What's Your Butcher Bill?

[beginnerhunter]

I live in a 780 square foot apartment in the middle of a city and did 2 pronghorn and half a mule deer in my fairly small kitchen, so space isn't really an excuse if you get creative.

Tell my wife. Haha.

Nah, I may look into it a little more. Maybe ask for Christmas.

 

[Sawtooth]

Thanks.
Her mixer say 275 watts which roughly comes out to 1/3 horsepower so I guess I'll just price things out to see what is a better deal. $$$ to hp

Just got home and checked our kitchen aid and it is a Professional 6000 HD, which is the 1 hp model. Plenty of power and what other grinder will make bread, cookies and cinnamon rolls in the off season.

 

[idnative1948]

To the OP- Cut/wrap (as in steaks/roast) .70 per pound here. Having foo foo made or any smoking drives the cost considerably.

 

[choc dogs]

I process all my own. Deer front shoulders into burger, backstraps into roasts and steaks. Hindquarters into roasts and scrap is ground. We always save shanks for osso bucco, because I like it and don't like to clean all the connective tissue out to grind it. We used a kitchenaid mixer for years, it gets the job done, but this year we purchased a dedicated grinder. I've only used it on one doe, but it was much faster than the kitchenaid, It fed faster, with a larger feed tube, and I think kept the meat cooler. One of the things I've always done is cut a lot of meat into stew meat, and if I run out of ground, I can grind a 2 lb package in minutes. I can't turn ground back into stew meat. In terms of weight, I've always figured about 40-50 lbs boned out meat for a doe, 50-60 ready to eat for a buck, and 140-160 for a cow. I've never shot a bull, so I don't have data for that

 

[AustinL]

Do 15-20 deer a year and for sausage (smoked and dried) burger, jerky, roast , and steaks cut and wrapped we are in about $250 doing the work ourselves

 

[LandDiver]

Appreciate all the replies. I can easily see why my mother in law uses old bread bags, and reuses freezer paper when she can. This post was more of wishful thinking, I have to harvest an animal first ha ha!

Again thanks for all the feedback.

 

[Southwind]

Most deer processing here is $70-$120 not including specialties.

I do a lot myself but have some processors that make really good jerky, sausage, brats etc so I will always take at least one in.

 

[el unit]

We process our own game meat using a 1hp Weston Grinder. It's more work on our end, but saves a ton of money and the quality control cannot be beat. Making your own sausages and jerky can really save you money.
Time to get off the computer and go elk hunting!

 

[Brendan]

I have paid once. After comparing the quality - I have done every other deer/elk myself.

Here's the cheap and easy way. Bone the deer out in the field, get the meat in a cooler - it'll all fit in a mid-sized cooler if it's a small deer. A boned out small bull or cow elk will fit in a 160 qt cooler boned out but two smaller coolers are easier. At home - pull out one piece of meat at a time, cut it up into steaks, roasts, or stew meat. Wrap in plastic wrap and then lined butcher paper, then freeze. If you have a grinder - grind some, otherwise you can always tenderize or dice stuff small for certain dishes. No equipment required other than a cooler, knife, sharpener, cutting board, plastic wrap, freezer paper, tape, freezer space. I try to cut as many steaks as possible as we grill a lot - year round. I always run out of steaks before I do roasts, ground, stew meat, etc.

Small bucks and does I've gotten ~50lbs of wrapped meat. My most recent small bull was about 180-190 boned out meat, but not cut up and processed.

My bill did go up significantly this year - but that was to purchase a big dedicated grinder and a sausage stuffer... Already have a chamber sealer.

 

[sbhooper]

We process our own game meat using a 1hp Weston Grinder. It's more work on our end, but saves a ton of money and the quality control cannot be beat. Making your own sausages and jerky can really save you money.
Time to get off the computer and go elk hunting!

Perfect! And Brendan, right on!

 

[406LIFE]

I do my own as well. I bought nice, commercial grade equipment and in 1 year it was all paid for. It doesn't take long to learn or do and all the reasons listed above resonate with me. The hardest part is what to do with the carcass, but in MT we can just put it in the trash bin.

 

[KY Swamp Beagler]

I process my own deer. It's not too difficult. Grant Woods has a good video about processing where he goes over the different cuts and the "hidden tenderloin" in the hindquarters most people overlook.

Any scraps go to the hounds.

 

[Gr8bawana]

The guy we use here in So. NV charges by weight for deer starting at $60 for 75lbs or less up to $85 for 176lbs and over, $25 extra if you want all boneless.
Elk are .80 lb or $1.00 lb for all boneless. Skinning-deer $30/elk $50. I usually take in the 2 shoulders and neck meat, from my last cow elk that was 176 lbs.
I use them for by-products like Italian sausage $3.25 lb, bratwurst $3.25 lb, salami in 8lb sticks $13.00 ea.
I make my own burger now so I may have to learn to make those by-products as well.
I don't know if that is expensive compared to anyone else, but everything I have made there is top quality.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Sorry double post

 

[Tkaldahl2000]

I process my own, so usually whatever it costs for a couple of boxes of food saver rolls.

 

[Dakotakid]

Only class I regret not taking in high school. I do usually do my own, have all the stuff except hanging cooler. With temps this fall I elected to take my cow elk to the Hutterites. It was $190 for skinning and then steaks and burgers. Took them a little over a week.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I live in a 780 square foot apartment in the middle of a city and did 2 pronghorn and half a mule deer in my fairly small kitchen, so space isn't really an excuse if you get creative.

Second on this... my wife and I are in a 800 square foot apt. in the city and I just finish processing my third animal of the season. I just wait till my wife is going to be out of the house for the day and clear off our meager counter space and get to work.

I also do my own european mounts in the kitchen as well takes me a full day, but they look as good as most taxidermists and saves an extra $100-200.

 

[MC n NV]

I do it all myself as well. You can't really screw it up. I've been using the wife's Kitchenaide with the grinder atatchment. 2 years ago she bought me the sausage stuffer atatchment, still haven't used it but I keep saying I'm gonna try my own sausage. Last year she bought me a dehydrator. That was a huge improvement for doing jerky versus the oven. For me, it's all part of the process. Starts in April researching units and ends in November with a day of butchering, grinding, and boiling (skull for a mount & bones for broth). As a DIY guy, and cheap S_B, it's just what you do.

 

[el unit]

Just finished processing our whitetail and elk yesterday all for the cost of: 3 rolls freezer paper, 3 rolls freezer tape, and 1 case of beer. The grinder paid for itself many elk and deer ago. Now, I hope to find a mule deer buck and a bull elk.

 

[shawfish]

I'm a DIY processor. For equipment, I started small with the equipment (inexpensive) and then upgraded as my skills and knowledge improved. I can get my whitetail from woods to fridge (fully boned) in less than 4 hours if the weather is warm. I really appreciate having control of the whole process and knowing exactly what's what. Took a couple seasons to find my feet, but am glad I did. Lots of great books out there to help with education. Just be sure to get a book with laminated pages so any blood washes off later!