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Butcher your own or pay?

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Butcher your own or pay?

Old 12-28-2011, 01:45 PM
  #31  
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I have butchered all kinds of animals in my life time. So I butcher my own. I've been doing it so long I never thought of going to a actual meat cutter. And I make my own sausage (well venison salami as I love the stuff) and jerky too. That High Country original jerky seasoning is some fantastic stuff. You get that in a grocery store. Make the best jerky you ever ate.

If you want to have fun, get young people involved. Teach them to butcher. We used to do the whole groups' deer harvest. The men would cut the meat up. The kids removed silver skin. The woman washed it and wrapped the meat. We would of course tell hunting stories as we worked. And tell some whopper lies as well for the sake of the kids. And make a party out of that.

Sausage is easy to do. There is a company in New York. Its called "The Sausage Maker Inc" and they sell everything you need to make perfect sausage. You can purchase pre mixed kits.. you add the venison and pork. And then a sausage stuffer or old hand grinder works. Casinngs you stuff.

You can purchase some excellent smokers for around $139.99 and they do a great job. I have a Brinkman Smoker (a Christmas present years ago) and it work good. But I had to be different of course so I built a smoker out of an old shell that held a oil furnace for a trailer. I build a building around it. I built a fire pot that rests on the ground and you load your wood in there get a fire going and then dampen that. Old racks from a throw away stove at the dump fit perfect into the thing. And the top is open where the old chimney went out the top. I put a damper on that and can control how much smoke stays in the smoker that way. Come spring I am taking the guts and burners out of an old gas grill and put a propane flame in there so I can better regulate the heat.

When you make your own sausage, you will never go back to a butcher. That place sells a book (another present) and in it are hundreds of excellent sausages in detailed steps, you can make. Lots of hard work, but fun too.
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Old 12-28-2011, 02:09 PM
  #32  
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I took a small doe to a butcher once and told him I wanted the back straps in steaks, the hind quarters in roasts, and the rest ground up for burger. The hind quarters came back to me whole, the back straps were in steaks and the rest was ground with some nasty fat added. I forget what I paid, I think $60. It wasn't worth it and I never did it again. Before and after that I did and have done it myself. I only had him do it that time because it was warm weather and I wanted to hunt some more. Do it yourself and have it done the way you like it. If you don't know how to do it there are books that explain the whole process quite well. I love to hunt but the meat helps to lower the grocery bills and I'm to cheap to pay someone to do something I can do myself. The guy I hunt with, who is the grandson of the owner of the land I hunt on, is a Meat Cutter/Manager for a large grocery chain in this area. He can de-bone a deer in no time and will do mine for $30. But like I said, I'm too cheap to pay to have it done so I do it myself.
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Old 12-28-2011, 02:47 PM
  #33  
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Was doing my own for years, but started to have it processed about three years ago. The other day I ask my wife about me getting a grinder that was on sale at Gander Mt. she asked if we had gotten poor over night and I said no. She asked if I was 65 and getting older? And I said yes. So much for the grinder. She, the one who must be obeyed, has spoken!!!

My local guy charges me $66. to do a normal process, steaks roasts and chopped meat. Nothing fancy. I want special, like summer sausage or jerky, I go to another place that is run by the Mennonites in my hunt camp area. They do a great job, and do all kinds of stuff. But as with special comes a high price tag!
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Old 12-28-2011, 04:01 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by rafsob
Was doing my own for years, but started to have it processed about three years ago. The other day I ask my wife about me getting a grinder that was on sale at Gander Mt. she asked if we had gotten poor over night and I said no. She asked if I was 65 and getting older? And I said yes. So much for the grinder. She, the one who must be obeyed, has spoken!!!

My local guy charges me $66. to do a normal process, steaks roasts and chopped meat. Nothing fancy. I want special, like summer sausage or jerky, I go to another place that is run by the Mennonites in my hunt camp area. They do a great job, and do all kinds of stuff. But as with special comes a high price tag!
You have to try and reason with She Who Must Be Obeyed. Weigh outthe cost of a grinder with sausage stuffer attachments against the cost of having a butcher do up your sausages. Make your money back after two years. Which leaves more money for She to shop.

HA
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Old 12-29-2011, 09:28 AM
  #35  
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Started doing it last year as it is now 100 bucks for the processor to cut up. We used to have it done and get sausage made which is 4.99 lb and you have to buy an equal portion of pork they add to the venison, so if I want 20 lbs of sausage you have to buy 10 lbs of pork at the 4.99 lb price and they use 10 lbs of venison. Not for us anymore we make our own sausage using the stove now. Here is a great site with recipes I use.

http://www.free-venison-recipes.com/...r-sausage.html
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Old 12-29-2011, 10:05 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Gotbuck
Here is a great site with recipes I use.

http://www.free-venison-recipes.com/...r-sausage.html
Great site for great deer recipes. Thanks!!!
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Old 12-29-2011, 12:51 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by Gotbuck
Started doing it last year as it is now 100 bucks for the processor to cut up. We used to have it done and get sausage made which is 4.99 lb and you have to buy an equal portion of pork they add to the venison, so if I want 20 lbs of sausage you have to buy 10 lbs of pork at the 4.99 lb price and they use 10 lbs of venison. Not for us anymore we make our own sausage using the stove now. Here is a great site with recipes I use.

http://www.free-venison-recipes.com/...r-sausage.html
Boy that's crazy what they charge you for everything. The one place I take my deer to is inspected at least 2 times a week by the State, as they are a Beef and Pig Prcoessing place throughout the year, everything is top notch and clean.
They charge,
$1.00lb for Pork or Beef Fat added to Burger
The Bleow Prices all include Pork
.80 cents a lb for Breakfast Sausage in Links
.55 cents a lb for Breakfast Sausage in Bulk
The same for Italian Sausage in Link and Bulk, Hot, Mild and Med
Summer Sausage is $2.25lb
Pepper Sticks (Slim Jims) $3.75lb
Jerky $4.75lb
Hot Dogs Plain $3.00 with Cheese $4.00lb
Dried and Chipped $2.75lb
Processing Fee is $60.00
(BP)
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Old 12-29-2011, 12:53 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by rafsob
Great site for great deer recipes. Thanks!!!
Yea Thanks! Im always looking for something new to try
(BP)
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Old 12-29-2011, 12:56 PM
  #39  
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I have taken deer to the locker to be processed and paid the big bucks, too. When the meat locker makes deer sausage, I think that they do it all at once, they don't do Joe's with Joe's deer meat then go to Sam's deer meat for Sam. I think you just get somebody's meat according to how much your deer weighed. Thats OK, I guess, if everybody is careful with the deer before it gets to the locker. I would rather do my own. This year, it got into the 70's when I tagged a small doe and I was five hours from home so I gave it to an old guy that wasn't hunting and wanted some deer meat. If it was a large deer, I would have considered taking it to the locker in the area and had it done just to keep it from spoiling. I am not sure how long a deer carcass will keep with bags of ice in it. I guess the best bet would be to take coolers along and cut the deer up and put the meat in coolers with ice, it would keep that way for several days as long as you kept replacing the ice.
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Old 12-29-2011, 02:15 PM
  #40  
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I do everything myself. But I do take my scrap in about every other year and have sausage made.
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