Congradulations on your hunt. The meat cutter isn't likely going to short
you. First, not that many people eat bear meat as compared to say, pork,
beef, chicken or turkey. I don't know if you asked to have the trimmings
or scraps saved. I was a meat cutter years ago. The procedure I was taught:
1) weight the meat as soon as it comes in the shop, 2) tag it with the owners
name, and place it in the cooler. On the work order card record the following:
species (deer, elk, moose), license number, owners name, phone number and
address. 3)How you want your meat processed (cut, wrapped and frozen etc.)
How many steaks per package, size of roasts, amount and size of ground meat,
sausage etc. Depending on the animal, some customers wanted the meat boned
out (in other words, take all the bones out). If they had a smaller freezer, they
didn't want it full of bones. The customer was always quoted a price per pound
based on how their meat was to be processed. There is always a certain amount
of shrinkage due to loss of moisture, blood etc. while cooling. All trimmings and
scraps were saved, whether the customer wanted these or not. This was our
proof that the customer did not get short changed. At the time of pickup, if the customer did not want the scraps, they were disposed of. The customer was
always charged for the weight that the animal came in on. A few things that
effect the percentage of meat are: 1)how much fat is on the animal, 2)was the
animal shot up bad, 3)after harvesting the animal was it dressed out and cooled
down properly. These things result in more or less trimming or waste. Hope this
helps.