Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: texasbuckmaster on September 14, 2010, 09:14:12 PM
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What do all you successful hunters do as far as elk meat processing? I'm a do it yourselfer when it comes to deer but cooler weather usually allows me to hang meat in the garage. What's the consensus for elk this time of year do you take the quarters to the butcher to hang in the cooler or cut & package right away? I prefer to do it myself as much as possible to save some $$ and I'm extremely particular about cleanliness & using every last tidbit. I hate to see an ounce go to waste.
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I have an old chest freezer I bought just for the purpose of keeping elk quarters cold until I had time to process them. You could do the same with a couple of large ice chests. I don't trust anybody with cutting up my deer or elk. If you take it to a butcher you never know if you're really getting your meat back or somebody else's. I don't have a grinder so for that I like to save it up and take it in at a time when there is not a hunting season open and no other wild game being processed, or at least very little. For a few years we had a shop that would let us bring in our boned out meat for grinding at the end of the day, and he would grind it for us while we waited. Even 40 or 50 pounds would take no more than about 10 to 15 minutes. He'd only charge us $10 or so, and we'd just bring it home and wrap it. That shop ended up moving and changing owners and we can no longer have it done that way. Now it's a matter of dropping it off and picking it up later. I'd sure like to have my own grinder but a good one is about $300.
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Do it yourself! An elk doesn't take a huge amount of time more than a deer to cut and wrap. When I have gotten one during archery season, I have kept the quarters in white garbage bags in the fridge until I could get to them. I have not had a problem as I also turn the temp down a bit when I do that. Good luck.
