My youngest shot a nice doe during our youth gun season on Sat. Our normal processor had a death in their family a little over a year ago. They scaled back their hours, so I wasn't able to get his deer there Sat night. Sunday (yesterday) we had church and family commitments so I thought I'd run it over today after we picked up our 1/2 pig from another butcher that our pig farmer uses. While I was loading the bacon, my buddy called and asked if I was able to get the deer in to the processor. I said that that was my nice task on the to do list. He said he had heard they stopped taking deer today. I called, yep, they were overwhelmed. The only place near us, is the one processor I haven't used in 20+ years and will never use him again. I started calling around, the closest place I could find was 40 mins away. They said they were going to stop excepting deer tomorrow and I would have about a 3 week wait. I suppose we could have processed it ourselves, but I have a lot going on right before Thanksgiving and re-learning how the cut up and grind a deer isn't something I'd like to take on. I haven't done it in probably 35 yrs. Plus, there is a warm up coming tomorrow and Wed. I need to get bags and butcher wrap for next week. Things should be settled down by then since I blocked out time to hunt. I have a LEM big bite grinder since I figured something was going to happen at some point, since the plague jacked up the supply chain, food chain and now, apparently, the processor chain. If you don't normally do your own deer, it might be a good idea to check with your processor and see how things look. Just an FYI.
I got lucky, my buddy used to do his own, and I figured that's what I'd be doing, asking with him since he got a spike in northern Michigan. Because he called his guy around noon yesterday that he's been using the last couple of years, and told him he had 2, my 7pt and his spike, so we were good. When he got to the processor guy, he had a sign saying he was full and not accepting any more. Mind you, our 9 day gun deer season started Saturday. This isn't a big operation, just a guy that does this on the side. I heard that this was going to be a problem this year.
Same deal here, outfit I used 4 yrs ago nearby quit the biz so I had to scramble, found one 40 min away with good reputation but somewhat pricey. Yesterday was our opening day for rifle and I called and the guy said you better get a move on, they were going to stop accepting once they reached 300 deer. I made it and was relieved, processing is a lot of work.
Last year a guy I work with who is a big hunter was saying that he was having issues with ones he used and knew around his area. Lots of them were full and not taking for a week.
No problem here (yet?) with processing but man has the cost gone up! Used to cost $65 now up to $90. We could certainly process our own but our warmer temps than y’all up North don’t bode well for hanging more than a couple hours at best. Will not pony up for the expense of a cooler for just hanging venison either. So we will pay the going rate and be glad we still have those who will take the deer
Vermont’s archery season deer harvest is on pace with record, and game processors are struggling to keep up
I’ve never processed my own, but there was a thread here about doing it, and I had seen a nice video from our Game Wardens doing it. This year I bite the bullet and went to online videos for handholding and managed to do it. All the trim and leg muscle roasts are in the freezer. I’ve made my own sausage blend a couple of times (processor ground it for me). This year we bought a LEM, and I’ll first make some jerky and then grind all the trim for sausage.
Wow vermont is backed up with 4k deer in archery season which is 2 months. Ohio probably gets that im the first 5 minutes of youth season. I'm no pro but I have 2 meat boxes that fit inside a standard fridge. It takes me 1.5 hours to skin and process to fit in the boxes. Once in the fridge you can age as long as you want. Then another 2-3 hrs to process. It's well worth to get setup since its about 100 bucks to get one done around here.
yep, its a lot of work. used to be 2 or three of us get together and get it done. but alas my hunting partners have mostly passed away and the couple that are still around moved - Florida for one ,1/2 the state away for the other.
WI we are at 103,xxx so far, that counts everything for all seasons so far also includes car & odds and ends kills, as of the 15th of Nov. Still have 5 more days of gun season, a week of black powder only plus late archery to go. better sharpen your butchering skills. there arn't enough butcher shops to handle that volume. here Vension has to be kept totally separate from domestic.
that’s what we always did. Old refrigerator in the garage if it wasn’t cold enough to hang one in the garage… quarter it up and stuff it in there.. when I was knee high to grasshopper he bought a old grinder from a pig farmer… and that thing would put out some hamburger…
Guy that processes down here is charging $120.... We used him 1 time several yrs ago before he went up.
In the south here as well. While I don't do mine either I have seriously considered it over the years. A few times I would gut and skin them and bring them in ready to hang. I don't do it these days because I only killa deer every few years by choice, as I target big bucks. But you can age them in a refrigerator if you have a second one. You can even do it in a big cooler on ice. Quarter them and let them sit for a few days.
We don't keep track in this state. Year end estimates are don't by hunter surveys. But that estimated total is around 200,000 deer each year.
Brother shot an 8 point yesterday. His processor guy told him they would freeze it and it would be about 8 or 9 weeks before it would be ready. Cost is $145.00.
I just do it myself. Saves money and I know it is my deer I'm getting back. Arguably saves time driving to drop it off and pick it up too.
No problem finding a processor around here but I'm wayyy to cheap for that. I just got done doing the two that the daughter killed this last weekend from start to finish today. It's very satisfying when it's done but when you're on the eighth quarter you're wondering why you didn't take them somewhere...
