Lark Bunting
New member
- Sep 14, 2016
- 710
Or, do you take it to a butcher?
Do you process your own animals?
- Thread starter Lark Bunting
- Start date
We do our own ... however, I have been known to hire out the grinding. I have a grinder, but it\'s not terribly high-powered. It works, but I\'m thinking more about hiring it out this year.
I just like knowing that each piece of meat has been individually inspected ... by me.
I just like knowing that each piece of meat has been individually inspected ... by me.
We have doing our own animals for a long time. I like knowing the meat that I\'m eating is mine. When I lived in Kremmling Colorado, I when by the butcher shop to drop off a deer and they then wanted $150 to cut up a deer standard cuts, hate to see what it is now, that was about 1992.
elkmtngear
New member
- Aug 9, 2017
- 1,152
I did my own once (the very first bull I killed)
I had a commercial slicer, and it took my Wife and I 13 hours to cut, pack and wrap it all (I\'m extremely picky about cutting out all the gristle, white matter, etc).
Needless to say...it all goes to the processor nowadays
I had a commercial slicer, and it took my Wife and I 13 hours to cut, pack and wrap it all (I\'m extremely picky about cutting out all the gristle, white matter, etc).
Needless to say...it all goes to the processor nowadays
We also do our own processing. Whenever anyone in our group gets an elk, the group meets up at my house and we set up two tables in the garage, the grinder and vacuum sealer. We have a grinder from when we farmed and every so often we would process a cow or pig. That grinder is going strong and is a solid tank! We will then split up all the processed meat with everyone.
I used to take my meat to the butcher. But I have adjusted that.
I bought a meat grinder and now do my own.
We have cut up an entire elk in camp. Why not? Youre done hunting , the meat is just hanging there.
There are ways to do this so its not quite so overwhelming once you get the meat home.
After you get the meat cooled down in camp, start trimming & debone if you havent already.
Once you have trimmed, cut the quarters into smaller pieces. You can still get your steak cuts later
Once you have more manageable pieces, you can either re-bag them or continue cutting meat up for grinder size
The meat will now fit into one cooler, 2 coolers easily.
Remember the meat has been cooled down, your job now is to be sure it doesnt heat up.
Now you are back home with a cooler full of meat - Now what?
Call up your friends and see if they have any freezer space [or old refrig space]
If they do, take the meat and freeze it. If your get a refrig, get some in there too.
The refrigerated meat will need to be done first. The frozen stuff will last.
Just be sure to put a couple layers of cardboard between the meat pieces as it will freeze together and you will have one big frozen chunk of meat.
Now you are in good shape.
Get your grinder and meat prep stuff together and then get as much meat as you want to do - I like to do about a quarter a night if Im doing it by myself.
Put it in a cooler and let it thaw out and cut/grind/package the next night.
Its not that difficult to do. I consider it all part of the hunt.
I bought a meat grinder and now do my own.
We have cut up an entire elk in camp. Why not? Youre done hunting , the meat is just hanging there.
There are ways to do this so its not quite so overwhelming once you get the meat home.
After you get the meat cooled down in camp, start trimming & debone if you havent already.
Once you have trimmed, cut the quarters into smaller pieces. You can still get your steak cuts later
Once you have more manageable pieces, you can either re-bag them or continue cutting meat up for grinder size
The meat will now fit into one cooler, 2 coolers easily.
Remember the meat has been cooled down, your job now is to be sure it doesnt heat up.
Now you are back home with a cooler full of meat - Now what?
Call up your friends and see if they have any freezer space [or old refrig space]
If they do, take the meat and freeze it. If your get a refrig, get some in there too.
The refrigerated meat will need to be done first. The frozen stuff will last.
Just be sure to put a couple layers of cardboard between the meat pieces as it will freeze together and you will have one big frozen chunk of meat.
Now you are in good shape.
Get your grinder and meat prep stuff together and then get as much meat as you want to do - I like to do about a quarter a night if Im doing it by myself.
Put it in a cooler and let it thaw out and cut/grind/package the next night.
Its not that difficult to do. I consider it all part of the hunt.
We do our own. Its quite the process but with a large group and two grinders at work it seems to fly by. This year we had deer and elk in the mix of things. The older guys of our group always want to make the most smoked country style and summer sausage, while I would rather have it ground up straight or cut for steaks. Its a give and take.
Billy Goat
Member
- Sep 5, 2017
- 332
wow. those setups are pretty nice.
deer: usually process our own. might be an exception if I know we\'re really busy and wont have time to mess with it.
pigs: almost ALWAYS process my own, just cause its so simple. I leave the quarters whole, and smoke them one at a time.
elk: only caught one so far.... and was glad to pay the processor. we had 3 elk in total, and would have needed a HELLUVA freezer to house it all. made check writing easy....
I hope to write a similar check in 4 months....
deer: usually process our own. might be an exception if I know we\'re really busy and wont have time to mess with it.
pigs: almost ALWAYS process my own, just cause its so simple. I leave the quarters whole, and smoke them one at a time.
elk: only caught one so far.... and was glad to pay the processor. we had 3 elk in total, and would have needed a HELLUVA freezer to house it all. made check writing easy....
I hope to write a similar check in 4 months....
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,345
We have done it both ways and we are trying to get better at doing it on our own. The check you have to cut to the processor is a little steep for my blood, but for some reason their jerkey and sausage always tastes better
For those guys that do make sausage, jerkey, etc, how about some recipes or ideas on how you go about it? I am sure if we throw enough ideas out there, sooner or later someone will master it!
For those guys that do make sausage, jerkey, etc, how about some recipes or ideas on how you go about it? I am sure if we throw enough ideas out there, sooner or later someone will master it!
Country Style Sausage Recipes
There are two recipes and one is a 30 lb batch the other is a 40 lb batch. No recommendation on ratios unless you would like my opinion so you can break it down however you would like to mix them.
Regular Country 30 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
5.25 oz Salt
1.5 oz black pepper
1.5 oz red pepper
3.75 tbl Brown Sugar
.75 tbl All Spice
.75 tbl onion powder
1.5 tbl must seed
1.5 tbl minced garlic
Coriander Country 40 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
6 oz Salt
1.5 oz Black Pepper
1 oz Red Pepper
3 tsp Allspice
3 tsp Cloves
3 tsp Nutmeg
8 tbl Coriander
2 tbl Minced Garlic
1.5 tbl Mustard Seed
4 tbl Brown Sugar
Both recipes get smoked/cooked for a certain duration. I also just like using these recipes as bulk for anything to substitute for beef. Just instead of feeding it through the grinder after the seasoning is mixed.....goes straight into 1 lb bags instead of the casings.
The picture I show for the seasonings is the recipe I have used for jalapeno and cheddar summer sausage recipes. The ratio I usually use on that is 80/20 wild game of choice/pork. I will have to get that one out of the cook book to share. Ill dig it up if anyone is interested.
There are two recipes and one is a 30 lb batch the other is a 40 lb batch. No recommendation on ratios unless you would like my opinion so you can break it down however you would like to mix them.
Regular Country 30 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
5.25 oz Salt
1.5 oz black pepper
1.5 oz red pepper
3.75 tbl Brown Sugar
.75 tbl All Spice
.75 tbl onion powder
1.5 tbl must seed
1.5 tbl minced garlic
Coriander Country 40 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
6 oz Salt
1.5 oz Black Pepper
1 oz Red Pepper
3 tsp Allspice
3 tsp Cloves
3 tsp Nutmeg
8 tbl Coriander
2 tbl Minced Garlic
1.5 tbl Mustard Seed
4 tbl Brown Sugar
Both recipes get smoked/cooked for a certain duration. I also just like using these recipes as bulk for anything to substitute for beef. Just instead of feeding it through the grinder after the seasoning is mixed.....goes straight into 1 lb bags instead of the casings.
The picture I show for the seasonings is the recipe I have used for jalapeno and cheddar summer sausage recipes. The ratio I usually use on that is 80/20 wild game of choice/pork. I will have to get that one out of the cook book to share. Ill dig it up if anyone is interested.
We do our own right in camp. I hunt with my family and we all do our own meat at home so we decided to bring chest freezers and a generater to camp. Its nice to get home and not have to worry about your meat. It takes us around 4 hours from start to clean up to do one animal. The grinding is done at home. Last year we did 4 elk in camp.
cohunter14
Administrator
- Jul 10, 2017
- 5,345
Interesting Pikemaster...can you share some details on what was used to build that and how it was kept cool? I see the extension cord, but am curious as to what you used.
They are 3\" walk in cooler panels that came out of a school. We had to kinda piece it together. I had a bunch of left over 90 degree hangers that we used to attach all the walls and stuff with. I still need to finish the corners with some flashing. Cnelk had and window AC that we use to cool the inside. I messed with the temp probe and can get it to cool to about 45 degrees. I would like it a little cooler. I check the meet twice a day when we had meat in it and the meat was very cool to the touch. We used to cut up the meat right until this last year. The deer that we shot this year were all good size bucks and the meat was outstanding.
