Processing gear or Support your local processor?

B

Barnacle Brad

New member
Just wondering if members prefer to "roll your own" or take advantage of the pros?

The first thing I did when I relocated to Wyoming was to dedicate one room for processing game and start accumulating gear for that endeavor. Last year we had so much burger and sausage to make, we bought one of them 30gal totes to do mixing in for petes sake.

So here are some of the staples used in "the meat room":

Cutting boards
Knives
Stainless bowls - large
Meat lugs
Plastic wrap
Butcher paper
Vinyl burger bags
Freezer tape dispenser
Vinyl burger bag tape dispenser
Sharpies (markers)
Burger grinder and accessories
Burger stuffing tube
Sausage stuffer and tubes
Sausage seasonings & kits
Smoke house (outside meat room)
Vacuum sealer
Scales
Two freezers
One refridgerator
Sundry other items required for sanitizing, transferring, mixing and general purposes.

We don't take any of it too seriously though...

What is your preference and or gear?
 
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I've done both. The house I'm in now has a VERY tiny kitchen - mutch too small to even think about serious processing. I plan on doing a hybrid method this year. I'll debone the meat myself (can do that outside) and take the deboned meat for grinding, sausage stuffing, etc.
 
I can relate to the small kitchen status. Ours is way to small for anything other than food prep, cooking and dish washing.

Dad used to cut and wrap venison in his shop, then take the scraps to the butcher for grinding. It worked but not the most sanitary environment...
 
Man!!

If I do kill something this year I do believe I'll just bring it to your house!!! I sure don't have that kind of set up. If I've hiked in to hunt, which I can't do anymore we usually boned the meat out where it dropped in order to be able to carry it out. Once aged some at home I separated the muscle groups and wrapped and froze in pieces equal to about 3/4 pound of meat per person living in the house. When the remaining chunks got too small for that it turned into stew meat. Good for about anything that needed small pieces of meat. Whatever was left got ground up.
The thawed pack of a muscle usually got cut into thin cross grain steaks, floured and fried in bacon grease or lard. Pan gravy from the drippings. Left over cooked steaks for sandwiches or zapped for breakfast.

A butcher does my lambs and calves and now some of the deer and elk. There's no way I can equal what they do.
 
My two sons work for the local processor, so I have the best of both worlds. What we kill we skin, quarter and age at home, then the boys grind and cube after hours at the processor. Meat comes home packaged and ready for the freezer.
 
cut my own

Butchering the deer is part of the deal for me, and I find it satisfying, though still a bit of work too. It sort of completes the circle. And I know I am eating my deer, and the butcher didn't "borrow" any either.

I cut'em pretty simple, no bones go in the freezer. The hams get deboned and sliced into steaks. Sometimes I put up one or to of the big ham muscles for a roast. The shoulders get pieced into stew meat. The back straps get cut into large fillets, or sliced into steak sized pieces if it was a larger deer. , as we can grill them quicker and more consistently. I debone the neck for stew meat too.

When we can, I enlist bamaboy and bamawife in the process, at least on the cutting board. The three of us slinging meat is a hoot. Once it comes in the house, bamawife doesn't really have a problem with it. With hair and eyes, she's a still bit sqeamish.

There's a hoist and a tub in the shed, and the deer's skinned and quartered with a small sheath knife and a hand axe. Inside on the kitchen counters and cutting boards, I've got a small collection of old time butcher and fillet knives that turn the big pieces into small ones.
 
I process mine for many reasons but one is the price of beef. If you take the price of licensing and all the stuff involved in shooting deer and then throw in someone to process it. It would be easier to just buy an ice chest of beef.

Although living in an apartment in the city of Milwaukee can be a bit tricky so this year if I get one I'll process it at camp.
 
I just don't have the space to butcher up a deer myself. It wouldn't be bad I guess if I had some help, but it would just be me doing it if I did have the space and tools (other than knives) required. I have done it though, but usually take it to the butcher.
 
I started cutting my own when local processing reached an unacceptable cost. First year I bought a grinder. Second year I bought a "vacuum sealer". Third year a tenderizer(not worth the cost BTW).
 
Been butchering my own deer for almost half a century. Most of it's been done right on the kitchen table using handmade oversized cutting boards. Ten years back or so I bought my first commercial electric grinder, having used a #32 hand grinder before that. Sometimes used a Milwaukee Hole-Hawg 1/2'' drill on the shaft instead of the handle when we had large amounts to grind at one time. For the most part, I like to leave the burger meat in large chunks and grind the burger as I need it. Seems to retain it's flavor better in the feezer that way. One can also use that meat for stew meat if they choose or grind it coarse for somethings and finer for others. I also make jerky and sausage. Sharp knives, and commercial size plastic wrap, freezer paper and tape are the only other tools needed.
 
Most reasons for cutting your own meat reflect the same reasons I do:

It sort of completes the circle. And I know I am eating my deer, and the butcher didn't "borrow" any either
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Finishing what you started and control over the process.

I enlist bamaboy and bamawife in the process
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Family time and training up the young'uns.

unacceptable cost
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Why pay someone to do something you can do better?
The exception to this rule is sportfishing in Alaska. It is more convenient to let the lodge put up my fish and make it ready to fly home - the biggest expense for my trips though...

When I cut meat for the local processor, I was happy to use some of his equipment, mainly his hydraulic stuffer and the steak cuber he had. He called it the "Iron Maiden" because of its weight. I would like to have one like it in my arsenal.

Thanks for sharing!
 
I do my own, and enjoy it. I have an ancient electric grinder, and a vacuum sealer, and those two items make things much easier than if I had to go without.

1. Hang & Skin deer. I usually let it cool over night at least, depending on temps.
2. I quarter everything into a cooler, remove the backstraps & tenderloin, toss into a cooler.
3. Clean quarters with damp rag, removing as much blood and hair as possible.
4. Cut the quarters into roasts, steaks and place onto a cookie sheet, and keep a big bowl on the side for scraps for burger
5. Package all the cut meat into vacuum bags, and seal. Put them in freezer.
6. Grind the burger scraps, usually mixing with a fair amount of pork shoulder, or whatever big chunk of pork happens to be available.
7. Vac-pack the burger, and compress it into very flat packages -- you'll be amazed how much burger you can get even in a small freezer this way.
8. Take the bones & other scraps out to the woods where they'll be appreciated -- NOT into a garbage bag & ultimately a landfill.

Although it's time consuming, it's much like anything else you do yourself, in that it's very rewarding to know that you handled every bit of your own meals from field to freezer to frying pan. To me, it's one of the most enjoyable parts of hunting season. A good beer or fine bourbon during the process (once you're done with the knives anyway) adds a little something, too!
 
I take mine to the processor. $70.00 for basic processing and butchering, by the pound if I want sausage, snack sticks, jerky, etc.

Working 50-60hrs a week every week, 2 small boys, new house, dogs, church etc. doesn't leave too many hours in the day. Heck these days I find myself weighing if the size of the deer is worth the trouble on an evening hunt.
 
To me, it's one of the most enjoyable parts of hunting season. A good beer or fine bourbon during the process (once you're done with the knives anyway) adds a little something, too!
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++++1 that!

As a bonus, my meat room also functions as my wine brewing space, cocktail bar in the summer and food storage for those bbq events.
 
$70 dollars is cheap. The average now in this area is $100 or better just for the skin and cut up. I have been doing my own for years, except for sausage. 2-3 deer a year can get really expensive. I still do out of state hunts and we cut at the campsite. Hang the deer, start at the bottom and de-bone your way up. Just get the meat off and in a cooler. We use 2 gallon zip lock bags and pack the meat in ice (Bag ice works best). This keeps the meat out of the water and more sanitary. I have hit years where it is in the 70's and had no problem. Just drain the cooler and add ice once and a while. The meat is cold enough to numb your hands if you do it right. I trim and cut what I want when I get home. I even do this when I hunt around home. Takes some of the pressure off to do it quick and I get more hunting time in instead of cutting up meat when you could be out again. This works really well for people with limited working space.
 
Growing up in ranch country, I've always cut and wrapped my own meat...
kinda part of it. I bone it and use seal a meal. Have 100 year old hand grinders
for trimmings.
Dan
:cool:
 
When the kids were at home we hunted multiple states, usually bringing home 10 critters a year. Nearly broke me paying for locker bills and taxidermy. Started buying my own equipment and easily paid for it the first year in savings. That was 20 years ago.....still do my own processing.

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Follow up to my first post-got called out to work ASAP w/o much notice.
In 2013 Son bought a Traeger smoker and a bigger LEM grinder so we stepped up in volume and variety.
We got into the spicy deer sticks big time. With all hands on deck, we turned out 70# of smoked meat sticks in one 3 day weekend. We lost count of how much of that we made.
Total was either 7 or 8( can't remember ) deer processed, packaged and frozen. Most of that is gone down the gullet and about time to begin anew.
 
There are over a dozen hunters, give or take + or - 2 hunters every year in our hunting camp, some are relatives and some are neighbors. This group has hunted together for 5 generations. We butcher and process our own steers and hogs also.
We have a dedicated room in our farm shop. Most of the equipment has been bought used or salvaged from butcher shops going out of business, or discarded because it wasn't the requited stainless construction. We have a rather small investment in the equipment dollar wise, but there is a lot of sweat equity in salvaging it all, but all well worth it.
We have a refrigerated 12x12 walk in cooler
50 # capacity mixer grinder
25# capacity power sausage stuffer
200# water bath electric pre cooker
2 gas fired smoke houses, made from 500 gallon bulk milk tanks standing on end with rotisserie racks. Each smoker has a capacity of 150#
A commercial vacuum sealer, we buy heavy duty bags in large quanities on line for pennies apiece.
Stainless steel tables with sinks, old butcher block, wood fired 100 gallon hot water heater with hot water in floor heat.
a mixture of stone crocks to brine hams and bacon in.
With the exception of the building all of us are equal owners of all the equipment.
Processing the deer becomes just a as enjoyable of a gathering as hunting. Whole families pitch in and help. We make polish, summer, country sausage, wieners, brats and smoked brats, beer sticks and jerky.
We have good food, good times, lots of laughs and lots of bonding. It is another wonderful experience that is added to the hunt.
 
My Dad and I were taught by a professional butcher in the 1980s, and we did it because we did everything else ourselves and the cost was a bit high to get it processed. A few years back, I was moving, my Dad was retiring and he decided to pay to have our animals processed. We went to the best in the area. My Mom and Wife hated it and begged us to do it ourselves again.

The new house has two garages, one has a stainless sink iwth commercial garbage disposal, 3'x5' Ceasarstone counter, and a hanging rack in the garage. I can hang 4 elk and control the temp as well. Still had the 1 HP grinder. We do it all ourselves now. Steaks, roasts, stew/fajita meat, sausage and hamburger. It is better, cheaper and in reality does not take too much time either.

Also have a smoker, brine tank, several knives, large handmade butcher block, electric knife sharpener.
 
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