I think this website should change it's name

[Drilling Man]

im far more of a meat hunter then a sport hunter. Always have been. Ive killed more deer then most. Butchered every single one of them. Theres no way im paying so kid at the butcher shop a 100 bucks to process a deer that might give me 30lbs of meat and you really (at least around here) cant be sure its even your own deer meat there giving back to you. When the day comes i cant butcher them i will stop shooting them.

  The place I use, DOES give you your own deer back and they cut it how ever you ask them to.  Their price went up to $70 now, and it's a family place, that got started, to put all of their kids through college.  All the kids work there, some taking time off their "real jobs", to work with the family.

  I use to say the same thing as you, but I don't mind using them, I give a lot of meat away for Christmas presents each year, and the people are glad to get it!

  DM

[wtxbadger]

Always handled taking care of the deer we harvested ourselves, never felt like we had the money to spare to have it done by someone else when we could do it ourselves.

[Dee]

Everybody handles their game processing the way it suits them. There isn't a right way, or wrong way as long as the meat isn't wasted.

[Mule 11]

For me, I know that no one cares as much as I do about my game. I don’t give a crap about what others do and some processors do a fine job. Butt I guarantee my product is better because it’s mine and their is no price on the finished product. No time line either.

[Mule 11]

Back to the op. Kinda morphed, did it not?

[Buckskin]

Back to the op. Kinda morphed, did it not?

Heck I'm happy about it, at least it's morphed into talk about the outdoors!

[Ranger99]

I cut up my own game with the same
tools the people that make their living
cutting up meat.
The meat I end up with equals the care
I put into processing it.
JMHO- no other person will care for
your game like you will yourself
( fish too)
Another JMHO- if somebody is satisfied
with the processing they get from an outside
source, good for them. A neighbor pays a
C-note every year and is tickled pink with it.
I've offered to show him what I do, and
offered to help him, or do up his deer
myself, but he's happy to pay every year, so. .

[Lloyd Smale]

I can take a deer from hang with the skin on it to boned out packaged and in the freezer in 2 hours. So even at 70 bucks (which is dirt cheap today) im make 35 bucks an hour cash money doing it myself and thats about what i made clear when i retired 13 years ago. My meat is all vaccum packed so theres no freezer burn. Im still eating venison thats 2 years old today and its as good as they day i shot it. Now maybe your lucky and found a real honest butcher but just 2 years ago the biggest venison processer in the area got shut down. One of his employees narc'd him out. He advertised you got your own meat back and it was far from the truth. They came in and tested it and found out the truth. They also found 700lbs of venison burger in his freezer. All from different deer. He and his wife also ran an home for elderly and they found out he was feeding it to them to save money. They found he was skimming 2 or 3 lbs off each deer. They also found a stash of chunks of backs strap he was skimming. Now when id do my own i know exactly what i have and how its taken care of. Now dont get me wrong. Cutting up deer is WORK. Especially when your doing 50 or more a year. But at 70 bucks a crack that 3500 bucks. I can buy alot of hamburger and steak even at todays high prices for 3500 bucks.

im far more of a meat hunter then a sport hunter. Always have been. Ive killed more deer then most. Butchered every single one of them. Theres no way im paying so kid at the butcher shop a 100 bucks to process a deer that might give me 30lbs of meat and you really (at least around here) cant be sure its even your own deer meat there giving back to you. When the day comes i cant butcher them i will stop shooting them.

  The place I use, DOES give you your own deer back and they cut it how ever you ask them to.  Their price went up to $70 now, and it's a family place, that got started, to put all of their kids through college.  All the kids work there, some taking time off their "real jobs", to work with the family.

  I use to say the same thing as you, but I don't mind using them, I give a lot of meat away for Christmas presents each year, and the people are glad to get it!

  DM

[Drilling Man]

  I just don't enjoy all the work to cut a deer up, even though I have everything to get it done.

  I think cutting up all those moose and caribou over the years just took that fun out of me, LONG ago.

  But, if someone else still likes it, have at it, at least I'm not suffering from back pain when THEY are done!  lol

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

never said it was fun. Its sure not. But I cant see paying someone to do something im good at and can do in a mere two hours to save 75 bucks. If i only did things that didnt make my body hurt id have retired to the recliner or hospital bed years ago. But to each his own. I was a sucker for years and did them for buddies too. I told them to come over and id teach them. Funny thing is none ever showed up and the next time they asked i laughed. Its like a couple that asked if they gave me there scraps would i make summer sausage for them. I said sure. You give me 50 lbs of meat and ill either give you back 10 lbs of summer sausage or you can pay me for my time and the cost of material. Didnt surprise me much none took me up on it. I also quit giving sausage away to anyone but family and two friends that would come running if i ever needed help doing something. I even cut my dad back drasticaly the last couple years he was here. Found out i was giving him 8 sticks and he was giving 3/4s of it to his buddys. After that he got one stick at a time. i think some think the sausage fairy makes it for me. Its ALOT OF WORK. Believe me by the end of crop damage shooting ive had my share of butchering deer! Dont know how many bucks ive let walk away in regular deer season because i looked at them as just work. Allway been a meat hunter and come deer season it would take a pretty big buck to make me pull the trigger. Its why for the last two years ive gone to camp and maybe hunted 2 days out of the 2 weeks im there. Deer hunting in deer season when you sit and wait and wait and wait is as exciting as watch paint dry.

[Dee]

It seems that not processing your own deer is becoming an issue with some here. At 72 years old, I've processed my share of deer. I've still got everything I need to continue to process them, including theexperience,  and know how. I just don't want to.

Complaining, or talking down to those that don't, because of the cost, hardly make sense if one occasionally gives guns to acquaintances other than family.

[phalanx]

I do have a meat cutting band saw, or ones thats dedicated to it. I keep it clean, disinfected and covered. It belonged to my Uncle. It’s handy on frozen meat like ribs.

[Drilling Man]

Complaining, or talking down to those that don't, because of the cost, hardly make sense if one occasionally gives guns to acquaintances other than family.

  Then there's the whole Christmas present thing.  I'd spend the money on presents for them anyway, so I'd rather give them the meat that I know they appreciate.

  For instance; I gave a processed buck to my stepson last Christmas.  He had just lost his job of 17 years, when the new owners came to him and said he was over paid and they were cutting cost.  He and his wife love venison but he has never hunted and lives in a state where it's MUCH harder to hunt than where I live.

  A few weeks ago they (both of them) thanked me again for giving them the meat, they like venison even more than I do...and I cured the Christmas present thing.  lol

  DM

[DDZ]

I think at deer processors around here you don't get your own meat back. At least at some of them you don't. I have never taken a deer to a processor because of that. You might be getting some of the guys deer that let it hang in a tree for a few days in 50 to 60 degree weather, then drives it home from camp and drops it off at the processor.
I and my family have processed our own deer always, and we still do.  It takes some work, but you get a better job at doing it yourself.  If you take it somewhere they are all about getting it done as fast as possible. We do take the time to trim all the what we call striffen out of the meat. Its the white connective tissue, and removing it takes time, but makes for better burger and steak.

[Lloyd Smale]

heck id take back straps over some stupid thing like socks or underware myself. Finally trained the kids into just giving me gift certificates for the gun shop or pallmetto. Bottom line is if i need socks or undeware ive already been to the store and bought them.

Complaining, or talking down to those that don't, because of the cost, hardly make sense if one occasionally gives guns to acquaintances other than family.

  Then there's the whole Christmas present thing.  I'd spend the money on presents for them anyway, so I'd rather give them the meat that I know they appreciate.

  For instance; I gave a processed buck to my stepson last Christmas.  He had just lost his job of 17 years, when the new owners came to him and said he was over paid and they were cutting cost.  He and his wife love venison but he has never hunted and lives in a state where it's MUCH harder to hunt than where I live.

  A few weeks ago they (both of them) thanked me again for giving them the meat, they like venison even more than I do...and I cured the Christmas present thing.  lol

  DM