Game Meat Processing Timeframe

[tmwtrfwler]

It appears from the packaging that I received I'm missing an entire backstrap and tenderloin. The rest is split between 3 packages of sirloin steaks, 5 lbs. of breakfast sausage, and the rest ground. Total friggin robbery. Never again will I make that mistake.

 

[cnelk]

Like I said in the beginning, I knew you werent going to be satisfied.
Nobody ever is.

That's because they arent familiar with wild game processing - on what the processor actually does with your meat so its clean, packaged and ready to eat.

I always highly encourage everyone to process their own game.
They will then see how time consuming it is, and how much trim there actually is.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

We used to have a great hometown butcher but he passed away and family did not take it over.He always made sure you recieved the meat you brought in.Nowadays all the meats are proceesed together as it comes in,you never know where the meat came from or how it was handled.YUCK!All my wild game comes straight home into the garage for immediate processing.

 

[juan trueno]

I’ve got a couple butchers I’ll use for very specific tasks. I got a guy in Idaho who I let cut steaks, roasts, and trim/clean/package the rest for grinding in 5lb packs. Always very happy with the exceedingly expensive results.

I’ve got 2 in Georgia who I will bring in full batches of meat for them to make snack sticks, brats, Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, summer sausage. I end up with way way more of the really expensive sausage than I need- but it comes entirely from my meat- including the pork fat which comes from a buddy who sells swine- and I use it for gifts to friends family clients etc.

(Edit:
Don’t ask me where these guys are located or how to reach them- I don’t want you narrowing down your search to within a couple hundred miles of the places I hunt becuase of my social media paranoia.)

The majority of what we eat though gets cut trimmed and packed at home. And since then I have a hard time eating meat that’s been away to somewhere else- knowing how the sausage gets made as they say.



If I was absolutely compelled to fly- I would hook up with other guys from my area online or otherwise and corrdinate for someone who is driving to bring back my meat and just hook them up with a bottle of scotch and a share of the bounty according to there own success or lack thereof.

 

[Azone]

It saves a lot of drama and heart ache to just cut and wrap your own. I would really recommend buying your own equipment and doing it yourself. The initial investment in equipment will be pricey no doubt but if your going to hunt the rest of your life you will come out money ahead big time. Cutting and wrapping meat from a kill has always been the final step to the hunt for me.

 

[ckleeves]

Let me give you a little butchers perspective. I’m good friends with two different processors so I always get the good stories from them and have helped them out if they get swamped during a busy season.

Taking deboned meat to a butcher is generally a recipe for disaster. Most guys have no clue how to properly debone. About 50% of the deboned meat they see is covered in leaves/dirt/hair etc. The worst violators always say “we kept it real clean” lol. By the time they get done trimming it up the trim pile is as big as the clean meat pile.

Then the un recognizable elk part that come in. That’s usually about 50% of the deboned stuff that they see. No order to it at all, just small random chunks of meat in bags.

If it’s dirty and un recognizable then they REALLY have to sharpen up the trimming knives.

A butcher can’t make a good roast out of a 1lb chunk of mystery meat, so it goes into burger. Guys always complain that they should have gotten more steaks and roast. Well, bring in steaks and roast and you will get more back.

Then the meat thievery they are accused of at least once a day. Now, I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen. I’m sure there are butchers out there that have done it but I think it’s pretty few and far between.

I know neither of the guys I know have ever taken a single lb, but if they did as often as they are accused of it they would need a walk in freezer to hold it all. By the time season is over I think there about ready to puke if they see another piece of elk meat until next year. They last thing they want to do fire the grill up and eat a piece after handling 1k lbs of it that day.

Not saying the OP is one of these guys, just stuff that butchers get to see and hear daily.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Touchdown88]

My processor took my wife's moose in at 8pm on a Saturday and called me at 5pm the next day for me to pick up! He is top notch and that is definitely not the norm but I'll use him for the rest of my life.

 

[robtattoo]

Hmmm....I took 2 small, Tennessee deer to processors in 2009; my first hunting season in the states.
I got less than 80lb of meat total, from those deer. The back straps were the size of my arm when I took the deer in, but I got less than 10lb of steaks back. The rear hams were cut with a bandsaw & basically ruined. I never got any neck or rib meat at all. Total 'stew' meat was under 30 & I got 22lb of ground.
From 2 whole deer, I got less than 70lb of meat back.

Since then, I've worked at 2 other processors & I understand how they work a little better. Time = money & believe me, they're not cutting into every nook & cranny....if a cut has a lot of sinew/fat/membrane? Shitcan.

Butchering efficiently & proficiently takes time & patience & they're the 2 things game processors don't have at the height of hunting season. I've been cutting all my own, plus deer & hogs for a few select friends since 2010. Not for money (all i ask is a pack of vacuum bags per deer) but mostly because I really enjoy that aspect of the whole field-freezer thing. They come to me because I'm thorough. Not quick, probably not the best cutter, but because if they bring me a gutted carcass weighing 200lb, they know they'll be getting a minimum of 80lb back.
But.....to get that percentage (bearing in mind I've got all the time in the world & working on one carcass at a time.....) it's going to take me 4-6hrs.

Learning to butcher cleanly & efficiently, if not quickly, is one of the best things I've invested my time in.
When I hunt out west, I'm prepared & happy to devote at least 3 days of/after my hunt just to butchering & packing my meat. Shipping yourself is silly spendy, but absolutely worth it.

 

[hodgeman]

Since then, I've worked at 2 other processors & I understand how they work a little better. Time = money & believe me, they're not cutting into every nook & cranny....if a cut has a lot of sinew/fat/membrane? Shitcan..

Bingo!

A commercial processor is going to see hundreds, if not thousands, of animals in a season. They are just not going to take the time that the guy who pulled the trigger and invested the time and calories would.

I have a really good local processor that I use when I'm hunting in warm weather and need to get it in a cooler fast- but I'm not under any illusion that the guy doing the cutting would do it like I do. I can see it from their point of view- they see so much crap come through there that they simply don't have a lot of time per animal to sort it all out. When in doubt, they throw it out.