Butchering your own meat...

[Zappaman]

I find myself replying to a lot of threads re. my own preference to butcher my own meat. I kill 3-4 deer a year, 3-4 pigs a year, and when it works out an elk or oryx. I grew up in west Texas and we always butchered our own deer. On (a few) guided hunts (over the last 35 years) I (almost) felt like a jerk for NOT using the "local" butcher for my animals.

I know most hunters probably appreciate the "butchering service" offered up in any market... and I certainly HAVE used a FEW processors (like Penshorns in Marion TX--for bad-ass sausage) over the last 40 years. But even today, I have a sausage press and tend to make my own. This last year I made smoked/pickled buck sticks and they were superb!

So the question is: how many hunters out there today actually process their OWN meat? And while you are at it: HOW do you like to do it? I'm always looking for new ways to use the excellent protein I bring home.

 

[bsnedeker]

The only man who touches my meat is me! I've got a stainless counter and sink in an area of my house with all my gear...1hp grinder, 15lb sausage stuffer, chamber vac and saver. Picture below is from last year before I upgraded a bunch of the equipment.

For the most part backstrap, tenderloins, and ball roasts get frozen in large chunks for grilling and roasts, keep a shank or two for snow cooking, everything else gets ground up for burger and sausage.

I usually make up some summer sausage, snack sticks, brats, and breakfast sausage. I like to get beef fat and do 20 to 25 percent.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Zappaman]

The only man who touches my meat is me! I've got a stainless counter and sink in an area of my house with all my gear...1hp grinder, 15lb sausage stuffer, chamber vac and saver.

For the most part backstrap, tenderloins, and ball roasts get frozen in large chunks for grilling and roasts, keep a shank or two for snow cooking, everything else gets ground up for burger and sausage.

I usually make up some summer sausage, snack sticks, brats, and breakfast sausage. I like to get beef fat and do 20 to 25 percent.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

NICE!!!

I ALSO buy a box of Gargill beef fat every other year-- tames the taste (for the wife moslty). I use it for most pig and deer burger and reduce it in the black iron skillet for my leaner cuts (steaks) cooked up. There is always a "chunk" of beef fat in the kitchen freezer- I probably use it twice a week (Vs. bacon) for my leaner cuts (backstrap, loin, etc.).

 

[bushangler]

50-50, if the weather is right for hanging and I have time I’ll do it myself. If that isn’t going to work I have an awesome butcher 10 minutes down the road. He does a great job and is very reasonably priced. He also does 8-10 cows for me a year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zappaman]

50-50, if the weather is right for hanging and I have time I’ll do it myself. If that isn’t going to work I have an awesome butcher 10 minutes down the road. He does a great job and is very reasonably priced. He also does 8-10 cows for me a year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow... I'd hope you have a BIG family for that many cows each year!!! If I had a good butcher that close (who was reasonable) I'd maybe try him... problem in Kansas is that butchers here want TWICE what I paid in Texas (not too long ago).

 

[S.Clancy]

I do all my own. Just finished 70 lbs of sausage this weekend. There is one processor I've known for my entire life that is good, but I live 4 hrs away. I also really only eat wild game and put a bunch of effort into hunting, so I want to assure my meat is taken care of right. So I put in the work to process it and my meat always comes out great. It's worth it for me

 

[Zappaman]

I do all my own. Just finished 70 lbs of sausage this weekend. There is one processor I've known for my entire life that is good, but I live 4 hrs away. I also really only eat wild game and put a bunch of effort into hunting, so I want to assure my meat is taken care of right. So I put in the work to process it and my meat always comes out great. It's worth it for me

100% my view here... I get great satisfaction in processing all my meat too. AND I know it's MY meat

 

[dieselchessy]

Butcher all my own wild game. Always have, I’d guess maybe my family always has. Friends and family have walk in coolers, grinders, slicers, smokers, ect…

We make our own pork sausage, butcher the turkeys, goats, and pigs we raise. Make bacon, hams, ect..,

On occasion when I buy animals at auction or from a farm I’ll have a butcher process it.

 

[kda082]

No fancy setup here. Quarter up in bed of truck, into cooler where I let it drain a few days to week. I’ll bring a quarter in an evening and work on it on the counter while I drink a beer and watch tv. I enjoy this process as much as the hunt nowdays.

 

[bushangler]

Wow... I'd hope you have a BIG family for that many cows each year!!! If I had a good butcher that close (who was reasonable) I'd maybe try him... problem in Kansas is that butchers here want TWICE what I paid in Texas (not too long ago).

I sell them in halves and quarters. Although I always have 20-30 beef cows at a time I don’t eat it. I much prefer venison.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sekora]

I do all of my own deer. Been doing them for probably 15 years. I just quarter them and put in coolers. When I bring them home I cut them up into the big muscle groups, trim, and vacuum seal. That way I can do whatever I want with the meat when I want to eat it. I tried dry aging a deer last year and it turned out fantastic. There is a thread in the game processing forum detailing the process. I am hoping to build a garage soon and would like to add a space like the picture above for my butchering so I can get out of my kitchen. I would also like to add a walk in cooler to do the aging. I've been following the coolbot thread for that plan. I got tired of paying over 100 per deer so I just started buying one piece of equipment at a time until I had it all. It took a few years but I have done over 30 deer now so it has payed for itself over and over again.

 

[4rcgoat]

Just got done with deer #4 this weekend, hang them in garage or shed if temps are suitable, if not they go in big cooler. No elk this year(yet) but i do process them as well. Really want to upgrade to a commercial grinder next year.

 

[LongWayAround]

I'm about 50-50. There's a processor in the town I usually frequent that does a good job. I took them my elk during archery so I could keep hunting. By the time I got my deer, I had a few days left so I did it myself. Last year, for an extra $100 they processed three elk by the the next morning for us. That's worth it in time savings to me.

I don't own a true grinder (KitchenAid attachment) or sausage stuffer so all of my trimmings usually turn into taco meat or similar. Everything else is packed as large cuts.

 

[BwanaKubwa]

Every year I'm amazed at how much easier it is to deal with a deer vs an elk. I can cut a deer up in an evening. Elk take me at least one day.

 

[Britt-dog]

I do all my own butchering. Deer, elk, bear, birds. Only thing I hire out is sausage making. I can and have done plenty of it, I just don’t enjoy it, lots of work.
I break everything down into large cuts, make some burger if I need some, then vac seal it all and freeze. In January I take all the clean trim and anything over 12 months old in to have sausage made.

 

[gonhunting247]

Always cut and wrap all my game animals. I enjoy knowing it's all mine and that it's clean and tasty. I also think there's some satisfaction in finishing the process from field to table. Then saving the money for another hunting opportunity helps too!

 

[Tod osier]

My wife and I do 100 percent our own stuff.

When we break and animal down we clean up all the roasts from the hinds and the backstrap and freeze in meal size roasts to sous vide and then slice and grill or sear them.


Backstrap.

Roasts ready for the deep freeze.

Backstrap in the deep freeze.

Elk steak sous vide then sliced and seared with green peppercorn sauce.

Elk backstrap.

Don't forget the neck. Stuffed rolled braised neck.

Neck roast rolled.

After an all day braise.

Always make stock. We use a lot.

Obviously need some grind for chili and such.

Lot of sausage. Brats and hot Italian sausage.

Turkey bacon breakfast sausage in prep.

Sticks out of the smoker.

Sticks ready to be sealed.

Summer sausage ready for the freezer and then vac sealer.

Processing room photo from when I was just getting it finished up.

Tools of the trade. Hakka horizontal 15 pounder and VP215.

 

[justinspicher]

I do my own processing, generally in the kitchen. The wife and kids help and it makes everything much easier.

 

[EdP]

Have always done my own. Nothing fancy here, but I love bsnedeker's set up. The wife and I clear the kitchen island of it's normal contents and break out the grinder, large cutting boards, plastic wrap, and butcher paper. Steaks, stew chunks, roasts, and ground are as fancy as we get. Double wrap in plastic followed by paper and they keep for years in the freezer with zero burn.

Just did a doe Fri after Thanksgiving. Took us 2 1/2 hours. A buck would have been about 4 hrs.

 

[long hunter]

Depends on weather and time, as I do not have a cooler too hang them in, but do have a complete butcher shop set up, all stainless steel table, grinder, stuffer, vac packer, Large home made smoker, smaller commericial smoker, just put on a batch of jerkey this morning, make my own bolonga, I have a butcher near me use him occasionally decent guy and reasonable fees.