Going Rate for Deer Processing

[millerwheeler]

Saw mt view meats was mentioned all I’ll say is that place is the dirtiest butcher I have ever been inside . I do all my own after taking a deer there in a few years ago after going inside told him I’ll take my business elsewhere and grabbed my deer and left went home and made the time

Your definition of clean and mine may be different but you enjoy them I’ll just keep doing it myself
Interesting
I’ve had the completely opposite reaction to mt view it’s always looked very clean.

[GWP]

Saw mt view meats was mentioned all I’ll say is that place is the dirtiest butcher I have ever been inside . I do all my own after taking a deer there in a few years ago after going inside told him I’ll take my business elsewhere and grabbed my deer and left went home and made the time

Don't know the shop, but it being a butcher shop I would ask what time of the day you were in there? If it was later and they had been processing a bunch of critters they 'generally' don't do a full clean up after every one.

[millerwheeler]

Saw mt view meats was mentioned all I’ll say is that place is the dirtiest butcher I have ever been inside . I do all my own after taking a deer there in a few years ago after going inside told him I’ll take my business elsewhere and grabbed my deer and left went home and made the time

Don't know the shop, but it being a butcher shop I would ask what time of the day you were in there? If it was later and they had been processing a bunch of critters they 'generally' don't do a full clean up after every one.

 Was opening first thing in the morning and y’all can saw as you want I saw how dirty it was and all the flies and we know what flies do too meat, then add in the fact he was smoking while in the shop  and ya let me , obviously nothing was cleaned from prior business day

[Hunter24113]

Going rate is from anywhere from $1-$2 a pound for just a basic cut and wrap and grind the trimmings into burger. Add maybe $10 for the pork/beef/fat they add.  Then you got charged something for them to skin the deer and cut the legs off.  I would guess $25 -$50 for that. 
What did you pay and where did you have it processed?

Thanks for all the feedback and info.
My total charge was ~$440 for the deer I mentioned in my first post. 
The rate at this place (Bryan's Meat Co.) is $2.69/lb. with a minimum of $269.00 for deer/elk/moose/antelope (this WAS posted inside the business).  It seemed steep to me, but the other butcher's that I called in the area weren't taking wild game.

My invoice showed:
121 lbs. "DEER CUT & WRAP BNLS" at $2.69/lb.
A small charge for "Raw Material Inedible Charge"
$75 for Skinning
Almost $30 in sales tax

I weighed the box and packages when I got home, it was 79 lbs. total. The breakdown was:
50 packages of Ground (they added 10% beef fat)
9 Round steaks
8 Rib steaks
5 New York Steaks
2 Roasts
2 Tenderloins

What I'm gathering from your responses is that I need to find another butcher or learn how to do it myself

[Bullkllr]

Too late now, but I got this off the Butcher Boys website:

Cut and Wrap $.79 per lb. ($79.00 minimum)
Grind and Wrap $.89 per lb.
Grinding Only $.60 per lb.
Cryovac $.50 per bag

 HANGING
Elk $25.00 a day
Deer $15.00 a day

Can't give you a review of them or other recently, but the few I checked seem to advertise much lower prices. I have dealt with Stacey's Meats up in Ephrata and they were a stand-up operation and went over and above when we needed them at a very reasonable price.
For what you paid you can buy a grinder that will last your whole hunting career.

[huntnnw]

I will never understand all the preparation, scouting , the hunting etc that goes into hunting then be like “ I don’t have time” or “ I don’t know how” you learned how to hunt and you sure as hell made time to hunt, putting your meat in the freezer is the last step in the hunt. The one time someone takes their meat in and has any sort of sausage made you coulda bought a nice meat grinder.

[huntnfmly]

I will never understand all the preparation, scouting , the hunting etc that goes into hunting then be like “ I don’t have time” or “ I don’t know how” you learned how to hunt and you sure as hell made time to hunt, putting your meat in the freezer is the last step in the hunt. The one time someone takes their meat in and has any sort of sausage made you coulda bought a nice meat grinder.

And I will never understand why comments like this are always made
Some people don’t have time and have not learned processing yet and my answer to that is so what?

[huntnnw]

Then you don’t have time to hunt

[C-Money]

DANG!! $440 /deer? I think I would learn to love deer processing if I could get that much per deer. Not sure I'd feel right charging that much...

[Jpmiller]

I will never understand all the preparation, scouting , the hunting etc that goes into hunting then be like “ I don’t have time” or “ I don’t know how” you learned how to hunt and you sure as hell made time to hunt, putting your meat in the freezer is the last step in the hunt. The one time someone takes their meat in and has any sort of sausage made you coulda bought a nice meat grinder.

Couldn't the same be said about reloading, gunsmithing, sewing your own hunting clothes etc?

I subscribe to the make it all into roasts, steak the roasts you mess up and chili meat the steaks your screw up method. Plus if you don't have enough steaks it's really easy to slice up a roast for steaks. It's extra work, you need specialty gear and a decent sized kitchen space to do it in. I'm not going to thumb my nose at someone for taking it to a processer though.

[Blacktail Sniper]

Big difference in cost between bringing in an unskinned deer with all the bones vs a boned out box of just meat.

Then you don’t have time to hunt

Or, the person was limited to how much time off available from work or other life requirements.  Not everyone has unlimited free time or the space to process one. 

I have done both ways depending on just those exact reasons, bottom line, he got out, got a deer and is now able to enjoy it over the winter. 

Can't people just congratulate the successful hunter and simply answer his questions or give helpful guidance without interjecting their opinions, oh wait, clearly they cannot.

Got to love the internet!!

[RockChuck]

The best part of doing it yourself is you can get exactly what you want.  No matter what you tell the butcher, they do every animal like they were taught and what is fastest as they get paid by the pound not the hour.  When I do a deer I only end up with maybe 5 pounds of ground max, I prioritize roasts and stew meat.  Others like grind.  Do whatever you like to cook and eat however you like it.

It's a great learning experience.

    THIS ^👆

 

It’s nice to be able to make packages just the size you want.

I took one deer to the same place in tri cities years ago (price wasn’t that high then probably went up)  and had the same experience as the original poster. Seemed way over priced, have done them myself since

[Twispriver]

It looks like they charged you for skinning and then charged you $2.69 per pound in cutting and wrapping for the hide weight 

[duckmen1]

Some people may get an evening to go out after work during the week and have to work the next several days but may have been successful in that evening. Thus a butcher being a good option. If you have time and ability to do it yourself great. If not that is what a butcher is for. I have done both.

Finding a butcher willing to take meat in during season is getting tougher and tougher. They are just getting so busy. And Butcher Boys has treated me well on cut and wrap for a good cost. Cost posted in a prior post Although sometimes they get busy too and due to the racks being full I have not been able to drop off all animals. That being said they have treated us good. Trying to go into season with different butchers in mind to get ahold of can be a life saver. Or finding an option of someone who has a deep freeze to put meat into while waiting to go to a butcher is a good too.

And learning how to process can be very rewarding and enjoyable too if time allows. Can be cost savings and minimal cost to get into.