After numerous experiences personally and with my friends, I am now suspect that we are getting ripped off by processors. Most of us use a favorite processor because they do quality work, prices are right, and above all have a "special product" (like a certain smoked sausage, burger mix, or breakfast sausage) that you swear is the best out there. I've come to notice that my processors (I use 2 depending on where I hunt) have a large chest freezer up front full of there "special product" in case you want to add to your own take. I wonder where they get all the deer or hog meat? I asked one of my processors how much stuff he has sold out of his freezer up front and he said nearly half a ton this year! Now that is alot of deer meat. So the question is this:
Do you believe that processors are skimming off of your kill ( and many others), so they can create their special product for resale (basically double dipping)?

All I know is I am consistently 10 - 15 pounds shy of where I think the end processed weight should be, and so are my buddies. Let's hear your thoughts!

I am positive mine in springtown did!!!!

There is a fairly simple solution, grind your own.

I knew that was coming, but the question is for those that choose to take their kill to a processor, do you feel you are getting ripped off with the quantity you receive back.

Yes, the only way to know for sure. It is alot of work, but it will save money in the long run. I did find out that there is not near as much meat on a average size North Texas whitetail as I once thought. I would make a bet that the processors do skim off the top a little to improve their bottom line. Another thing I dont like at most processors is the big batch they put all the meat into before they divey out your share.

Unless they got Ray Charles bonin' out their animals, YES.




I asked a processor friend of mine why you get more meat back at the 1st of the season than you do at the end of the season. His reply was "as processors get further behind, they take less time on each animal. Thus less meat." It's no secret when you work too fast, you won't do a good job. The best processing job you'll ever get, will wear ya out.

Maybe not everyone comes back for their meat...

That is fine if you have the time. Well, I dropped off 37 lbs last week to be made into burger. When they call to say it's ready, I'll see how much I have. It won't be 37 lbs, cause the 2 hams and shoulders still had bone in.

Let us know Squiggy

It doesn't take all that long to grind a deer up. I've had a buck ground up in under 2 hours. Red Deer on the other hand take forever.

i've worked at processors before and I'll tell you a few things that happen all the time. the biggest thing is you hand somebody their sack of meat and they say "I brought in a xxx pound buck and this is all i get back?" usually they way overestimate the weight of their deer. I had one guy tell me he brought in a two hundred pound central texas whitetail and he was mad because he's only getting this much back. his buck weighed about 130 whole. he got back about sixty pounds of meat. nothing to gripe about.

the other is sometimes you have to trim a lot to get rid of bruise and bone fragments in the meat. if you can look in one side of a deer and see out the other you're going to have a lot of waste.

dirty deer wil cost you a lot of meat too. i swear some people gut the deer then flip it belly down and drag it through every swamp and gravel pit they can find before it got to us. all that dirty stuff has to be trimmed off because a lot of it won't wash off, and if it don't come off with a hose I ain't taking the time to pick it all out. I get paid by the deer, it ain't my fault you screwed yours up.

believe it or not some people only do half a job of gutting. they stop at the diaphram and leave everything above it there so it still holds that body heat. then it goes to the processor, where we check it in and put it in a cooler with all that still in it because you can't always tell that it's only half gutted until you start working on it. we might not get to it that day especially if it's checked in late so all that will sit there overnight. not cooling well and maybe holding a ton of blood still in the cavity which means discolored meat and lots of trimming.

gut shots- self explanitory

some processors pool the meat, some dont. we never did so i can't really tell you how that works but i can tell you that i'd rather have my own deer.

I've been grinding my own for the last 4-5 yrs. The last one I took to a processor was horrible. The ground meat stunk when it was being cooked & it didn't matter what you made it into it had a funny taste. I don't k ow why it was like that but from then on I've done it myself. When you do it yourself you get to decide how much you want to scrap or not & actually see how much meat it makes.

27# went to the processor....deboned. Some when straight home with the FIL. I will let everyone know how much I get back. I beleive it will be spot on or very close. I believe some do a better job than others just like any other business.

This is a continual arguement that shows up every year.

First off most hunters have no realistic idea how much meat is on a deer.

From experience, a deer, buck or doe will lose 30% of its weight in the intial processing.

This is not hearsay, I process several deer each year, and it always works out to the same percentage.

Also, too many hunters do not get an actual weight on the deer they shoot, they make a guesstimate.

I will say that a person is better off processing their own meat if they can.

All good input Gents. Of course there are many variables here:
- you know what you got if you process yourself
- poor field dressing or poor shot leads to damaged or otherwise lost meat
- folks thinking that their dressed weight should yield xx pounds

The idea around the question is "do you feel" you have been shortchanged. I always weigh my deer, before dressing and after, and compare to charts that you can find all over the internet about how many pounds you can expect from a deer in final processing based on hoof and dressed weight. I normally discount these chart weights by at least an additional 10% due to factors that you would normally encounter during standard processing. If what I get back is less than amount I feel ripped off. For instance, I killed a nice buck (neck shot) that weighed 162 pounds field dressed and got back 42 pounds of processed meat (which by the way was alot of sausage and burger mix that had additives like pork). That's at least 20% lite in my opinion. So the question is not process yourself, but do you "feel" you got ripped off>

remember alot of guys donate deer too so that is probably where some of that meat comes from

Ragedy Creek Processing, Crowell Texas will weigh it for you. They keep your deer separate throughout the process. They are the best I have seen at getting more than you can imagine off a deer. Processed and packaged, frozen, a big 8pt, two does, and a 150-175 pound pig, filled up 3 120 quart coolers full, and a big grocery sack.

I've heard horror stories. I have quit one place that I thought was either getting lazy or sloppy or both.

Detroit Locker Plant, Detroit Texas does a fine job too.

They had better not be selling anything meat wise from a whitetail..

Usually do it myself, but I have used a couple different processors when I was short on time. Never felt that I was ripped off meat wise. It stands to reason you get a little less back from them, but some places charge you by the pound so I don't see how it would be in their interest to short you.

I dont think I have ever had a problem. Deer dont yield as much as most folks think. Meat Science class was a shocker to me back in the day.

I don't think a lot of people know how much meat they actually have. Off a central Texas doe, expect around 30 pounds of meat boned out, give or take a few. Then, you have people that get smoked or dried sausage, summer sausage, jerky, etc. These things have been cooked or cured, and they have lost some water weight, so that is a possible source of the difference.

As far as selling meat, you cannot sell whitetail deer for a profit. You can only charge for processing. Maybe people leave their meat and they charge the processing fee to "buy" it? I think people will be skeptical no matter what. That is why I process as many as possible by myself. If I get it processed, I take it to someone who doesn't do batch grinds.

Also, in addition to what I just wrote, how many of the people cleaning have ever boned out, trimmed silverskin/fat off a deer? You get a lot of waste. I'd guess on quartered doe, I will get a 3 pound pile of silverskin/fat, plus whatever the bones weigh.

I remember a few years back I took a calf to the butcher. When he called a few weeks later, I went in and there were 6 laborers sitting around eating t-bones. Last time I went there.

They had better not be selling anything meat wise from a whitetail..[/quote]
I personally know of 2 processors that are selling their "special" products - both deer meat - one is a really fine burger mix and another a nice smoked sausage