With all the meat processors here in the interior (Fairbanks and Delta). I butcher all my moose...In my opinion I think if more people would take the time to learn, hunting would be more practical financialy as well as rewarding.

Sometimes I do not have the time to turn scrap meat into hamburger or hunter sticks, sausage ect. Last year I went to Interior Fish Processors, their hunter sticks where good but the casings would not hold. Looked like a condom rapped around a peppers stick. Their breakfast sausage was very good.

So where do some of you go? Are you pleased or displeased?

By the way. My name is Ben and I live in Fairbanks.

Ben,

When I lived in your area(North Pole and Fairbanks)I never found a good one either. I learned to do it all myself as well.

Now when I back your way (every year)I give most of any meat to friends and ship what I can back home and have it done locally.

Unfortunately 3 weeks ago I came home empty handed, so I will be back in the spring to try and at least fill my bear tag. Then back again in September for another moose go around!

If you can't tell I really miss living up there. MY wife will not make the move so I get my fix by going back as often as possible, 4x this year!

Doug

If your willing to make a run to Delta Junction, I would recommend Delta Meat & Sausage http://www.deltameat.com/ Locally, Interior AK Fish & Game Processing (Santa's Smokehouse) is pretty popular. Most people are very satisfied with them, however the one time I used them I was a bit upset. I took some caribou meat there to have pepper sticks made, but I received hot dogs instead. I coulda lived with it, but I gotta say the taste was bland at worst. I'm sure this was probably an isolated instance.

Hot dogs instead of pepper sticks? Sorry but that's funny. I'm not much help on the processor question as I do my own. It just takes time and attention but I know exactly what's been done to it. I've never ended up with hot dogs either.

[ 10-20-2003, 04:19: Message edited by: yukon delta ]

I used to take mine to BY Farms. They're located off the Richardson Highway on a gravel road (between Fairbanks and North Pole) across from Independent rental. They did a great job with moose and goat.

Glad your laughing Yukon, I still cringe at the taste of em. N-A-S-T-Y

Hot Dogs? I would be pissed Glad to see I'm not the only one with these thoughts about processors. Maybe I should just try to afford the time and get it done on one of these upcoming cold weekends. They are predicting that this winter is going to be a warm one like last years. I hope so.

Hey Doug...I can't beleive your wife would rather be in D.C. than AK. I would get sick to my stomach looking around and seeing all those Politicians and their little toadies.

Glad to see you make it back though.

Here is another plug for Delta Meat & Sausage in Delta Junction. They processed a moose for me last year and my family & I have no complaints. They processed the meat, then hauled it to Fairbanks for air freight to me in Des Moines.
Very good service.

I used BY Farms also. They did great on my caribou, deer and black bear.

Delta Meat & Sausage., Yep that is the place! Great people there!

Deutsch.
The problems with the casing that you described was that it was not a natural casing.It was a collagen casing.These do not require refridgeration and are very easy to use. The problem with them is that they can not get wet.If they get steamed or boiled the meat inside shrinks,but they do not.Hence the condom appearance.They are fine for a pepperoni or sausage stick that will be fully cooked in a hot smoker.But for boiling or steaming a natural gut casing should be used.Even if the pepper stick was properly processed the collagen casings will absorb moisture if they are vacuum packed.These casings are at their best if the sausage is left to air dry.They would work well for a breakfast style sausage as these are typically fried and not cooked in moisture.Sounds like that processor should learn a little bit about the products that they sell.

[ 10-21-2003, 17:32: Message edited by: turnerhunter ]