Why don't you process your own game?

[hunterbuilder]

We always had processed our own game. For a few years we took them to a butcher due to some time constraints. Had one mix our deer up with someone elses. So, we went back to doing our own again. We do take some meat in to get sausage/pepperoni/etc. made up  by the butcher though.

[Curly]

I voted "I don't want to buy all the gear necessary"..............although that really isn't true either.  I really do want to buy the gear, I just don't want to pay what it costs for a good grinder.  A grinder is the only equipment a guy really needs.  Way back in the day we used to grind it with a hand crank grinder and a small electric grinder.

We always cut and wrap our own steaks, roasts and stew meat.  Then we take the rest in to be ground.  We used to just take the hamburger meat in and watch them grind it and then they would give it all back to us right then in garbage bags; then we would go home and wrap it.  Now we just have them wrap it too. 

Can't find a butcher anymore that wants to just run the meat through the grinder for a small fee.  We used to be able to get them to grind an elk for $10 and we would wrap it.  It only takes them less than a few minutes to toss the meat in their grinder and hand over the ground meat.  It was nice to watch them grind the meat........you knew you were getting the right meat.

[Mike450r]

It doesn't really take that much time.  Check out a butchering chart online.  That will tell you what and where the cuts are.  Shouldn't take more than a deer or two to get the hang of it.  After hangin for a bit cut that sucker up and wrap it.  Takes a few hours at most.

Been doing it for over 20 years so I guess I am experienced but just consider it part of the job.  

That being said.  Last season my youngest son got his deer at 7:00 am, I got mine at 8:00 am,  wife got hers at 8:15 am.  Hanging and skinning wasn't bad but it wasn't that cold in mid November so we busted ass and butchered them all up together and that was a pain.

[Gutpile]

I cut & wrap my own but I do bring in the trim for jerky/sausage/ and grind. Got tired of Sonnenbergs ripping me off!!!  

It has nothing to do with being a man or not, myself I would rather pay the money and use the time to spend with my kids or do more hunting or fishing

I do it with my daughters 11-15 and they love it. Whats this? Whats that? This is my steak!!! Etc. Etc. They do enjoy themselves, but my wife hates to see the kitchen table loaded up with a bunch of venison. I have as much fun doing the boning and cutting as I do hunting. Kind of turned into a tradition.

[Gobble]

I've been doing mine the past few years. Its' cheaper plus you know what meat your getting back. I've had butchers take some meat more than once. One time I saw a few backstrap steaks sitting aside and asked him if those were mine, he embarrasingly said yes and I brushed it off, If he had asked me I would have given him a couple but this pretty much proved out what I always had thought went on.

[Bean Counter]

I do it with my daughters 11-15 and they love it. Whats this? Whats that? This is my steak!!! Etc. Etc. They do enjoy themselves, but my wife hates to see the kitchen table loaded up with a bunch of venison. I have as much fun doing the boning and cutting as I do hunting. Kind of turned into a tradition.

 

Part of me is nervous to start having children but the other part of me can't wait to start taking my little ones out. 

[ICEMAN]

Never hired out. Heard about and seen some of the crud that "professionals" crank out as they try to cut corners, and make a buck. No thanks.

Do it yourself. You can spend as much time as necessary to do it right. "Cutting" is a misnomer for this process. Getting your meat to the freezer is all about cleaning, trimming, discarding, cutting and wrapping. In my opinion, wrapping is as important to the process as any other step. I could not emphasize this step enough. If you took fillet mignon and wrapped it like I see butchers do, it is going to freezer burn in a matter of months. We wrap our meats as tightly as possible with clear plastic wrap, two separate times, then overwrap each with waxed butcher paper. The purpose of the butcher paper is to protect the plastic wrap from impact when in the freezer as you paw thru looking for more tenderloins. If air can circulate around the meat, then it will dehydrate the product and "freezer burn" it... Butchers cannot take the time necessary to wrap meat this well. You may cringe or think I am full of crap, but we have opened steaks that were over 6 years old wrapped this way, and they look as though you had wrapped them yesterday.

We make the cutting and wrapping sessions fun, with maybe a football game going, drinks, or music, snacks, story telling....just plain fun to hang out with your buds, or family and reminisce about the hunt.

[Bean Counter]

we have opened steaks that were over 6 years old wrapped this way, and they look as though you had wrapped them yesterday.

We make the cutting and wrapping sessions fun, with maybe a football game going, drinks, or music, snacks, story telling....just plain fun to hang out with your buds, or family and reminisce about the hunt.

Dang, six years old!  I agree--its a part of the hunting experience. Just don't have two many beers when cutting that deer--you don't want to add "ER Visit" to the list of experiences. 

[PolarBear]

It depends on how much crap I have going on.  Usually i do it myself but if I am short on time, I will have it done.  I usually will hand my elk in a cold storage whether I have them cut it up or not.

[Bean Counter]

It depends on how much crap I have going on.  Usually i do it myself but if I am short on time, I will have it done.  I usually will hand my elk in a cold storage whether I have them cut it up or not.

Oh, that's cool--you mean you can pay some storage place to hang it a few days even if you're not going to have them cut & wrap?

[PolarBear]

Some places will charge you a few bucks just to let it hang in their cooler.  Some will do it for free if you have them make sausage of jerky for you.

[jeff100]

I used to do a bit of business with Del Fox up by Stanwood.  Great guy, I highly recommend him. 

I took a bear into him one year, asked him if I could come back and watch him butcher it, I wanted to learn to do it myself.  Sure, no problem he says.  So I get a call one evening, I'm gonna do your bear, come and watch.  I get there, all excited to learn the art of boning out a bear with a knife.  Long story short, he cut everything up with his meat bandsaw.  Everything.

I was pretty dissapointed, but what are ya gonna do??  Besides, spending a few hours with Del is always entertaining anyway....he's a good ole boy that has a LOT of hunting stories....

I plan to butcher my own this year.  Question is how long to hang before butchering?  How do you know when it's hung long enough?

BTW, the people here considering buying their own equipment, keep an eye out for someone who is getting out of the business of butchering.  You can get commercial grade equipment for quite a bit less than it would cost new.  Craigslist....

[MountainWalk]

I dont really hang my game. I just put it all into a few big coolers full of ice and rock salt. Everyday, I drain the water and add more ice and salt. I keep this up for seven days, then I do most of my wrapping. Works for me.

[Bean Counter]

I dont really hang my game. I just put it all into a few big coolers full of ice and rock salt. Everyday, I drain the water and add more ice and salt. I keep this up for seven days, then I do most of my wrapping. Works for me.

Probably better than nothing.  My understanding of the benefits of hanging are two fold:
One: it keeps the meat from soaking in its own blood as it pools toward the bottom (accelerating spoilage)
Two: It allows the cells and muscle fibers to stretch out, increasing the tenderness.

The champ I learned from told me that if you can't hang it, at least keep it in the game bag with plenty of newspaper underneath, and change the newspaper daily. That way you're getting as much of the juices away fromt he meat as possible. 

I'll look more into jury rigging the second fridge with some sort of meat hook/hanging system and post what I find out.

[BlackTail]

Here is a pdf link to a study done by the University of Wyoming on aging big game.  I'm not saying this is the end-all, be-all in hanging your game, but it does give some good information. 

http://ces.uwyo.edu/PUBS/B513Rpdf.pdf