who
i do all my processing at home bear,deer,antelope,elk,and moose. i have made a few upgrades i have a butcher table instead of the kitchen counter and i bought a 1 hp grinder instead of the little one i had before
as for knives i use a rapala 6 inch fillet knife they are very cheap and hold an edge for a long time (i carry this in my pack to debone elk/moose in the field also)if the ole lady dont get too mad you can pick up a large cutting board and the kitchen table works great. i have a vac packer but this becomes expensive when you process hundreds of pounds a year. paper and plastic take some time but work well and are inexpensive.
i save a ton of money doing it myself wich means i can hunt even more
in my area the cost for processing is around
antelope $65
mule deer $100
black bear $100
elk $250
moose $325
this year i processed 2 antelope 1 muley 1 black bear 2 elk. this would cost me around $830 i spent under a $150 for paper, plastic, seasoning, beef fat, pork fat, vacuum bags, and 1 knife.

if you look around on the net you can find some good sausage recipes
for my sausage i cut the meat into 1 inch cubes and put ground pork fat into a bowl (the proper ratios for the recipe) and the seasonings mix by hand, grind thru a large plate, then regrind thru a smaller plate and stuff or portion accordingly.

Edited by - jjt on 12/29/2002 10:34:50