I am just curious to know how many here like or have to proceed their game killed meat.
I usally do everything by myself,for sure it is a time consuming process,but I feel i need to do it! :rolleyes:
Felix My dad tought me how when I was 12 years old and I still doing my own and I'm 52 now.
doug77
I've always done my own meat but I did have a cow processed in Colorado this year due to the weather and we were camping and it was a 23 hr drive home!
I enjoy taking care of my game animals.
TIM B
I skin and debone my deer, seperating the back straps, tenderloins, and a couple of the better roast and vacum seal myself the rest goes to a processor here close and is ground and packaged for $.50 a pound. 2 of the deer I kill every year are done the same way but are not ground for burger, they are made into jalapeno/chedder summer sausage. If I ever buy a good grinder I would prolly do it all myself.
I do. I have a commercial meat grinder, commercial knives (my dad was a butcher). I use my recip saw with a regular demo blade to split the backbone and cut off the ribs. A 4x8 plastic table. Three huge stainless steel bowls. Bucket of sanitizing solution (bleach & water) Bunch of towels. Hose. Beer. And the XXL tube of elbow grease. First wrap in plastic, then butcher paper. Takes about 3 hours but I'm a picky wrapper and labeler.
This is, providing I actually render something into possession...
I do it all myself. Never occured to me to do otherwise. If for nothing else to make sure I got MY OWN meat back and so I could control the sanitary side of the process.
Next year I'm going to buy a screened tent to control the yellow jackets so I don't have to do it all at night.
Weather/ time permitting, I do . Just butchered and wrapped a doe in about 2 hours this past weekend......took another 45 min. or so to double-grind my burger (w/hand grinder) and wrap ...... meat just seems to taste better when you do the work yourself!
I have processed my own game meat for the last ten years. It is easy to do and I feel it is part of the whole hunting process. Plus I know what I'm getting when I do it myself.
My family processes all out own meats, hides, sinew, etc.... It is just part of the hunting process. I like to have the quality control and it is way cheaper.
I process my own for the reasons others cited above.
John Stockman
I also process my own.
I process my own. The last time I took one in to have processed, I figured that I could purchase beef on sale cheaper than I paid for the deer I harvested.
I have always processed my own deer, bear, caribou, and elk. Maybe one day I'll get lucky enough to draw a tag and get to butcher my own moose too!
It was the way I was taught by my Father and Grandpa, and like stated earlier I guess I never even thought about having someone else do it! For me it is truly a labor of love. Every little bit of meat I take off a critter I think to myself..."there's another bite off a burger for my daughter or son".
Travis
Travis
I do all my own, deer,elk,caribou,moose,black bear,birds. I began doing my own from the beginning I suppose because I couldn't afford to take them for processing. Now I continue to do my own as I'm picky about what goes into the packages.
I do my own proccessing and usally do a few extra deer and elk a year. The extra ones have paid for my last two bows. This weekend the is opener of rife deer hunt and should bring in a few deer to do,I hope. I didn't want to start a business with it but my quality is better than the butchers around here. Most are friends so they get it real cheap.
I do my own, de-boned. I also make jerky and sausage with it. Cant get any better quality than that.
We have done smaller animals-around 100#-the bigger ones go to the processor.
I'm the first here to say I pay a guy. HOWEVER.....my boys and I skin it out first, and take it to Tony's house. He has a full setup. We all help, Tony does the big work, I trim, and the boys wrap and mark it, while cooking porketta seasoned backstraps over the open fire, drinking birch beer and sarsparilla that he stocks in his fridge, and I usually bring him a bottle of 12 year scotch that I may have a sip of. GREAT time!!!!! We really love going there.
I did for 20 years but THE ADMIRAL and I have gotten lazy and now pay to have it skinned, cut and wrapped - and the scraps ground and some done into keilbasa.
I suppose when I retire and have a life of leisure I'll cut it up myself again. It does yield more when you flense and bone the cacass as it hangs.
I process my own as often as possible.
I always do my own. Hunting can be expensive enough without paying a processor.
I'm curious because I bowhunt whitetail deer, javelina and small feral pigs.
I see by the comments most do their own processing when it comes to deer, elk, etc. But, do you process feral pigs if you arrow and kill one especially if it's a big pig that's well over 250# on the hoof?
We process ALL of our own meat...beef, pork and poultry. Throwing a deer in there just changes the shape of the finished cuts.
Night Wing, unfortunately (or fortunately maybe?) no feral pigs to be found in Idaho or Alaska where I've spent the majority of my time...but I do butcher/process my own elk that weigh in the neighborhood of 500 to 600 pounds and have done bears in the 350 pound range so I'd say yes on the feral hog question. By the way I'd absolutely love to have a chance to go hog hunting someday!
Travis
Always have always will. Not because it's cheaper I could make more money working my reg job and pay someone to do it cheaper. I just don't like how the 4 to 6 deer a hour butchering goes or tastes.
I've done it a couple of times. If it's cool(cold) outside and I kill on a weekend, I will generally process the deer myself or maybe give the deer to someone else that needs/wants it. If it's a kill on a week night, I almost always give the deer to a friend or take it to a meat processor.
Oh, and by the way, I always use my tag/permit on my deer kills even if I give the deer away, just in case anyone was wondering.
I do to! Always did and feel that it is part of the process of hunting!
It is a lot of work(I hunt moose)but fun!
Only way to go, sausage, stick, brats you name it! Way way cheaper and done right!
Thats all I know. I have a friend who comes over and we make a day out of it.
I'd love to be able to do it myself - just don't have the space to do so (apartment dweller).
We prosess all of our own game. From the field to steaks,burger,sasauge,taxidermy(when lucky enough to get one worth mounting) To useing some of the bones,hoves etc for curtain racks,towell racks, toilet paper holder and jewlery.
My wife and I make a pot of coffee and do everything like an assembly line as soon as I get the deer home. Some of the best evenings We have spent together have been grinding burger with backstrap on the grill.
Rob
I have had three deer processed, the rest of them have been done by me, or me and Mockingbird. I do a better job at getting all the meat off of the bones than the processors, and I don't get marrow all over everything because I don't use a bandsaw.
I live in an apartment, and having killed deer right before breaking camp, have had to butcher in the kitchen. I quarter the skinned carcass in camp, and bring the quarters into the house. The neighbors know that I am not quite right, so they just nod to each other and say, yeah, here she comes with more body parts in garbage bags.
I have not tried aging meat by hanging a deer on the balcony yet.
Killdeer
Most of the time I do. I cut it,wrap it or vacume seal it(I really like that).I try to do 3 deer to the freezer. I also try to can at least one deer each year,I REALLY like that as well.
Killie, If you do go for the ageing,I want a picture. I also use the Kitchen of our house for all of my work.
CTT
About 50-50 for me
I've always processed my own.
I love cutting up deer
I process my own.
It still takes me about 5 hours per deer but I enjoy it. I get a little faster each time.
I process my own... With the exception of grinding, which If I can find a grinder at a decent price I will do also. If I go out west next year for elk I will probally quarter out elk if succesful then bring it to a local butcher to have it processed. The only reason I would bring it to a butcher is bc I will not have all the comforts of my drop freezer at home and do not want to risk spoiling the meat.
I just finished de-boning my deer from yesterday!
My dad always did everything himself, guess he taught me well!
My wife was a northern Mainer and would never let me send a deer to the butcher. Her mother and sister come over and take care of it in no time. I get to clean up.
I do all my own. The last few years my daughter has help and I am passing in on to her. She love to help and handles a knife very well now. We grind our own burger, press patties and have started making our own jerky.
I have been doing all my own processing since I started hunting at age 12.
I feel it is part of the completion of the hunt....
Have never used a processor. Have always done the work myself. Kill it & quarter, chill backstrap and quarters overnight or up to 48 hours. Then cut a couple roasts, some medallion from backstraps. All the rest is ground either for burgers or sausage. Just can't see paying someone else to do such a simple task as this. And I know it is my animal, and how it was handled from kill to freezer.
I have processed my own game for the last 15+ years. While stationed with my wife in Japan, 2004-8, purchased a meat grinder and butchered wild game for several friends on base. Usually processed about 40 deer per year. Deer hunting in Japan was great!
Long ago, discovered roast recipe using coffee. Roast doesn't taste like coffee & takes the wild out of venison. Started processing my own deer then. Easy, fun, especially cheap including hamburger w/grinder. Tenderize backstrap steaks, dip in eggs & flour (w/pepper & seasonings), chicken fry to golden brown, slap good.
Have been cutting and processing mine for 25+ years, takes some time but you get out of it what you put in.No question about if your own or someone else's.
I wish we had feral hogs. But don't you need a scalding tank for that?
QuoteOriginally posted by PaddyMac:
I wish we had feral hogs. But don't you need a scalding tank for that?
We skin them just like a deer.
Personally I do mine while on my midwest trips because there just isn't an option. At home I have a good friend who does it for me. I feel confident about my deer being what I get back and I like his work.
I cut up my own also. My family owned a packing house for years so I know the ins and outs. The main reason I do it myself is because I am too tight to pay someone else to do it...
God Bless,
Nathan
I learned as a kid, watching my Grandfathers and my Dad. I inherited a bunch of skinning / butchering knives, meat saws, a scale, and an old wooden block / tackle / hoist set. If it's cold out, 40 or so, I'll let the deer hang in the garage with the hide on for 5 or 6 days. This year, as I tagged out on opening day and it was 65 to 70, we (my 7 y/o and I), did everything at once and my wife vacume sealed it up that night. It's not that difficult to do if you go slow and if you pay another to do it, you risk not getting the best cuts of meat. Nothing like fresh tenderloin, butter, onions and cold beer after the job is done!
We do as long as the weather allows it if we take a deer when it is hot we have a local meet packer that leaves a cooler ulocked to bring in deer 24 hours a day.
Doing it your self is the way to go if you can though
straitera, you know that you are supposed to share with your family, here.
Coffee it up!
Killdeer :saywhat: