cut your own or pay to process?

[Rainier10]

Do it all ourselves.  Learned from my father in law and family.  Definitely not hard to do after doing a few and you have complete control of what you get for meat.  Only once in the last 20 years have we taken one to the butcher and that was because I was heading out on another week long hunt and didn't have time to get it done.

[hollymaster]

Do all of mine...learned from helping my dad when I was a kid.

The guys that drop off their game..your fooling yourself if u think you are actually getting yout meat back

I think it's more of getting all your meat back. Specifically with butchers that are busy. 

[TheHunt]

Butcher my own but send out for pepperoni at Mountain View meats.   In my opinion they make the best.

[kisfish]

Do all of mine...learned from helping my dad when I was a kid.

The guys that drop off their game..your fooling yourself if u think you are actually getting yout meat back

I think it's more of getting all your meat back. Specifically with butchers that are busy. 

I would agree that a busy shop gets in done in a hurry. You have to it's a business. You have to pay the employee's, taxes, utilities, etc etc. I know in the shop I worked for example there was a ton of cost on the business side. just on the wages part there are 9 people getting paid well by the hour. 1 saw man, 4 bone rs, 1 wrapper, 1 grinder, 1 running the register/ phone, 1 receiving animals. Then you and in the owners salary, cost of wrapping paper, utilities, saw blades and other miscellaneous items you need to be cranking out big volume.  With that being said my personal experience is most animals get cut and you get back the vast majority of your meat. Sure when I am at home I can pull an extra 15 lbs of meat out of an elk that was missed at the shop. It also takes a ton of extra time. It comes down to getting every single scrap of the bone and going through all the blood shot. I would guess that it would take one person an extra hour to get that 15 of meat. It also comes down to the shop as some are better than others.
On a side note it would take my grandpa 3 days to cut an elk but the coyotes would go away starving off what he left on the bone 

[GurrCentral]

Do all of mine...learned from helping my dad when I was a kid.

The guys that drop off their game..your fooling yourself if u think you are actually getting yout meat back

Very much depends on where you take it...

[Rich_S]

First few years I would take it to a shop. Then I learned how to do it myself. Until then, I didn't know deer had backstrap.  Never got any from a commercial butcher.

[kisfish]

First few years I would take it to a shop. Then I learned how to do it myself. Until then, I didn't know deer had backstrap.  Never got any from a commercial butcher.

Cut bone in at a facility it probably would have been labeled "chops".

[bowhunterwa87]

Cut my own. Deff a plus owning a grinder and smoker too ....

[NOCK NOCK]

I learned from my Dad and have since always cut my own.  I prefer this for many reasons..

1. A very good friends father was a butcher (slaughter truck & wild game) He had the stance that " I am a meat cutter, not a meat cleaner, I cut up your animal in the condition you bring it to me"  We all know that skinning an animal gets some hair on the meat.

2. I worked in a grocery store for many years, if you saw what goes into your store bought burger, you wouldn't eat it.   I do still get prime rib fat from them to make my grind, and I pick thru it for the best pieces.

3. I believe that running a bandsaw blade through the bone/marrow imparts an odd flavor (gamey) into the meat. I cut all boneless and trim off all fat.

[Payne]

Cut our own and learned from my dad.

We have had a couple done by others, one turned out ok and the other was cut horribly. the one that was horrible, they cut through the bone and I think that had a lot to do with it.

I think since we have been doing it for so long we are really particular as to how it is cut. Especially for deer, we never leave any bit of fat on the meat and like small pieces.

[Payne]

I learned from my Dad and have since always cut my own.  I prefer this for many reasons..

1. A very good friends father was a butcher (slaughter truck & wild game) He had the stance that " I am a meat cutter, not a meat cleaner, I cut up your animal in the condition you bring it to me"  We all know that skinning an animal gets some hair on the meat.

2. I worked in a grocery store for many years, if you saw what goes into your store bought burger, you wouldn't eat it.   I do still get prime rib fat from them to make my grind, and I pick thru it for the best pieces.

3. I believe that running a bandsaw blade through the bone/marrow imparts an odd flavor (gamey) into the meat. I cut all boneless and trim off all fat.

[GurrCentral]

I cut and wrap, well, vacuum seal all the steak cuts, but take the leftover to a meat cutter friend for brats, pep sticks, and burger.

[jasnt]

I learned from my Dad and have since always cut my own.  I prefer this for many reasons..

1. A very good friends father was a butcher (slaughter truck & wild game) He had the stance that " I am a meat cutter, not a meat cleaner, I cut up your animal in the condition you bring it to me"  We all know that skinning an animal gets some hair on the meat.

2. I worked in a grocery store for many years, if you saw what goes into your store bought burger, you wouldn't eat it.   I do still get prime rib fat from them to make my grind, and I pick thru it for the best pieces.

3. I believe that running a bandsaw blade through the bone/marrow imparts an odd flavor (gamey) into the meat. I cut all boneless and trim off all fat.

+1 for number 3

[finnman]

DIY cutter here! Learned from my stepdad after shooting my first muley in 1992. He showed me the ropes and I just took off from there. If I want any kind of sausage I take it in to a butcher who does a great job. I am cutting up my moose right now, last night after work I got through one rear quarter by myself, deboning and cutting steaks and meat for canning and burger grinding.

[gr8whthunter]

im a DIY'er i cut up my own game, make sausage, peperoni, jerky, burger i make it all, me and a buddy do it, have a little butcher shop set up in his shop, i enjoy doing it and i know what goes into everything i eat, how its prepared and i like knowing that i got everything out of the game i harvest.. the leftovers couldnt feed a crow