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Post by Sunshine on Oct 8, 2007 22:31:20 GMT -5
How many process your own deer and if you do how do you pack it. What do u do when the weather is as hot as it has been the last week?
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Post by mtbadger on Oct 8, 2007 22:47:41 GMT -5
I don't hunt when it is this warm...
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Post by hawkeye on Oct 9, 2007 5:41:19 GMT -5
Depends on where I'm at. If I'm around here I take it to a processor. I cut deer pretty good, but I still can't get as much meat from one or get the chops and roasts to come out as nice. Besides my processor makes the best summer sausage I have ever tasted.
If I'm hunting on the other side of the mountain I cut my own, Usually I just chunk it and freeze it, then cut it when I thaw it.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 9, 2007 9:17:22 GMT -5
Me and the other "Earl" usually process our own. We both worked at the neighbors deer processing plant, doing about 1600 a year. we got a vacuum packer(food saver), it's a small one, but it gets the jobdone, and a nice grinder from cabelas. We season our own sausage, and cut thick steaks. When the weather has ben as hot as it has been, we will quarter it, and put it in a garbage bag and freeze it.
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Post by deerhunter65347 on Oct 9, 2007 20:30:50 GMT -5
Yep cut it up and freeze it as fast as you can. I have lost 2 deer due to heat. In the last 30 yrs I hate it. The temperature is hard this yr. The key is to get the deer gutted as fast as you can and air it with a stick between the ribs. And get it out of there as fast as you can. The flies will try and blow it as well. I wouldnt shoot a deer now if i had to. But if its a trophy i would. But i will wait until it cools down to try and get my sausage deer.
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Post by scansy on Oct 9, 2007 21:15:30 GMT -5
I have always done my own (learned from my dad). If the weather is hot, it gets processed a lot quicker. I have never had problems if I get them done quickly.
We cut the steaks "chipped" parallel to the bone instead of perpendicular if that makes sense. They are more tender that way. We also keep the chops and filet. I also like to have one or two roasts and a bunch of sausage (we mix it about 60% venison and 40% pork). I have a great crockpot recipe for the roasts.
The rest is either ground and frozen or cut in chunks and canned. Everything is vacuum packed and frozen except for the canned chunks.
We usually put two or three in our freezer and another two or three in my dad's freezer. This past spring we had a freezer fail and lost a ton of venison - probably a whole one plus. Made me sick to throw it all out, but by the time anybody figured there was a problem, it was room temp.
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Post by foxman13 on Oct 11, 2007 3:02:28 GMT -5
I process the deer i kill but id be hesitant to shoot one in these temperatures.
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Post by trappinone on Oct 11, 2007 19:42:02 GMT -5
Spoilage can begin at 50 degrees in three hrs. for deer.I really laugh at those "hunters" that pay someone to cut it up.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 11, 2007 20:05:40 GMT -5
To each his own as far as processing goes. sometimes if the weather is too warm and u are away from home u may not have any other choice. I have seen many a deer come in to be processed that the "hunter" is bound to be so much better off getting someone else to do it for them(heck, they can't even gut it properly). Also, to kill and process a couple of deer to last the whole year, they must be properly packed, or canned. the cost of equipment to make sausage, buy seasoning, or even make bologna are also things to consider. If I was only gonna harvest one a year and didn't have a place to let them hang, and the equipment to process one properly, I would be better served to let a professional do it for me, but I am fortunate in that respect.
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Post by nutoy on Oct 11, 2007 22:13:31 GMT -5
We process all our game. It is common around these parts to ice down a deer after it has been quartered. I get a kick at the look on some of the faces from a few of the northern folks when they see you packing a quartered deer in ice in a cooler. If you want to archery deer hunt around here it's either ice or a processor. I aint paying nobody to swap my meat for someone elses deer that rode around town in the bed of a pickup all day,,,, rotting.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 12, 2007 0:53:37 GMT -5
lol, i have worked with our processor, and been responsible for skinning and keeping the deer straight, I had never seen a mistake made.
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Post by nutoy on Oct 12, 2007 10:41:53 GMT -5
I'm not saying all processors swap deer but it happens WAY more than people realize. At least around here it does. Had several buddies bring thier deer to a couple of the local processors and some didn't get back hardly anything off a nice sized deer and some couldn't believe how much they got back off a yearling deer. I'm always hearing of guys going to pick up the cape from thier deer to bring to the taxidermist and it isn't the same head they brought in. Years ago I personally brought 80 lbs of boned out deer meat to a processor that made some good sausage and ask him make sausage out of it. He charged me for 50 lbs of pork that he mixed with the deer meat and my total take home sausage was 90 lbs. DUHHHH. I ask what happened to the other 40 lbs of sausage and he looked at me like I was crazy. His wife was standing there when I ask and she goes to the cooler and comes out with another pack with my name on it. Guess what it weighed. I know a couple fellas that do deer processing as a side line. They told me they don't need to hunt because they get all the deer meat they want. They say,,,,, Nobody misses 10 lbs of meat.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 12, 2007 13:15:17 GMT -5
Nutoy, i definately understand where u're coming from. This and one other place are 2 places i wouldn't worry about. But as you say, not all of them are like that.
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Post by scansy on Oct 12, 2007 17:05:55 GMT -5
For me, processing it is part of the hunting experience. Only one time did I take one to a butcher - I was young and living in a small apartment and didn't have anyplace to hang it. As for equipment - I asked for equipment one year for Christmas that also works on processing tomatoes in the summer. We typically make 15-20 quarts of sauce and another 10 or so of juice every summer. That piece of equipment has been a blessing. Before that, I had a hand crank grinder.
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stu
Rat Trapper
Posts: 33
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Post by stu on Oct 12, 2007 17:09:19 GMT -5
I cut my own deer we debone everything, in my opinion the meat is better without a sawed bone section in the steaks.I used to work cutting deer the main problem I ever saw processing deer was incorrect field dressing . I cannot count the times I have seen people field dress their deer & do a good job . But do not split the hams & remove the anus that is where alot of good deer go bad .
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 12, 2007 19:01:30 GMT -5
I agree on the deboning versus the sawed. Everything we always do, whether at the processsors or at the shed is deboned!
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Post by offshoretrash on Oct 21, 2007 7:31:32 GMT -5
If I shoot one in warm weather away from home I gut it ASAP and pack it with ice. I carry ice for this reason. If I am close to the skinning rack I get it hung up and cleaned as fast as I can. I have NEVER had a deer go bad on me, between me and my family we've killed well over a 150 easy.
I take all my deer to a processing place and no they don't steal my deer meat nor anyone elses. they get plenty of deer donated by hunters to hunters for the hunger so they don't have to take anyone elses if they wanted deer meat. This guy does several 1000 a year as well as hogs. For $25 I will let someone cut mine up any day. Plus it's vac packed. Sausage is extra but he does a dang good job.
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Post by wheelers on Oct 21, 2007 11:13:38 GMT -5
Up here you pay between 65.00 and 125.00 to have one cut up. We've been cutting our own for about 10 years now. It adds up when there's 4 of us hunting.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 21, 2007 11:54:53 GMT -5
It's 55$ and 65$ here for the three local processors I trust.
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cedar
Fox Trapper
Tree Hugger
Posts: 764
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Post by cedar on Oct 21, 2007 13:54:01 GMT -5
Me and Rob process our own deer. We make some of it into hamburger. But the rest is steaks. I will be doing some canning of it this year. As it is my Pa's first year back hunting after 17 years off. And he loves it canned.
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Post by blueduck on Oct 21, 2007 17:48:58 GMT -5
I cut up all my own meat. Steaks, burger, sausage, jerky and I can some too. I have an extra refrigerator in the shed for when its too warm to hang meat. I can get a whole deer in it if I quarter it. Its worked out well many times.
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Post by scansy on Oct 22, 2007 8:22:55 GMT -5
Dang OST - I wish I had a processor up here who would do a deer for $25. I would probably still do most myself - but every once in a while there's a time when you just don't have the time without staying up all night.....
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 22, 2007 18:11:15 GMT -5
We aren't that fast(alcohol has a way of getting involved), but we can do about 5 in 4 hours. Nine of us are in on the deal, but usually only about 4 show up at any one time.
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Post by offshoretrash on Oct 23, 2007 12:49:45 GMT -5
Dang OST - I wish I had a processor up here who would do a deer for $25. I would probably still do most myself - but every once in a while there's a time when you just don't have the time without staying up all night..... I guess it's the number of deer they do. Just about evey processor will be turning people a way during the Thanksgiving break. There are no telling the number of deer this guy does. He has a very big operation. I have been to several of the smaller ones but I will drive 45 miles to this guys place because I do trust him. $25 will get your deer steaks cut up and tenderized with the rest going to hamburger. They vacum pack it also. I usually get some smoked sausage, I'll need to get some this year plus some pan. We have a 4 month season with plenty of deer. If you didn't hunt you could make good money cutting up deer if you do a good job. I'll ask the guy how many he does year when I bring mine to him.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 26, 2007 5:07:32 GMT -5
$25 is dirt cheap, the supplies are costly, factor in the help, and u are getting a heck of a deal. Around here the Hunters for the Hungry program was paying about $35 last year, but it was all ground(so the recipients wouldn't fight over the best cuts), and most, or at least a lot of them, were small deer that the hunter didn't want to pay for getting a small one cut up.
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Post by hawkeye on Oct 27, 2007 18:06:01 GMT -5
My processer charges 30.00. I've cut up a lot of deer (more than most of you) and sides of beef, but there is no way I can do as good a job as he can. Laugh all you want to Trappinone, but like the Big Boys say, don't knock it til you've tried it.
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Post by Earl8656 on Oct 28, 2007 2:08:18 GMT -5
Thats my point too Hawk, most people don't have the equipment, or the room to do it properly. These processors can flash freze it for ya, have the know how to cut with the grain, instead of across it, they know what cuts are what, and can packageit so thatit will keep from season to season. 25=30 bucks is a heckuva a deal, I would dare say that someone making 50 bucks an hour would be going in the hole trying to proces his own
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Post by jjjones on Oct 29, 2007 5:33:51 GMT -5
I get my quartered and in the cooler as soon as possible if it's hot out! As far as processing it I do my own. I also Cold Pack the most of it. It will last alot longer in a jar than in a freezer. Don't have to worry about freezer burn if you don't get it eat up soon enough.
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Post by Earl8656 on Nov 1, 2007 2:04:57 GMT -5
Actually, this past year, I vacuum packed some, and some I put in Glad freezer bags with the intention of eating that first.....well, that didn't happen and I am eating the freezer bag stuff now...absolutely no freezer burn ;D
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Post by offshoretrash on Nov 14, 2008 18:32:42 GMT -5
I didn't have any cut up last year so I took the spike my daughter killed and the eight point I killed to the processor and it's gonna cost $118 for both of them. I did get a couple neck roast cut out and 15lbs of bacon burger. Dam the price went up in 2 years. Just for hamburger and steaks is $45 now
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