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Game Processing #7677007 12/01/19 08:01 PM
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Hey y’all!

I just want to know what all y’all would like to see from a place that you would take your deer, pig or any other game too to get processed, what cuts of meat or types of sausage and any other services your think a meat processor should have. What are some common issues y’all see or have had experience with at other processors? Any feed back on anything about processing from the customers side or owner side will be much appreciated!

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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677014 12/01/19 08:14 PM
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Venison boudin, fajitas, dried sausage, jerky, chop steaks, 15 lb minimums on sausage, breakfast sausage, etc. and get your own meat back. Vacuum seal everything besides the ground products and make sure everything is consistent.

Re: Game Processing [Re: krmitchell] #7677040 12/01/19 09:07 PM
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Originally Posted by krmitchell
Venison boudin, fajitas, dried sausage, jerky, chop steaks, 15 lb minimums on sausage, breakfast sausage, etc. and get your own meat back. Vacuum seal everything besides the ground products and make sure everything is consistent.


Yes thanks for the feed back! Vacuum sealing and uniformity and getting back your actual deer meat is important! Those will all be things practiced. Good labeling and a clean butcher room as well.


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677091 12/01/19 10:37 PM
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Venison tamales

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677097 12/01/19 10:45 PM
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Venison pastrami

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677130 12/01/19 11:29 PM
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Note taken!


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677136 12/01/19 11:36 PM
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Let the deer age 3 days in cooler. All sausage is different, research best taste. Watch pricing or you’ll end up paying a fortune to get a deer processed. And I mean really watch pricing; these guys know how to run up a bill.

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677451 12/02/19 10:28 AM
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Venison Chorizo .


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677513 12/02/19 01:34 PM
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Cleanliness above all else. Get your own meat back. Sausage and Summer sausage. Make sure you have a good recipe and stick to it. A friend just got back some sausage that he way overpaid for and it was so salty you couldn’t eat it. In a world with limited customer service, you could set yourself apart by providing a good customer experience.


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677535 12/02/19 02:08 PM
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Do your best to put out the best product that you can. Experiment-test, experiment-test, on your own dime not the customer’s. Keep things clean. Cook up samplers and hand them out. Ask for honest opinions and be receptive of criticism. Don’t offer a meat product until you are confident in your recipe and ability to deliver.

Always tell the truth. Be honest with your customers even if that means losing business. Customer service is a huge plus. Be ready to deal with those who love to complain (there are some on here that would bitch if their beer is too cold).

Locate yourself in a place where it is easier to do business with the public, but not necessary. If you become successful folks will drive out of their way for a good product that is priced right, with good customer service.

Good luck.

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677618 12/02/19 03:22 PM
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Have options on the type of fat that you can cut the game with. Some are much more for beef fat opposed to pork fat.

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677643 12/02/19 03:32 PM
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Pay attention to the cost of processing, there is a very good processor in Llano, Tx but he charges $2.00 a pond to debone you animal. I know others who charge .99 cents per pound quite a difference.

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677657 12/02/19 03:36 PM
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Getting your own meat back is a big one.

Be willing to turn away tainted, spoiled, gut shot, dirty etc. deer. Bad meat will reflect itself in your product/service no matter how good a job you did.

I see many deer that are not fit to eat taken to processors, no way they get a satisfactory product back with the pos they gave the processor.


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677723 12/02/19 04:40 PM
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I hear people say all the time "I know I get my meat back"

How would you really know?



Re: Game Processing [Re: titan2232] #7677751 12/02/19 04:57 PM
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Originally Posted by titan2232
I hear people say all the time "I know I get my meat back"

How would you really know?

I agree.

I also spoke to a person who recently got out of the processing business that is family of some of my extended family. He always advertised and even told his family you got your own meat back. A bit after he quit processing with beers around a camp fire he said if you think you get your own meat back you live in dream land...


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7677848 12/02/19 07:05 PM
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It seems everyone wants the deer they brought in back. I started processing my own when I got bullet fragments back in the sausage. I neck shoot my deer unless I'm going to have them caped so there should be no bullet fragments in the meat I get back. I brought in does that came back smelling like a rutting buck or audad sheep. Not the meat I brought in. I'd like for someone to handle my meat like I handle my meat. grin


Sometimes it's hard being me! But somebody has to do it.
Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7678176 12/03/19 12:32 AM
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I agree with turning away rank or gut shot animals. I got meat back that the dogs would not eat, it smelled up the house really bad when cooked. Being that we pulled the tenderloins and cut the neck off and boned it for some ground meat and cooked them we knew it wasn't the same meat we got back. My dad told me to use my next bonus check to purchase processing equipment and we did our own after that. He also taught me to melt down some of the beef fat to see how it smells before grinding it in. We got some rancid fat from a butcher shop one time.
Good luck and best wishes.

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7678262 12/03/19 02:03 AM
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There is a lot negativity toward processors here usually.
I asked three different ones and got three different answers on getting your own meat. I was amazed that one said that it was impossible to be profitable and keep all of the meat separate. He said that whitetail went into one pool and axis into another, this was the only one that I felt was being honest.
Getting your own meat means a lot. It is interesting that most shop price more than quality. And then they complain.


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Re: Game Processing [Re: titan2232] #7678587 12/03/19 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by titan2232
I hear people say all the time "I know I get my meat back"

How would you really know?


I have been through several and it was apparent I did not get my meat back. The way we clean/quarter, wash, and ice our meat is not the way some do and it comes through in the taste of the finished product.

That being said I have found one and got to know the owner. Family run business and what sets them apart is the customer service and attention to detail. You are met at your truck by one of their staff. Your meat is transferred to a bag(s),weighed, labeled and dated. You then can watch where your meat is being taken and the process in which it will go through to produce what you order. Your order is taken at the counter based on cuts and packaging etc and you are given an estimate as to when to expect a call to pick up.

My opinion of what is important:
1. Cleanliness (This should be a given but its not.)
2. Customer service
3. Services provided
- Cuts available
- Smoking of meats
- Snack sticks/Summer Sausage or similar
4. Do I get my harvest back? Deer, elk, antelope, hog etc.
5. Cost - Easy flat rate menu to choose from. Regular summer sausage should not cost $3.5/lb. less than jalepeno/cheese summer sausage. Jalapenos and cheese are not that much more... I am one who is willing to pay more for the product if I know 1-4 are legit.


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Re: Game Processing [Re: Simple Searcher] #7678593 12/03/19 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Simple Searcher
There is a lot negativity toward processors here usually.
I asked three different ones and got three different answers on getting your own meat. I was amazed that one said that it was impossible to be profitable and keep all of the meat separate. He said that whitetail went into one pool and axis into another, this was the only one that I felt was being honest.
Getting your own meat means a lot. It is interesting that most shop price more than quality. And then they complain.


I disagree it is impossible and I have used more than one processor that charged a premium but the products you got back were a premium product (and your own meat). People need to be willing to shell out more than 90$ to have a deer processed to get that kind of quality.

Re: Game Processing [Re: krmitchell] #7678664 12/03/19 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by krmitchell
Originally Posted by Simple Searcher
There is a lot negativity toward processors here usually.
I asked three different ones and got three different answers on getting your own meat. I was amazed that one said that it was impossible to be profitable and keep all of the meat separate. He said that whitetail went into one pool and axis into another, this was the only one that I felt was being honest.
Getting your own meat means a lot. It is interesting that most shop price more than quality. And then they complain.


I disagree it is impossible and I have used more than one processor that charged a premium but the products you got back were a premium product (and your own meat). People need to be willing to shell out more than 90$ to have a deer processed to get that kind of quality.


I agree with this.

Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7679048 12/03/19 11:22 PM
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I got tired of trusting people wth my game meat and just started doing it myself. It isn't difficult and I can control the entire process. Get a grinder and you can make all your own suasages in any flavor you want. You can get sausage seasoning packs for 5 lb increments and a sausage stuffer can be attached to the grinder if you want to go to the trouble of making links.

I know everything about a cut of game when I cook a piece of meat. I know how long it was aged. I know all fat, gristle and blood shot was cut out. I know it was never dropped on the floor or allowed to become too warm. Like I said, I control it. Last week a cut and packaged a mulie buck i took near Amarillo. Less than 2 hrs from start time to the last pack clearing the vacuum sealer and that included grinding the burger and making 2 5 lb batches of sausage. Why pay when you can do it yourself?


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Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7679676 12/04/19 05:12 PM
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I want my deer back, and I believe I get it. I don't have them make sausage, as I make my own. Steaks, blackstrap sliced, the rest into burger. Dry Creek Processing tenderizes all the steaks and blackstrap for $10. Josh was out of town once last year and I went to Cutting Edge outside Decatur. They did a great job, too.

Re: Game Processing [Re: Red Pill] #7679718 12/04/19 05:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Red Pill
I want my deer back, and I believe I get it. I don't have them make sausage, as I make my own. Steaks, blackstrap sliced, the rest into burger. Dry Creek Processing tenderizes all the steaks and blackstrap for $10. Josh was out of town once last year and I went to Cutting Edge outside Decatur. They did a great job, too.


What makes you believe it's the very animal you dropped off? Just a hunch, know them personally, or watch them throughout the entire process?



Re: Game Processing [Re: TexasOutdoorsman] #7679923 12/04/19 10:51 PM
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What set my last guy apart was a seriously good breakfast sausage recipe. He said it was a family thing, and that they cut it with pork for some fat. Last deer I dropped off I ordered as backstraps and breakfast sausage. Worth it!


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