I just got a big hand-grinder for christmas from my father-in-law. He said he was doing a lot of research on grinders before deciding what to buy me. After talking to people, reading, etc., he came to the conclusion that the big heavy, cast iron hand-granders were a much better investment that the plastic, electric grinders. And quite frankly, he did not have the money to spend on one of the big commercial grade grinders.

So, if you can't afford the commerical grade grinders ($300+), then invest in the hand grinders. In fact, you can purchase a flywheel for the #32 grinder from Cabelas to convert it to an electric.

To Everyone,
Man what great Information. Was talking with my dad about it and he told me that he will get his dads meat saw from my grandmother the next time there.
I have some special tools that may help me, I will see.
I have a vacumn sealer, I will work on a boneing knife/s
I have one of the small deli saw.
Need to look for a grinder.
One more question on sausage. Do you make your own or is this a specialty that you may some one to do? What equipment is needed and I know that (at least around here) good rec. for sausage is like pulling teath. People do not want to shair. I understand this so just how do you come up with a good rec. for it?
Well the next one may be a mess but it will be my mess.lol
Thanks again.
Rick

Lifes not about knowing the answers, its about asking the questions.

Edited by - Who on 12/28/2002 22:41:04

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who
i do all my processing at home bear,deer,antelope,elk,and moose. i have made a few upgrades i have a butcher table instead of the kitchen counter and i bought a 1 hp grinder instead of the little one i had before
as for knives i use a rapala 6 inch fillet knife they are very cheap and hold an edge for a long time (i carry this in my pack to debone elk/moose in the field also)if the ole lady dont get too mad you can pick up a large cutting board and the kitchen table works great. i have a vac packer but this becomes expensive when you process hundreds of pounds a year. paper and plastic take some time but work well and are inexpensive.
i save a ton of money doing it myself wich means i can hunt even more
in my area the cost for processing is around
antelope $65
mule deer $100
black bear $100
elk $250
moose $325
this year i processed 2 antelope 1 muley 1 black bear 2 elk. this would cost me around $830 i spent under a $150 for paper, plastic, seasoning, beef fat, pork fat, vacuum bags, and 1 knife.

if you look around on the net you can find some good sausage recipes
for my sausage i cut the meat into 1 inch cubes and put ground pork fat into a bowl (the proper ratios for the recipe) and the seasonings mix by hand, grind thru a large plate, then regrind thru a smaller plate and stuff or portion accordingly.

Edited by - jjt on 12/29/2002 10:34:50

I debone so no saws needed except to remove the legs before skinning.

Sharp knives
Sharpening stones
Meat grinder for the kitchenaid
Meat slicer for jerky meat (I often do this by hand since the slicer is a pain to clean)
Small scale to measure burger.
Vacuum sealer (this thing is sweet, well worth it)
Permanent marker for marking the freezer bags.
Neighbor with hungry sled dogs to dispose of the carcass.

I am very meticulous about fat and silver skin so it takes me quite a while to do a deer, but I always do it with a buddy anyway so we have a good time talking and showing the kids how to help. I don't slice the steaks before freezing. I do it when it is time to cook.

I've thought about making sausage but my butcher does it for less than 1$ per pound so I just take it to him if I want sausage.

The beauty of the vacuum sealer, besides keeping the meat fresh longer, is that they don't leak blood in the fridge when thawing.

Also, save the large hunks of suet if you feed birds. They love it, especially chickadees and woodpeckers.

The biggest hurdle to processing a dear is forcing yourself to jump in and do it. The above posts gave lots of quality information. A good knife (or 2), a good sharpener, and a way to package are all you need to start. Yes, grinders, slicers, vacuum packagers, saws etc are all nice, but can be a bit overwhelming when you're starting. They will all come in time, trust us, you will become hooked.

The first deer to me 8, yes 8, hours to fully process. My wife thought I was nuts when she came out to check on me in the middle of the night as I was still working away. Many years later I'm at the 1.5 hour point for skinning and deboning (grinding not included) and the times are still decreasing. For me its actually part of the entire hunting process. You take the time to obtain land, scout, track, ethically harvest, field dress as best you can, etc. then you might as well finish the job yourself too. Not to sound like a tree hugger but there is a bit of honor involved. Some of the guys I hunt with don't process themselves and even though they are older "seasoned" hunters they know very little about the meat. Next year I'm actually planning on taking at least half of their tenderloins. They refuse to take it out immediately yet they wonder why they get very little meat from that cut (maybe because over half of it is dried up into a crispy chip).