I was wondering how many of you do your own proccessing or have a butcher do it? I have been the type of guy that I have always done my own processing. If you take it to a butcher how much do you pay? If you take it to a butcher do you do it for time reasons,don't know how or ect... I was talking to a friend that was paying $370. to process his bull elk. Thats @ .83 a pound. That just seems like alot of money for the average guy to me. It got me thinking how many can afford to go to a butch at that cost. Thanks for any replys to this.
Usually pay 'cause the local guy needs the cash and solves the "what to do with the offal" question. $25 to dress and about $50 to process.
Elk in Colorado was about $200.
Depends on my time available. Mostly I process my own. We usually grind the whole deer, with a little beef tallow or chuck roast to make good burger.
When I don't have the time I carry it to the local processor, cost me about $35.00 - $40.00 to have a whole deer boned and ground.
Well, my family eats a lot of fish, chicken and deer. I catch and clean the fish. Chicken costs bout the same in the store as it does to raise, so I buy that. I butcher 3 to 6 deer a year. That is real cheap on a 20 plus dollar license fee. We can it, as well as freeze roasts, chops, steaks and I grind about 30-50 pounds of burger, sometimes more. Occasionally we make jery.
Dogs eat trimings not fit for us. Turkey buzzards adn coyotes get the rest. Dogs get the legs and feet, they love those!
Bob.
Been cutting up my own since Dad taught me how many years ago.
Always do my own. Nothing better than a Back strap with the silver skin off:) :)
100% on our own, of course my dad has 20 years of butcher experience. Thats always helpful! It costs about $60-70 here, add $15 for a tag and you got one pricey 35# sack of venison.
We do it ourselves. The only thing we do not do is make sausage. We take in the trimmings to get it made. I like cutting venison and cleaning fish.
Do it all myself...started out an economics thing..ended up seeing hair, hide, etc. in processed packages of meat...so decided if I kill it, I clean it, age it, cut it, wrap it and freeze it myself.
what I hear..it's right at $90+/- to skin, wrap, mark and freeze.
I've always done it myself.
My girl friend loves to butcher deer! She's been doing my deer even before we were together. She doesn't hunt but loves venison. I'm a lucky man!!!
Keeping the Faith
Magnus
I do it myself as well, for many of the same reasons as above. It is about $55 to have someone else do it around here and I'd rather save that money for something else.
Here in the Eastern part of Kansas where I live it runs about $140 per deer. I used to h ave a butcher do it back when it was $65 or so. Now I do it myself and vaccum seal it. IMO alot better than spending $140 each time when you harvest 3+ deer a year. Especially knowing Christmas is right around the corner and I have 4 kids.
I've always butchered my own animals. From what I hear, folks charge $100+ to cut up a whitetail around here.
always do my own. The wife puts a plastic table cloth on the kitchen table and I bring in a quarter at a time, get a cast iron frying pan hot with butter for the small scraps, when we are full the scraps are made into jerky in a low oven...PR
Well, can't say why but cutting up deer meat that is cold enough to be pretty solid and easy to cut has never been a chore for me. I have paid before to have it cut and wrapped, but now I just cut off silverskin, fat, etc. cut steaks and roasts and wrap it all up. Twitchstick, that is a lot of money to pay, and if you have the time (and the deer!) this season, go for it and give it a try.
JAG (or anyone), if I get lucky and get one this season, I'd like to grind some burger meat up. Haven't done that before, always have cut up and wrapped pieces for steaks and roasts. What percent ratio should I use if I mix deer meat and beef chuck roast to get some good burger? thanks!
I would say 90% my own. I had my moose cut up by a friend. It was a tad too big to do myself. But I do all my deer and antelope. And my Dad's elk. It also insures I get my own animal, I take way too much pride and spend too much time making sure my meat is clean and cooled down quickly to send it somewhere and get another person's animal. Jimmy that seema a bit steep for an elk.
I drop off a field dressed deer, it gets skinned (caped if appropriate), custom cut/ground, wrapped, and frozen for $50.00. I get 2 maybe 3 deer a year. The guy I use is a meat cutter by trade and heads the meat department of a local grocery store.
I do it myself. I had taken a long break from hunting and a few years ago I started again. Shot my first deer and had a card from a local sports shop for a guy who processes deer.
Gave the guy a call and we decided to meet halfway between my house and his. Gave him the deer and never heard from him again. Called his phone repeatedly until his mailbox was full.
So that was the end of that. And now I prefer to do it with all the stories of guys getting shorted and not knowing if the meat they got was even from their deer. Plus I have become pretty good at making sausage.
Magnus you need to keep your girlfriend. Butchering your own gives you quality control and always you to make the finished product healthy if you choose. I add 1/3 to 1/2 80% lean ground beef to my venison burger giving it enough fat to stick together, but still lean. For sausage I use a boston butt (hog ham), and then add garlic, peppers, cheese, onions, etc to the grind. The 1/2 HP Cabela's grinder makes it a breeze. I just checked to verify the horsepower, and noticed that they are on sale at Cabelas' now.
Anybody have or know where to find a good tutorial on this?
I do my own and always will.I heard stories of guys who saw deer stacked up in freezers and you never know what meat you r getting and from who's deer. Plus think about how many they may process and if they are a clean facility.
Always have done it myself. Couple weeks ago a few of us butchered 3 elk in one day, three days later another elk and a deer. All I got was the deer, but still came home with about 160 pounds of cut/wrapped/froze meat...can't beat that! To me it is not work, more of an extended part of the hunting experience. I actually love the butchering process, although my back had had enough by the end of the third elk that particular day!
Enjoy, it's all part of the trip.
Travis
I butcher my own animals. If I'm hankerin' for some bacon to be made I will take some scraps to a processor, but all the steaks, roasts, etc. are cut and wrapped by me. I like to know exactly where my meat has been and how it's cared for. Butchering the animals yourself adds a bit of satisfaction as well...in my opinion.
There was a tutorial in the how to section on butchering. Not sure if it's still there.
Keeping the Faith
Magnus
I used to take it to have it deboned and ground up in burgers or sausage. It got kinda costly ($75-100) depending on the size. Thats times 5-6 deer/year. You do the math.
Started doing my own bout 5yrs ago. I'll be doing my from now on unless I were to hit the lottery. And being I rarly play, the odds are agianst me.
I have always done it myself and probably always will.
I cut my own. I think there getting around 70$'s a deer to skin cut/grind and wrap in these parts.
75$ here per deer. I have only ever had two done by a processor, the rest have been done at home. The two I had done were both due to working and warmer weather, I prefer to hang them for a few days, weather permitting.
I do both. If I get one in the early season when its hot, I drop it off on the way home right in the butchers walk-in. A "regular cut" which is roasts, backstraps, T-loins, and ground, cut, wrapped, frozen, labeled is $60.
When the weather cools off and I have some time to hang it, I'll do it myself. Usually I'll do straps, loins, cut the hams up for jerky, and rest is ground.
Whoever posted "backstraps without silver" is spot on, and if I have the time available and a cool day or two to hang, I prefer that way. Freezer paper and tape is much cheaper.
If I kill a deer on a weeknight after work, I'll check it in and then give it to somebody I work with that is wanting one, or if I have the funds and the slaughter house is open, I'll take it to them at $75.00-$85.00.
If I kill one on a weekend when I'm not working the next day, I'll go ahead and process it myself. I don't have a very good place to do it, like a garage or basement, but I manage to do it myself on the weekend, if I have the time and it's colder outside, like in November or later.
I do my own unless I'm in a situation where i can't get it cut up before it spoils. I usually won't hunt if I don't have time to butcher though. My uncle used to be a meat cutter at the piggly wiggly so I learned how to do it at a pretty young age. I still can't keep up with him though. He can butcher a deer faster than I can package it.
Thanks for all the replys. Every year I have a few people bring deer and elk because of the quality of the local butchers. I am cheap and it helps pay for my butchering equipment and some hunting supplies. Most I will help them with it and teach them to butcher it for little or no cost at all. I have deer coming in tonight I am doing for free to help a young couple out. I think more people would do it if they had the time,if they knew how easy it is. Thanks agian.
Doing it ones self = self reliance and competence, its kind of the traditionalists way!
I do it my self to! I just got a moose this year and it took me the equivalent of a day to do my half, that gave me 300lbs of dress meet... It is a lot of work but I like it and Iknow what I'm getting!!
Cheers
p.s. a moose up here run in the $350 to get done by a butcher!
I do it all myself. Quality control and aging are all perfect when I do it. Never know at a butchers what is happening and whose deer or elk you might get.
Most all of mine go to my processor. I pay $70 and they do it all....skin, gut, hang, cut up, vacume seal, and freeze. Usually get it back in a week to 10 days.
Always have and always will do my own. Don't like processors because You never know what deer the meat came from that you get back. I know how my deer are cared for after killed, and prefer to have the meat from that deer and not have it mixed with meat that someone else didn't care for properly.
This is just my feelings on the subject. Don't mean to say all processors combine meat from different deer but I know many of them do.
I've done my own deer ever since I got a "bunch of cut up meat in a box" ( would best describe it)from a local guy.
I debone it in my basement,set up on a table with sheet and cutting board. All the bits and bites go in a box and off to a friends to be ground for burger and Hot Mexican sausages. Steaks, a few roasts and some stew meat. As this is going on, I have a large roaster on the Coleman simmering away with some "Buck Head soup". I always do an European mount on the heads, you know, bleached skull and antlers. Do that ONLY outside. The cooking has a "slight" odour.
I like the self sufficient feel of doing my own processing.
We always do it ourselves
I de-bone and steak all of them myself. all the trimmings get wrapped for stew meat. we dont grind anything.
I do it myself, but sometimes it is hard on my arthritic hands so I almost always tag team them with a buddy. We get the grill out and invite the neighbors and or have some friends over to drink beer and eat while we butcher it in the garage. Lots of our friends can't wait till we get a deer just so they can turn it into a little get together.
I just have it done now, hunting season is short so I would rather hunt than process.
I do my own on whitetails.... but Elk? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
I've done my own for years and have the machines to make it easy. BUT when we came home with 500# of boned out Moose a couple weeks ago I started looking at the cost of just the vacumne pack bags. It was about .24 each for 1# packages. When I called a very well respected processing plant local he said he'd do it for .52 per pound. Now I'm not that bright as most know but for the additional .28 per pound I took it in and in 3 days had our moose done and in the freezer.
Mike
I have a processor do mine.
I do it my self. It helps that I cut meat for about six years. While I was cutting deer every Fall I got to the piont I couldn't eat the stuff, the smell made sick. The store I worked at did hundreds every fall. Now that I haven't had to cut alot anymore, I started eating it again. I use to make it all into sausage just to eat it, but now eat the back straps, jerky with the hinds, and grind all the rest and use in lots of diffrent meals. All is good now!!
I butcher some of mine and pay for others. I typically give 1-2 deer a year to Hunters for the Hungry which must be processed (ground) by a butcher. When its time to keep deer for my use it depends upon how much time I have whether I do it or I have it done. Getting a deer processed in my area (steaks, roast, and burger) is $85. Of course that's pretty steep for most of our deer. A large doe will likely produce only 40 pounds of vension so I'm paying $2+/pound. An average buck may go 160 field dressed which would produce 80-90 pounds.
When I was 13 I killed my first elk and my uncle showed me how to butcher it. Since then I have done all of the game that I have killed. I was the only one that hunted in my family and was fortunate to bring home 3 elk and a deer through my teen years. When it came time for butchering it was a family event. I would would make the cuts, my dad and sisters would trim the fat, and mom would wrap.
I did have quite the fight on my hands when my new bride learned about butchering...
I wasn't able to hunt much the first few months of being a newly wed (school and broke) so a friend of mine gave me the front quarter of an elk he shot during muzzle loader season. My wife had expressed that she didn't want to help out in the butchering process - I was totally shocked because I thought that was normal. Well I waited until she was gone for the afternoon to start my dirty work. Being in a college apartment I didn't have much room to work so I had a heck of a time balancing the quarter, making cuts, trimming, and grinding on this tiny counter. Because of those circumstances I was a little messier than normal and my wife came home just as I was finishing. Man was she mad! But the hunting gods were smiling on my situation - because of this she promised that we would get a garage so I could do it out there.
Mostly we do our own-there is also an excellent processor near by.
When we have too much we use the local processor.
When I was a kid we had ours done by a decent size slaughter house. They would pull in freezer trailers and do a pile of them for reasonable cost. They stopped doing it. We got a couple done here and there, but I never thought they did a good job. Sometimes I don't think we got all our meat. Other times a well dressed farm land deer tasted like someone did a pour job of field dressing an old north woods cedar swamp buck; I don't think we got our own deer back. Then the price went from $30 something to $75 or higher. I learned from a friend's dad how to do it about 25 years ago and never paid to have one butchered again. My quality is way up. No bones, no fat, and no silver skin. Just top of the line ready to eat every last morsel meat. I think it really adds to the whole hunting experience and appreciation of the animal. The kids have been around the process since they could walk and now at 7 and 8 they are starting to help some. The wife pitches in also with packaging and grinding. It is getting easier now with the help and we save about $300 a year on processing costs. That makes it a lot better deal and helps me buy new hunting stuff without complaint.
The only down side is that I have had to pass on freezer filler meat when it has been real warm and I don't want to go with minimal sleep for the next day if I can't sleep in after getting one trimmed out and in the garage refrigerator. I really want to find an old freezer condenser or something to make me a small hanging cooler box using some rigid foam insulated panels that I can assemble for hunting season then take appart and store off season.
Last year, with my wife, 2 nephews, my bother in law and my self all filling tags, I butchered 7 deer. I think I've cut up 20 deer in the last 5 years. To me it is all part of the "process". Building your own arrows, setting up stands, studying the local food sources the game is using. Boiling the heads and jaw bones. It is all part of the "Process". I want to try brain tanning next...
Myself unless donated.
have always done my own that way i know what i have. made my own grinder -used a big handgrinder took a motor and reducing pulley off of a drillpress bolted to a piece of old mobile home frame(can you say redneck?) heavy but works great!!
I do my own I took one to a processor wasn't happy with it, if I do my own then no one to blame but myself.
I take mine to a processor. I have one that I use whenever I'm lucky enough to have something to take and I'm never disappointed. Straight cuts and skinning are around $70. Add a little if you want beef or pork with your ground. Clean, well wrapped and no bones. Well worth the money.
We kill 4 deer a year here at my house, we butcher 2 or 3, I usually take at least one in. I have a butcher that is crazy about cleanliness, and makes the best sausage ever. If I kill one when it's warm out, that one usually goes to the butcher, because I won't hang them in warm weather. MOST of the deer we kill the weather is well below 40....hang 2 or 3 days and cut 'em up.
I always do my own and vacumn seal it.I always know it is my deer and how it was handled.
The last time I took one in was during a rifle season in the early 80's. We backed up to a dock and two guys drug it out of the truck and threw it on a pile of 50-75 deer. Told us we could pick up our meat in 5 days.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say if we got our own deer it was a miracle. Now a days I don't have to guess.
Getting set up isn't that hard. Go together with a couple of friends or family members and buy a grinder and a vacuum sealer. Heck a couple a beers and stories later Your done.
bretto
Personally I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. :thumbsup:
The only time we took deer in was when we had a lot. But we cut it up first, they just helped de fat the trimmings and such and also had a huge grinder in the garage. Took em 20 minutes vs us 3+ hours and only cost us a case of beer. Helped having friends in the butcher business.
I think they charged 90$ for the whole process start to finish for their customers.
I right with you on that one Charlie, I'm 0 for 4 on tags so far. Thats not including my turkey tag!
We used to do our own. We hung everything in my dads garage and at the end of the season we all got together and did the butchering. Was almost as fun as hunting. My dad is gone now and I don't have anywhere to do it so we take them to a friend with a walk in cooler and he does them for $20 each.
I learned by necessity. During bow season it can be warm even here in Minnesota. And alot of buthcers aren't open on Sunday's unless it is rifle season. So for the best results, I skin my deer immediately upon recovery, and away I go. I'm no pro, however get the back straps, and some steaks. The balance I freeze and take in well after Rifle Season for Grinding. I find you can get your own trimmings back after the Rush.
I have also seen too many "DEER" that I wouldn't want mixed in with my clean meat by dropping off at the Butcher.
It takes me a while, but the wife kinda enjoys helping out.
Always do my own so I know I get everything, always a question when I had 1 or 2 butchered at a shop. Amazes me how little trimmed out meat a deer provides. But it is good and just the way we like it-no fat,bones,or silver covering.
Always do my own. Paid once and the meat was horrible. I really believe that if you use a bone saw the meat just isn't the same. I never cut through bones and always just trim around them.
I grew up in a family that owned a packing house. I have never taken one there though. I do take meat for summer sausage.
The processing is not bad pricewise. The real trouble is gutting the deer. If a fellar don't gut it, my family always said it was because they were too lazy and they PAID for the gutting. Deer processing was $45ish, but gutting was $15 by itself.
God Bless,
Nathan
IndianaBowman is right. Never use a bonesaw on deer meat. I don't know what it does, but it aint good. Deer bones are the hardest bones out there. Beef and pork bones are like butter in comparison.
God Bless,
Nathan
I do my own. Problem is, I don't get enough practice :) ...
I've been butchering my own since my grandfather taught me many many moons ago, & also with my license fee it just makes sence because of the cost.
I do it myself most of the time. I live in an apartment tho and elk can be a job. I've taken a few of them to a local plant and they do a fine job and cost is $175.00 sausage and jerky is extra.Frank
I do my own. I know what I'm getting that way.
I do my own unless it's real warm out and no sign of a cool down coming. I'm just old, slow and frugal.
Myself
We used to do everything ourselves, but a few years ago I found a guy that will skin and debone a deer for $15. He does a great job! Once we get it back, we make our own jerky, cut steaks and grind burger. He just does the dirty work for a great price, really helps out.
I used to drive longhaul and didn't have the time, so I had to depend on the local butcher.
Once I stopped doing that and was home every night I started doing it myself again.
I was boning and freezing the meat to be ground until after all the seasons were closed. Then I would take it in to be ground and packaged. I didn't ahve a grinder and this would insure that I got MY deer back.( I got a thing about getting other guys shot up, half spoiled meat back).
That even got expensive. One locker charged $75.00 for the meat from two mature does to be ground. The next year I went to a different locker. They were cheaper but I took 45 lbs of meat to them and after they added beef fat I got 36 lbs back! :mad:
I gained access to a grinder after that.
Have always done it myself until this past year. My son killed a young buck, and with a time crunch at hand we decided to take it to the local butcher, and wow they did a great job. It only cost around 65 dollars, well worth it. I am sure I will begin showing my son how to do it, but not opposed to taking one to the butcher.
Do my own. Like to know what I'm getting back is actually mine. I've seen/heard to many people mis-handle prime venison and then complain about the wild taste. :banghead:
I cut my own. The only thing I dont do is if I am having any burger or sausage made I take that in but that will change.
Been cutting up my own since Dad taught me how years ago. Only thing I do not do is grind the burger. I have that done at my local butcher. Usally have it mixed with beef. We buy the beef they mix and grind for free.
Did it myself for 30 years andthan I found a local guy who owns a horse farm and butchers deer. He does a great job and does burger as well as sausage for $55. It takes me 4 or 5 hours total from skinning and quartering to freezer and about $25 in materials, so for $55 he gets all my business except the fawns I shoot. Shawn
I can't imagine paying some one to butcher process my deer, thats a part of the hunt! I really don't care for someone else handling my deer. I like to know its done right, and kept clean.
I started doing my own Years ago, after I got one back and it had all kinds of Dirt and trash in the ground Meat.
Since then I have learned many of secrets of how to Propery cut one up and to Grind it up.
I'm a do it your self guy. I can package a whole deer in about one hour. That's about 60% steaks and roasts and 40% stew/grinder meat. There's not much left for the skunks except bones and gristle. I use a Geen River 7" butcher knife, and a scaple-sharp neck knife (like a small caper). Sometimes I use a hacksaw, but it's not really required.
I do my own except for the grinding for burger and brats.