SC Hunter
Senior Member
I can do that in about 15 minutes. If you keep practicing you'll get better at it.
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What do you look for in a Processor?
- Thread starter wm742
- Start date
Kowtown
Senior Member
Mackie889
Senior Member
They are too notch for sureThey are fast too, picked him up yesterday/
Mackie889
Senior Member
Only other thing I can add is make sure you want to be processing deer during deer season instead of hunting. That is the main reason I switched my studies in college from wildlife biologist to Fireman.
sportsman94
Senior Member
I’m interested to hear what it takes to get this going. With processors filling up every couple days around me I’ve considered the possibility of getting a state inspected facility, charging an arm and a leg, and only taking deer when others are full. I could charge double, do half the deer as the other guys for the same profit in my free time. Would still give me time to hunt when the other guys were still taking deer
Browning Slayer
Official Voice Of The Dawgs !
^IF^ that is your response, good luck in your adventures. You obviously don't know much about running a cooler. A cooler can only take in so many deer as the owners can process "during" the week.
If you think you'll do this "on the side". Good luck. You won't be hunting much, if ever.
Make good friends with your processor and he'll take it when he's "full". Don't just drop off your deer not gutted and leave in 2 minutes..
I don't use processors, but if I did I would hold them to the same standards that I put on myself. Cleanliness and proper handling of meat.
sportsman94
Senior Member
The processors around me full up in November. I could do it in November and still hunt September, October, and December. I’d give up the rut which is why it would take double the money and half the work as other guys who do it full time. I didn’t say I would do an infinite number of deer. It would obviously be limited to what I could do as a one man show during that period.^IF^ that is your response, good luck in your adventures. You obviously don't know much about running a cooler. A cooler can only take in so many deer as the owners can process "during" the week.
If you think you'll do this "on the side". Good luck. You won't be hunting much, if ever.
Make good friends with your processor and he'll take it when he's "full". Don't just drop off your deer not gutted and leave in 2 minutes..
I reckon I don’t know what it takes to run a real cooler, but I do know what it takes to do 20 or 30 big game animals for myself and family throughout the year. I figure I could take a couple weeks off work and run 40 or 50 through it and make myself some extra money. Just a thought I’ve had, but I appreciate your response
Shadow11
Senior Member
Here's you an example of what not to do.... I picked this one up a few min ago. Not going to name their name, but just aweful!
Out of 30-40 deer in the nega area that I've had processed in the last 25 years, this is by far the worst!
Only a few packs labled. The backstraps are half the size of a much smaller deer I took to a different place previously this year. I only have one pack of meat labeled cubed, and it looks like there may be 2 pieces of cubed steak in it. There are 4 other packs without labels, that look kind of like cubed, but they have this nasty brown frozen stuff in the packages.
Half of everything isn't fully sealed, and has a lot of white ice in it. Looks like about 80% is ground. Hard to tell with all the white ice and no labels.
I stink at doing a deer with my hands, but I'm sure I could do better than this with my feet! Next time these are the only ppl around here taking deer, I'll be do it myself. Lesson learned!
Out of 30-40 deer in the nega area that I've had processed in the last 25 years, this is by far the worst!
Only a few packs labled. The backstraps are half the size of a much smaller deer I took to a different place previously this year. I only have one pack of meat labeled cubed, and it looks like there may be 2 pieces of cubed steak in it. There are 4 other packs without labels, that look kind of like cubed, but they have this nasty brown frozen stuff in the packages.
Half of everything isn't fully sealed, and has a lot of white ice in it. Looks like about 80% is ground. Hard to tell with all the white ice and no labels.
I stink at doing a deer with my hands, but I'm sure I could do better than this with my feet! Next time these are the only ppl around here taking deer, I'll be do it myself. Lesson learned!
notnksnemor
The Great and Powerful Oz
That meat looks like it was cut at room temperature then flash frozen after packaging.
The meat should be about 1/4 frozen and in a cold environment when cutting to get a nice clean edge.
Cold, hurting hands area a side effect of cutting meat.
A little update.
Every person(in government) that we talk to pretty much just says its too hard to get started. Lots have tried, but no one ever follows thru.
Directly from the health department, Biden has screwed up deer processing as a profitable business.
No longer does DNR have the authority. The health department and department of AG have a huge say. Deer are no longer there own entity. They are now lumped in with hogs and sheep.
I'm waiting on a check list that explains whats involved, but the way it was explained we would have to build a full fledged meat processing facility like a slaughter house.
Where this sounds like a good thing to have the health department checking on deer coolers, that's not what it means. My understanding is that once its built and running, there are no inspections.Your back to just the game warden stopping by sometimes. I guess they figure that if you spend a half million to build a facility to use for less than half the year they have stuck it to you enough.
I haven't given up. No department wants to give specifics on what required. The first thing they say after hello is, its very hard, and then something like, it has to be built like a public restaurant. I'll report back once I get the checklist and can make my own opinion.
Government will never make things easy for you, they can only make it harder.
Every person(in government) that we talk to pretty much just says its too hard to get started. Lots have tried, but no one ever follows thru.
Directly from the health department, Biden has screwed up deer processing as a profitable business.
No longer does DNR have the authority. The health department and department of AG have a huge say. Deer are no longer there own entity. They are now lumped in with hogs and sheep.
I'm waiting on a check list that explains whats involved, but the way it was explained we would have to build a full fledged meat processing facility like a slaughter house.
Where this sounds like a good thing to have the health department checking on deer coolers, that's not what it means. My understanding is that once its built and running, there are no inspections.Your back to just the game warden stopping by sometimes. I guess they figure that if you spend a half million to build a facility to use for less than half the year they have stuck it to you enough.
I haven't given up. No department wants to give specifics on what required. The first thing they say after hello is, its very hard, and then something like, it has to be built like a public restaurant. I'll report back once I get the checklist and can make my own opinion.
Government will never make things easy for you, they can only make it harder.
crackerdave
Senior Member
If anybody is ìnterested in building a walk in cooler, I have a cousin who can hook you up with the components.
Pm me.
Pm me.
