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Old December 5, 2012, 01:49 PM   #1
cdmckane
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Deer processing

Just wondering what everyone's paying for deer processing. My processor went up on her price by over 25% from last year because of the cost of freezer paper. She's charging $65 up from $50 last year for skinning, boneless cut and wrap.

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Old December 5, 2012, 02:46 PM   #2
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You can do it yourself for the cost of paper, suet and two or three hours. Pretty simple to do.
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Old December 5, 2012, 02:55 PM   #3
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I'm pretty sure my wife would flip her lid if I dragged a deer in the house and heaved it on the table.

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Old December 5, 2012, 02:55 PM   #4
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My processor vacuum seals then flash freezes everything, but the only cost increase this year has been for dressing (was $10 now $25). Too many folks avoiding the dirty work I guess.
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Old December 5, 2012, 02:59 PM   #5
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Who doesn't field dress their deer? It's not hard and only takes a few minutes.

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Old December 5, 2012, 03:01 PM   #6
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ive never paid to do it. deer are easy and even a very large buck can be completely processed in only a couple hours by two or 3 people that know what they are doing.
skinning: the easiest part of the process, all you need is a sharp knife, just peel the hide back and gently run the knife along the fold between the meat and hide to cut the sinews that hold the hide in place, if you skin it while it is still warm you barely even need a knife, you just get it started, grab the hide firmly and it peels rifle off with a little elbow grease.

legs:
large muscle groups are roasts/jerky.
small groups with low tendon/sinew/fat composition are hamburger.
small groups with high tendon/sinew are stew meat.


backstraps and tenderloins are steaks.

that's about all that there is on a deer, everything else can serve as cheap, high protein dog/cat feed.
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Old December 5, 2012, 03:08 PM   #7
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The more you process, the more you pay !!

The only processing I ever pay for, are the smoked meats like sticks, ring balogna and summer sausage. I also have deer burger made after boning it out. I usually keep out a ham or rump and jerk it out in the summer. As mentioned, you can do most of it, yourself...

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Old December 5, 2012, 03:18 PM   #8
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To have skinned (they keep the hide), deboned and cut into chops, roasts, tenderloins etc (and shrink wrap packaged) cost $70 this fall. $80 if you keep the hide.

Now if you want it made into hamburger, sausage or whatever.... bring more money!

(This is at a super good store that guarantees you get YOUR deer meat back -they tag the carcass- and makes the best deer sausage on the planet)..
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Old December 5, 2012, 03:52 PM   #9
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Probably about $5 between going to the store and getting some zip lock bags, and plastic wrap.

We tossed the last one on the golf cart, took it back to the house, hung it off the back deck with ratchet strap hooked through the back tendons. Once the deer was hung, we removed the skin, cut off the shoulders, backstraps, and hind quarters. We got it back to the kitchen, cleaned any hair we saw off, and then wrapped it in plastic. Woods to freezer in about 2 hours.

We have friends that have a butcher quality meat grinder for deerburger, and we know someone that makes sausage as well. We have been thinking about making some jerky.
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Old December 5, 2012, 04:17 PM   #10
AllenJ
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I'm pretty sure my wife would flip her lid if I dragged a deer in the house and heaved it on the table.
Good call, my wife did and I've never been allowed to cut my own since

Here in Northern California we're paying about $1.00 a pound. The area I hunt has mostly blacktail so figure about $70 per deer, not including gutting or skinning.
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Old December 5, 2012, 04:18 PM   #11
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Lemmee see .....

Freezer Paper ......................................... $6

Saran Wrap ............................................ $5

Freezer Tape .......................................... $2

73% lean ground beef*, 50 lbs @ $1.99 .... $100

Summer sausage cure and seasoning .......... $4

Jerky cure/seasoning ............................... $4

Sausage casings (12)................................$6

Knowing I can turn 4 dead deer into a full freezer: Priceless.



*mixed w/ ground venison 4/1 for "burger", 50/50 for summer sausage
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Old December 5, 2012, 04:34 PM   #12
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I take mine whole to the processor, shoot 'em, load them in the truck and back up to the shed. They charge a base of $75.00 for roasts, burger, cube steak or stew. Cooked or prepared products are a little more. With work, kids and family obligations just hunting is a luxury plus I don't have the facilities right now to butcher a deer at home.
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Old December 5, 2012, 04:34 PM   #13
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I'm pretty sure my wife would flip her lid if I dragged a deer in the house and heaved it on the table.
Quote:
Good call, my wife did and I've never been allowed to cut my own since ....
Yer doin' it Wrong! Skin, wash, and quarter it outside. If she objects to bringing in large peices of meat, then you married .......... one of those ........ people* ..... sucks to be you......


I made sure my then girlfriend was OK by bringing her to my Grandparents' for deer season...... she fit right in, so I kept her..... that was 1989, and she's still with me.

*(vegetarians, I think they call them)
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Old December 5, 2012, 04:36 PM   #14
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I don't have the facilities right now to butcher a deer at home.
You don't have a kitchen table?
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Old December 5, 2012, 04:56 PM   #15
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I used the tailgate on my F-150, perfect height. Depending on weather, quarter and put into coolers with ice for a day, then deboning. Backstraps and tenderloin go into vaccu-seal packages. Rest gets ground plain, no beef or sausage etc., and packed in 1.5 lb vaccu packs and put into freezer. Depending on what I want to make I will mix it then. Jerky add spices and cure only, summer sausage about 2-4 pounds hot pork sausage added for 20-25 pounds ground deer. Hanburgers 50/50 with sausage makes a wonderful burger. Only part that is done inside is the vaccu-packing. Wife likes to shoot them so she doesn't complain.

If you are paying to have it done, I would say you are getting a decent price on it.
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Old December 5, 2012, 05:33 PM   #16
Wyoredman
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I'm pretty sure my wife would flip her lid if I dragged a deer in the house and heaved it on the table.
If a deer is skinned and quartered, it is very manageable on a kitchen counter or table. Bring one quarter at a time into the house, your wife will hardly notice.

Bone the hinds for steaks and roasts, the fronts for burger, and the backstraps for steaks. Done in 2 hours!

Buy a small meat grinder, you will use it every hunting season. I like to buy bacon ends for my burger binder. I use them at 9:1 for 90% lean burger, and the bacon gives the lean deer meat some nice moisture.

For wraping, I use plain old freezer paper and the plastic "vegtable bags" that supermarkets have out for the fresh produce. I talk to my local stores' produce manager and buy a roll off the store every couple years. It is very cheap and saves the frustration of using plastic wrap for the vapor liner.

Try butchering your own. You will know 100% of the meat is yours, and you can be as clean and sanitary as you like. After the initial investment, it also save lots and lots of money!

P.S. Wild game processed at home ALWAYS tastes better, too!
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Old December 5, 2012, 05:45 PM   #17
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Who doesn't field dress their deer? It's not hard and only takes a few minutes.
You'd be surprised... lot's of guys I run into don't want to get blood all over their Gucci-flauge!
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Old December 5, 2012, 05:48 PM   #18
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You will know 100% of the meat is yours,
THIS!^

Having seen some of the gutshot, flyblown carcasses that get dropped on the asphalt in front of the (now out of business) local butcher shop ..... never again!
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Old December 5, 2012, 05:54 PM   #19
cdmckane
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I will probably end up doing my own butchering in a couple of years, as that's the one aspect of hunting that I haven't learned yet. However, with my current work schedule, and a 6-month old baby, I hardly have time to hunt, let alone learn how to butcher.
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Old December 5, 2012, 05:57 PM   #20
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My dad's wife always skins them for us while we take our post hunt/drag nap. I would do a little research and start doing it yourself, it's not very hard or time consuming and it makes the meat taste that much better.

p.s. I've found that pork butts with plenty of fat make a nice additive for your venison burger. I thought the bacon (both cured and non-cured) gave it a wierd flavor
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Old December 5, 2012, 06:03 PM   #21
cdmckane
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You'd be surprised... lot's of guys I run into don't want to get blood all over their Gucci-flauge!
I guess they don't carry baby wipes in their pack.

My dad wouldn't be very pleased if he found out I ever disrespected a deer by not gutting it right away to get the meat cooling as quick as possible.

Quote:
You will know 100% of the meat is yours
I trust the girl I have doing it now, she's been doing my FIL's for years before I started hunting.
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Old December 5, 2012, 06:32 PM   #22
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If you're interested...

...PM me. I've got a video that's worth watching and I keep it on Google Docs for sharing purposes. My deer don't enter the house unless they're already in the cooler on ice.

Field Dress.

Hang n' skin.

Debone the large groups and some trim into the cooler on ice. Hams, Shoulders, Tenderloins and Backstraps. Those are the large pieces. Everything else is trim for burger, stew meat.

Skeleton, Hide, Head, Entrails.. all stays in the field.

Beyond that, it's literally a couple of hours on the kitchen table with a good sharp deboning knife, cutting board, freezer paper, tape. I did it all myself the first time. Never used a processor/butcher.
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Old December 5, 2012, 06:50 PM   #23
Magnum Mike
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I'm pretty sure my wife would flip her lid if I dragged a deer in the house and heaved it on the table.
HUH? I thought every body did that!
Quote:
If a deer is skinned and quartered, it is very manageable on a kitchen counter or table. Bring one quarter at a time into the house, your wife will hardly notice.

Bone the hinds for steaks and roasts, the fronts for burger, and the backstraps for steaks. Done in 2 hours!
Is what I do!

If you make a mistake, no biggie! Use as stew meat!
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Old December 5, 2012, 06:55 PM   #24
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Quote:
Quote:
I don't have the facilities right now to butcher a deer at home.
You don't have a kitchen table?

Quote:
I used the tailgate on my F-150, perfect height.
5 years ago, or so, I butchered 3 antelope in my uncle's garage. His vegetarian wife would have shot him, if we took them inside.
We used jack stands, garbage cans, and stacks of newspaper as work surfaces. (Since the workbenches had 4-foot piles of crap on them, and the folding tables couldn't be located.)



Quote:
Just wondering what everyone's paying for deer processing. My processor went up on her price by over 25% from last year because of the cost of freezer paper. She's charging $65 up from $50 last year for skinning, boneless cut and wrap.
If I had a local butcher that only charged $65, I knew I'd be getting all of my meat (and only my meat), and they skinned for free... I'd gladly pay that.

Almost everywhere around here, you pay by the pound for the received hanging weight. If you bring in a 140 lb carcass that only has 40 lbs of meat on it, you pay for 140 lbs. If you bring in a 650 lb Elk that yields 220 lbs of meat, you pay for 650 lbs. If you're dumb and bring in a rotting, Swiss-cheese Deer carcass that hasn't been skinned or gutted, and weighs in at 250 lbs, but only has 25 lbs of edible meat... Yep, you pay for 250 lbs (and extra fees to skin and gut it).

The few places that have fixed prices (up to a certain hanging weight), generally start at a point equal to 150-175 lb hanging weight (Mule Deer). So, they aren't much cheaper, if at all.


I care, greatly, about how the animal is treated. From the shot, to the table, I like to know it's being treated properly. Handling everything myself is great. But, if I had a good butcher charging that little, they'd be cutting it for me.
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Old December 5, 2012, 07:06 PM   #25
jimbob86
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with my current work schedule, and a 6-month old baby, I hardly have time to hunt, let alone learn how to butcher.
It really is not that hard ...... though if you have not done it, it can seem daunting.

Hang the field dressed animal upside down by the hocks on a gambrel ......

This thing is very helpful if you are doing this solo:

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/produ...9-001b2166c62d

In any case: Pulleys are your friends, and as with friends, more is better!

-remove lower legs (distal to knees) with sawzall....
-begin skinning by making cuts down back of all four legs
-pull skin down while making small cuts between body and skin
-keep pulling down and cutting until "his shirt is over his head and then unzip his collar" with a vertical cut from chest to chin
-remove head (sawzall is a handy tool, ain't it?) with skin attached
-remove neck in sections short enough to fit in a crock pot (neck roasts)
-split body lengthwise (it SAWZ ALL!) down spine
-count up 6 (some say 7,8, or 10) ribs and cut spine and sternum with ________ (yep!) .... front quarter will be hanging by intercostal muscle between ribs - grasp foreleg (so this front quarter will not fall on the ground and cut that muscle with your (you thought I was going to say SAWZALL, didn't you? Bzzt.) knife.
-take front quarter into house/put in cooler/whatever
-repeat for other side
-tie one hock to tree/rafter, so it will not fall when you remove the other side from gambrel and take it in

There, animal is quartered.

Simple.
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