Deer Processing costs

65.00 to 85.00 depending on what you want - I tend to get a lot of linked sausage which gets pork mixed in and drives the cost up to 80-85.00 range. I think its a good deal still!
 
Use to spend on average about $80-$100 per animal, that included boned out, a little sausage, ground meat and roasts.

When the kids started hunting it nearly sent me to the poor house....we were averaging about 10-12 head a year @ $100. Went out and bought all the meat processing equipment and began doing our own....paid for the equipment the first year. Bought slicer, grinder, vac sealer, knives, how-to-books, video tapes, butcher paper dispenser, cutting boards, aprons, seasonings, stuffer, and smoker...money well spent.
 
65 cents a pound at least that was the cost I heard 2 years ago.

It really isn't difficult to butcher it yourself, just time consuming.
 
It really isn't difficult to butcher it yourself, just time consuming.
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Yes, and there are enough websites devoted to the topic that one can easily learn on their own.

You need a good knife set and at least a couple of different sized ziplock bags. I eventually got a grinder and a foodvac.
 
I can take the deer to a local processor who will gut the animal, grind or cut for $50. He's close enough to hear my shot. Does an excellent job. I have done my own for 30 years. If somebody wants to do it for $50, I'll never clean another one.
 
$50 but I take them in with the skin still on and seldom even field-dress them. I could save $18 per animal if I skinned and gutted them. I don't mind gutting them but sometimes I don't have time or it's not really worth it since we usually go from live to processor in 30 min. The only one I've ever seen skinned (without the right equipment) ended up with hair all over it.
 
$50 is a pretty good deal. I'd probably opt to go with a "pro" for that reasonable amount of scratch. It typically starts at a $100 'round here and goes up if sausage and jerky get thrown into the mix. If I were to grind the whole lot aside from the tenders and straps I could probably go from quarters to freezer in less than 2 hours with a hand crank grinder. Since I use the hindquarters for chicken fry it almost doubles that time frame. I'm slow though. I'd blame the beer, but it's really probably the whiskey.
 
Do it myself. It really isn't hard and you'll quickly learn. Deer aren't really big enough to justify the really diffucult cuts like steaks and chops. Take the backstraps and tenderloins whole. Cut the ham into a couple of few large roasts. The rest gets either ground into sausage or chunked into stew meat.

I don't need a fancy grinder either. I bought a little attachment that goes onto my wife's mixer and it works just fine. It isn't super fast, but I can do a whole wild hog in one evening.
 
Do it myself. We use a lot of what we shoot as jerkey and there is just no way I can see, considering the time it takes to seperate the mussels and strip it correctly, that I could justify paying someone to do it.

Got a old electric grinder for the trimmings and save some of the best cuts to be sliced thin and fried.

Same with hogs, except we don't make jerky out of any of them. The grinder makes short work of the trimmings and if you ask the local butcher he'll usually have a package of sausage seasoning that you can add.....very inexpensive.

And I second the comment about it being part of the satisfaction of the hunt, just a little more of the old do it yourself.
 
10 bucks for a meat cleaver and 20 bucks for a buck 110... 30 bucks will process hunerts of deer and hunert hogs...
Brent
 
If you have a good place to hang it up, you can skin one with a rock and a rope in about 5 mintues, take the back strap, and grind the rest into burger, and use a seal-a-meal mahine, wrap in 1 lb. packages, and into the freezer in about 2 hours.

Processor charges $65.00 for the same thing. That's about $32.50 per hour, and I just can't see paying anyone that kind of money for something I can do myself.
 
It's a terrible fortune in Illinois. I paid $300 for 2 small deer and a little bit of sausage.

Up where I go in Wisconsin, the going rate is $60 per deer, regardless of size, more if you want sausage/jerky/whatever. I think that's a good price.
 
Sounds like some are confusing back straps & chops. I know its not a really big deal, but form what i have seen over the years is most people don't save the back straps. If they aren't removed the 1st day, then they are probably not worth saving in a Deer. (dry out very fast)
When I bone out an Elk(packing it out) the backstrap/tenderloin is the last cut i take and the only time i enter the abdominal cavity. the animal isn't "Gutted"

Take a porter house steak. The Chop is the New York strip part, and the Back strap is the Filet Mignon or Tenderloin.
I remove the backstraps at camp and they go with pancakes(butterfly cut) the next morning.
 
I usually pay the butcher between $40 and $50. It depends on how big the deer is and what I'm getting done. I usually get most of it ground and some steaks and sliced for jerky. I keep the backstraps and the tenderloins and grill them.
 
At the club I used to hunt with we did it ourselves. Couple people skinning, couple butchering, it was over in a few minutes.

I didn't even know you pay someone to do it for a long time.
 
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