A successful opening day firearms whitetail deer hunt tips for home processing your game.
From the Stand to the Counter: Real-World Shotgun Season
Opening day. There’s honestly nothing like it. That 4:00 AM adrenaline, the smell of damp woods, and that first bit of grey light—it’s the peak of the My Kinda Living lifestyle. In this video from Sharing The Outdoors, we get a front-row seat to a classic firearm season success story. The hunter beats the sun to his stand, settles in, and by first light, he’s already got meat on the ground.
But here’s the thing: pulling the trigger is the easy part.
The Race Against the Clock
The video takes a turn that every veteran hunter understands. It’s 50 degrees and climbing fast. When the mercury hits 60, you don’t have time to sit around and swap stories. You’ve got to move. As the hunter points out, a 12-gauge slug does the job, but once that deer is down, your priority shifts 100% to meat preservation.
Backyard Butchery: Don’t Waste the Good Stuff
This isn’t some polished, sterile cooking show. It’s a practical, “how-to” on quartering a deer in the backyard.
The Shoulder Trick: Instead of hacking away blindly, he shows you how to let the weight of the leg do the work. By letting it pull away from the carcass, you can just follow the natural membranes with your knife. It’s cleaner, faster, and saves your edge.
Stop Throwing Away the Shanks: This is a huge pet peeve for me, and the video nails it. A lot of guys toss the shanks because they’re “tough,” but that’s literally pounds of the best burger meat you’ll ever eat if you just take five minutes to trim it.
Technical Jointing: Watch how he handles the hooves. You don’t need a saw. Cut the tendons, score the skin, and snap it at the joint. It’s a pro move that keeps bone fragments out of your meat.
From One Deer Hunter to Another here is – The Bottom Line
Whether you’re hunting with a high-end setup or a bare-bones Budget for Optics, the hunt isn’t “won” until the meat is in the freezer. This tutorial is a great reminder that being a sportsman means finishing the job right.
“A big part of the hunt—maybe the most important part—is what happens after you get that game back to the house.”