Super curious on how many of yall proccess 100% on your own. Years past just did backstrap and pretty much ground the rest . Well this year i took it upon myself to make sausage and other things and it turned out pretty dang good. Was a lot of work and little bit money but . Trying to kind of way out the pros and cons of diy or the proccesor . Hell i dont even know what it cost too get one proccessed .

We do 100% ourselves.
I consider it part of the hunt. If you're unsure of how to do it, there's plenty of info on the internet.
A freezer full of elk or venison vacuum packed knowing it will last a long time is pretty rewarding.

Oh for sure i asked lots of questions and lots of youtube !!

I've done 100% my own the last 5 years or so. Processers simply priced me out so I bought all my own stuff. Super satisfied but do miss the good summer sausage on occasion.

We do all ours at home. Getting started costs a little to get a grinder and stuffer etc but most of it lasts a very long time. If you get comfortable you can work stuff around other things. I’ve ground and packed 50 lb of meat on a work night after dinner no problem, even made small sausage runs similar.

Save money not paying a processor, know what you’re eating, satisfaction of a job well done and I feel close to my Opie and where I come from when we do it. Well worth it to me. Makes me happy to see the kids involved and wanting to help.

Can’t smell it or taste it but looks like you did just fine

I do a mix of processed and my own. Jerky, burger and whole muscles I do my self. Couple places I use because I can’t replicate their sausages.

Cinnamon creek-meat balls & brawts
Sklenariks- jap/cheese and habanero/cheese sausage and breakfast
Schneider’s- dried sausage

100% self processed. Ground burger & chili, jerky (cut and ground), sausage (pan, hot & sweet Italian), and cube 8/10 1lb packages for stew and stroganoff.

Amen to all of this here!

I would not even think of letting anyone else handle mine.

We do it all

Hell, when I was a kid we had one weekend in January the entire family spent at my Grandma's farm butchering a big steer and two hogs.
Not a drop went to waste, not even the bones as those bones were used in the fires beneath the kettles making the panas on the last day!
Blood sausage (YUK), Liver Worst (Yum), sausage, ground meat, steaks, etc. Nothing was wasted including the tail of the steer for soup and we even scraped the hogs instead of skinning them to make chitlins.
The beef tongue was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the calf!

Never have takes a deer to the processors. Get a few people together and do it all ourselves.

I only use my local processor for a few things that he makes really well. His link sausage, tamales and bucksticks is all that I get made there. I always hold back the backstraps and tenderloins to do my self. Then I do my own whole muscle cuts, pan sausage, general grind, pastrami, etc.

I do want to get a stuffer and better grinder down the road, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I got super lucky to have awesome neighbors . I helped him build his shop and he designed a kitchen in it stainless steel prep tables ,deep sinks ,deep freezer, two smokers , commercial grinder and stuffer . That space alone made it a 1000 times easier. I just had to sport the fat , work, seasonings and casings

I usually don't have the time to process on my own. Occasionally I do and then I remember how much work it is. I do make my own sausage, and I really like doing that.

Used to but I got married. She took over. My big gripe was it took her too long. So I bought her a Lem #12 Big Bite and told the 12yo daughter to pitch in. There's a lot less time involved when they can cut it off with minimal trimming versus what she was doing. We do still save some shanks and larger roasts for the Instapot, but most of them I have her just take heart, tenderloin, backstrap, sirloin and grind everything else.

Locally the best processor gets about $100 per with very basic cuts. If we were taking every deer there a grinder would be free after one season. Obviously if you make sausage the savings greatly increase.

I usually do my own. Have a good slicer and dehydrator for jerky. Want to get a grinder, stuffer and smoker to try my own sausage someday. Sometimes take a hindquarter in to get some jalapeno cheddar summer sausage made.

100% - Typically 6-8 deer a year. One doe for steaks. All back straps steaked out 4 to 6 inches & tenders packaged together. The rest goes to hamburger, breakfast sausage, dried sausage and fresh sausage. The bonus is all left over pork turns into straight pork sausage.

I have been bad not doing anything with the heart and liver. Might need to change my ways this year.

Schmeck gute!

I do 100% of my processing. Smoked sausage/summer sausage/various fresh sausages/boudin/pan sausage/chorizo/snack sticks/jerky/burger/bone in steaks/tamales/etc etc....The only thing I haven't made yet is dried sausage and hot dogs, that's coming this year.

we did all our own processing of wild game for the first 40+ years of my life, also several domestic hogs, goats, etc. It was a family event where my mother, father and I would work together to lessen the amount of work involved. Got lots of good visiting times in while doing so. Once my dad hit his late 80s, he said it was time to go to a processor as it was just too much work on him and mom. By that time, I found my time more valuable to be doing other things than doing it all by myself. My dad sold all his equipment (grinders, stuffers, tenderizer, slicer, etc.) before he passed. We've been using the same place since ~2002 and trust their work 100% but not sure how much longer they will continue due to their age and health. basic processing is ~$100, toss in sausage or other specialties and it goes up some. For the few deer we need these days, and lack of help, I'll continue to use the processor ...

Couldn’t have said any better than this. I like cutting meat and being intimately involved with the entire process from live to the table. You don’t have to cut everything in one session. I’ll process a a part of the deer and then maybe do something else for an hour or so and come back to the cooler to grab the next portion. No hurry as the meat is only getting more aging time before I get to it.

I process 100% on my own. Started ages ago with a hand crank grinder and a small c shaped stuffer. I have collected and/or upgraded equipment over the years to where I can process 4-5 deer a year without much issue. I do ground meat, breakfast sausage (feral hog), cube steak, backstrap steaks, roasts, andouille, and occasionally, summer sausage. I always save the hearts for Guisado, and this year, I am saving all the tongues. Gonna see what venison tacos de lengua tastes like.

I'll age the whole deer, then do all the cutting in one fail swoop. Probably takes 2 hours to cut and package one deer. The meat meant for grinding gets put into 1 gal freezer bags. 5 lbs per bag. We'll freeze that and grind the meat a week or two later as we have time.

I do everything short of making link sausage myself.
I definitely like the control I have and the finished products speak for themselves
Did jerky yesterday on my Rec-Teq
Home made seasoning, no curing needed as it won't last that long..

We do all of our own processing and I'd highly recommend it! It's really not all that difficult and I like to know exactly how my deer is being handled. I also like doing my own processing because you can test out how different cuts will cook instead of having to decide in 5min at the processor. Also, you can experiment with different types of sausage that are more difficult to find—boudin, certain kinds of bratwurst, Italian, breakfast, liverwurst, you name it.

One tip—I like to freeze all of my grind meat into gallon bags (lay them flat so they'll thaw evenly) throughout the season and the pick a weekend or two to make bulk sausage. As you probably know, making sausage is pretty time consuming, so I'd rather produce 50-70lbs of sausage over the course of one weekend instead of doing it multiple times throughout the year.

I do my own- Muscle cuts, German Sausage, Breakfast Sausage, Jerky and ground. I do wish I had a real good boudin recipe to try.