bigtim6656

I plan on using a butcher mainly because my dad wont eat it if i do it. He is funny when it comes to meat. And after helping a guy do it i do not think it is worth it.

I have to in mind. One is a large meat locker they do cows deer everything a meat locker would. I figure since there a bigger shop there less likly to take some or hopefuly none of my meat.
The other is a local bait shop owner bait wholesaler seems like a trusting guy. I am unsure as to which to use i am leaning toward the meat locker. Whats your guys thoughts. Are the meat lockers normaly cleaner and less likely to take some of your meat then the little guys. DO you do you own or have it processed?

BrentH243

We hang and skin our deer.
Then, we quarter it, take out the inner tender loins, and cut off the back straps
Then we cut the neck off for a neck roast.
After that, we cut all the meat off the 4 quarters.

Its pretty simple. Actually making the sausage is something I've never done. We do have a grinder to make burger, but we take most of the scrap meat in to get it made into summer sausage, breakfast sausage, etc.

I'm sure there is something on youtube on how to process your own deer.
Good luck!

Oh yeah, BE CAREFUL. We were taking the meat off the bone on one of the front legs of the buck my dad shot last year and came across a broadhead from the year before! We found fragements off the head and actuall found all 3 or 4 of the blades!

BrentH243

One more thing...I'm not sure, but there may be a forum that deals with processing your deer. I spend 95% of my time in the bowhunting forum on here, so I'm not sure if there is such a thing or not.

Again, good luck.

bigtim6656

I looked could not find one but if there is and someone wants to tell us where that would be great if not Rob get on that now please.

teedub31

It has been my experience that the larger shops are a little sloppy when it comes to butchering. They are so busy that they leave more meat on the carcass then I find acceptable. So in essence you are not getting all your meat even they they are not keeping it for themselves. Also I have never had a processor (big or small, and I have used at least 6) ever give me the tenderloins (maybe they grind it up in burger, but I suspicion they keep them). Once I found out about this cut of venison I carve it out prior to delivering it to the processor.

As a side note, in Indiana it is illegal (as far as I know) for a processor to process deer and cow at the same time. Every shop I have used has to shut down cattle butchering during deer season, then clean and sterilize entire shop in order to start on cattle once they are done with deer.

JakeInMa

I always cut out the backstraps and tenderloins prior to bringing the deer to the meat cutter. It's not that I don't trust him, it just gives me some great steaks until I get the rest back!

wis_bow_huntr

Ive been cutting meat since 1993. I used to work as a butcher and Ill be honest. If youre thinking of taking the meat in to be processed its going to be costly per #. And theres no guarentee you will get your own meat back. Youre better off doing it yourself. Theres really not much you can screw up and theres no reason your dad shouldnt eat it. Its no different. I make my own burger, sausage, bacon, steaks, chops, you name it. It can be a time consuming matter, but its so much more worth it and you save TONS of money doing it yourself. And not to mention that most lockers/butchers require a minumum amount of meat brought in. Usually 50# batches. If you dont have 50# of meat, they will add to yours from someone elses, or if you have more than what is needed for what ever you want made youll lose meat and that will go into someone elses batch who doesnt have enough....its hit and miss. If you do it yourself you will get your own meat back, its guarenteed.

nromaker

DITTO coulndnt agree more. Good advice

UncleNorby

If I were you, I'd tell your father to get over it. If he saw what "store-bought" meat goes through before getting wrapped in plastic and put on the shelf, he'd never eat another steak. The chances for getting something contaminated are far greater when someone else does the butchering. And, what the other responses say are true about things done in batches.

If you have to use a processor, use a guy than bones the meat rather than cutting with a saw. All those bone chips scattered through the meat give it a bad taste, and boned meat keeps longer in the freezer..

Alsatian

These are good points. I have always butchered my own big game, since my first deer in 2002. I get personal satisfaction from doing this myself. I get the specific cuts of meat that I want, and I do some things a bit differently than the stuff the butchers do standardly. I also get the size of packages of meat that are suited to the size of my family. Additionally, cutting up all that meat helps to develop knife skills that come in handy in a lot of different places that you don't necessarily think about. I was aware that my knife skills helped me to better quarter my elk and those of two of my elk hunting partners a couple of weeks ago. Most specifically, these skills enabled me to readily remove the two rear quarters by deboning around the ball and socket joint at the elk pelvis versus just chopping the pelvis bone in half with a hatchet (my partners had planned to chop, but the hatchet fell out of the pack on the hike back to the kill site -- hatchet later found on the way out). Without these skills I'm guessing I would have hacked and sawed the meat on those rear quarters less than artfully.

Your dad needs to get over that preference for the processed meat. The quality and cleanliness is probably greater doing it yourself.