[Rolando]

Who processes their own meat?

Who takes it to the pros?

I like to do it at home. Takes some time but its free and I do it the way I like.

[Jst1mr]

I am extremely fussy in processing my meat and am only happy when I do it myself. I go after all fat with a vengeance, as many a meal of venison has been ruined for folks with a mouthful of tallow. Also, I am in control of cleanliness and storage care and temperature. Have seen too many piles of unskinned deer (some very poorly shot and/or gutted) lying at a processor's awaiting attention. (This is not to condemn any/all processors, but sometimes they are at the mercy of what people drag in to them) And in a short rifle deer season like we have (9 days) and a few hundred thousand deer being killed, they can get overwhelmed. I'd hate to think that my box of meat could contain some from some guys gutshot deer that was poorly cleaned and not skinned for several days... (Or was even cut up on the same countertop, for that matter).

[Griz44]

I quit using processors many years ago. I take very meticulous care of my carcasses. I know when meat tastes unclean or not taken care of properly, and after several different processors did the same crap to me, I started doing my own, bullet to table. I open freeze the quarters and ice mist them to seal, triple wrap and freeze whole. When I need meat, I thaw a quarter and butcher it on out. My meat is great! I get the cuts I want and don't get any crap meat that belonged to someone else. Seems like I get a lot more meat too. A processor does not take the time to get ALL the meat off the bones. Learn to butcher. It's really easy, does not all have to be done at once, and is very rewarding.

[Shawnee]

I don't know that I am really, really meticulous but, after twice being given lousy, blood-shot, hair-riddled meat (and too little) that came from deer I knew couldn't have been from the one I had shot, I stopped using processors and started smoking everything but the backstraps. Recently I got lucky and met a fellow who will make some great sausage and is careful to make sure the stuff I get is from the venison I gave him.

:cool:

[dakotasin]

i don't have time to do all my own. i will typically butcher half of my animals, and the other half goes to a trusted locker - which took me several years to find.

the locker always gets the antelope, though, because it is usually too warm out to wait until i can get to them myself.

[alsaqr]

Used to butcher my own but found it is not worth the trouble. There are several butcher shops near here and all of them do a good job. One makes the best summer sausage ever.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Depends on my money to time ratio at the time I need the service (and also the proximity of processors to where I am hunting, and whether I have enough room in the pickup/ice chest to haul home an unbutchered rib cage & legs). Usually, the processor is well worth the money, to save time. I hamburger or sausage most everything.

[waffentomas]

I process my own. It's kind of just a last, final, act of the hunt.

[rswartsell]

PremiumSauces,

backstraps too?:what:

Say 3 hail “Natty Bumppo" s and make a good act of contrition.

[MCgunner]

If I had to use a butcher, I could just buy sausage cheaper. :rolleyes: Last I had made was $1.10 a lb and not smoked. Hell, I'm supplying the venison! Nope, got me a grinder/stuffer and do it all myself. Most of it is either ground or stew meat. I make a few rump roasts and cut the back strap and tenderloin up of course. It really ain't that big a job on deer. Hogs are a pain to skin, have to skin 'em all the way down with a knife and the shield is a PITA on bigger ones. Still, I do it myself, part of the fun.

[HB]

Butcher, mostly because cutting a deer up in urban St. Louis, and across from Washington University might draw some attention, plus I'm lazy...

HB

[TAB]

I have a really, really good game processor about 4 miles from my house. The shop has been open for 40 years, very well known. The only complaint I've ever heard about him is, his prices are high. It should also note that he is a normal "old school" butcher shop as well.

[sumpnz]

Both elk that I've shot I butched myself. The first one I just wrapped large hunks after the other guys in the hunting party got them off the bone. Next time I did it all by myself and carefully trimmed the meat and cut it to serving size. I'll probably do that again this year if I'm lucky enough to get one.

[MCgunner]

Butcher, mostly because cutting a deer up in urban St. Louis, and across from Washington University might draw some attention, plus I'm lazy...

That wouldn't slow me down at all. :D

[skinewmexico]

A guy here in town does great work, and my wife loves the meat, which she never did before. And he makes the best jalapeno bratwurst.

[buck460XVR]

....kitchen table.

[deerhunter61]

I do a little of both...I take care of the back straps and the tenderloins and then take the rest of the meat to a processor for sausage etc.

[rantingredneck]

A guy here in town does great work, and my wife loves the meat, which she never did before.

Here too. Guy lives 1.5 miles from my house. He does great work. Clean, meticulous, and only 65 per deer.

If I end up killing a little one I'll do it myself as the money/meat ratio isn't as good. But any decent size doe or buck goes to him. Comes back vaccuum sealed and perfect. Been using him now for 3 years. Between me, my father in law, and brother in law/nephews, we've taken him dozens of deer.

He does great sausage, bratwurst, summer sausage, salami, bologna, you name it. (all of this costs extra above the usual burger/steaks/cube steak deal, though).

Best thing is he takes them hide on. Many processors want you to skin it first. He doesn't. He'll even take them un field dressed if you so choose to bring them that way.

[Old Grump]

Processor, since back went bad its to hard on me. Its a small shop, they are near, they are good, they are reasonable and I get 25% off their already good price because I can dispose of the carcass trash legally on my land which takes a headache from them.

[ARGarrison]

Mostly I take mine over to a buddy's Dad place. His old garage is now refured to as the buther shop. They had in the past buthered cows and hogs. He has a stainless bandsaw, large meat grinder and even a motorized tenderizer. The only thing he doesn't have is a walk in cooler.

I did how ever leave one at a processer one year when things were rushed. It was nicly packaged, but I really wonder if I got my deer or at least the ground meat from my deer back.

[BIGR]

I do it all. The easy part is pulling the trigger. Dragging it out is not too bad. Cutting the meat up at the house takes me a while if I do it right. Thats the hardest part for me. I vaccum seal mine before it goes in the freezer.

[Nathanael_Greene]

I do all my own processing (nothing very fancy; cut, chop, and grind).

A friend in Illinois uses a pro for his deer, and he gets some very nice results--bacon, bratwurst, cool stuff like that.

I guess I'm just too cheap for that sort of thing.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

backstraps too?

No, not backstraps! No way, no how - the backstrap & tenderloins come out before the rest even goes to the processor. I don't trust the processor with my backstraps & tenderloins! :D

but I really wonder if I got my deer or at least the ground meat from my deer back.

Yep, you got *someone's* deer, that's for sure. Is it a FIFO or LIFO inventory system, I wonder? :)

Lol, couple years ago my buddy takes a little 90 lb buck to this processor which *I* had recommended to him - $75 later, he gets back 6 tiny little packages of steaks, and that's it! Like 1/3 of a small deer's meat - it was ridiculous. Neither one of us went back to that processor.

[adam_oz]

I do my own cuz its cheap, and i kinda like it. There is something about getting all bloody and cutting up some meat. maybe thats just me

[Bezoar]

THe only way to get the animal you shot back, is to chop it up yourself.

If you do the sausage and even the burger option, your always getting someone elses meat instead of yours. Just how life goes.

Sure i can get a deer butchered for 60 bucks, but the thing is, they wont take hideless deer, and if you want your hide back, its another 60 dollars.

[HunterGirl]

We do it ourselves as much as possible. Sometimes it's just too hot out if we're on a long trip and have to have it processes.

By next year I'll have completed my dad's course in butchering :)

We still have the hot dogs/brats/beer sticks made somewhere else but all the steaks, chops, and boning are done by us.

[NRA4LIFE]

I too graduated from my dad's school of butchering. Plus I made up a lot of new and improved methods. I do almost everything on my own, including some sausage making, when I have the time. When time does not permit it, I take in the deboned trimmings for summer sausage and pepperoni sticks (kinda like slim jims).

[Guns_and_Labs]

Butcher, mostly because cutting a deer up in urban St. Louis, and across from Washington University might draw some attention, plus I'm lazy...

HB

Try doing it in Berkeley, in the garage, visible to the street (and a busy one at that). I used to get an equal number of "Bambi killer" to "Can I try some?"

The stuff I get in-state, I tend to butcher myself (though I have to send the wife out for the day). The out-of-state stuff I usually end up getting a processor to handle.
Those elk-sized coolers are just too expensive.

[Dksimon]

wow, I feel bad for all of you for the experience you have had with your processors.

I guess I must have a really good one. He guarantees that the meat you bring in will be the meat that is returned to you. He lets you bring in just the meat if you would like to butcher it yourself.

I get back some of the tastiest venison that I have ever tasted.

And he supporst the "Sportsman Against Hunger" And will butcher donated deer free of cost

[NRA4LIFE]

If you're in to "doing it yourself" a really good gift for your spouse is a high power Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. Then "accidentally" discover that you can buy a meat grinder attachment for it. Mine, er, I mean, my wife's can grind about 2 lbs per minute. Awesome machine.

[kingpin008]

Can you make stock from deer bones? I know how to make beef/chicken/fish stock and all that, but never had the occasion to deal with deer bones.

[DRYHUMOR]

I do my own. I know how much I'm likely to cook, and what cuts I want to cook. Easier that way.

Here's a hint. Using a sawzall :eek: saves a lot of time, for the big cuts.

[paintballdude902]

the way i feal about it is if i took an animals life for me to eat i can atleast spend a little bit of my time to properly take care of the emat myself

its more of a respect issue than cost saving or anything

[Titan6]

Last year we used a processor for the first time. My timeline did not allow me to spend a day giving it the attention it deserved. I figure I got about 3/4 of the meat I would have if I had done it myself. The tenderloins were notably smaller than the animal I shot.

Still total hunting expenses last year were:
- $.50 (1 round .308)
- $70 (processor)
- $5 (gas to drive to processor drop off and pickup animal)

For this we got about 70 pounds of meat, the kids had breakfast sausage half the winter.

[Liberty1776]

"I am extremely fussy in processing my meat and am only happy when I do it myself."

Yup! When I was younger, I was too broke to pay someone. Now that I've been hunting deer for 40 years, I'm too cheap...:D I grew up on a farm and processed a lot of rabbits we raised -- deer are the same, just bigger. :p Also, having worked as a chef for years, and food being my hobby (not just eating it, really) I enjoy doing it and this year bought a professional meat grinder/sausage maker and now do my ground venison and sausage myself. More doin' the hobby. It's hard on my back and hips now, but I'll tell you, I'd rather process a deer than those last 4 Canadian geese I did...gah!

[Eric F]

- $5 (gas to drive to processor drop off and pickup animal)where did the guy live next door? $5 isnt much to drive on.

money being a factor this year I think I will be cutting steaks myself. question is what do you do with tenderloin? I will cut them out on the first deer then make rib racks with the second one. Sirloins steaks and shanks from the hind quarters and stew meat and berger from the shoulders. Oh and dont forget to pickle the heart!

[tinygnat219]

Last time, I butchered it myself with some help from friends. (My first deer).

I live in one of those yuppie Condo-townhouse places, and while it's not forbidden in the rules, I can see their faces now when I skin my deer and then cut the head off with a hacksaw. :evil:

[ranger335v]

"I like to do it at home. Takes some time but its free and I do it the way I like."

Ditto.

[Guns_and_Labs]

I live in one of those yuppie Condo-townhouse places, and while it's not forbidden in the rules, I can see their faces now when I skin my deer and then cut the head off with a hacksaw.


Make sure you toss the carcass & head in the common trash. They love that.

[tinygnat219]

Guns_and_Labs,

I live in the district of Jim Moran (D 8th-VA). He's one of the worst representatives one could ask for, and he's been berated by your Congress-critter persona Pelosi for being anti-Semitic.

Our areas sound remarkably similar. Add into that mixture of a small yippie Wiener Dog / Jack Russel mix that's hooked on Venison, and it can be a fun day.

I found a butcher about 5 miles away that will do it for 60 bucks or so. That's definitely worth it to me. Although when it gets colder out, I might just hang it in the garage overnight until I can butcher it outside the next day.

[HGUNHNTR]

I don't like deer, so I give it to my hunting buddy who has 2 always hungry boys.

[Kingcreek]

I wouldn't dream of letting anyone else butcher my deer. I live on my farm and have the place for it- radiant floor heated garage with good lighting, floor drains, and hot/cold water in a big double sink. oh, and also two 8' tables, neoprene floor mats, commercial grinder, vacume sealer, smoker, etc.
you might say we take it pretty seriously here...

[tube_ee]

I don't like deer, so I give it to my hunting buddy who has 2 always hungry boys.

You, Sir, are a Gentleman and a Sportsman.

Bravo.

--Shannon

[Jason_G]

I know everyone says it never happens, so my fear may be totally unfounded, but I'm always scared a processor my pull a "some for you... some for me..." Plus, I'm particular about how I like my stuff butchered. I even usually buy whole cuts of meat from the grocery store and cut steaks, chops, etc., myself.

Jason