Processing, Butchering and Packaging wild game

Processing and packaging your game


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Eagle160

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
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Location
Nova Scotia
After I kill, clean and skin an animal, I have always had a butcher do the rest of the work. Just wondering what the majority oif members opt for.
 
I have no problem with cutting and wrapping deer, but I am paying to have a cut and wrap done on my moose. I am not equipped to handle the larger cuts, and I would like this one to turn out as well as I can get it too.

The cutter I am using, I have used in the past, and he does good work, makes superb sausages, and I trust.

Coronado Meats, north of Edmonton, if you gotta know. Pretty sure the number is in the book.

Cheers
Trev
 
I usually do it all (the wife helps). Sometimes if we have a bunch hanging on the pole, we get it cut and wrapped by someone. Usually when time is short and the weather is warm...
 
i have a good friend who used to provide me bones and scrap meat (moose/deer) for my dogs, in my pre hunting days. he has a well equipped shop for this and does a great job for about 30 bucks, (!!!) depending on the size of the deer. i trust this guy implicitly, and he likes the fact that i get him to cut up the ribs and other parts which some guys just want to throw away.

i have helped to debone an entire deer once, and we wrapped it ourselves, but i think i prefer my steaks with the bone in.

we also deboned the front half of our buck last year and took it to the german deli in town for sausages, yummm!
 
I cut and wrap my own. I have a good quality grinder and a vaccuum sealer, which helps. Many years ago I had a summer job as a trimmer/wrapper in a butcher shop which helps as well.

Jim
 
Me and Dad do everything our selves. Our method is to de-bone the animal and separate the major muscle groups. If it feels soft when squeezed, it becomes steaks or chops. If it's tough, it becomes burger or jerky. Very unprofessional but gets the job done
 
I'm kind of in between options one and two. The work the butcher does is only to the deboned meat that is going to be ground or made into sausage.
 
To this point a butcher has done all my big game, but the budget won't allow it this year, so I'm going to do it myself.
 
I was a commercial meat cutter for over 20yrs. I do the entire animal into boneless cuts, but I do need to buy a decent grinder.




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I've done a couple of deer but never tried a moose or bear. biggest factor is the weather. if its cool enough to hang in the barn no problem, if its warm i'll look for someone with a cooler.
Some of the cuts i've ended up with may not look like anything you would get from a professional meat cutter but they all fit in the frying pan.
 
Me and Dad do everything our selves. Our method is to de-bone the animal and separate the major muscle groups. If it feels soft when squeezed, it becomes steaks or chops. If it's tough, it becomes burger or jerky. Very unprofessional but gets the job done

That's the way to do it if you are doing it yourself. There are no bones, sinew or fat in my freezer. At one point last year I had 2 elk and 3 deer in my not-so-large deep freeze.

The year I moved to AB I had a butcher cut and wrap a large moose for me as I was in the middle of moving. The end result was a pickup box full of band-sawn steaks and bones (filled the same deep freeze 3 times and gave away at least another freezer full. I ended up storing most of it in a friends walk in freezer. Never again.
 
Satisfaction

I only started two years ago but I do all the butchering myself these days, as well as make my own ground and Jerky. I leave the sausage and pepperoni for the butcher as mixing everything well is a pain. I find a higher level of satisfaction, as well as better product, as I remove more of the fat and connective tissue then the butcher does...... not to mention the $.99/Lb that it would cost me. I usually do upwards to 7-8 deer a season so it is way cheaper......plus a damn good reason to hand out in the garage and have a couple with my buddies!
 
i cut and wrap all my owm meat as well as l;ots for other folks as well i find it just as much a part of the hunt as sitting in the tree DUTCH
 
We've been doing our own at the deer camp for a couple of years now, including wrapping, and freezing. (The camp has it's own freezer)
One of the guys owns a home made grinder set up, works quite well.
Sterilize everything, and everybody with a mild Javex solution.
 
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