DIY butcher or do you pay?

[twitchstick]

I was wondering how many of you do your own proccessing or have a butcher do it? I have been the type of guy that I have always done my own processing. If you take it to a butcher how much do you pay? If you take it to a butcher do you do it for time reasons,don't know how or ect... I was talking to a friend that was paying $370. to process his bull elk. Thats @ .83 a pound. That just seems like alot of money for the average guy to me. It got me thinking how many can afford to go to a butch at that cost. Thanks for any replys to this.

[stykbender]

Usually pay 'cause the local guy needs the cash and solves the "what to do with the offal" question. $25 to dress and about $50 to process.
Elk in Colorado was about $200.

[JAG]

Depends on my time available.  Mostly I process my own.  We usually grind the whole deer, with a little beef tallow or chuck roast to make good burger.
When I don't have the time I carry it to the local processor, cost me about $35.00 - $40.00 to have a whole deer boned and ground.

[Bob B.]

Well, my family eats a lot of fish, chicken and deer.  I catch and clean the fish.  Chicken costs bout the same in the store as it does to raise, so I buy  that.  I butcher 3 to 6 deer a year.  That is real cheap on a 20 plus dollar license fee.  We can it, as well as freeze roasts, chops, steaks and I grind  about 30-50  pounds of burger, sometimes more.  Occasionally we make jery.

Dogs eat trimings not fit for us.  Turkey buzzards adn coyotes get the rest.  Dogs get the legs and feet, they love those!

Bob.

[Friends call me Pac]

Been cutting up my own since Dad taught me how many years ago.

[Junction hunter]

Always do my own. Nothing better than a Back strap with the silver skin off:)

[PEARL DRUMS]

100% on our own, of course my dad has 20 years of butcher experience. Thats always helpful! It costs about $60-70 here, add $15 for a tag and you got one pricey 35# sack of venison.

[wisconsinteacher]

We do it ourselves.  The only thing we do not do is make sausage.  We take in the trimmings to get it made.  I like cutting venison and cleaning fish.

[Doc Nock]

Do it all myself...started out an economics thing..ended up seeing hair, hide, etc. in processed packages of meat...so decided if I kill it, I clean it, age it, cut it, wrap it and freeze it myself.

what I hear..it's right at $90+/- to skin, wrap, mark and freeze.

[Hoyt]

I've always done it myself.

[magnus]

My girl friend loves to butcher deer! She's been doing my deer even before we were together. She doesn't hunt but loves venison. I'm a lucky man!!!

Keeping the Faith
Magnus

[stik&string]

I do it myself as well, for many of the same reasons as above. It is about $55 to have someone else do it around here and I'd rather save that money for something else.

[jamesh76]

Here in the Eastern part of Kansas where I live it runs about $140 per deer. I used to h ave a butcher do it back when it was $65 or so. Now I do it myself and vaccum seal it. IMO alot better than spending $140 each time when you harvest 3+ deer a year. Especially knowing Christmas is right around the corner and I have 4 kids.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I've always butchered my own animals. From what I hear, folks charge $100+ to cut up a whitetail around here.

[Paul WA]

always do my own. The wife puts a plastic table cloth on the kitchen table and I bring in a quarter at a time, get a cast iron frying pan hot with butter for the small scraps, when we are full the scraps are made into jerky in a low oven...PR

[JEJ]

Well, can't say why but cutting up deer meat that is cold enough to be pretty solid and easy to cut has never been a chore for me. I have paid before to have it cut and wrapped, but now I just cut off silverskin, fat, etc. cut steaks and roasts and wrap it all up. Twitchstick, that is a lot of money to pay, and if you have the time (and the deer!) this season, go for it and give it a try.

JAG (or anyone), if I get lucky and get one this season, I'd like to grind some burger meat up. Haven't done that before, always have cut up and wrapped pieces for steaks and roasts. What percent ratio should I use if I mix deer meat and beef chuck roast to get some good burger? thanks!

[steadman]

I would say 90% my own. I had my moose cut up by a friend. It was a tad too big to do myself. But I do all my deer and antelope. And my Dad's elk. It also insures I get my own animal, I take way too much pride and spend too much time making sure my meat is clean and cooled down quickly to send it somewhere and get another person's animal. Jimmy that seema a bit steep for an elk.

[SELFBOW19953]

I drop off a field dressed deer, it gets skinned (caped if appropriate), custom cut/ground, wrapped, and frozen for $50.00.  I get 2 maybe 3 deer a year.  The guy I use is a meat cutter by trade and heads the meat department of a local grocery store.

[Mitch-In-NJ]

I do it myself.  I had taken a long break from hunting and a few years ago I started again.  Shot my first deer and had a card from a local sports shop for a guy who processes deer.

Gave the guy a call and we decided to meet halfway between my house and his.  Gave him the deer and never heard from him again.  Called his phone repeatedly until his mailbox was full.

So that was the end of that.  And now I prefer to do it with all the stories of guys getting shorted and not knowing if the meat they got was even from their deer.  Plus I have become pretty good at making sausage.

[Ward / Texas]

Magnus you need to keep your girlfriend.  Butchering your own gives you quality control and always you to make the finished product healthy if you choose.  I add 1/3 to 1/2 80% lean ground beef to my venison burger giving it enough fat to stick together, but still lean.  For sausage I use a boston butt (hog ham), and then add garlic, peppers, cheese, onions, etc to the grind.  The 1/2 HP Cabela's grinder makes it a breeze. I just checked to verify the horsepower, and noticed that they are on sale at Cabelas' now.