I took a nice buck opening weekend. Took it to a meat shop to have it processed out. I'm sure that my bill will be close to $200 when I get my meat back. They charge to skin it but they also have a charge if you skin it. Then there's a charge to cut it, a charge to grind any of it plus the charge to add pork fat to your ground deer. I also ordered some summer sausage and submitting to the pressure from my boys I ordered them some snack sticks. The second weekend my oldest son took a nice doe. My firend who is a Butcher by profession offered to cut it for me. He said all I needed was to skin it and get some freezer paper or bags.
When he came over I had it hanging and skinned. He said it looked beeter than a lot of the deer that he sees come into the processer. He went to town on the thing making it look much easier than what I would have thought it to be. As he sectioned each portion off he showed me how and told me which cuts of meat come from each area. When we were all done I was amazed at how much meat I had and how beautiful the steaks looked that he butterflied out for me.
I have always heard guys complain that they don't think that they are getting all of their deer back from the processer and now after seeing how much meat I have from that doe I would agree with them. I said that to my friend the butcher and he told me that I need to keep in mind when they are processiung deer at a commercial facility that it is a assembly line and everything is done fast because they may have 500 or more deer to do so they don't take the time to do the extra trimming like he had done for me.
Best part about all of this is I spent time with my son hunting for the deer, cleaning, skinning, and butchering it. I know I have my deer, I learned how to do it myself, I spent time with my friend, and the only thing it is going to cost me is a dinner for my friend and his wife. Funny thing is that my friend has never hunted, has no desire to hunt but has been processing deer for more than 20 years and says with a big smile on his face "Deer season is my favorite time of the year"
