How's your Butcher?

[brichards44]

I've used a few butchers over the years, but my local guy hung up the knife a while back. I used a guy last year and it was OK. $0.80 per pound cut and wrap. Just seeing how everyone else likes their butcher and what they pay per pound.

[youngbuckslayer]

i butcher myself its a lot cheaper and you can cut the meat ow you like it.

[Bean Counter]

My favorite butcher is a home grinder and vacuum sealer. Cost me almost $400--just once 

[GoldTip]

My butcher is kind of an a-hole to be honest, doesn't have a ton of friends and really doesn't need any more than he already has.  Those that don't know him won't like him and those that do sometimes don't know how to take him.  He aint wrong, he's just different and his pride won't let him do things to make you think he's right.  But hey I like the way I cut my meat and them that have had meat cut by me have always been happy with it.

[brichards44]

Never thought to do it myself. How long do you let it hang and at what temp? Or do you cut it up ASAP? Do you have a walk in freezer? Damn, sounds like fun, but I don't know the first thing!!!

[GoldTip]

Depends on the temp.  I grew up with a walk in cooler at our house, would let them hang for 7-10 days at 36-38F.  Now I hang them in the garage, if it's 70F outside they get cut the next day.  My last elk it was around 50F during the day and getting down to high 30's at night.  I let it hang for 3 days with garage door cracked to let the colder air in.  I can't tell any significant difference in the taste between that whats been hung for days and that meat which hasn't, and neither can the wife, she grew up eating wild meat as well.  You can buy pretty good video's on how to cut up deer or elk or anything else for that matter.  They all have the same cuts of meat, some just buillt a little different is all.

[BLKBEARKLR]

  I can't tell any significant difference in the taste between that whats been hung for days and that meat which hasn't, You can buy pretty good video's on how to cut up deer or elk or anything else for that matter.  They all have the same cuts of meat, some just buillt a little different is all.

 

[youngbuckslayer]

i let it hang 1 -3 days just depnding on how hot it is and when we have the time to butcher we usually have 5 people helping us so it goes by super fast and its fun to bs while your doing it.

[Kowsrule30]

My butcher better be good.... I do the cutting and grinding..... Wife does the wrapping....

[runningboard]

like others have said it depends on the weather & for me how many unfilled tags my family has. if we still have time to hunt I take it to my semi-retired butcher friend who will not use a saw since he doesn't like bone chips in his meat he won't use a saw on his "friends" meat either, is nice since he has a walk-in cooler right at his house too, but he won't take on "new" customers. if I don't have time left in the season I do it myself, with help from my family.

[KopperBuck]

Go self-employed. Higher satisfaction to the harvest, and you know for a FACT what's going into the grinder. I prefer not to share when it comes to wild game. It really isn't that hard to do, just separate muscles and decide what you're going to do with them. Fronts usually end up as hamburger, jerkey, sausage, etc. Roasts and steaks out of the hinds. Tenderloin and loins (or backstraps depending on your lingo) are self explanatory.

I try to hang it a week if possible, but if it's warm it has to get cut. Also, you don't have to make a decision right away on burger/jerkey/sausage. I typically just bone that stuff out and freeze it. I'll make a decision later. Cuts down on preparation and time.

I use only two knives for the whole process. There are no bones in any of my cuts.

[KopperBuck]

And if you want to do jerky/sausage.. it's super easy. There are numerous books and kits out there to walk you through it. I have a Traeger that I use now, but honestly I think the best jerky I've had was the stuff my gram did in an oven.

[hambone]

i like mine been doing it for over 30 years  for a  job so the only one i can be mad at is me 

[jechicdr]

I generally butcher the meat right away, or I clear out the refrigerator and put the quarters in until I can get back to cut them.  I cut everything I can into steaks.  I start by separating the individual muscles from each other, then using a sharp fillet knife, whittle away any dried or brown (oxidized) meat, membranes, fat, blood vessels, and gristle.  The remaining piece of meat I then cut cross grain into steaks 1-1.5 inches thick.  This guarantees the most tender steak you can make.  Some steaks I will make and cut out the gristle that might be in the steak.  If the piece is too small to call a "steak" it becomes "stew" meat.  But it's not really stew meat, but tender little bite sized steaks that really don't need "stewed" to make them tender.  Thinner pieces may be set aside for jerky or ground into burger.  I do not throw my "scraps" in the grinder, only good meat that is really too small to do anything else with or some of the gristly pieces from the distal front and back quarters that is not worth trying to fillet away.  If you take a hind quarter and just cut across with a band saw as many butchers will do, some of your cuts will be cross, some will be with and some will be diagonal and I guarantee you will not be as happy with your steak.  Backstrap I also cut every tendon, every bit of oxidized meat off.  Some of the thin flat muscles of the chest I cut into strips for jerky, or grind for burger.  The "wild" taste some people get in their game may be less than fresh meat (hung too long at too high a temperature).

[steen]

I dress my own deer and I may or may not drag it out, but my husband does most of the butchering ( altho I've done my share) and I do most of the wrapping.