Hey guys, what do you usually pay to process a deer? Isn't it price per pound? I had a pig processed some years ago but dont' remember the cost, just that it was per pound, wrapped.

We called the only butcher close to where we're going in Panguitch, my stepfather asked him how much and he said,"just bring it, with the skin on, and I'll look at it and tell you how much" sounds a bit fishy to us.

But maybe I'm wrong, was hoping a few of you could tell me the usual process with your butchers? At this point we're planning on handling it ourselves, breaking them down ourselves in the field.

Thanks

Red

I've heard many stories of hunters getting shortchanged or worse deer was switched.
I've always done my own .Takes me about three hours to completely butcher and package a deer .If I have help it's quicker.
If I have decent skills you can learn.

My son just had an antelope cut up, steaks, and burger. $100 Like everything it has gone up here to. We do our own if time permits and the temps cooperate. Deer should be about the same. A few bucks more because of size.

I pay $65 dropped off with hide on. Good, honest folk at T&R in Winchester, Va. They will cut as you wish. I generally tell them to pull the loins, butterfly the backstrap, cut 1 HQ into roasts and turn the rest into burger (with fat added). They even vacuum pack all the cuts!

The last I had done in Sundance at C & A Meats was $95 and for things that had to be done like extra cleaning or maybe fat for the burger was a few dollars more. And you get all edible meat, no shortage like the first one I had done in Spearfish 40 years ago.

Rad

$65 out here as well.

Sometimes they like to leave a little bargaining room so if it's brought in dirty and has to be handled more they can adjust the price.
I do my own as well, so can't say what it would cost. Nate

Prices vary around here...$75-100 is common. The costs to process are usually flat rates per animal.

my guy charges 45.00 or 50.00 (i don't remember exactly from last year). i skin and gut it in my farm shop, then drop it off at his place.

Thanks, we'll probably stop by there on the way into town and chat with him, get a better "ballpark" of what it is. I'd rather have it done by a butcher so i can get burger out of some of it, but worse case we'll do our own. I was surprised he wanted it with the skin on, I'd prefer less work if I were on his end.

watching some videos online of how to break one down, I'm curious, any of you use a knife other than a boning knife? I was going to take my 12" Forchner Cimeter I use for slicing, is it too much knife for this work? (as if I need a reason to get a new knife )

Red

They sometimes ask for skin on to reduce the chances of extra hair getting on the meat. Some guys want the hide to sell for taxidermy, fly tiers, or tanneries.

You don't need a boning knife to cut one up. Use sharp knives that you are comfortable with. When I was in college, I used sharp paring and steak knives. However don't stop yourself from getting more knives.

I use a 5" boning knife ,10" butcher's knife and a 24" butcher's saw [18-20" would be handier].Skinning and a few other things are done with my 4" hunting knife.
A moose or elk might be better with larger sizes. A sawz-all is handy also and with that you could quarter a large animal in the woods with a cordless one.
How you will cook it determines how you butcher it .

I just had an antelope processed here in CO. Total cost was $84.60. Broken down it was $60 for processing, $20 for skinning, and $4.60 for 10% beef fat added to the burger meat (23# total).

I have a processer in Oklahoma take care of all my white-tails. He charges by the weight of the deer, field dressed. I forget exactly what he charges but I can say that for most deer (does, smaller deer) it is $100, which includes the skinning and fat being added to the burger.

$100 at the place I sometimes go to if I'm going to be too busy to do it myself. He guts, skins and processes into whatever cuts I want. Includes packaging, making venison burger, sausage, etc. When I pick it up it is vacuum packed and frozen.

The price goes up if you are having a lot of sausage, salami, and jerky done too.

I cut my own. Make my own burger and sausage too. So the cost to cut one for me is the vaccuum pack bags and the spices for the sausage. I get pork fat for free from the commisary when they trim the meat.

I don't know what the price is here in Southern ID now. I know I have been doing my own for 20 years. The last time I had burger ground was about 5 years ago. At that time it was .80 per pound hanging weight. SO if you took the deer in with skin on you would pay.80 on the skin as well. I took in burger that day and they charged me .80 per pound to grind no wrapping. I got so pissed off I asked my wife to get me a Cabelas 1 hp grinder. I got the tube, bags, and tapeing machine to make burger. If I want to add something to the burger I just add high fat beef hamburger. I know one guy here in town that paid 400 dollars to process a bull elk last year. I can not afford that kind of price. Ron

Deer processing at Huntsville, AL local place charges extra for items: $1 per Lb for fat, charges $2 per Lb for sausage, charges about $10 per Lb of jerky.
A plain cut up of the carcas plus grind and wrap has a base price of $65. He adds $10 if the carcas is halved, adds $10 if not skinned. Also charges extra if head is left on the carcas.

Dago Red,

I use Rapala 4" and 6" fillet knives for the meat cutting.

We pay .75 cents a pound for the animal without the head and hide.

If you take it in to Paonia boned it's $0.82/lb for elk.

Take it in field dressed only (hide on) it's $1.22/lb.

Where I go in Colorado it is $125 for a deer and $250 for an elk. Here in Southern California it is close to $150 for a deer without much special processing at all. I have a small commercial grinder I picked up from a deli going out of business and can do my own processing for local deer or if I get an animal late in the season in Colorado. I've got the vacuum sealer to keep the meat fresher longer as well as a stuffer and smoker to do sausage too. It is not too difficult depending on what you want done and how much time you can devote to it.

After reading this thread I am going to kiss and hug my grinder and vacuum sealer!! Clint

Lora and I process all our deer and have even started processing my boss's and his families deer. We know we are getting meat from the animals we actually killed plus we can do cuts that fit more with our eating habits. I got hooked on eating deer sushi last season, so it is nice to just pull out a chunk of the backstrap and grab the soy sauce/lemon juice and tabasco and how down. Beside with the # of deer we shoot in a seaon doing it ourselves saves us a good bit of $$$$.

Prices and quality of work vary immensely. The cheapest is around $40 and goes to $100 for basice cut/wrap. But paying more does not necessarily get you a better job.

I dropped off a nice buck at one of the larger processers in the area one Sunday evening. I chose them because they were associated with a taxidermist and could cape it properly for mounting. I changed my mind about how I had told them to cut the rear quarters, so I called them on Monday afternoon to amend the order. I was told that they were sorry but that they had already cut and frozen the chops. "Oh, no problem, in that case I'll stop by on my way home and pick up my meat". Hem-haw, "No, you need to wait until Friday because the burger's not ready".

Bottom line: The chops were some of the finest I've ever had, nicely vacuum packed and beautifully cut. But when I opened a package of burger it was the foulest smelling stuff ever. It became obvious that the shop cut the steaks immediately (and I believe that I did get my own steaks), but they simply tossed all of the scrap together from all of the deer that came in that week and ground it on Thursday (or whenever). I ended up donating the burger to a local animal rescue facility.

My next deer goes to the guy who operates his one-man shop out of his garage, but always segregates your deer from the deer of the bozo who's been hauling it around on the fender of his truck for the last three days.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
I just had an antelope processed here in CO. Total cost was $84.60. Broken down it was $60 for processing, $20 for skinning, and $4.60 for 10% beef fat added to the burger meat (23# total).

We paid a little more for our WY antelope, with pork fat ground into the burger. The job was nice though, and the meat is double-wrapped. We brought them in field-dressed with a bag of ice stuffed in the body cavity to cool the carcass.

There used to be meat-cutters in Pinedale, Big Piney, and Eden. Now they're gone and it's necessary to go to Jackson, Rock Springs, or Green River. Hell of a mes...