What's Your Butcher Bill?

[LandDiver]

Curious to know what you folks pay to have your harvest cut and wrapped for the freezer. Also say you take in 100lbs of meat (no bone), what weight do you get back?

How many of you cut and wrap yourself? My wife's mom and brother do this all the time when it's time on the ranch, but they are 4 hours away. If I did get anything it'd be nice to just drop it off at mom's but she's a single lady in her senior years running a ranch all by herself. My wife knows how as well, but work and grad school keep her pretty tied up. Me, I have no clue lol! I grew up on a rock in the middle of the sea ha ha!

Just trying to for see any future expenses.

Thank you!

 

[maxx]

Time and effort. We are on #4 whitetail this year already. I would be broke.

 

[Hem]

I finally got wise and started doing it myself about 7-8 years ago. The set-up cost paid for itself in one year. Sure it takes time.However A) I yield more meat B) no more guessing about if the meat is mine,or not C) I don't worry about mishandled meat being dropped on dirty floors etc and then chucked in the grinder D) No more exorbitant fees.
Its really quite easy,....just takes some time.

 

[duckhunt]

My dad takes the whole deer in for processing. Bill is over 300 bucks. I do everything myself. Last year I penciled it out and I did mine for 27 cents a pound and I still had some supplies left over.

 

[beginnerhunter]

$300??? Whole deer $75-$100 here. I would LOVE to do my own but live in city with no place to put the equipment. I dream of having a big yard and shop one day...

 

[zachthebowhunter]

The only way to figure out how to cut your own stuff up is doing it. My dad always did all of our processing in the living room with a Keystone and a knife while watching football and us kids always helped him and still do. Like Hem said, the cost of the supplies really pays for itself quickly. Also you can play around with your own recipes and find things you really like instead of getting only a few choices when taking it to a shop.

 

[----]

I took in 440 pounds of moose meat this year, which included leg bones. I paid 420 dollars ($0.95/lb), and put 375 pounds of packaged meat in my freezer. That was with no sausage made or suet added.

 

[duckhunt]

$300??? Whole deer $75-$100 here. I would LOVE to do my own but live in city with no place to put the equipment. I dream of having a big yard and shop one day...

That 300 is for alot of specialty stuff. Jerky, sausage things like that. Wich I do the same stuff myself.

 

[Hunting Wife]

We do it ourselves. Saves a lot of money, guarantees you get the right meat, and you can custom cut whatever you want. It seems intimidating if you've never really done it, until you realize there really isn't a right way or wrong way. If it looks like a roast, make it a roast. If you don't want it to be a roast, make it steaks. If you screw that up, hamburger it is! ��

In all seriousness though, you can read about butchering all you want, but I guarantee it will make a lot more sense after you just dive in on a couple. It's slow when you start, but you get faster as you learn and invest in better equipment.

 

[IDFireLass]

Been doing ours for several years now.
Bought a grinder and make our own hamburger.
Use the ground burger bags which is fast and a vacuum bags for the steaks.
I know how it was skinned, cut and taken care of. I don't like butchers to much can happen when the whole world brings in their deer(gut shot, not clean, etc).
Takes a little time do it on the kitchen table then clean the kitchen after. LOL

 

[emrah1028]

100% myself.

Emrah

 

[vanish]

I would LOVE to do my own but live in city with no place to put the equipment

The only piece of equipment you really need is a grinder. I'm assuming you already have a knife. That's it.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Curious to know what you folks pay to have your harvest cut and wrapped for the freezer. Also say you take in 100lbs of meat (no bone), what weight do you get back?

How many of you cut and wrap yourself? My wife's mom and brother do this all the time when it's time on the ranch, but they are 4 hours away. If I did get anything it'd be nice to just drop it off at mom's but she's a single lady in her senior years running a ranch all by herself. My wife knows how as well, but work and grad school keep her pretty tied up. Me, I have no clue lol! I grew up on a rock in the middle of the sea ha ha!

Just trying to for see any future expenses.

Thank you!

I paid $400 for 3 pronghorn. All Jerky, summer sausage, and breakfast sausage.

I took the back straps, heart, & liver for my own purposes.

Making jerky and sausage is doable yourself, but I had hunts back to back and didn't have time to process the meat myself.

It comes down to how valuable your time is.

 

[LandDiver]

Wow! Thanks for all the replys! What you folks say about the butchers is what I was thinking as well. Or even getting shaved a few pounds of prime cuts, I mean you'll never know. Sad thing is I used to have a vacuum sealer, but my wife said I didn't use it enough so she donated it. I use to buy big cheap roast and cut them up in steaks a good 1.5" thick ha ha.

Thanks again. Think I know what route I'll be going if I get to fill a tag. I wouldn't say my time is to valuable. I am a stay at home parent of 4 kids, and my youngest who is 14 months is at that "get into everything" stage right now, so I always have eyes on him ha ha.

Thank you!

 

[Gellar]

My family and another family all throw our deer in (6-8 deer) minus loins and roasts and we make ring bologna, a couple kinds of sticks, summer sausage, brats and breakfast sausage, and ground burger meat. We have two grinders with stuffing attachments. After we buy pork fat, caseings, and seasons we probably spend $150, but have at least that much in pounds of meat.

 

[Sawtooth]

If you are hesitant about butchering your game because of your lack of knowledge there are a lot of good videos on YouTube.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

I've never paid to have any wild game processed but did have an Angus steer I raised killed and cut this summer. He was 600# hanging and total cost was $440 but that included slaughter charges.

 

[Shotgun1]

My dad takes the whole deer in for processing. Bill is over 300 bucks. I do everything myself. Last year I penciled it out and I did mine for 27 cents a pound and I still had some supplies left over.

Holly shite that is pricey. I have, can, and do it myself..I have all the stuff...that being said I have a guy that does it for $75 for a basic cut which realistically is a good price..last year he charged $50 but I don't blame him for raising the price....i get my own game back in 2-3 days.. I am capable of cutting it myself but on the other hand between hunting and our time spent in the field harvesting game its much easier to take it to him. We harvest 4-6 animals a years and about half go to him.

 

[Walkathon]

I usually shoot two deer, bone out everything myself, grind my own burger, remove steaks / roasts and then take in about 15 lbs to my local butcher to make breakfast sausage although I may try making my own this year. Like others have mentioned- I like knowing that I'm eating the animals that I shot, gutted and kept clean and cool.

 

[sbhooper]

We have been doing our own processing-ground, sausage, bacon burgers etc., etc.-for many years. Every year, I kill lots of deer and an occasional elk and antelope. No way could I justify a commercial processor.

One of the main reason that I do my own, though, is that I know EXACTLY what is in the bag. I have had some stuff come back from a commercial processor that I know was not mine.