Anyone ever had issues with a butcher screwing up?

[GregU]

Man last year stewerts realy screwed up my deer. I asked for 10 percent or less fat in the burger and they put so much fat in the burger that when we let it sit on the stove after cooking the whole thing is encased in a 1/4 inch thick white glaze of fat, I dont know how much fat they added but store boaught burger isnt even this bad, Also I requested bonless meat cuts and got back bone in cuts that had fragments of bone all over the meat. I like their jerky but will never take my meat there again!!!!!

This year I am butchering it myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

[ICEMAN]

Why do they call them "butchers"? 

[roadhuntking]

Tuss, TNT meats camano!

[robescc]

Just so everyone knows, if you take your game to Del Fox, you might get one steak from your own animal.  When they are cutting, they put all of the same cuts of meat on trays, and then proportion them out to each person.  You never get your own animal.  My brother worked ther for a couple of weeks and could not believe it.  That blows my mind.  They lost 2 of my Grandpa's pigs.  How does taht happen?

We have been taking our animals to John Tuss at TNT Wild Game for about 10 years now and he is pretty good.  He makes the best pepperoni I have ever had.  It is no comparison to any butcher shop I have tried. The landjaegers are top knotch also.

I do agree with most on here though. Doing it yourself is the best way.

Taking your game to Del Fox is a 

[cook0501]

here is an update.  i received a phone call yesterday morning from the owner of the butcher shop.  he called me before i had a chance to call them and complain about my whole ground deer.  he then stated to me that there was a mistake in my order.  they gave me half of my order and half of another hunters order and that all my cuts were still in there locker.  it so happens that both of our first names were the same, our last names started with the same 2 letters,  and both our deer weighed the same.  we drove the other half back got the rest of my order.   and some free stuff for the inconvenience.   

[Dansk]

Del Fox used to be pretty good, when his family owned/operated it.  I had problems there after it was sold to another person who bought the name along with the business- that was maybe 5 years ago and I have not been back.  Thier prices almost doubled from the prior year when DF owned it, but they had me over a barrel and wouldn't budge or give me any break on price... even had my reciept from the prior year.  That was the last time I went to DF.

The next year took an elk to Sylvanna meats who was full - so they sent me to some guy in Granite Falls who had a 10x10 butcher shop in his backyard.  Looked clean and all, and Sylvanna said they sent all thier overflow to him... Got back packages that were mislabled, too much ground, he didn't trim the wound channel (muzzle elk) enough so I had bone chips, clots, and LEAD in my ground.

I now drive 1.5 hrs away to a retired butcher who has a shop as a hobby... he only does one animal at a time and does good work.

[elkrack]

yeah butcher your own meat it is easy and you know that it is your deer for sure

[runningboard]

I now drive 1.5 hrs away to a retired butcher who has a shop as a hobby... he only does one animal at a time and does good work.

I almost am in the same situation, I found a retired butcher who has his own shop behind his place but less than a 1/2 hour from me. he even asks me not to bring him more business because he can't do it all, just selects who he'll work for. awesome work always stamped & labeled so even with full freezer you always know if it's deer, elk, bear, beef, pork whatever. no saws, all knife, he's very picky and cuts as if he's doing it for himself.
yep it pays to look around.

[NWBREW]

 

We have been taking our animals to John Tuss at TNT Wild Game for about 10 years now and he is pretty good.  He makes the best pepperoni I have ever had.  It is no comparison to any butcher shop I have tried. The landjaegers are top knotch also.

I do agree with most on here though. Doing it yourself is the best way.

Taking your game to Del Fox is a 
[/quote]


I agree with you on the D-F.  I went to a poker party last night and on of the guys there had some salami (venison) fron TNT.  Hands down the best I have ever had. He also told me that TNT has a waiting list. Does anyone know more about (the waiting list for TNT). I have been going to Marzolfs in snohomish for a few years now. The 1st time we went there we asked him about the (cutting many deer at one time) and the posibility of a mixed bag. He assured us that the deer you bring in is the deer yuo get back. He does not do the volume that D-F does, except for salami and pep.....D-F

[Charlie]

Good deal Josh. I'm glad it turned out in your favor.

[MagKarl]

I took my first elk to Stewarts in Yelm/McKenna.  I was not happy with the result.  I didn't get the polish dogs I wanted, but fat casing pepperoni instead.  The summer sausage was ground so fine it was like paste.  And I got 75lbs of that slimy sausage!  The burger had fat but was so uneven, one package would be dry and the next swimming in a half inch of grease.  I bought a grinder that fits the PTO on our Kitchen-Aide mixer and do my own now. 

[tony04]

the local butcher here screwed my bear up last year. i was going to get it all into summer sausage. 3 differant flavors but got just one flavor. my brother inlaw also took his is in to get half pepperoni and half summer sausage and only got pepperoni. my inlaws used to get a cow butchered there every year but they wouldnt get all of the meat back. only about 3/4 of what they took in

[kenbell27]

A couple of years ago i took two elk to a shop in tumwater one was mine and one my brothers, the instructions were for steaks and the rest ground. When my brother went in to pick it up i think there was a total of 8 packages of steaks and they ground the rest. 8 PACKAGES OF STEAKS FOR 2 WHOLE ELK . needless to say we agreed to never go back there.

[Schmalzfam]

We used Del Fox a couple years ago and it was awful !!!

It was strange because my son shot a young doe and it tasted like crap! We couldn't even eat the burger, it was nasty! We took care of the deer very well. However, when we got there it went on to the hooks next to many and they stunk...

I was disappointed.

We are use to being spoiled I guess. Where we hunt there is a butcher that lives in the alley behind our cabin we rent. So, when we get a deer we let him know and then by 5am he has it off the hanger and in his shop working on it. He has it done before we leave town and the meat is awesome...

We just didn't hunt there that one year and so we used Del fox but never again!!

[Dansk]

Interesting to hear im not the only one with problems at DF.  It's a shame, really, years ago when the fam owned it, grandma was behind the counter taking the order and grand-daughter was directing traffic...  I used to bring in my local deer and they would take off the skin, head, antlers, hoofs, etc while I waited for $10.  Took the guy all of 5-10 minutes and I was on my way with my antlers and a perfectly intact hide for Quil ceda tanners...  now they charge an armandaleg for everything- the price doubled and thier product went to sheeatt.