Got my elk back from butcher...somethings fishy

[jnutzalot]

So I just got my Elk back. I brought in 190lbs of quartered out meat (bone in). I weighed the meat when I got home and there's only 73 lbs total and that includes 54 lbs of hamburger meat (which is cut with beef), which I didn't ask for. They didn't follow my instructions and didnt give me any roast pieces/rounds for doing jerky. So I've got 19 pounds of (steak cuts) cube steak, New York, and sirloin tip....Missing the tenderloins completely. I'm pretty certain I got ripped off but I'm trying to think if there is any reason I would have ended up with that little of meat.

Edit: Took 2 months to get the meat back. Here's the time line of trying to contact them since people keep asking.

1) I contracted them at 3 weeks and asked if my order was ready (they never attempted to contact me). At that time they took my information so they could check on my order but never called me back. (week 3)
2) I contacted them at the start of the following week and received their message machine during normal business hours, I don't leave a message. I figure they still aren't done. My friends tell me not to worry. (beginning of week 4)
3) I contacted them again at the end of the  week and received their message machine again, I leave a message stating, "it's now been a month and I haven't received my meat" or something to that extent. (end of week 4)
4) I call the following week and get someone on the phone. I give them my name and they say they don't see my ticket up and that I had a bunch of orders ahead of me but they will be working all weekend to get caught up on orders, blah, blah, blah - It should be ready in 1-2 weeks. (week 5)
5) The following week I call and my call does not go through - I get one of those phone company error messages. Later I find out their card machine shares a line with their main line so maybe that is why.
6) I call again later that day and get the same error message. I start to worry they went out of business or something. (Week 6, it's now been a 1.5 months)
7) I call again the following week and get a their message machine again, It's mid morning and I figure maybe they aren't in yet, or not answering their phone as usual. (beginning of week 7)
8 ) I call back mid week and get a hold of the manager, tell him how long I have been waiting, and he tells me my Elk is up and being worked on and they will call me as soon as it is ready. (week 7)
9 ) A week goes by and they call and leave a message on my voice mail that my elk is ready. (week 8 )

A heads up - I live 2 hrs from butcher, not that easy for me to just drive to his shop on a whim.

Update 3: The butcher called me back today. He agreed that they were at fault. He also agreed to replace my meat with Farm Elk. We agreed on 92 pounds of rounds and burger, and 40 lbs of tenderloins and backstrap. He stated he would be docking the pay from the employee that mishandled the meat and apologized.

Now comes the part to see if he follows through. 

Update 2: The Butcher did not call me back all day, again! I had to call back and the Manager once again gave me the runaround about the supposed employee that botched the order...My patience has about ran out at this point. He promises to call me tomorrow at 10:00 to settle this up. We'll see what happens, this is such a joke. 


Update 1: So after calling the butcher at 10:00 he never called me back. I waited until about 1:30pm until calling him back. He stated at that time that he hadn't "seen the kid that butchered my elk yet". I asked about the tenderloins and he still didnt have an answer. I brought up the rancid smell and taste of the meat and he ask me, "Did you bring them in, in game bags? They might have got stored in the game bags, let me get hold of this kid and I'll call you back". He never called back.

I thawed out the backstraps today, they smell like a garbage can, like rancid meat. I gagged just smelling them, pretty sure I would get sick if I ate any of the steak. The straps were in perfect shape when we had them for dinner the night I brought the Elk into the shop, they smelt sweet, and tasted like lean beef before sitting in his shop for 2 months.

On the upside the burger does taste good, and smells proper. Although I'm figuring it's cut with a great deal of beef or all beef, it dosesn't look that rich red that elk burger has, here's a pic....

[KFhunter]

Oh my


next step is to call this butcher and ask what's up.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Did you talk to the butcher about this?

[longwalker]

Let's play guess the butcher. Bet someone gets it right real quick

[jrebel]

Where did you take it?  Have you called them?  Is it possible they forgot to give you your full order by mistake? 

I would call them and ask first.  If they don't have a reason and it is not a mistake, then I would do a write up on here so it never happens to another sportsmen. 

Why are you just now getting your elk back?  When did you harvest it? 

So many questions unanswered!!!!

[bobcat]

Does the 190 pounds that you brought in include the rib cage and back bone? What size elk was it? Bull or cow?

[mkcj]

I know just how you feel, Some years ago my son drew a youth moose tag, the moose he shot was only a 2 1/2 Y/O but when I picked the meat up it was in 2 boxes, I weighed it when I got home an had 57 pounds of meat that year I bought a grinder from Cabelas and watched video's on youtube, My wild meat will never see a butcher shop again!!!

[BOWHUNTER45]

Sounds like it is time for you to head to cabelas and get yourself a grinder and a good knife set ..I had one bad experience and only because I got lazy one year and did not feel like cutting and grinding meat So I bought it to a butcher to find chunks of bone and hair in my ground meat ..perfectly clean and boned when I turned it in 

So I no longer get lazy 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

After the long intense thread on butchers on another thread you should let us all in on who this butcher is? I would also suggest learning to cut your own meats.....

[jnutzalot]

It took 3 months to get my elk back. Shot him during modern on or around the 12th of November....Just him back on saturday. I really didnt notice how little meat was there until I started going through it today for dinner preparations, then I weighed it.

The butcher was 2 hours from home, I couldn't take him to my regular butcher in town due to how far away we were and the fact that we still had more hunting left to do. I'm going to talk to the butcher tomorrow to get to the bottom of this, he is closed Sunday and Monday...

Edit: It was 2 months not 3  I took it in on Nov 8th and got a call to pick up on Jan 9th. Picked it up the following Saturday.

[jnutzalot]

 

Does the 190 pounds that you brought in include the rib cage and back bone? What size elk was it? Bull or cow?

The weight did not include the ribcage we did not get much rib meat out (no bone). It was a bull.

[bobcat]

Wow! A bull like that... should have got twice as much meat back as what you got. A spike bull I got a few years ago was 160 pounds of mostly boned out meat. The only bone we packed out was the shoulders, which doesn't weigh much.

Unless your bull had a ton of blood shot meat or something, I don't see how you could get only 73 pounds of meat. 150 would be more like it.

[lonedave]

Just for comparison, I got 179# of steaks and burger off a small Toutle 4x5 in 2012 and he wasn't especially large by any stretch.  I did the cutting, grinding, and packaging though....for what it's worth....

[jnutzalot]

Wow! A bull like that... should have got twice as much meat back as what you got. A spike bull I got a few years ago was 160 pounds of mostly boned out meat. The only bone we packed out was the shoulders, which doesn't weigh much.

Unless your bull had a ton of blood shot meat or something, I don't see how you could get only 73 pounds of meat. 150 would be more like it.

Yea...I'm starting to get pretty worked up.

[jrebel]

My cow netted us 90 lbs of burger this year and that doesn't count the steaks.  You got the shaft.  Hope it was a mistake and he forgot to give you some. 

Nice bull though!!  What did you do with the head / horns.