For those of you who haven't already had issues, you could be in for a rude awakening in lining up a processor if you wait until after you harvest one. I know I could invest in hundreds of dollars of equipment and do it all myself, but that's not the point here. I've heard a lot of you say you don't like to hunt until it gets cold and just starting. I love hunting in the mild temps. of Sept-Oct, but If it's not bitter and I don't have to wear so many layers my accuracy suffers, I'm blessed to be able to bow hunt during gun season. In my district gun season opened Sat. I got a big doe Sat. AM and took it by a processor I'd not used before, only to find him closed when his sign said Sat. 8AM-8PM. When I called, he said he was full. Luckily, he said I could bring it today, which is fine, as I've had it on ice. But I called several other processors who I've used in the past that would accept deer on Sunday afternoons with a phone call appt. Several were full and not taking deer until mid-week or closed and not answering the phone. Save yourself some trouble and find out the situation in your area. This is all due to the new CWD handling and transportation regs. I did all my calling around before the season only to find out half the processors I've used in the past quit this year due to all the regs the WRC expects them to keep up with as far as what counties deer come from. Some just can't find help! If they can make a living on livestock, it's no longer worth the hassle and liability to mess with venison anymore. Okay, if you have CWD in your state, you've had your "heads up"!

One of the processors in my area retired recently, leaving only one near me. As soon as the remaining processor became the only game in town he raised prices and cut back on his hours.

This is precisely why I bought a $100 electric meat grinder from Walmart at the start of the season. Processors here charge an arm and a leg and throw your deer in with everyone else's. If I wanted expensive burgers that I don't know how they were handled prior to processing, I'd buy beef.

Our local guy has stopped taking in deer 3x this season he does ~1500 a season but can't find help

like every skilled trade, the good ones are somewhat of a dying breed and have more work than they want or can do.

throw in additional regulation and administrative work, and the outcome is as expected.

as posted above, good reliable help is almost impossible to find especially in a job that is dirty, physical, and not in a warm comfortable area.

your suggestion to make contact ahead of time and know your options is a good one. it's also a good idea to have a plan b, and c.

learning to cut and process your own is not expensive or too hard, especially if you have a helper. an 'easy' process is to cut the backstraps and tenderloins into steaks and roasts, and the rest make into burger. as posted above, you can get a meat grinder without breaking the bank.

Knife butchers paper plastic bags

Don’t need fancy stuff

waiting until season to look for a processor is about equal to showing up unannounced at "your old hunting spot" only to find the land owner has changed things.Plan ahead.

good PSA olddogrib

We only have one processor left in my area and they do a "land office" business this time of year. And if you wait till gun season opens, no you will not get your own burger or processed meat back, just an equivalent weight. It will also cost you the same amount to have a deer processed regardless of size, so if you shoot a little 50 pound fawn you might as well buy beef.

State CWD regulations have driven the others out.

The first deer I ever got the highs were going to be in the 70's and nobody was available to process. I decided how hard could it be and quartered it up myself and then separated the roasts etc. I've always done my own now and bought a grinder, sausage stuffer and mixer. I really enjoy the whole experience.

I killed so many deer this year, that I did take the last one in to the processer, after I boned it out and had in a cooler. It didn't even occur to me to consider taking it in, then I remembered that I did want some summer sausage and I got some breakfast sausage to try. The rest went into steaks except for a little bit of hamburger meat. Cost me $117.00 it would have been more if I had taken the whole deer in and paid them to skin it and bone it out and everything.

I wanted some summer sausage, and that was the main reason, plus I was pretty busy at the time. But normally, I just do it all myself. All I need is a filet knife and butcher paper and freezer tape. I cut everything into steaks, granted some are really small steaks, but that's how I do it and I don't really care for deer burger that much so I don't grind it up. I also have a hydrator now, and plan to make a lot of jerky.

I learned how to process a deer, when I was a fairly young man, by helping and sharing deer kills with a neighbor at the time and he taught me how to cut one up. It not hard to do, but it does take some time to do it right, where it's edible and not tough. I probably spend 4 to 6 hours total, on a deer, by the time it's wrapped and in the freezer.

Been doing my own for 40 years or so. Made 50 lbs of bologna and trail bologna on Saturday, packed it up yesterday. This time I added roasted garlic and three kinds of hot peppers that I grew (not too much, just a tiny bit of heat on the back end) and it's friggin gooooooooood :^)

I don't need a processor but there's one 1.5 miles from me that would do it. Super nice guy and he does a good job, but it's not difficult, and I enjoy it a lot.

Well I can also tell you right now that any hunter in NC who hasn't read the regs and hasn't tagged and reported his kill will not even find a processor that will talk to him. The first thing they all ask for is the harvest report number, something a lot of them cut slack on in the past. And if you were honest in reporting the county of the harvest and then try to lie to the processor when you figure out you should have boned it for him to accept, it will be easy enough to catch you. You're going to be way better of getting turned away than if the WRC cross checks your info. I won't even get into the fact that some will need a lawyer to understand the carcass transport regs. I'm lucky in that where I hunt to the processers I use is "secondary surveillance" county through primary surveillance counties back to secondary. I never leave a surveillance area. You cannot go "primary" (where at least one case has been discovered) into secondary or a non-survaillance area without breaking the law! Clear as mud? And liars better hope that some software doesn't "GPS log" your cell signal when you called it in. Any IT person could write a simple program to reconcile all the data and write enough tickets to provide more revenue than hunting license sales, lol. George Orwell was right in 1984....Big Brother is watching!

I have done most of my own “processing.” It really isn’t magic, but as noted above, it does take time. Over the years, I have come to prefer cutting what would have gone into burgers, into 1”X1” cubes: Stroganoff, stews, chili, barbecue, burritos, and the list goes on……give it a try.

Yeah, screw all that nonsense. I'm good.

Most are gone from around here due to CWD constraints. That said, it's not that hard to take care of it yourself with some sharp knives and a place to work the carcass.

When we got married we lived in a mobile home and I butchered a bunch of deer in a tiny shed I'd built with scrap lumber... I'd throw out the pushmower, hang the deer and put the cutting board on my tool box, just enough room to stand there and turn around. Used an old hand-me-down hand grinder. Cut, wrap, grind, freeze.

All ya really need is a boning knife or similar, cheap meat grinder, a $100 electric one will work for many years, a roll of freezer paper and some ziplock freezer bags.

I made all that bologna this weekend with a $100 dept store meat grinder I've been using for decades, and an antique sausage stuffer I got on Craigslist for $50.... although, that meat grinder came with sausage stuffer attachments too.

Glad I don't have to worry about all those transport regs, surveillance and stuff. They trying to take all the fun out of it or what?

I'm not that cheap, I'll really don't have the place. I've been married 47 years and don't want to have to start over by bringing dead deer in the kitchen!

olddogrib, all of the NC regs talk, surveilance, non-surveilance, secondary surveilance stuff made my head spin!

How do you manage to follow all of those regulations?? I can see why you might need a Philadelphia lawyer to sort things out. Maybe Frisky can help, he has plenty of stories, angles and excuses to add to the confusion :^).

A professionally sealed/wrapped package is more appealing to wives,kids etc than white freezer paper with a bloody thawed mess in the fridge

PW, it's not incomprehensible if you take time to read it...several times, lol. The processors familiar with it for fear of being shut down! Most hunters I know have simply "blown it off". It's just probability and statistics. The Primary counties is where it's been found already and logically where it's most likely to be found again. Secondary counties are the 360-degree border surrounding the primary counties. Non-surveillance counties are outside that perimeter and the least risk of it showing up. You can't take unboned deer meat outside a primary county period, so you better have a local processor. Unboned meat from a secondary county can be taken through primary area and other secondary counties but not outside into a non-surveillance area. Right now every deer of either sex killed in NC's largest primary and adjacent secondary areas in the nest two weeks has mandatory submission of the head for CWD testing. I laughed Sat. when I stop to submit the head from my doe. Their freezer was a little 5 cu.ft. mini freezer on the gun season opener! At noon my head was the 4th submitted, unless somebody had just collected everything out of it. So you know participation is 100 %, lol! It should be noted that a case was discovered last year about 100 miles from the counties it was discovered in the previous year and so spawned a "second observation area" entirely...so much for the strategy of "sealing it off"! If you really want amusement look at the broken, disconnected and sporadic path east it's taken out of Colorado in the last 60 years. It can take well over a year for the deer to even show symptoms. I want to know how many hundreds of thousands of people have unknowingly eaten contaminated meat in those 60 years and haven't died.

I used to butcher most of my own deer and it’s only about 3.5 hours skinned carcass from start to finish, doing it in the kitchen on a big cutting board. I just used Gladwrap and freezer bags, worked very well and I sure got more cuts to roast and BBQ because I’m a fan of those more than burger. We hand ground a couple times but I eventually just took grind meat to a processor who makes great sausage.

Severe hand arthritis now makes it difficult to do about anything with my hands and skinning a cold deer kills my joints. The rest of it isn’t as bad though my grip Is so weak I gotta pray to be able to hang on to a rear quarter I’ve just cut off. There were multiple processors up in NW Ontario where I rifle hunt but now due to a number of things there’s only one, and he entails two 60 mile round trips in the wrong direction to drop it off and pick it up. The prospect of skinning & quartering one of those big bucks while standing outside in bitter cold has turned from something I didn’t mind into, quite frankly, something I dread of solo.

In Michigan we still have a pretty decent bunch of processors, overall.

really? we [my wife] and i have always taken care of any deer i get. it really is not that hard to do in my opinion. been doing it for more than 50 years. even my 2 grandsons do their own.

I invested in one of those butcher's meat hooks for when I'm in a bind and forced to bone to transport it out of a surveillance area. Stubee, I understand and you might want to get one. There's nothing that pisses you off like dropping a hind quarter in the dirt and mud, but it's extra fiber! Ironically, a lot of processors are going from being grateful to hunters that brought it in skinned, quartered and on ice in the past, to preferring/requiring it be brought in "on the hoof" so they can upcharge for field dressing plus the simple butchering "conversion fees" where you did most of the hard work for them. Taxidermists are getting a kickback from the game dept. for submitting the CWD samples when they were skinning the heads and removing the antlers anyway. I guess you can't fault entrepreneurship!

My neighbor runs a professional butcher shop. He does beef and pork and he is approved by the PA Game Commission to process deer, including deer from CWD areas. He had to have a lot of inspections and paperwork to get his licensing.

I have been giving him a hand in the evenings when I'm available since archery season has opened and he has gotten so many deer that he has had to turn people away on several occasions until he can get caught up, he also works a full time job during the day. Last year he got around 120 deer in archery. He's already up over 200 this year. Rifle starts this Saturday and I'm sure a lot of deer will be brought in.

I've butchered so many deer myself since I was a kid that I could do it with my eyes closed. A sharp knife and butchers paper works for sure but having all the equipment sure does make it quicker and easier.

It is definitely wise to find your local processor and talk to them before you kill a deer and bring it to them. Or at the very least, have a plan in place for processing the deer yourself. As mentioned above, it's not hard once you learn but some prior preparation and planning will help a bunch and the time for that is before you kill a deer.

I’ve been processing my own deer for many years ever since I got a copper jacket in a sausage from the processor that guaranteed you got your own meat back. (I shot it with a muzzleloader) It really isn’t difficult and adds another satisfying dimension to the hunt. All you need is a Grinder, a Sausage stuffer, & Smoker along with a helpful wife and you’ve got it made. That way you get venison that has been properly handled and has the best flavor as well as control of the flavor of your Summer sausage, Brats, Bologna or whatever you choose. The cost isn’t high about the same as having a couple of deer processed. Just my 2 cents worth.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. While not about archery per se, it reflects that mindset that is very common among trad bowhunters, especially us older folks, about learning how to do something, spending a life getting better at it, maybe making friends in the 'process', enjoying the task as much as the results. Its not surprising that so many of the posts also reflect a fondness for the next step, cooking with venison and enjoying the results of that, too.

About 13 years ago I went to a butcher shop and bought a full set of butcher knives and I watched videos and asked friends about how to do my own. Lots of trial and error and I am no expert like so many in here, but I get the job done. I think most guys just get intimidated by it, it’s really not to difficult, especially with all the videos available today.

Fillet knives work pretty good. I used one to do most of my deer butchering for many years.

Butcher's paper works, used it for decades, heck my butcher still uses it :^) and it doesn't require any additional equipment. I still use it on some of the venison cuts that get eaten sooner, but have been using the vacuum sealer more often for stuff that will be in the freezer longer. I cut the above bologna links in smaller pieces and then vacuum sealed them individually. Ended up with 36 of them. Too much for me. Gonna give some to family and friends.

Andy I could not agree more, learned how to do it growing up and have never used anyone else to process anything I have killed or caught, it is always a suprise when I hear people talking about taking game to someone else to clean as I always assumed everyone did it themselves. I understand it but it still suprises me.

Can't say it isn't labor intensive but it's a great feeling to see a stack of roasts, steaks, and burger that will feed you well for the months to come. It's a chore well worth the effort to learn.

Crazy to me that a hunter can't butcher his deer. I use a yard sale crank grinder and a few sharp knifes, some larger cutting boards. By the time the poster ran around to processers, then on the phone, then back again, I would already have the deer in the freezer and saved over $100 green backs. Bet my meat taste better as well. Good luck to you, hope you see the light on this soon.

I took my first deer to a butcher shop. I thought that the prepared meat tasted like beef liver. I ate it, but none of my roommates would not.

My second deer my uncle told me don't waste my money. "Do it yourself".

Still doing it myself

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