A $1,350 Day!
 

Not a bad day's work!

The cost to have a processor in Craig handle 6 elk at $225 each would be $1,350. We processed our own in the main camp in a single day. Having 8 pairs of hands didn't hurt anything! One nice thing with the CWD concerns in Colorado, we know to the animal which animal is which INCLUDING the hamburger. I'm betting (1) there is no way the commercial folks clean all their equipment between animals and (2) commercial hamburger is commonly dished up out of the communal grind.

Below: We started early. You can see our elk trailer and a row of empty water containers outside through the wall tent door.


Below: Part of our cutting crew. The table is elevated about 10", covered with plastic for each critter. The 5 gallon bucket is the "trim and discard" bucket. This part of our "wall tent" is made of a steel frame, 6 mil visquene, and fly.


Below: We use a KitchenAid mixer to grind our burger. Our rule is: "If this grinder don't like it, then we don't want to eat it!" Looks like some knife sharpening going on. Kitchen wise, we set all our coolers up on tables so it is easier to "dig for stuff".


Below: This is the other side of the "cutting tables". Note the 12 gauge "bear gun" 7 slugs.


Below: More hamburger grinding with the in between critter "clean up" going on in the back ground. There is always a pause at this point while we seal and wrap the meat and code it: Elk, 2004, Burger (for example), V (for the hunter the animal belongs to). BTW all meat is split evenly among all the hunters who particpated in the hunt.


Below: Getting late (we did finish by 930 PM including all clean up and put away), note the headlamp on our #1 deboning guy who has been going out side to the freezers to carry in game bags of meat. These freezers let us handle 6 elk in warm, almost hot weather with NO problems, not even one little whiff of "green" meat. If you have never smelled "green" elk meat, well, you just don't know what you are missing! If all the cutters/trimmers started to get ahead of my #1 deboning guy then I would jump in with him and debone to we got ahead of them ---- usually happens right when you start a new critter after the clean up from the last one.


IMHO, few things build camaraderie (sp?) better than (1) sharing the meat (2) sharing in the processing of the meat as there is no "running off with the spoils" by the "victor" as is so common.

EKM

RE: $1,350 Day!
 

Looks like work!!! But throw in a cold beer and some good friends and I can see the attraction!!!

EKM....have something called a "thread cap" for my new "bigger" gun. Supposed to make it ok to fire it without the muzzle brake. I will get back with you on how the change effects my new gun enthusiasm.

RE: $1,350 Day!
 

Thanks EKM somtime I think you keep this forum going.

And from being from a long line of butchers it looks like I cant give you no advice.:D

RE: A $1,350 Day!
 

RedRiver,

It is work and beer/margaritas do help!

Good, the "end cap" was included --- that is what you need.
FYI most scopes have the longest eye relief when set on the lowest power.
Just for fun, you might try your first shot standing. (Hopefully a needless precaution given what you've told me.)

EKM

RE: A $1,350 Day!
 

My shooting technique is probably less than ideal.......but I compensate with being extremely hard headed!!! And I am a pretty large fellow, so combine those two and the tears you see rolling down my face will be from the joy of having a new gun.......not the pain from my dislocated shoulder!!! Seriously, I have a bad shooting shoulder anyway from too many thrown balls, so that I have altered my technique so as to absorb and dissipate! My new KickEze magnum pad is very helpful too.! If you haven't trien these I highly recommend them. First year of using them but they really do help. My '06 only had the plastic butt plate, but as I mentioned some of my "traits" earlier, I found it to be a source of strength when making fun of anyone who complained about recoil! I would shoot some 220gr's in her and then scoff at anyone that flinched!!! Now that I am on the backside of 40, I am all about the comforts and utilitzing common sense when available. These pads seem soft and not sure if they will last for long periods, but relatively inexpensive and replaceable.

Enjoy your pics. Thanks.

RE: A $1,350 Day!
 

So EKM, you guys apperantly hunt in a "known" CWD area, and if so, do you have all animals tested for CWD, and if so, have any of them tested postive for CWD?

We never seperate one animal's burger meat from the other, but we hunt in an area that has not had CWD found, yet!

Also, do you add any pork or beaf trim to your burger?

RE: A $1,350 Day!
 

Howler,

Yep, they found a couple deer on a hunt behind the fence place called the MotherWell Ranch that is in our GMU. To my knowledge no CWD elk yet and by deduction no we have never had a CWD animal taken in our camp. We do voluntarily test every animal and if we ever get a positive back we can all discard just the meat from that animal and keep the rest.

We add zero tallow to our burger in camp. We use burger to make "shootable jerky", salami, and pepperoni. For the salami and pepperoni rolls we do add other meat/fat.

For elk chili we cube non-burger meat.

EKM

RE: A $1,350 Day!
 

EKM, makes since to me. Speaking of using a "jerky shooter", that's also how I make my jerky. I once made the mistake of trying to make jerky using burger that had trim added, won't do that again. Yuk![:'(]

RE: A $1,350 Day!
 

Sounds like you saved a lot of money doing it yourself, EKM. For lots of reasons I think processing one's own game is the way to go, if possible.

I feel satisfaction when I process my own meat from my game animals. For me, my pleasure in hunting is partly the hunting aspect -- pursuing game -- and partly pleasure in achieving competence in the myriad skills associated with hunting: shooting well (I'm workin' on it anyway!), cleanly gutting a downed animal, skinning the animal, quartering the animal, processing the meat, taking care of my feet, dressing so I can be out all day long, getting into a hunting position in the dark, not getting lost, etc. Processing the meat is one of those competencies. It certainly is useful to be able to control how your meat is cut up. In my case I have some special preferences which most processors probably wouldn't accommodate (I like stews and spicey meat pies called "terrines" and so I package miscellaneous chunks of meat as stew meat and miscellaneous small trimmings for making my terrines -- while this meat would normally go into venison burger at a processors shot), but if you process your own meat you can process it any way that pleases you. Processing your meat yourself you know you are getting your own well cared for meat, not someone else's meat that was brought back on the hood of their truck or left overnight on the ground before they took the trouble to find their kill.

And processing meat -- at least deer and pronghorn, which I have experience with -- is not difficult, either physically or technique-wise. I think it helps to see it done by another before doing it yourself, but even this isn't entirely necessary.