Lowry

It's going to be my first season hunting and I want to make sure I'm not getting skimped or if I should look for a better butcher. How much does it normally cost to have a deer cut up into steaks and roast (along with other cuts)? How about if I opted for salami, sausage, etc.? I'm trying to be as cost effective as I can since I would like to live off the land more and such. I would do it all myself, just don't know how haha. Thanks!

d80hunter

I pay $80 dollars to have the deer cut into steaks, roasts, and burger. I have even gone all burger or even just plain de-boned. When you start buying their sausage and other conconctions they make, which are usually tasty, you start paying more. $7 for 3lb. sausages for example. With proper time and room, making your own jerkey and sausage is cheaper in the long run, as well as processing your own deer.

Lowry

Is that a normal price or is it a good deal if I may ask? And do they skin it for you and all?

I'd love to learn how, bu I'm from a family of veg. so I have no real experience with meat. But in due time I'll learn!

Topgun 3006

The sooner you learn to do it yourself the better off you'll be because prices are going up every year just for simple skinning/cutting/packaging. As he mentioned, the prices really go up when you start having sausage, jerky, etc. made. Google it on the net and start watching the available videos, as it's not that hard to break down a carcass into what we would call the consumer retail cuts. It also doesn't take a huge grinder to make your burger or to stuff sausage casings. You can even buy the grinder attachments for many kitchen blenders that will get you by unless you really take a lot of animals every year. Then it's best to get a free standing one of a size that will suit your particular needs.

olsaltydog

As mentioned, best to learn to do it yourself, that way you can do what you want with it without any cost but time. Cost for a butcher to do it varies as there are alot of variables, weight, specific cuts or as mentioned again sausage or jerky and even location of butcher and their work load can make a difference. Best thing about doing it yourself or if you find someone to teach you, if you make a mistake with a cut, just get rid of the bone and your mistake can still be ground down.

We do alot of jerky, ground, and stew meats with our deer. Finding an old bench meat grinder at a flea market is where we got the latest two grinders from. Clamps to our old solid wood table top and we can load and grind all day by hand.

grinder67

$80 sounds about right from what I hear other people from my area pay. I have not had one processed for 20 years or so and like others have said not to difficult to do it yourself once you learn.

alleyyooper

With the internet goggle butchering deer, elk, moose, antelope and you will find a lot of help learning to do it your self. A couple of sharpe knives are all required with a way to sharpen them. I used a hand crank grinder for several years till I made up a mount for the electric drill to run it to make the burger from one or two deer.

Keep it clean, hate hair covered meat.

To hire it done in my area is average $75.00 for a certified butcher, less for the over season sensation and gone the last day of the season.
that cost covers skinning, cutting the different cuts you want and grinding burger. Adding to the burger like pork, beef or fat is extra.

Getting sticks made is real costly above the bacis butcher job.

Lots of recipes to make your own case less sausage too. Here is a link to get you started.
http://www.free-venison-recipes.com/...e-recipes.html

Al

worstcaster

I butchered my first deer with no experience and it came out fine. You can find lots of different instructions on the Web to help you step by step. The nice thing about butchering your own is you save money, you get exactly to cuts you want, and you know all the meat is from your harvest.

Alsatian

Take a clue from Nike advertisements and "Just do it!" I'm referring to processing your meat yourself. As is wise in many things, break the big task into a small number of sub-tasks; then break the sub-tasks into a few sub-sub-tasks. This makes the effort less intimidating.

Hang the deer up. Skin the deer. Cut the skinned deer into large chunks (two separate hams, two separate shoulders, two backstraps, two tenderloins, meat from off the ribs). Cut the large chunks into meal-sized pieces, wrap the pieces first in plastic wrap and then in freezer paper. Label the packages. Put them in the deep freeze. That's it! Easy-peasy!

(1) Hang. Supposing you have a gutted deer in the bed of your truck at the house. Hang the deer by its heels from a tree. (cut a slit in the skin over the rear legs, between the achilles tendon and the leg bone; slip the ends of a gambrel into each of the slits, hoist the gambrel up in the tree with a rope, thereby hoisting up the deer. You may need to purchas a gambrel. You may need to purchase a small, lightweight block and tackle. Cabela's sells these things.) Let the deer hang for a few hours, unless it is hot outside, then proceed immediately.

(2) Skin the deer. Make a slit along the backbone through the skin. Using a sharp knife, lift up the edge of the skin at this slit, and separate the skin from the fat or outer layer of underlying meat. Once you have a bit of this skin free, try to grab it with your hand and pull it off the carcass. You can make a lot of progress in that way. When progress stops, use you knife. Lust touch it down at the juncture between where the skin meets the carcass, slicing gently on the membrane while pulling back on the skin. Keep doing this until you have the skin off one side, then do the other side. Cut the feet off at the upper knee. The meat on the lower part of the legs is tough and generally not worth the trouble trying to recover. Once you get this process started, you will easily figure out how to continue and get the skinn off. Use a bone saw to cut off the legs.

(3) Cut the deer into big chunks. There is a ball socket joint in the ham (rear leg) of the deer. Cut the leg muscles free, mostly through cutting tendons and less cutting of meat, by cutting in behind the leg, keeping the knife close to the rib cage and the back bone. Cutting up a few chickens -- taking off the thigh piece -- is good practice for this operation. Same general principle, just much bigger thigh. The deer shoulder (front leg) is kind of just floats on top of the rib cage. Move it around, pulling it out away from the rib cage slightly, so you can see how it moves. Cut with you knife between the shoulder and the rib cage, cutting tendons. The shoulder will come off readily. To cut off the backstrap, cut down with your knife, keeping your knife up against the backbone, from the tail to the kneck of the deer. Then take the knife and cut in at a 90 degree angle to your last cut, holding your knife on the tops of the ribs, and cut from tail to neck. This will cut most of the backstrap free. Use your knife to cut at the apex of the two cuts to take the whole backstrap free in one big tube of delicious meat. Same approach works for the tenderloins on the inside rear of the deer. To remove the meat on the ribs, just get your knife under the meat and slice it off the ribs in slicing moves, taking it off in one big sheet, keeping your knife parallel and in contact with the rib bones. This really is about as easy as it sounds. Have a couple of sharp knives at hand. As I cut the pieces up, I put the big pieces in an ice chest to keep cool, if it isn't cool outside.

(4) Wrap in plastic and butcher paper. I cut the meat up into chunks that are suitable to a meal. This depends on how many people eat dinner with you. I debone the thighs. Then I cut that up into large contiguous pieces of meat that I will cook as roasts. I wrap once in plastic wrap to cover. Then I wrap a second time in plastic wrap to be doubly sure. Then I wrap in freezer paper and tape the paper down well -- at multiple points -- with freezer tape. Then I use permanent marker to write what it is, what year, what cut, and how much it weights. So "2014 Cow Elk Roast 2 LBS 5 OZ."

Look at some videos to see what they do. It isn't that complicated. Use sharp knives. Keep your meat clean and cold. You may not be perfect the first time you do it, but you will learn and get better. Offer to process your buddy's deer first for free, using it to practice on! Be careful not to cut yourself.

d80hunter

$80 is a good deal. The only thing you will do is field dress and legally tag your game after a successful hunt. The processor will do the rest.

Based on your background I would try fishing this summer to get used to all this. Be sure to fillet your fish and cook them at home, you will get some good experience for this coming fall about the harvesting and consuming of meat.