Deer Cutters?

[Loyalist Dave]

If the deer was in fine shape when delivered to the cutter, he lost a lot of meat to someone else's bologna and snack sticks

Yeah that's where I was going with this thread. The meat that he shared with me from the deer was excellent in taste, but just seemed poorly packaged and a bit "short".

My buddy kinda got the impression the cutter was not really happy with being asked to make a basic cut and packaging...he really was pushing my buddy hard on getting some "snack sticks" done.

Well needless to say he won't be going there again.

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

Here's my thoughts on "snack sticks"
They have a recipe that they follow, it probably contains other meats and or fats... It is made in a large batch....There is no way to get back exactly what was yours...So they use a formula to calculate the return weight.

 

[tenngun]

I am not a butcher, so I don't get a lot of nice cuts from a deer. My deer gets cut up in to roast and stew meat.
I kill and butter the same day. Only if it's going to be dark when I start will deer hang overnight, but it's been bleed and gutted before hauled out. Per game laws we can hunt until half an hour after sunset. I stop hunting when I don't have enough day left to clean the deer and get him out before sunset.
I think 'gammy,wild taste, ect is just tainted meat. I love to hunt but hate to kill. Working the game up myself is my thanks to the game for it's life, it's all very spiritual for me.

 

[BrownBear]

I love to hunt but hate to kill. Working the game up myself is my thanks to the game for it's life, it's all very spiritual for me.

That's a version of where I stand. I take no satisfaction in the killing beyond the responsibility I accept for putting meat on our table, if you can follow that. If not for the eating, there would be no killing. For me my butchering seals the deal.

Along those lines I LOVE poking my finger in the eyes of anti-hunters. I get in their face when they confront me, and I ask who they hire to do their killing for them. If they eat meat and eggs, drink milk, and use leather but object to hunting, they have no moral ground to stand on. They're just hiring out their kills, rather than taking personal responsibility for it.

I have all the respect in the world for vegans and the moral stand they've taken, even if I disagree. They have the courage to live by their anti-killing beliefs.

Okay, soap box safely stowed away once more. :wink:

 

[Patocazador]

I have processed about 90% of the deer I've killed over the last 45 years. I've killed mostly Florida deer for the last 15 years and there's almost no fat on them so trimming is easy.

I cut steaks and roasts and throw the scraps to the dog. When we're out of burger I strip out the loins and tenderloins and have a local butcher turn the rest into burger. He adds 15% beef fat and I give special orders that a saw can't be used. Deer bones shatter easily and I don't want bone hunks in my burger. He charges $60/deer.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Here in my area they I used to have my hamburger ground for .10 per pound. That was doable for me. Well I took in just scraps to be ground and they charged me .80 per pound. They said sorry it all costs the same.
So a guy takes in a whole elk. Hide horns feathers everything. They weigh it and charge him .80 per pound to cut and wrap. He is paying for the horns and hide everything to be cut and wrapped. I have seen guys pay as much as 500 dollars to have an elk cut and wrapped.
Not me!! NEVER!!!!
I have been cutting my own for 30 years. I have had my grinder to grind my own for about 10 years. Every once and a while I have a local that wants me to help them cut and wrap a bovine. I have done that on shares. All the meat is done and I got 25%.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

Hi, Clyde- I agree with you to a point for years I used a local processor for just snack sticks and it was as you stated large batch process. When you picked up it was based on the weight you dropped off. Who knows what type of meat went into that particular batch. Last year I was fortunate enough to find a processor that small batch processes, your meat is tagged through the entire procedure I was amazed the price is comparable to the other local processors, the end product is good quality, turn around time is decent. The shop is located in Waynesboro Penna. and run by a great Mennonite family. As I am not aware of where loyalist Dave is home based this may be a trip for him but well worth the effort. I have been cutting deer for at least 50 years with my dad, we have a small butcher shop set up at my home place,grind our own burger meat and process our own bologna, haven't gotten around to the snack stick making. the shop has all stainless steel tables numerous meat saws, large batch smoker and knives. I would not begin to count the deer that has been processed through the years. The deer that has been processed there are taken care of begging in the field. As we are fortunate enough to have a excellent hunting ground only 30 mins. from home. I have never taken a hole deer to be processed and never will.

 

[hanshi]

Back when I lived in Georgia I normally cut up my own deer. I can tell you that's a real job. I did have a place to hang and butcher them but that eventually came to an end - my mother and stepfather were farmers with a walk-in cooler and a big metal table.

After that I took my deer to a nearby local processor who always did an excellent job. Even ten years ago the cost was from $38 to $50 for most cuts including sausage. I wondered from time to time if anything got mixed up but I don't really think it happened often. He also had free BBQs and you could come and stay or fill up as many plates as you wanted and take them home; BBQ and sides. I would kill several deer each season for orders for friends and would have them processed the way requested. At the end of the season there were always processed boxes of meat never picked up and non-hunters could get venison for the processing fee. Those were good days in a great place.

 

[nhmoose]

We process all our own meat. Deer, moose, raised hog or beef creature.

We do not like band sawn meat period.

Pack and vac seal all.

A deer will take 2 hrs mostly with 5 of us working.

 

[Michael Chambers]

........But then through my uncle I found a guy that was butchering out of his garage in Westminster, and all has been well since........

That's the best solution I've found as well. I've butchered my own a few times in the past, but don't shoot enough deer to build up any speed or efficiency. But the guy whose property I hunt on has a 4-wheeler and a friend who has a barn set up with a clean concrete floor and a large cooler, and he processes deer. When I shot my last deer, I called my friend from my stand, and he was there with the 4-wheeler in about 10 minutes. We loaded up the deer, hauled it down to a pasture close to the road where I field dressed the deer, and we loaded it straight up into my pick-up without its being dragged on the ground, and we had it to his friend's place about 1 1/2 hrs. after it was shot. His friend hoisted it up over the clean floor, he and I skinned it, and it rolled on a rail system straight into the cooler without ever touching the floor. After about 5 days of hanging in the cooler, my friend and his friend butchered my deer, and I went down a couple of days later to collect two big boxes full of already packaged, frozen venison, with each package labeled with the cut and weight. It was delicious, with no gamey taste whatsoever. The guy charged me $85, but it was worth every penny.

 

[19 16 6]

Well needless to say he won't be going there again.

LD

That is the way to handle it.
My bro in law sent a steer in to the butchers to be killed, cut up & packaged & only got a miserable part of it back. This was a whole prime animal, no handling damage or meat loss from any other thing than theft. And the butcher sold the hide.
Some folk can just not help themselves.
O.

 

[BrownBear]

That is the way to handle it.
My bro in law sent a steer in to the butchers to be killed, cut up & packaged & only got a miserable part of it back. This was a whole prime animal, no handling damage or meat loss from any other thing than theft. And the butcher sold the hide.
Some folk can just not help themselves.

The marvel for me is that they stay in business. You can only burn so many folks in a rural area before word of mouth cuts your throat.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The marvel for me is that they stay in business. You can only burn so many folks in a rural area before word of mouth cuts your throat.

I think that's why my local guy, who's also a professional butcher, and whose dad was also before his dad passed away, does a lot of deer. He couldn't survive if any part of his operation was thought to be dishonest. So he gives a great product and stays busy working and making money.

LD

 

[BrownBear]

He couldn't survive if any part of his operation was thought to be dishonest. So he gives a great product and stays busy working and making money.

Zackly.

We have the good fortune of someone in the same vein in the Rockies. He's a wizard with wild game, but his family built its rep on livestock. To this day they'll come to your place, slaughter a beef (or pig or whatever), dress it, haul it back to the shop, skin and hang it. Most times they want you to stop by at that point to inspect the carcass and discuss the butchering and packaging. Based on carcass condition and hanging weight, he will tell you almost to the pound how much yield you'll get of each cut. He'll even deliver the stack of packages back to your place if you don't have time to pick it up.

Honest service. Starts and finishes right there.

 

[Grumpa]

I have butchered my own kills, but I owe it to the game (and my Wife) to let someone do it who knows what they are doing. :grin:

When I hunted a friend's farm, he would respond to my shot with his tractor, haul my deer to the barn (or a nearby tree) where he was all set up to gut and skin it. He'd haul his and mine to the butcher who did his farm animals. I always got back 40 lbs. of packaged meat. Once, I shot a deer that didn't weigh much more than that, and still got 40lbs of meat! I "accused" my friend of giving me some of his deer, but he said "no".

Found a guy a few miles from my house who processes deer. He gives you a chart showing the amount of meat for the weight deer you bring in. He (and some helpers) process the deer one at a time - you get your own meat. It all tastes good. He gets my business now.

Wife and I love ground venison. Every deer, I find myself getting more of it ground up (for chili, or fried up loose). Just fits our lifestyle better than roasts, etc.

I delight in the hunt, and the shot, but not in the taking of a life. Think me odd, but I communicate that sorrow to the downed animal, and give thanks for his sustenance. Hunting is, for me, a kind of spiritual experience.

Right now, I am missing early muzzleloader - my Wife came down with pneumonia a week ago and I am doing everything here, while looking after the granddaughters before and after school. Today, the antibiotic seems to have kicked in, so I might get out by the end of next week.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[wtilenw]

I cut, grind and wrap all my own game with the exception of processed meat (salami, bratwurst and sausage). I left one elk shoulder with the processor this fall to have made into jalapeno & cheddar salami. I was charged about $110 (can't locate receipt). This included hanging of the 4 quarters for 3 days at $8 per day, boning charge of the shoulder at .80 per lb. and processing of salami at about $8 per lb. I ended up with 17 tubes of salami out of the deal. They do a great job on this product and it is well worth it to me as the salami is used for special occasions until I can get to next season.