npaden

In an area where lots of folks process their own animals it is pretty common for butchers to charge a nominal fee to grind the meat and add fat to it (i.e. make hamburger). Growing up in Montana they charged something like 50 cents per pound or something like that and that included the added fat. They will usually grind it on the spot and give it back to you in a few minutes, sometimes you have to wait an hour or so. Here it comes out closer to $2 per pound and the last time I had it done I'm 99% sure they mixed mine in with a larger batch of meat and I didn't get mine back. I've waited as long as 3 weeks to get mine back here.

I bought a 1/2 hp grinder from Gander Mountain for $80. I've processed 25lbs of Elk that I mixed 50/50 with some cheap hamburger and ended up with some good 90% lean hamburger out of it. I made 30lbs of pork sausage from a wild pig and it came out a little on the lean side, but really turned out pretty well for my first batch I think. Next time I do it I will cut some more chops and steaks out of the leanest meat and keep the trimmed fat to add to the rest of it when I grind it and I think that will be a win win on both sides of things. (I ground 100% of the last pig into sausage). I ended up making some REALLY spicy sausage that you can't get done commerially. I added habeneros, chile picanes, jalepenos and LOTS of crushed red pepper. I'd always heard that you need the ultra expensive grinders but so far this little 1/2 hp grinder is doing a bang up job in my opinion. Of course it has only gone through a little over 50lbs of meat and is only a few months old so time will be the ultimate decider on whether it is good or not, but it has already nearly paid for itself at the amounts they charge for grinding around here. I do cube all the meat up before running it through but that isn't too difficult.

The food saver vacuum sealers are nice to have too. I bought one of the medium priced ones for under $100 and it works great. WAY nicer than using freezer paper since I package everything myself. Freezer paper is cheaper, but the food storage bags last longer in the freezer.

Oh well, just thought I would add that.

wyomingtrapper

I always process my own. Years ago, I paid to have meat ground, and occassionally sausage and pepper sticks made. The cost kept going up. I don't have a problem with that, buthchers have to deal with overhead and inflation too, but it didn't fit with cost effectiveness and self sufficiency. I've borrowed grinders for several years and this year bought one of Cabela's 1hp units (it comes with stuffing attachments. It cost less than Colorado Luckydog paid to have his elk processed and should work for me for years. I bone out all of my biggame. Hogs, I use a hand meatsaw. I may try to pick up a small band saw, but they are pricey for one or two hogs a year. Though one could freeze boned portions of wild game and cut steaks and what not with one too...

I've done well with sausage, but haven't find the right recipe for peppersticks. Anyone have a good recipe, please post!


Oh, and npaden is spot on on the vaccum sealers. A bit more cost than freezer wrap or ziplocks, but they are a great way to package meat, and about anything else you could want.

DM

I NEVER add fat in with my meat when i grind it... The fat is the first thing to go bad in meat that's in the freezer, and also that fat just takes up freezer space... Instead i buy some FRESH pork sausage or what ever i prefer, a pound or so at a time, and add it to the meat when i thaw it out to use it.

It sure makes a lot better burger!

DM

unbridled

My family used to butcher all of our animals ourselves when I was growing up. I just went back to it 2 years ago and I think the meat is just alot cleaner and better when I do it myself. I do everything except grind the burger and make specialty meat sticks. I have a dehydrator my grandpa built that I use to make all our jerky. I'll probably buy a grinder this year and do or own burger like we used to as well. We would do like npaden does and mix the deer or elk burger with the cheapest beef burger available at the store. My brother has a vaccume sealer but I think the stuff double wrapped in butcher paper is just as good.

I didn't even know it was an option to take your game into a processor without it being gutted. That's gotta be a pain for the processors to haul the guts away. I know they have to haul the carcasses and stuff away anyways but I bet it's a pain to haul the guts too.

GooseHunter Jr.

I took my first elk in years ago and ever since then I have done it all myself. for one it is way too expensive and second I feel it is a good way to finalize my hunt and the satifaction of doing it myself.

Elkcrazy8

Darn near everything that I bring home is already boned. I steak and roast the prime cuts, The not so prime cuts I run through a cuber, the rest gets ground and turned into link sausage or chorizos. I just did a deer and ended up cutting the strip loins and ribeyes for roasts and the rest got turned into 218 sweet italian sausages, the pork trim, seasonings and hog gut casings ran 40.00. I use a grinder I got from cabelas. Cabelas grinders are great as you can get the meat mixer and cuber unit that hooks up to the grinder. I like to use the tube type bags for the ground stuff when not making links. You stuff the bag like you would a casing and then use a one pass tape dispenser to seal the bag... It doesn't take long for the grinder to pay for itself.....The grinder works great for making salsa too!!!!

wyomingtrapper

"The grinder works great for making salsa too!!!!"

Tell us about that a bit.... Recipies are good too!

DM

My dad still helps me when i put a deer in the freezer...He was 94 last falland still helping me, by packageing the meat, as i grind it.



When i was a kid, he would have been putting the meat in the grinder, as i turned the handle... lol and mom would do the packageing...

DM

spaniel

Gutting, well, I always do that myself, it only takes a few minutes to gut a deer when you have done north of a hundred and fifty of them.

I typically do take my deer to a processor. #1, until very recently I did not have space to process one. #2, I have no access to a cooler. #3, I never had all the right equipment to cut them up myself. #4, until last year I always hunted far away from where I lived and had no where to deal with it in a rented suburban house.

Now, time and the cooler are the only limitations. I cut one up myself once, it took more than half a day and they don't cost enough to cut up to justify that.

Now if I get an elk this year, I will be boning it in the field and cutting it up myself.

Elkcrazy8

I dont really have a written recipe. I do however grind tomatos, peppers and onions. I season it with some chili powder and then can it. All of the veggies are fresh from the garden.

DM, that is abosolutly awesome... I remember the days of old when the whole family gathered at my grandfathers house for the annual deer cutting. I would love to go back in time to see everyone again...