Post hunt etiquette: Splitting/sharing meat

[Boarmaster]

Resurrecting this to add another dynamic...

let's say you shoot a big critter solo and team up with others for a "meat cutting party." Elk and moose are big critters and goes much quicker even with one extra set of hands. I think whoever filled the tag should take the majority but I like to give some meat to those that helped the processing. How have you guys divided things up in that case?

One place I hunt every year has a butchering party. Guys that don't even hunt show up to help cut up deer. These guys are all lifelong buddies and are getting together to have a bit of beer some good eats and just hang out. I alway offer the guys who are there without a deer some meat. They rarely ever take any. If they do they just want a few packages of ground. At that party the guys will eat a small does worth of meat.
I am and can be very generous at that hunt as my season back in AL is just getting started and I can many more deer throughout the season. I wont suffer a freezer that isnt full at the end of season. I’m usually wondering what the heck I going to do with the next one. Last year I had my last deer made into snack sticks( I process but I dont do sticks) i ended up with 80 packs of those things. I was passing those things out to anyone who would take a few packs.

 

[AlwaysChasinTailNHorns]

Well, if four people give up their time and accept risk, four people receive equal harvest. There is one small bonus for the shooter, the trophy and both tenderloins (the shooters trophy), so don’t gut shoot em!

This goes sideways if only one man harvests. One animal goes four ways. Two animals go four ways. Of course participants have rights of refusal but shooters don’t get right of denial. Hunting and harvesting is about teamwork and cooperation. Our basic understanding of community involves reciprocal relationships. Anyone going into the field with me earns a fair stake of harvest and will also be respected for their presence and willful participation in the hunt.
Respect! Take care of your hunting brothers

Wiser words have never been spoken. Folks get caught up in who kills but at the end of the day everyone in those woods with you putting miles on their boots and getting cold and wet was just as much a part of the hunt as the man who pulled the trigger or released an arrow. Therefore no matter how many or how little harvests there are, it gets equally split with the people who went deep with you.

 

[GoBirds]

I'm usually a solo hunter when I have tags in my pockets, but I did a group hunt this weekend with 4 guys where 2 of us were tag holders and 2 were not. I has the only one to fill a tag. It was an antelope so not a ton of meat to go around and I absolutely love antelope. We shared the heart that night and I definitely plan on cooking for the gang at a later date, but I also want to give them some meat too.

If we were splitting the bill at the butcher it'd be an easy answer, but I do all my own processing so I'm wondering: How do you all split up your meat post-hunt?

There are a ton of variables that go into splitting. Who has tags? Who is packing in/out? Who's doing the work? Who's covering expenses? But the groups I have hunted with split everything for big game, expenses/work/meat.

 

[saskhunter]

Just got back from a Yukon hunt with a buddy and only one out of two tags were filled, mine. Without hesitation he got half of my caribou. All expenses, equipment, etc, was shared.

We butchered the meat together and split everything in two equal shares. The only bonus I get is the antlers and cape. That's a non-negotiable.

 

[TaperPin]

Where tags and animals are easy to come by, anyone that wants to hunt does, so it’s never been an issue - most already have a full freezer. Free beer and jerky are usually the only things that gets passed around. It’s definitely an exchange though - friends that don’t help, can’t expect help on their own game. Kids are expected to help as part of their hunting apprenticeship - it’s just part of growing up.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I’m a part of a lot of hunts every year where I’m not always the one taking the shot. I no longer get paid to guide but love to continue to help on hunts by word of mouth only for friends and friends of friends/family. I also help on a lot of youth rifle hunts.

I do not expect anything out of the hunts other than I require that I get photos of necropsy and that we take one of my rifles as a backup gun. My backup gun gets used far more often than you’d expect.

Nearly all of the killers will offer meat or their father/uncle etc will offer meat. I rarely take meat as our freezers are normally full from my hunts throughout the seasons. Usually we will cook up something fresh on kill day which is nice of them to share.