WV Hunter

Yeah, I agree....that is crazy. You can buy 2 whole cows for that much!

My buddy who lives in the city took is deer in to be processed (in the city) a couple years ago. It was a button buck about 50lbs dressed. He asked for some dogs, some deer jims, and some burger. $275

He offered me a pack of jims...I said "no thanks". Didn't have the heart to eat his $5 a piece jims.

idahoron

I have always butchered my own. If I take someone elk hunting I help them to cut it up and we split it. I took two guys on elk hunts so I got two halves of elk. And we got two deer.
I also have a 1 hp grinder that makes short work of the burger. I grind it into 2 pound bags like the butcher shop does.
Butcher shops charge .80 per pound to process. If you take an elk in with hide on you pay .80 for the head and hide plus they charge an extra fee to skin. It doesn't take long to rack up a 400 dollar bill on an elk. and between 80 and 120 dollars for a deer. To me that is highway robbery. Ron

Breechplug

Oh, I also bought a Food Saver, so now I seal all my chops, tenderloins, sausage and roast and most of my burger with it. The meat keeps a long long time in the freezer, I opened a few packages of sausage this past summer that were alomost 2 years old and when it was thawed out it looked as fresh as could be, and tasted that way too.
I did'nt see them packages of sausage in there or they's have been eaten a long time befor that.
(BP)

nysbowhunter

One of my buddies at work is a meat cutter on the side. He's got a nice setup with stainless counters, sinks etc. The best part is he cuts them up and since we work opposite shifts he brings them to work as I am leaving. He butchers year round and the sticks and jerky he makes is top shelf. He does a great job of caping a head too. It's just too easy not to take them to him.

ronlaughlin

Myself, i pay $70 to have deer butchered. Packages are vacuum sealed, and ground meat has added 10% fat. The fella cuts deer exactly how i do, which of course means he does a nice job.

Years ago when 3 of us fella hunted together, we had a cutting, wrapping party after each dead elk. We sure had fun!! We boys cut and drank beer, the wives wrapped, and drank beer. Each elk was split 3 way, so we had an opportunity to taste/chew 3 different elk each year for several. These times is what formulated my strong opinions of what constitutes good venison. Wife and i are very fussy about the venison we eat; she more than me.

johnnyo

We do our own. Main reason I hunt deer is for the natural, unprocessed meat.

arcticap

I paid a farmer that had a walk in cooler to butcher my first deer and I watched him closely as he cut, ground and wrapped the meat.
He charged $60 at that time many years ago.
What I had learned by watching him led me to start butchering all of the rest of my harvested deer myself.
I bought a gambrel with a hoist, an electric meat grinder, and use heavy freezer paper and it generally comes out pretty good.
I even processed a few deer hides with the hair off using chrome tanning kits which involved a lot of work.
A friend told me last week that the same farmer now charges $120 for butchering a deer with his whole family pitching in to help. I would consider going back to him to store a deer in his walk in cooler, but only if the meat was at risk of spoiling.

dirt1008

I grew up butchering our own hogs, and beef. Most of the time I do it all myself but this year I didn't have much time so I had someone else do it. I have everything to do, grinder, meat saw, slicer, cuber, its just making the time is hard with work sometimes.

7.62NATO

I use the same but find the Kitchen Aid is SLOOOOOOW. I would like to invest in a dedicated grinder.

Rob in VT

A few years ago my daughter and I had 3 whitetails and a cow elk to butcher. The going rate in my area was $90 for a deer. I decided to do them myself and the money I was going to save I bought a Cabela's grinder. I have been doing my own ever since.