To Process my self or not to process myself. That is the question

[BOWHUNTER45]

Do it yourself ...I let no one touch my meat after one bad experience about 20 yrs ago ... besides like someone already said ....it is very satisfying to do it yourself

[Bean Counter]

+1 to all the above. Unless you make a lot of money and have little vacation time. I like to take my time with it. I need a whole day to do a deer right and three days for an elk. I take my time with trimming, washing, etc. i hate seeing grass, dirt, and hair in my meat.

If you're not sure about making the investment in a grinder or not, you can always carefully (tightly) pack your grind pile and save it for next year. That will give you time to find a good deal on a grinder or maybe make friends with someone who has one.

[Eli346]

Cayleigh,
 Kenzmad just put a post up today offering to help out anyone who wants to learn to butcher their own game. I believe he's from Kent which isn't to far from you. I'd take him up on it if I were you. Check it out!

[ReformedVeg]

Definitely do it your self.  Its rewarding.  You know exactly what you have and how it got that way.  And next time it will be easier and better.

I processed my first deer this year and it was slow, 9 hours if I'm being honest.  Just take your time, stop and CLEAN your tools frequently, keep everything cool, and enjoy knowing you earned it.  If you make a mistake, it likely just means you have one less steak and a little more burger. 

[huntingfool7]

Quite a few years ago, I had a S. Hill butcher send my deer burger home with gravel in it.  I know it was my buck because I eventually found the 12 gauge slug that I slew him with in a steak with a wad of blood and hair sticking out of it.  Been cutting them myself ever since. 

I'm in Puyallup also.  If you whack one this year, give me a buzz and I'll help you cut it.  PMing you my #

Good luck,
James

[KopperBuck]

8-9 hours for a deer? That would kill me. 2 hours max for me, and it's clean. Don't think that this is such a big deal, it isn't. Just cut with the muscle groups, do some research on what cuts are better for the pot vs the grill or grinder.

Like it was said before, decide before hand which choice cuts you want. The rest you can freeze for later use. I don't take many, if any, roasts from a deer. Everything but the goodies is ground into some kind of sausage, or made into jerky.

If you're going to do sausage I suggest waiting until you have a two evenings or a weekend free. The cure time for much of the stuff requires time.

Lots of good advice here, one thing not mentioned is make sure you are going to be comfortable. Especially your first time, it'll take you a little longer. I'm a taller guy and bending over for long periods kills me. I made a raised platform just for this purpose. Something to think about...

[ghosthunter]

Depends

For elk I hunt out of a camp. Black powder. The weather is warm most the time. 150 miles from home and not planning to go home till after deer season.
Heck we skin it and drive it the 20 miles to Nile Meats.
He cuts , wraps and freezes it. We pick it up. When we are done hunting. $150.00.
No fuss.

For deer we are 100 miles from home cooler weather. We bone any deer out ourselves and run it home if we need too.

I have done it both ways, now in my senior years I am more prone to take to the butcher . The secret a quality butcher .

I will add that ( off topic) you get back what you take in. I stood outside nile meats one afternoon while my buddies were filling out paper work and watched the butcher turn away several elk. I could not understand how people could spend tons of Money to hunt, and treat meat the way they do.
Covered in mud, dirt, hide still on and 60 degrees out.,  chopped up with a hatchet, stinking meat. Some green on edges.

Just. A waste. Anyone can kill one how you treat it after the shot is what's important.

[Bean Counter]

Just. A waste. Anyone can kill one how you treat it after the shot is what's important.

Well said.

[jechicdr]

All it takes to butcher an animal is a filet knife and possibly a meat grinder.  Took a deer to a butcher once...once.  I got a pile of "jerky" that had fat and tendons still attached.  I got some "round" steaks and some burger.  That time I was smart enough to cut out the backstrap and tenderloins before giving up the rest for processing.  The only thing that came out really good was the pepperoni sticks.  When I process myself, I get a lot of lean, tendon and membrane free steaks of various sizes and a little bit of burger and strips of steak that would work as well in a stir fry/bulgogi/or tender jerky.

My method involves carefully cutting each muscle segment from the other muscle segments and bones.  Then just filet away any dry or oxidized meat, tendons, and membranes.  Determine the grain of the meat and just cut across the grain ~1 inch thick.  Some muscle groups have a large tendon or membrane going through the middle, in those, sometimes I'll cut across the grain and then trim the membranes and tendons out.  I divide my meat up based on quarter of the animal and the size of the steaks.  Anything too small to be called stew/steak/strip gets ground for burger.  This last year I got an elk and two deer, so I already had plenty of steaks, so I ground most of the front shoulders on the deer for burger, but on a leaner year, I'll try and get a few medium and small steaks from the front quarters.  The hindquarters yield the largest amount of steaks mostly in the medium to large range with a few smaller ones.  Muscles around the chest cavity yield most of the strips.  Back strap are the easiest to clean up once you cut them away from the underlying spine and ribs.