Deer Processing

[Esox]

How many folks process their own deer and how many take them to a butcher?....

Also, How much does it cost to have a deer processed in your area?.....

I've been butchering my own for as long as I can remember, but I was considering having one done up by a local processor... But $65 to cut up a deer and not be sure how carefully it was done doesn't seem right...

What your stories?

[jay73]

Esox, I cut my own as well, and enjoy it. I've only done a handful of deer by myself so far, but find it very gratifying to know I've done everything.

There is a guy I know who is a home butcher and I believe he charges 50 bucks. I'm not all that sure what the 50 gets me though. I am considering taking him some meat however, because he does sausages as well.


Jay

[ga_Game_hunter]

We've always taken ours to a processor for a couple of reasons. The main one is because we hunt a couple of hours away. Another is while I could butcher the deer, I cannot make sausage, ground burger, or a few other things the processor can do.

Around where we hunt we typically pay somewhere between $60 - $70 to have a deer processed. For that we can get just about anything we want like roasts, steaks, and sausage/burger with added pork fat. But in our area it's not likley to kill more than a couple of deer each season. If I was killing around 5 or more deer a season then I might have to start doing some things myself.

[Grizzly Adam]

I butcher and process my own, and always have. I've never taken one to anyone. I eat the tenderloins immediately, reserve the loins for fry and roasts, use the center cut of the ham for stew, and make my own jerky, summer sausage, and breakfast sausage with everything else. We freeze a lot and can some.

I don't know what processing fees are around here. I do know that even at $50, it would cost me $300 a year just to get deer processed ... more than I want to spend. I would have spent thousands and thousands by now! Not worth it to me ... it's an easy thing to work up a deer, and I think it's something a hunter should know how to do.

That being said, I don't think the $50 average processing fee is at all out of order. I know the work involved! And, if you're figuring that at a per-pound price, it's reasonable. If you can keep from falling for every hunting gimmick that goes on sale every season, and keep your gear costs down, deer meat can be pretty cheap ... notice I said "CAN BE."

That's up to you. Butchering your own will make it cheaper ... and deer meat is the only meat I know of that tastes better when it's cheaper!

[mdcrossbow]

I've done my own for allot of years. I found I save a little money because I will shoot 16 - 24 deer any given year.

Butchering around here 65-80 bucks

[LV2HNT]

Deer butchering is big buisness here. My dad and I took our deer to the butcher for years. Sometimes it was great and others it was horrible. I think it is going for about $70 a deer but I am not sure because I havn't taken in a deer in a couple years. There were times when we would take our deer in and they would tell us to throw it in the pile. We would drive up and do just that. Throw it in a pile because they wouldn't have any more room in their freezer. I don't know for sure but it would look at times like the pile had been there for a few days and it would smell like it too. There was also a bad smell whenever you would walk into the front door. It would either smell like rotten meat or we would get there after they had cleaned and it would smell like bleach. Either way it didn't make us feel good. We had one deer that was spoiled when it was returned to us and another deer that had a chemical smell. Many of the deer didn't taste very good either. They also cut up deer many at onetime, in an assembly or disassembly line fasion that looked pretty disorganized, so I was never sure I was getting my own deer or all of my deer because the amount of meat recieved varried greatly sometimes. We stopped going to them when we found another place. It was great compared to the old place, I think because they did slaughtering of farm animals as well as butchering deer where the other place was just deer and only open during the season for some quick cash. Sadly that place stopped accepting deer a couple years ago. There is one other place that opened since then but I have my doubts about trying it. I went there last year with a friend to pick up some meat. It was late at night and they were closing. They were very friendly and let us in, where we saw an enormous pile (around 100) of deer laying on the floor. They happened to be cleaning out there freezer so they had to pile up the deer to make room. What got to me was that there was a slightly bad smell in the air and the floor between the doors of their barn and the freezer were covered in thick red gooey looking mess that i think was blood and meat that had been ground into the concrete by constant walking, and the pile of deer was right on top of it too.

I would recomend checking out your local butcher very closely before letting them do your deer. There are many of them that are great and some bad ones. If you want to be sure that your meat got the best possible treatment though, do it yourself. It realy isn't that hard and it is rewarding. Plus you can cut out some meat (I prefer the backstraps) and cook it up that night while it is as fresh and tasty as it can be, before it is frozen which it always is from the butcher. IMO it takes a lot away from the meat after it has been frozen.

[terry-1]

I use to pay to have it done it was only $35 I the place was small and did a great job. Now all the processing places are huge doing hundreds of deer every season plus they do just a OK job and sometimes a bad one now.Price jumped to like 60+ dollars fro basic jobs not includeing any thing extra you have done. I have started doing 90% of my own deer now. If I don't have time I will pay to have it done which is nice to be able to fall back on if needed.

[VixChix]

We make a point of dropping off clean deer - we skin cleanly, and make sure there is no residue or dirt on them.

A few years ago we used a local Mennonite place that was recommended, but we were very unhappy with the result. The meat was dirty and tasted bad. I didn't see the place when we dropped off, but when we picked up there were many red flags - the place was a mess (not to mention the washroom facility was horendeously filthy with no soap and a ratty old towel), it all looked very haphazard and unsanitary. We have no intentions of going back there.

Last year we tried another local shop - a professional butcher with a good reputation. What a difference! He was less expensive, our meat was vac-packed & clean & the facility was bright and tidy. What a difference!

Having said all of that, this year we'll do our own. We want the satisfaction of knowing it's our deer done our way.

[Mike P]

I have always done my own. That way I know what the meat has been exposed to. My wife and I are very particular about cleanliness regarding the processing of our deer. We make all our own sausage and grind all our venison with a grinder we picked up at an auction about twenty years ago. It is an old Hobart and it is as good as the day it was made and parts are still available.

We devote a lot of time to the processing and rather enjoy the several hours we spend together cutting the meat. We vacuum pack all the meat and label it with indelible marker on the outside of the package.

There are several good tapes available showing anyone how easy it is to process a deer. Once you process your own I am willing to bet you never take it anywhere again.

I feel that processing your own deer only helps to complete the entire experience of hunting whitetails.

[ga_Game_hunter]

This must be a regional thing. I've been hunting around 8 years and do not know anyone down here (Georgia) that processes their own deer. They might quarter it and cut chunks of meat off but they do not make their own burger, sausage, or anything like that. Maybe because it's so warm down here we have to do something with the deer immediately and most people do not hunt within 10 - 20 minutes of their house.

[Kenton]

I think it tastes better when you do it yourself. There is some extra satisfaction in every bite!

[bait pile willie]

I take it to a butcher,same with my bears, If I did it myself my wife would divorce me she hates it when I hang it in the garage overnite,what if the neighbors saw it.besides they do a better job than i could do.

[Galgo]

butcher for the most part for me $90 here in Toronto and i get it double wrapped in butcher wax paper. Excellent job and worth the money when I don't have the time. I als take two hinds and make porchiutto out of them.

F

[NightTrain]

I open my own personal butcher shop in my garage. Heres how I see it: "No one takes care of you better than you".

Although it takes me about 4 hours to finish the job, every cut of meat is perfect, I know it's my deer that Im eating, and the price is right.

I've had many tell me how their farm land deer came back from the butcher with a woodland taste to them. That was the ice breaker for me.

[Sopchoppy]

I killed my first 2 deer ever last year. Took first one to a butcher and paid $65. They'll cut it up and pkg. it any way you want it. I invested $10 in a dvd on deer processing so I did the 2nd one myself. I bought a meat grinder and a dehydrator at Walmart; got a vacuum sealer from Sportsman's Guide; already had a smoker. Kept the tenderloin for frying; made some cube steak; ground the rest for making sausage , chili, spaghetti sauce, and jerky. Gave some of the jerky and sausage to my family and friends and they are asking, "When you gonna do more"?. The whole process is much easier than I thought. Don't see any reason to pay someone to do it. One more thing, the dvd came with some "Zick's" venison seasoning. I put it on all the frying meat; makes the best fried cube steak you will ever eat.