deer should be properly field-dressed as soon as possible after the kill, and then drained.

2. The deer should be hung to age it.

3. After aging, it should be skinned and de-boned.

4. It is best to freeze it in the largest chunks that you can handle later.

Field-Dressing and Care
Lay the deer on its side. Using a hunting knife with a five-inch blade, cut around the rectum by pushing the blade straight in and, using a sawing motion, detach the colon. If it is a buck, remove the sex organs.

Lay the deer on its back, push the point of the knife in at the sternum (edge of rib cage).

Make an opening large enough to insert your index and middle fingers, without cutting any innards. Place the knife between your fingers, with the edge of the blade turned up.

Carefully slide your fingers under and ahead of the knife to prevent it from cutting into the stomach and intestines. Open the cavity down to the pelvic bridge, but do not cut the hind legs apart. If your knife has a gut hook, use it instead of the blade to open the cavity.

For a right-handed person, lay the deer on its right side. Open it and detach the upper part of the diaphragm. With your left hand, reach as far into the chest as possible and grasp the trachea and the esophagus at the neck. Carefully bring up the knife in your right hand and cut through the two tubes above your left hand.

Pull all the innards out and detach the bottom part of the diaphragm. Remove any chunks of loose fat. Inspect the entire cavity, including the vent, to be sure it is clean.

Check under the pelvic bridge to be sure the bladder is removed. Then turn the deer with the opening down and spread all four legs to drain the cavity of blood.

At this point you may separate and save the liver, heart, and kidneys, placing them in a plastic bag. If you forgot the bag, cut a slender stick about 14-16 inches long, push it through the liver and heart, and wedge it back inside the deer for transportation.

If the stomach and intestines have not been damaged and contents spilled, you need not wash the cavity. Otherwise, flush it with clean water and then hang the deer in a breezy place, head up, to drain for one day.

To cool a deer in warm weather, you may place bags of ice in the body cavity, but do not let the ice or run-off water contact the meat.