Arrowmaster

Yep you didnt get all the Elk. Do your own and save money and meat...

Schobs

I'd say for the most part a hunter who has the slightest idea of what they're doing can sometimes get more meat than a butcher, mainly because they're trying to get as many deer done in as little time possible. I'd like to find a butcher who charges by how much meat they get off the deer, it may cost more, but the butcher would sure try harder to get as much meat as possible. I had a bad experience with a butcher this year, dropped a deer off on a wednesday and didnt get it backtil monday, with hair and tendons in the meat and about 40# plus steaks from a 120# doe. i think that chart is a little generous as to what you can get off a deer, i find it hard to believe theres 30# of meat on a 50# fawn. that just seems ridiculous, unless this "diner" eats things like hide and stomachs. I think 9th tine was closer on how much meat you should expect back, and by his estimates i got more back than expected. It's a bit of a hassle to butcher a deer, but its a good chance to prolong the hunting experience. heck one year we had so many deer in our camp we woulda went broke payin to get em cut up, so we hung em in the kitchen of our camp and cut up deer and watched football!

wis_bow_huntr

Being a former butcher of 5 years I can tell you personally, you got robbed. You got a little less than half of your meat. Id go make a bad name for him while hes busy. As well as placing a public article in the local paper. When I used to butcher meat for a living, we were honest. When someone brought in a 150lb deer and we butchered it the way they wanted they were luck to get 1 1/2 grocery bags full, it all depends on the cuts, but all our customers got their own meat back, we never mixed batches. Sounds to me this guy needs his head ran through the grinder a few times.

eelriver

Question to the butcher? I have been told to estimate the live weight of a deer is take the field weight and add 30%, correct? 150 pound + 45= 195 live weight. Second, takefield dressedweight and subtract 30% and you will get the amount of processed meatweight? 150 # - 45=105, am I close?

davidmil

I've found it to be just a tad high, but I think they probably dug out every little scrap. It is close enough to use though.

isatarak

In the original post he didn't say if it was live or field dressed weight. I think on a deer you couldn expect about 1/3 of the live weight as edible meat. When I butcher a deer I don't trim out between the ribs and take all the neck meat and some off the legs that is full of tendon material. My dog loves that part.

buck-i

318lbs dressed no guts.talked to the butcher today he said he's glad i called.told him i stopped the check and want to talk calmly which i could do the other day.
he might letme keep what i got for free or somnething close to it. he said it dont sound like i got it all back hes the owner and didnt see what i got back .
hope its elk meat and not a donated deer,never had elk before,find out more when i talk to him and pickup my summer sausage. if i would of had the time that day i would of cut it up myself.thanks for the responses everyone.

fishm@n

I too have always processed all my elk and deer. One of the problems is especially for an elk sized critter is the time AND temperature to let it hang if you don't have time right away. I live on the west coast where we can't let something hang until we get into December. A deer is something you can process and package in a long evening.. an elk is a full day affair with several guys cutting and vacuum packing.

pheasantfanatic

We have someone else do it and it is really cheap. The only stipulation to it being cheap is that we have to help him do it, so we never have any problems with not getting all of our meat. It doesn't take much time to help him, and it is a lot cheaper than having locker plant do it.

Bullet Hole Bailey

that little guide on the piece of paper is cool!


this is why i do it all myself.....