meat processing cost

[kyle dillehay]

Just wondering about how much it costs to have a 500 lb elk carcass processed into the basic cuts and grind? Thanks!

[MADMAX]

Figure on 200-300 bucks would be my guess
Depending on where
Call first

[10thmountainarcher]

Olson’s meats in enumclaw charged my buddy $300 for a spike whitetail that weighed maybe 60 pounds dressed.. I would suggest not using them for your elk. My brothers elk with a lot of snack sticks and breakfast sausage was $325 in Spokane.

[wadu1]

Check Mountain View Meets in Midland or Stewarts in Yelm for prices.

[Tbar]

Just wondering about how much it costs to have a 500 lb elk carcass processed into the basic cuts and grind? Thanks!

Do you have a 500lb hanging elk down? I think the going rate $.70-$1.00 a lb for cut and wrap.  Cured meats get really expensive.

[kyle dillehay]

No elk hanging, just wondering about costs for the future vs. processing it myself.

Thanks for the replies!

[LongBomb]

170lbs of meat made up into summer sausage, pepperoni and jerky ran me $500 last year

[blackpowderhunter]

basic cuts and grind you're better off buying yourself a decent grinder and doing it yourself.
if you want jerky and sausage made, just take some of the meat somewhere to have that made and save yourself a lot of money vs taking the whole animal in.
i purchased an LEM grinder and it's been great.  you also don't have to do it all at once.  i freeze 10 lb trim bags and throughout the year pull them out to make burger grind, bacon grind, breakfast suage, chorizo etc.  it's nice to have the flexibility 

[lastmk8]

Meat processing really comes down to knowing how often you feel you will be doing it.  If more than a few times then doing it yourself is the only way to go.  You will feel the satisfaction of knowing you yourself took that animal from field to table, and truly know it is your animal, (do you really know if it is your animal you get back from the processor???). 

OK, so you go with option "B", do this yourself, really the best choice.  First there are many you tube videos of processing anything you want, they make it look easy, it somewhat is easy, but it does take practice, nothing to be afraid of, hence why the grinder is the first purchase, hahaha..  Grinder, yes, get a good one, make sure it's a stainless commercial grade grinder, don't go with the cheap $100 model.  A good home use commercial grinder is going to be $300, deal with it, it will return your investment for years to some.  (think ground beef and pork here).  Practice wrapping meat, this is where you will separate the boys and men.  Poorly wrapped meat will lead to freezer burn and ruined meat.  I can claim, with verifiable evidence I have had no problem keeping processed game for two years in the freezer without freezer burn (not by practice, sometime "lost in the freezer".  We wrap all our meat with plastic first then wrap in butcher paper.  Yes, you can use the "foodsaver" vac suck bags but doing a whole elk will cost you 2 or 3 hundred dollars in bags alone. 

After the kill,.... now that you have that grinder laying around collecting dust until next year it is time to practice.  Go buy those 20# Chuck Rolls and 15# pork butts and grind away.  You will be completely impressed how much better your ground meat products are as compared to anything you buy from the supermarket.  When it comes to taste and grease by product there is no comparison, I have not bought ground anything is over ten years, I do it all myself and am that much happier and satisfied for doing so.  Our whole hunting and buddy network regularly have 'grind party's" when its time to fill everyone freezer with ground meat. 

Watch your videos, make a list of materials you will need, and go forth and conquer the meat world, remember, it is a life skill, when the crap hits the fan those who can kill and process meat will always hold the upper hand!!!!   

[ctwiggs1]

Olson’s meats in enumclaw charged my buddy $300 for a spike whitetail that weighed maybe 60 pounds dressed.. I would suggest not using them for your elk. My brothers elk with a lot of snack sticks and breakfast sausage was $325 in Spokane.

Something if smelly here.  I've used Olson's before and that's extremely high.  Did he have them hang it for a long time?  Did he have sausage/jerky done?  Basic steaks/roasts/grind couldn't have come out to $300.  If it really did, I would recommend calling Adam Olson ASAP and getting this squared away.

That being said....   I started doing all my meat 3 years ago and haven't looked back.  I bought a $150 grinder my first year at Bass Pro and it's paid for itself and with dividends.  Even if you just make steaks out of the backstrap/loins and grind the rest, you're still getting a lot of great meat.  You'll learn how to carve out various other steaks and roasts as you go.

Last year we went all out and did 40lb of summer sausage as well - man that was good!

[10thmountainarcher]

Olson’s meats in enumclaw charged my buddy $300 for a spike whitetail that weighed maybe 60 pounds dressed.. I would suggest not using them for your elk. My brothers elk with a lot of snack sticks and breakfast sausage was $325 in Spokane.

Something if smelly here.  I've used Olson's before and that's extremely high.  Did he have them hang it for a long time?  Did he have sausage/jerky done?  Basic steaks/roasts/grind couldn't have come out to $300.  If it really did, I would recommend calling Adam Olson ASAP and getting this squared away.

That being said....   I started doing all my meat 3 years ago and haven't looked back.  I bought a $150 grinder my first year at Bass Pro and it's paid for itself and with dividends.  Even if you just make steaks out of the backstrap/loins and grind the rest, you're still getting a lot of great meat.  You'll learn how to carve out various other steaks and roasts as you go.

Last year we went all out and did 40lb of summer sausage as well - man that was good!

He had some pepperoni snack sticks with cheese made. He did not have them hang it for any amount of time. Not sure what the deal was.. even if he had the entire deer made into pepperoni I don’t think it should have been $300. This happened two years ago now so probably to late to address it.

[ctwiggs1]

Olson’s meats in enumclaw charged my buddy $300 for a spike whitetail that weighed maybe 60 pounds dressed.. I would suggest not using them for your elk. My brothers elk with a lot of snack sticks and breakfast sausage was $325 in Spokane.

Something if smelly here.  I've used Olson's before and that's extremely high.  Did he have them hang it for a long time?  Did he have sausage/jerky done?  Basic steaks/roasts/grind couldn't have come out to $300.  If it really did, I would recommend calling Adam Olson ASAP and getting this squared away.

That being said....   I started doing all my meat 3 years ago and haven't looked back.  I bought a $150 grinder my first year at Bass Pro and it's paid for itself and with dividends.  Even if you just make steaks out of the backstrap/loins and grind the rest, you're still getting a lot of great meat.  You'll learn how to carve out various other steaks and roasts as you go.

Last year we went all out and did 40lb of summer sausage as well - man that was good!

He had some pepperoni snack sticks with cheese made. He did not have them hang it for any amount of time. Not sure what the deal was.. even if he had the entire deer made into pepperoni I don’t think it should have been $300. This happened two years ago now so probably to late to address it.

Something stinks there man.  I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but something is wrong with that.  Olson's charges a bit more for their sausage products (which they can get away with because of all the awards they have) but they aren't scandalous by any means.  It's too bad your buddy didn't deal with it when the time popped up.  I hate to see a decent business take a black eye on the internet over incomplete information.

Looks like you're from Buckley - maybe they charged a Buckley residence fee??   

[OutHouse]

To give you some perspective, I had a whitetail buck done by a guy up in the Methow and the total cost was about $240 as I recall. The deer was almost 150 pounds hanging. He did lots of cuts and roasts and the rest into burger and sausage. His cuts were exceptionally done and wrapped. The burger/sausage was cut with pork shoulder at about 20% I think.

[Tinmaniac]

If I am not mistaken butchers charge by hanging weight,meaning when you take it in on the bone you pay for bone weight as well.There is a reason why they weigh it when you drop it off.Simple cut,wrap and burger grind is fairly cheap.The more labor and time,like in the smokehouse,casings,spices naturally cost more.This is why there is usually a minimum amount of jerky,pepperoni or sausage that they will make.

[Blacktail Sniper]

If I am not mistaken butchers charge by hanging weight,meaning when you take it in on the bone you pay for bone weight as well.There is a reason why they weigh it when you drop it off.Simple cut,wrap and burger grind is fairly cheap.The more labor and time,like in the smokehouse,casings,spices naturally cost more.This is why there is usually a minimum amount of jerky,pepperoni or sausage that they will make.