Processing

[rangerod]

How do members get their meat processed? The locker I go to processes more deer than any other in the state. My favorites are jalapeno and hot pepper cheese sticks and venison bacon. Can't keep my mouth away from either of them

 

[Mnt monkey]

I've always done my own, however since moving to Arkansas ,I found a local that processes whole deer for 75 dollars ,any way I want including sausage ,ground etc,,hard to beat that

 

[MrTom]

I've done my own for 50 years after being screwed over by a local processor. I pretty much put all of it into sticks, summer sausage and jerky although I have done ring bologna too. I pull the tenderloins and loins and make chops, but that's all I keep for what I call cooking meat.

 

[southdakbearfan]

Always do my own and have the set up to grind, smoke, package how I like. Most lockers here either quit doing deer, charge an extreme price or won’t guarantee your own animal back.

I have my favorite jerky, sticks, summer sausage recipes and buy beef trim to add a little fat in for any burger grind.

 

[Mnt monkey]

Butchering there with my family growing up was a family affair my grandpa and daddy were always there looking over the process like Hawks if you left a spec on that animals carcass my at my Grandpa would pop us,I miss that. Not the smacks by grandpa or daddy just the whole process of the family being involved in it other than my mom.

 

[Mnt monkey]

A lot of different ways to skin a deer and process one I'm thankful that I've learned those ways, I do think for the most part that is lost nowadays with younger generation sometimes I think a part of Hunter education ought to be an intensive meat processing even if the person getting the education and hunting doesn't really want to do it it sure is a good skill to be required to understand and learn

 

[BigBoresmokepole]

How do members get their meat processed? The locker I go to processes more deer than any other in the state. My favorites are jalapeno and hot pepper cheese sticks and venison bacon. Can't keep my mouth away from either of them

I do my own I save what it want to have sommer sausage made in February that way I can get my own meat back. I do make my own brats. and jerky, and hot stix. The processors want way to much money and you won't get your meat back.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I started doing my own when i was young and poor & couldnt afford the $50 processing fee. Now i do it my self because im poor(cheap) and don't want to pay the $130 processing fee.
I take the tenderloins and we have them for dinner right away. I take the backstraps and fillet them. The rest is burger that becomes sausage, snack sticks or whatever. Its already too expensive deer hunting so ive got to save $ where i can.

 

[Ninering62]

A lot of different ways to skin a deer and process one I'm thankful that I've learned those ways, I do think for the most part that is lost nowadays with younger generation sometimes I think a part of Hunter education ought to be an intensive meat processing even if the person getting the education and hunting doesn't really want to do it it sure is a good skill to be required to understand and learn

I grew up having to help pluck & skin whatever the father brought home ( fish & game ), so when I started shooting my own I was fairly able to do my own. The mother & father did the fine cleaning & packaging for the freezer.
I too think that incorporating into the hunters safely course should be some basic knowledge of how to take care of your game after you harvest them. I am amazed constantly at how many ppl now hunt & fish & they have no clue as to how to clean, butcher & process them.
The only things I've ever paid to have done for me is having sausage, ring bologna, snack sticks made. Even with my fish, I've paid a guy at the marina to clean & bag up my fish when I was with a group of guys on a big sportfish boat & were doing multiple days of fishing & there were hundreds of lbs of fish to take care of. Outside of that, I've always done all of that too.

 

[CatamountRob]

I like doing my own although about 3 a year is enough for me.
I don’t do anything fancy, steaks, a few roasts, burger and bulk breakfast sausage.
I started out with a hand grinder and kitchen knives, now I’ve got a LEM grinder, sausage stuffer, mixing thing, 6’ stainless table, meat tubs, boning knives, big cutting boards and a spare refrigerator in the garage.
I vacuum seal everything, I’ve got a Cabela’s commercial sealer but my next one will be one of the vacuum chamber type sealers.

 

[BigBoresmokepole]

I like doing my own although about 3 a year is enough for me.
I don’t do anything fancy, steaks, a few roasts, burger and bulk breakfast sausage.
I started out with a hand grinder and kitchen knives, now I’ve got a LEM grinder, sausage stuffer, mixing thing, 6’ stainless table, meat tubs, boning knives, big cutting boards and a spare refrigerator in the garage.

I got the same equipment like you over time saves alot of money

 

[BigBoresmokepole]

I got the same equipment like you over time saves alot of money

I also got a fridge I age the meat in refer for a while then vac seal and freeze . Also made pulley system out of a boat trailer winch , I can do it all by my self while watching TV and drink beer and grill some trimmings buddies will bring deer over and we just hang out and cut critters up and talk sh__ about the hunt we do the same for fishing to it turns into quite the production line.

 

[muzzyhans]

I do all of my own pronghorn, muley, and elk. Keep the straps and loins, grind everything else for burger or jerky shooter.

Go in as a group for snow goose and have it all made into jerky.

 

[Shorty]

Dad started us kids cutting deer right beside him. We learned at a young age to respect what he harvested. We learned how to cook it also. These roots he planted took a hold very well. His kids, and grand kids are very gifted cutters, cookers and will carry on the tradition for years to come!

 

[Grizz12]

I do all of my own pronghorn, muley, and elk. Keep the straps and loins, grind everything else for burger or jerky shooter.

Go in as a group for snow goose and have it all made into jerky.

I do my own but met a guy who is a genius with his smoker and if I get any red meat it'll go to him. He's also made salmon sausage that was incredible!

A buddy gifted me some goose jerky and that was good too. I had no idea you could jerk goose but I guess you can jerk any meat

 

[Mnt monkey]

Shorty I very much relate to that butchering deer was a family gathering for me in my family my dad didn't even hunt he fished and bird hunted a lot but he really enjoyed butchering and cutting up deer and like I said my grandpa got all excited my grandpa's generation hunted deer to eat and feed the family it wasn't just for fun, or to supplement the grocery bill it was subsistence and survival I have my Grandma's old diary from my grandpa and hers early marriage days there were many times and years where all they had was a few eggs from the chickens that they raised in a little bit of deer meat and flower to eat going back and reading that diary it wasn't a daily diary but it was a diary that she would come comment on a full page about once every 3 or 4 weeks it went from their early marriage days for about 25 or 30 years through some really hard times I'm teaching my middle son those skills the other two sons live far away from me but that tradition is going to carry on in my family if I can help it

 

[Shorty]

MtnMky, i think all of us hill people come from proud heritages. I knew all my prior kin folks were poorer than heck. I cherished the times i got to sit with them and they would tell stories from yesteryear. They would eat any animal they could catch or kill. They et coons, possums, woodchucks, geese, squirrels, Pheasants, grouse, or any critter they could get. They were honest country folks that were poor. I have never seen that side of life and i am glad of it. The way this world is headed it could become the future again. Now aint that scary…

 

[muzzyhans]

Yup. My grandad and his cousin (9&13) started their farm on their own. And I mean on their own. Both were abandoned by their parents and either survived or they didn't. When my grandpa went to Korea, he said it was the most money he'd ever had in his pocket! I'm thankful for the empire they built on their shoulders, and I feel it would be a disservice to them not passing along what I've been taught. Hard work will always pay to some degree.

Processing the animals I kill is what I owe those animals. Same goes for putting my own dogs down. I owe them that. Couldn't imagine having some stranger do it. Inappropriate in my opinion.

 

[RobRed]

I do my own, I learned by studying how other people do it. There are lot of good tutorials on youtube. It's like anything else where if you try at it you will get good eventually

I think my end product comes out better and I have full control. In my opinion there is quite a bit of beautiful meat on a deer that ends up in grind or sausage and should be stewed, roasted, or in some cases steak.

Also for me, doing my own processing has become part of the tradition.

 

[deermanok]

I process my deer myself. I'm no meat cutter by any stretch but I manage. A few roasts, stew meat and burger are my standard.