DULUTH, Minn. – The idea came to Bill Hesselgrave one day when he was sitting on his deer stand. Hesselgrave, a meat cutter by trade, also processed venison.

“We saw a lot of meat go to waste unnecessarily because of the way people field-dressed it,” said Hesselgrave, 59.

So, in 1992, he produced a video showing hunters how to field-dress and process their own deer using just knives. Essentially, Hesselgrave fillets the deer, one side at a time. He sells thousands of the videos a year and travels across the Midwest to demonstrate his processing techniques.

Now, with state wildlife agencies urging hunters not to cut through the bones of their deer because of the threat of chronic wasting disease, Hesselgrave’s techniques are garnering even more interest.

“The method that Bill demonstrates is to debone it using a knife, which now, with chronic wasting disease, is the way they’re advising people to do it,” said Darrell Nelson, pastor of Covenant Mission Church in Poplar, Wis., where Hesselgrave has put on his deer-processing demonstrations at deer-hunting seminars.

In his spotless garage in Superior, Hesselgrave recently demonstrated his processing method on a small, road-killed deer. He skinned the fawn, leaving the head intact, then proceeded to remove all the meat from each side of the animal in one large piece. Once that large piece was free, Hesselgrave deftly went about carving roasts, steaks and chops from it using a knife that looked similar to a fillet knife.

The animal’s hind legs already had been broken in the car accident, and Hesselgrave removed them. But otherwise, he cut through none of the animal’s bones.

“A lot of people say, ‘You’re just filleting a deer,’ and that’s one way to look at it,” said Hesselgrave, who’s been processing venison since 1965.

His 92-minute video explains the process in detail. With new recommendations on handling deer in light of chronic wasting disease, Hesselgrave plans to update his video and have a new version out in the next couple of months.

Removing meat from the deer takes about 20 minutes per side. Well, it takes only that long for Hesselgrave, but he’s been practicing for 37 years. It will take a beginner somewhat longer.

“After two or three times, you’ll be amazed how easy it gets,” Hesselgrave said. “By taking each side off in one piece, you’re using the weight of the carcass to help you do most of the work.”

“Bill’s way is outstanding,” Nelson said. “And there’s an extreme interest. There were still people who would send [their deer] away to be processed. Now, many hunters I know are going to tackle it themselves, and they buy Bill’s video.”

Hesselgrave’s video also shows how to remove concentrations of fat, some of which hold lymph glands that hunters are to avoid. The abnormal proteins that cause chronic wasting disease can be found in a deer’s brain, lymph glands, spine, spleen, tonsils and eyes.

Hesselgrave made quick work of the road-killed fawn. He worked the meat away from the hind quarter and the front shoulder, then began carving various cuts of venison from the single piece of meat. The backstrap came out first, from along the spine. A sirloin tip roast came off next. A few flicks of the knife, and he had a rump roast and an arm roast. Steaks and chops followed.

“The animal actually shows you how to cut it up,” Hesselgrave said.

He did all of this using just two knives, and he had used another in the skinning process. “The key is a sharp knife,” he said.

Hesselgrave sells knives and a knife-sharpening video, too.

His video business, Hess Video, now provides more of his income than his venison processing. He’ll still process about 75 deer this fall, plus a few others at demonstrations. He retired from his day job, most recently as meat manager for the Fleming wholesale food company in Superior.

Hesselgrave took a break to field a phone call. A wholesaler wanted 750 of his videos for distribution. Business is good for Hesselgrave’s video.

“A day does not go by that somebody doesn’t ask me about it,” he said.