VERY DISAPPOINTED AND RATHER DISGUSTED

[Shooter McGavin]

November 2005- I killed my first muledeer down south and brought it to an eastside location for processing. I thought why not, it was close to home and I had never been there before. The first thing I noticed when I brought my deer in and they opened up the freezer is that there were at least 7-8 deer hanging and at least 5-6 deer laying on the freezer floor. I questioned that and the yound guy said they were rearranging things inside to make room for more deer. I don't know if I liked that answer but how was I to know for sure and he placed my deer ontop of the other deer on the floor. I gave him my requirements and left. About two weeks later I received my deer and was very happy to start chowing down. I have eaten deer before, but there was something that just didn't taste right. My wife wouldn't eat anymore of this deer, but I felt obligated after all the time and effort I put in to get it. Bad experience with this place, have NEVER gone back to get anything processed from them again.

 

LATE OCTOBER 2011-I had a very good friends son take a mule deer on this years 1st jr hunt on the 2nd to last day of the hunt. They cut the deer up out in the field and brought back all the good stuff. They were both pressed for time, he had to get to work and his boy had to get to school. I had told them to call me if they should fill their tag so that I could give them directions to WGP. Well needless to say they dropped it off at an eastside location. I won't throw at the name, but lets just say it is in Broadway/Camino Seco area. They got the meat back and gave me some burger and steaks, VERY nice friends to have. That night I was in a hurry to try some venison, since my last years deer was already gone and my hunt wasn't in two weeks and I couldn't wait. So I put a nice marinade on it and grilled it up. While eating, all three of my kids and wife all found traces of hair. I told them it happens from time to time, a little disappointed I called my buddy and told him what we found and to becareful prior to eating.

 

TODAY-11/17/2011

I just got done thawing some more steaks my buddy gave me for a cookout tomorrow at work. I remembered what we found on the previous steaks and decided to thoroughly inspect each cut prior to marinading. Once again I was completely blown away by how much deer hair, pieces of dirt and sticks/dry grass stuck in and around the cuts and layers of meat. Just gross I tell, it would have probably gagged a maggot on a gut wagon, but I washed each piece of meat and stuck it into the baggy of marinade anyway. What really upsets me is that I don't know if I want to eat the burgers. Who knows what will be mixed in it.

 

Very frustrated hunter; all the time you put in just preparing for the hunt (scouting, buying new gadgets & food, sleepless nights); your hunt arrives and the endless miles and effort you put in to tag your deer and then to have your meat BUTCHERED by someone who doesn't care or wants to take the time to process & clean it correctly.

 

All 6 cuts had hair and pieces of grass/dirt on them, I only took pics of this one.

[yotebuster]

Having worked for a butcher I will stop you for a second and tell you that when you bring in boned out meat, you get back what you brought in. This includes anything you got on it in the field. A good butcher will do his part in keeping the hair off your meet when you bring in a gutted carcass, but if you bring in a big cooler of boned meat that you butchered in the field, they cannot afford to spend hours cleaning up your 30 pounds of boned deer when they only get paid 85 cents a pound to process it. It sounds harsh, but the old saying goes, "sh1t in sh1t out", and if you had hair and grass on your deer meat, then you would be well advised to clean it up before dropping it off, or do a better job boning it out in the field. As far as your deer that "didn't taste right" there is nothing a butcher can do about the prep leading up to them putting the deer in the freezer, I assure you whether the carcass was hanging or on the floor in a walk in freezer, the fact that it was the correct temp in there was what mattered, if anything, being on the floor in the cooler would be better for your carcass. There are tons of good how to books on cutting your own game, give it a shot sometime, I find it rewarding and money saving.

[Couzer]

I have always processed my own game! Save money and know that it will be cleaned.

[AZLance]

You would think if someone spent a lot of time trying to harvest a deer they would also spend a good amount of time looking into who is a good processor and who is not. There are numerous post on this form about what butchers are good and which ones are not. You can only blame yourself for this.

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

There are a lot of butchers that have no concept of caring for wild game meat. Ionly use and recomend butchers that

 

A ) are well known for processing wild game.

B ) do not belly ache about boned out meat.

C ) are willing to trim an and all that is required to deliver store quality clean meat to my table or that of my hunters.

 

An occational hair may show up... but it should not be common. Silver skin, fat, dirt, hair, etc should not end up in the wrapping papper, IMHO....

[Coues Sniper]

A good butcher is hard to find. However, most don't have the time to clean up your meat before they process, especially this time of year. Don't take this the wrong way, but if there was dirt and sticks in your meat, it wasn't because the butcher put it in there. It was left on the meat when you took it in there. If you take care of your meat, the butcher can tell and will do the same. If you bring in dirty meat, the butcher will assume you don't care and neither will he. At any rate, I'm sure someone on here could recommend another butcher to use in the future.

[Shooter McGavin]

You would think if someone spent a lot of time trying to harvest a deer they would also spend a good amount of time looking into who is a good processor and who is not. There are numerous post on this form about what butchers are good and which ones are not. You can only blame yourself for this.

 

 

I agree with you on that there are good ones and bad ones, like I said in the post I only used this outfit once, my buddy took his deer there. I wish he would have called me first. I have found a very good and reputable meat processor way before I started dabbling on the CWT site. I am not blaming anybody, I am just disappointed.

[Shooter McGavin]

A good butcher is hard to find. However, most don't have the time to clean up your meat before they process, especially this time of year. Don't take this the wrong way, but if there was dirt and sticks in your meat, it wasn't because the butcher put it in there. It was left on the meat when you took it in there. If you take care of your meat, the butcher can tell and will do the same. If you bring in dirty meat, the butcher will assume you don't care and neither will he. At any rate, I'm sure someone on here could recommend another butcher to use in the future.

 

I am shocked, are you telling me that the butcher you use doesn't put dirt and sticks in your meat. I guess it must be some new thing down in good ole Tucson. I am kidding with ya. As for cleaning the meat, I can tell you out of the all pigs, deer and a few elk that I have shot there is no way you can get all the hair/sticks/dirt off prior to getting it to the butcher if you are in the field with limited cleaning supplies. A good butcher WILL do that for you, with the exception of an occasional hair. I have found a good butcher and will continue to use and brag about him.

[THOR]

WGP or nothing for me: great family, clean, quick to get back, great sausage and cuts....

 

Thanks Jon for continued great job!

Mark Thorsrud

[AzHuntingAddict]

For Mr. former butcher or whatever;

How do you know you are getting the deer you dropped off to the butcher? If a freezer is full of deer, is there not a chance you might get someone elses poorly dressed out deer meat? Maybe your right, sh1t butcher in, sh1t butcher out!

[Coach]

The last time I took game to a local butcher I lost all of it to foul tasting garbage that I paid a lot of money for.

 

Since that day, every single ounce of meat consumed in my house is processed by me. I can't do summer sausage, because I don't have a big enough smoker to hang the chubs, so the guy I use gets nothing but cleanly cut meat I have processed. Everything else is 100% self processed from field to table.

 

It takes me about 8-10 hours for an elk and maybe 6 for a deer, but when I'm done, I know my wife won't chomp down on a pine needle, hair or even a leftover chunk of sinew or fat.

 

Game animals aren't like beef - their fat and sinew does not break down and flavor the meat like beef. Any fat or sinew will give game meat an undesirable "gamey" flavor.

 

I've got a family of picky eaters when it comes to game meat, and I can't stand game going to waste. Out of necessity, I have found that proper care in the field and meticulous care in the boning and packaging of game meat lead to unbeatable table fare, and the slightest overlooked detail leads to wasted game meat.

 

There is no way I could pay anyone worth their time to process my game the way I do. But, when it comes down to it, every bit of every animal my family kills gets eaten, either as jerky or steaks. And we've had some Javelina steaks that I would defy anyone to discern from quality deer or antelope backstrap. I recently gave some coues bottom round to my father-in-law, who hasn't been able to hunt for years and wanted some venison. He raved about how tasty that meat was - and the conditions to get that meat out of the field and home were not favorable.

 

If you like hunting, and you enjoy sharing the fruits of your hunt, you really owe it to yourself to learn how to process the meat yourself. There is definately an art to it, but once you get it, you will never take your meat to a processor again.

[THOR]

Another thing that goes into the taste of the meat is how long it took to die. Once that first bullet or arrow hits him, adrenalin starts pumping through his body, slowly making the meat worse. it doesnt take long for it to be a bit more gamey of a flavor.

 

as far as the past posts..

 

It does not take long to run a hose over the meat, you put the time and money in for the hunt, whats another 5 minutes to wash it off....its not like the butchers are going to add dirt and hair. Have respect for the animal you killed and for those that are going to eat it by taking the extra couple minutes to do it right!!! just my 2 cents!

 

Mark

[desertdog]

The last time I took game to a local butcher I lost all of it to foul tasting garbage that I paid a lot of money for.

 

Since that day, every single ounce of meat consumed in my house is processed by me. I can't do summer sausage, because I don't have a big enough smoker to hang the chubs, so the guy I use gets nothing but cleanly cut meat I have processed. Everything else is 100% self processed from field to table.

 

It takes me about 8-10 hours for an elk and maybe 6 for a deer, but when I'm done, I know my wife won't chomp down on a pine needle, hair or even a leftover chunk of sinew or fat.

 

Game animals aren't like beef - their fat and sinew does not break down and flavor the meat like beef. Any fat or sinew will give game meat an undesirable "gamey" flavor.

 

I've got a family of picky eaters when it comes to game meat, and I can't stand game going to waste. Out of necessity, I have found that proper care in the field and meticulous care in the boning and packaging of game meat lead to unbeatable table fare, and the slightest overlooked detail leads to wasted game meat.

 

There is no way I could pay anyone worth their time to process my game the way I do. But, when it comes down to it, every bit of every animal my family kills gets eaten, either as jerky or steaks. And we've had some Javelina steaks that I would defy anyone to discern from quality deer or antelope backstrap. I recently gave some coues bottom round to my father-in-law, who hasn't been able to hunt for years and wanted some venison. He raved about how tasty that meat was - and the conditions to get that meat out of the field and home were not favorable.

 

If you like hunting, and you enjoy sharing the fruits of your hunt, you really owe it to yourself to learn how to process the meat yourself. There is definately an art to it, but once you get it, you will never take your meat to a processor again.

 

 

Great post Coach. I cant agree more. And for me butchering your kill is part of the fun. I really enjoy the entire process. And your 100%correct on taking off all the fat you can. That stuff will turn your meat gamey in a hurry. I usually add pork fat back to the hamburger to keep it together. Butchering our own game is one of those things I am so thankful my family has always done and something I was able to learn form my family. And for the guys that have not processed your own game yet you should really give it a shot. It may not be perfect the first few times you do it but who cares. You will learn and have the satisfaction of knowing you did the job yourself and did it the right way.

[rclouse79]

I have been interested in starting to process my own game. I was wondering how important it is to hang the game for a certain amount of time in a cool environment. I have always just taken everything to the butcher because it is too hot in Tucson to hang anything. I was wondering if a guy could buy an old refigerator, gut the inside of it, and install some hooks on the top to hang quarters inside. Has anybody done this, or heard of somebody else doing it?

[Non-Typical Solutions]

I have probably said this before when this topic came up, but one thing I remember my dad making us do was hang the meat out over night and wrap it up and pack it away during the day. We would do this for about a week if I remember right. He claimed it helped with the game taste and tenderness as well.

When we began to carve the meat the outside was hard and sometimes you wondered if the meat was any good at all, but once you got it cleaned up, it was really good meat.

We still do the same with all of our game today.

 

Actually a great topic I have never had my game meat processed anywhere, just always thought it was easy enough to take care of myself. Good lesson for kids to learn too as part of the dare I say harvest!!!