The "Be Honest" topic in the prep/cooking section made me think about it a little and a coworker this morning. How do you feel about taking care of your kill?

I have always heard people say well the fun is over now the work starts, been guilty of saying it myself I suppose. Do you mind taking care of your kill? Skinning/gutting/deboning deer, making sausage, tamales, cleaning fish, cooking, etc. has always been a labor of love to me. I shot a does Saturday evening and got it quartered and in the cooler and woke at 6am Sunday morning to get it deboned and ready for the table/freezer. I had as much fun thinking about what I was going to make with all the sorted cuts as I did sitting in the blind. Didn't hurt I had a hot cup of coffee and the company of my father wife and daughter.

How about you do you find caring for you kill to be off putting or just another fun step in the process?

Depends on what I want out of the animal. My processor makes better meat balls, dry sausage and brawts then I can make.

Everything else I make jerky, breakfast sausages, prime cuts, and burger.

depending on which ranch or state I hunted, I usually debone before traveling also, and usually most deer taken come from a ranch I can de-bone also. Normally saves 50-60 dollars

In my opinion the cost of having someone else process your deer is a bargain if you like the way they do it. So that's what I do.

Processing deer is a party for us, we do about 20 a year.
After some deer (usually 3-6) have hung in the cooler for a few weeks several of us get together and debone, cut and grind, there is beer involved.
Jerky and sausage making are the same but an all day event with about a dozen guys, but more beer. It is more of a social event than work.

Ive eaten plenty of sausage and jerkey that was taken to a processor and find most of it to be really good. I just cant do it myself. I enjoy the work and the rewards. Brings me back to my childhood doing it with my grandfather and my parents already got the kiddos going on it, its fun for us. Also im not what I would consider a wealthy person and it would cost me a small fortune to have the families critters processed.

My wife and I use to process the whole deer our selves and we made it fun. Now a lot of years later I take it to a good processor in Archer City that I'm familiar with.

I have fun when it's done this way, but I'm by myself, and I've got to gut, quarter, etc 20 or so deer this year alone and it's more or less a hassle. I typically give the meat away, I'll save a few this year though. It's boring to have to shoot that many deer, weigh them, process them alone all at night without a processing shed set up.

Gut, skin, quarter is not something I hate, or enjoy doing. It's just a task that must be completed immediately. A cooler full of meat is a victorious sight, though. Then the cooler goes to the processor. They do exceptional work, are fairly priced, give me all my meat back, and usually call me about 3 days after I dropped it off.

Just part of the job in deciding to take an animal. Clean it promptly, get it on ice, and get it to my processor with 2 or 3 days.

I'll be snacking on jap/cheese pencil links until this time next year.

for the first 40 plus years of my hunting life, we did 100% of all our processing. It was a family affair with my mom, dad and myself and we all had our own tasks that we handled. I was in charge of gutting, skinning and quartering (my dad was allergic to the hair/dander). As I pulled a quarter off, it went to the kitchen where mom & dad would debone, separate and start wrapping or into the grind pan. By the time I was done with the carcass, they pretty much had the rest well planned out and I would help finish up if needed. Once our grind pan was full enough, dad and I were off to do all the grinding, hamburger or various types of sausage. Once my parents got into their 80s, it became a bit too much labor for them. As my dad was taking his grandkids to the woods, it became more of a challenge since the kids were too young to do the gutting/skinning and I was off in the woods with my own kids at a different location. Dad took one of the kids deer to a local processor since I wasn't avaliable, 2 weeks later he called me and said he has processed his last deer.

I wouldn't mind processing my own, but all our old supplies are gone (estate sale upon my parent's passing) and the lack of time to do the whole she-bang done properly. Convenience if you will. I can be out hunting, playing with grandkids, doing stuff with my wife, etc. ... for the several hours it would take me to do basic processing for saving $80-100.

I really enjoy the cleaning and processing part of it.

I have to admit, I have never taken anything to a processor but I was under the impression it cost a bit more than 80-100 bucks.

It does unless you bring it quartered and only want ground meat.

I just finished processing the 2 does we shot a week ago. I'll be making jerky tonight with my son. When we process a deer, my 13 yr old son and 11 yr old daughter help in the process. I field dress and quarter out the deer in the field. We process the deer in our kitchen and vacuum seal everything up. I grind up the hams for all ground venison, which we go through a lot of. My kids understand now how it all works from the field to the table. I think it's a valuable process to know.

Yes, it takes a lot of time to do it. But I have taken my animals to many different processors and I do not like the quality of the ground meat we get back. The only processor I have found that I will go to is Kuby's in Dallas. They do a very good job. Ray's in Breckenridge was like eating rubber bands in my meat and was not good at all. Won't go back there again.

Nope, $80 (or $85?) at one place, $90 at another I have used this season. it was basic processing pulling the tenders & backstraps out making steaks, hind quarters into tenderized steaks, rest into hamburger one place is all vacuum sealed, the other was wrapped in plastic wrap then into white butcher paper. Both were field dressed, whole deer with hair still in place.

The cost goes up once you start getting sausage (especially multiple types) made.

Yep no labor of love for me and I value my life minutes saved for what I enjoy. I don't mind the skinning and quartering unless I don't have the necessary tools to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

i try and shoot an axis to eat. my whitetail management deer i give away or donate


it was fun when i was 20 and really mad at the deer. nowadays. i mostly watch.


it comes down to, do i want to jack with a deer or drink a beer, relax, enjoy a fire and listen to the lonesome whippoorwill talk to the coyote .....

I take it to the processor after gutting and putting on ice.

"the fun is over, now the work starts". Yep, I've said it. But it is work that I enjoy. I have done 100% of my own processing for at least 15+ years...that said, I have usually done 1-2 deer and 2-3 pigs a year. The family has grown, and I did 3 deer and 3 pigs last year. I've already done one deer this year, and will hopefully have 2-3 more to do. I have thought about taking one of them to the processor just as a time saver...but then I would lose control of my meat. I like to have control of my meat.

I really don't enjoy it too much, so I do some myself, and let a processor do the rest.

Have you tried Teals in Weatherford? If not, look into them.

We processed our own when I was growing up, I did the same for years, after a couple of times of being short of time we started using processors. I did one by myself because everyone had too many things they had to do, the next went to the processor that used to be a neighbor that was also a full time butcher. He was just starting out as a part time processor, so I thought I would help him get his start. That was the last time we really processed a whole deer. Sometimes I still keep part of it, just to have something to do. I have all of the equipment, grinder, sausage stuffers, wrapper and vac sealer. But as I have aged, I decided that it is too much work for me.

Time is money. Right now, in the midst of fixing the fire damage, I just don't have the time nor space to process one. They're going to the processors. 3 so far this year - 2 in breakfast sausage and the last, a fallow doe, into steaks and ground meat that I'll process into something else.
$100 for basic processing for the first one. 105 for the basic processing for the 2nd and 105 for the fallow for the whole thing. Under normal circumstances, I might have one or two done at a processor and do the rest myself. I enjoy the process of processing

I love meat cutting and processing. So yes, I enjoy it very much. I especially like sausage making including semi dry "cured", breakfast, and hot links. They come out as good or better than a processor, so I'm pretty happy with the product.

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