Cost of processing

[NCMTNHunter]

Toxaway? That's pretty close to the swingin' burg of Rosman. US Route 178 ends there, or begins, depending on your particular point of view. It's a happenin' town.

It definitely the beginning. 178 and the French Broad River steadily flow out of here.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Toxaway is about an hour and a half from here. It's where the rich folks from somewhere else live, for the most part.

That’s just inside the gates at the Country club. The rest is a community of local folks that have been here for generations.

 

[James12]

I think he and I could just copy and paste from the 13 other times we’ve covered all this, but beating the stew out of that dead horse provides badly needed entertainment!

Dead deer

 

[jNick]

WrongThreadDelete

 

[deermaster13]

We put up a 130 pounds of Patty sausage yesterday. Upset I had 77 dollars in butts and 25 or so in vacuum bags. Took us about 6 hours or so.

 

[transfixer]

Processors are definitely more than they used to be. I think it's a bunch of contributing reasons. Inflation recently, I've been told by a few processors that DNR has implemented more regs on them related to tracking hunter licensing that has increased their costs to comply and keep their licensing. Some decided it isn't worth the trouble and closed, so there are less of them now as well. Supply of their services vs. demand for them has driven up the cost - the ones staying the course some are expanding freezer space to keep up with more demand which raises their costs.

I didn't use a processor this year. We butchered it all ourselves, I aged on ice in the backyard, but then took what I wanted ground and cubed to a butcher shop near me. They weren't a true processor but with the meat deboned, they ground and cubed what I wanted. It was about 65-70 lbs. My home grinder is smaller and slower, okay for one deer but for a higher amount, I sprung to pay the butcher to do it. He did it in about an hour and half. Paid $1.25 per pound for his services. It was 3 deer total that were taken all the same day (I didn't grind/cube all the meat, backstraps and a few larger cuts were kept as steaks and roasts).

The butcher also makes summer sausage, regular sausage, and bratwurst. I now want to go kill another 1 or 2 and this time when I'm done aging, do the same, take him the deboned meat but have him turn it all into some combo of sausage and bratwurst. The field dressing/quartering/deboning doesn't take me long, I'm getting proficient enough with it that I'd rather do it myself and finding this local guy that can handle large loads of grinding and cubing - the $$ is worth my time saved and I still don't spend the same I would having a processor do it all.

If I had a processor fairly close that I could trust , I would do as you did, I'd butcher and de-bone it myself, let it age in a cooler and then let them grind and package it, or make some of it into sausage, but the processors I've used in the last 10yrs or more I don't feel are trustworthy, I feel they run a production more or less of one deer after another, and I have no guarantee I'm actually getting my meat and not someone elses that rode it aorund in their truck for a few hours with no ice on it , or it was a gut shot deer and they waited and let the processor gut it , instead of doing it soon as possible

 

[WOODIE13]

Always have done ours myself, kids help skin and process theirs, teach them young, with few exceptions.

Last time I paid to have one processed was 1996 for $20 while I was home on leave heading to Korea so time was my deciding factor. Took a nice 8 point, dropped it off to the processor, called and said it was ready, picked it up and only got a small box of cuts and a Walmart bag full of burger, decided then and there I would never pay for another.

Fast forward to 2017 to 2020, I would win a couple free processings at my neighborhood processor. His FIL and my Dad have been friends a long time and I would stop by to see the bucks rolling in for his taxidermy shop. Always clean and always got a large amount. When covid kicked off, he shut his doors, but still does taxidermy. Think he was charging $60 at the time.

Now it ranges from $85-100 to get one processed basic here.

I can have a deer skinned and quartered in @ 30 minutes. Broke down, cut into steak, stew, ground, plus some canned in under 3 hours. Canning does take some time with 90 minutes to pressure can then 45 minute cool down, but I do that first, the work up the rest of the deer.

 

[whitetailfreak]

I've got 3 processors within 5 miles of my house and they all seem to be doing well. I believe basic processing is around $100 here. Also, there's deals to be had this time of year on equipment.

 

[HardlyHangin]

I bet you'll spend hours and days and $ prepping and planting food plots, hanging and moving stands, scouting, filling feeders, and all that though. What's the difference? It probably takes you an hour and a half to take that deer to the processor, drop it off, and come back home. Sounds like you're just lazy and think cutting meat is beneath you. I don't. I didn't pay somebody to find and shoot my deer, and I ain't gonna pay somebody to do my job of taking care of my kill. I guess you eat at a restaurant every morning and night, too, so you don't have to buy groceries, clean dishes and pans and carry off trash?

And what is the Boston Butt for? I make pork breakfast sausage from that. Boston Butt is not an ingredient in my deer sausage. I put pork fat in there. I pick it up at Ingle's while I'm shopping for something else and store it in the freezer. Guts stay in the woods. Bones go in the trash can or get boiled for stock.

Whats your process for boiling bones for stock?

 

[NCHillbilly]

Whats your process for boiling bones for stock?

Just throw them in a pot with some water and veggies and simmer them until it reduces down. I like to kind of roast them in the oven beforehand to get some browning sometimes. I confess that I don't do it as often as I should. The femurs off a big buck make some pretty good marrow bones, too. I've used the scapulas for different primitive skills projects, and the leg bones and jawbones for knife handles, too. As well as saving the leg and backstrap sinews. They are very useful if you're into primitive archery and primitive skills. I've also braintanned a lot of hides over the years, and made rawhide from a lot more. I don't do any of that as much as I used to, just a time and energy thing.

 

[HardlyHangin]

Just throw them in a pot with some water and veggies and simmer them until it reduces down. I like to kind of roast them in the oven beforehand to get some browning sometimes. I confess that I don't do it as often as I should. The femurs off a big buck make some pretty good marrow bones, too. I've used the scapulas for different primitive skills projects, and the leg bones and jawbones for knife handles, too. As well as saving the leg and backstrap sinews. They are very useful if you're into primitive archery and primitive skills. I've also braintanned a lot of hides over the years, and made rawhide from a lot more. I don't do any of that as much as I used to, just a time and energy thing.

Very cool. I try to get a much meatvoff as i can, but this goes to show how much im still wasting.

What about the ribs?

Are you an organ guy?

 

[fireman32]

Not sure of our local price here, he does sale the processed deer that wasn’t picked up for $100 a box. Think it’s 20 pounds.
The one I ride by will have a stack of deer laying in the sun sometimes waiting to be skint, it’d be hard for me to leave my deer there even though he’s a respected processor. There was a buck there this morning, and the place wasn’t even open yet.