We tag team on elk processing but can get an elk done in about 45 minutes or so. Skinning not included. Sometimes we age with hide on quarters and sometimes we skin right away.
As many steaks as the spouse can cut and then cubes for grinding. Straps into medallions and tenders left whole.
I wrap while he cuts.
We're grinding burger this week, should take about 30 minutes to do 60-75 lbs of elk and wrap and clean up.
Sausage is always a longer job; mixing, grinding and stuffing, smoking too.

It's not easy work but as stated you have control over how your meat turns out.
We have no game processors here in town anyway.

I prefer to process my own deer as well. For many of the same reasons mentioned before, i know what i am
Gettinf and what I am not getting.

I trim heavy, take off as much ligament/tendon and connective tissue as possible. I do save some of the trim
For the dog, she loves it raw.

But i get some good meat that remains, i know has not been contaminated or mixed with someone else’s.

Ditto. My dog loves the raw trimmings and the neighbor’s dog sometimes wanders over and gets treated also. I wet age my deer for about 10 days in the cooler, draining off the bloody water every day and then process one quarter, rest for an hour or so, do another quarter, rest… until it’s finished. I like not feeling rushed to get it done.

I usually process the neck first. I trim it up & save some meat for grinding. Then it is seasoned & put on the pit for for a slow smoke & roast. Then back to processing the rest of the deer. A few hours later, when the neck meat gets to where it will shake loose from the spine, I strip it down into a pan. Then its easy to remove any yellow leaders or stringy stuff & then shred all the remaining meat. After that, all you need are some flour tortillas & you're GTG!

We used to process all our own, literally hundreds between my dad, brother, mother and myself. My dad was allergic to the hair/dander on deer (WT, MD, Elk) and it got worse the older he gott. So I had to gut & skin all his as well. Once I started my own family and had my own lease, I would still go to my parent's house to process mine and theirs. We had a system and all the equipment including grinder, stuffer, freezers, fridges, etc. In my dad's later life, he start taking the grandkids hunting but quickly found out when my nephew shot a deer, he tried coaching without success on how to gut one. ended up going to town to get a friend to come help gut and load it. He took it to a local processor since I wasn't available to help with the processing. That was roughly 2001 / 2002. He called me 2 weeks later stating he had processed his last deer, as the processor did the whole process to freezer ready meat for $60 (remember 2001 / 2002). The next year prior to deer season, he sold all the processing equipment and never looked back. He sweet talked the processor to allow him to bring in a non-field dressed deer since his allergies were so bad, would load into his truck with a pulley set up. Anyway, I used to find it enjoyable to work all the meat with my parents and we turned out some great sausages but doing one by myself would be a lot of work where I value my time more for the hours it would take compared to drop off and pick up at the processor ... same one my dad used 20+ years ago. I've tried a few other processers that were closer but cost & quality weren't the same, so I keep going back to what I know is tried and true.

Been doing my own for about 10 years. It's definitely a labor of love. Better quality sausage products can be made at home in my opinion.

how many of you all do the breaking down like that chef from England, he gets more cuts ouf of deer than I have ever seen, never heard of a saddle before, and not the one you ride

Im usually pretty "lazy" about it.. but I process my own.. I typically just pull the backstraps and the tenderloins... everything else gets ground and turned into either sausage or burger.. I dont bother breaking down all the major muscle groups to try to get roasts, hams, steaks, etc.. it all just gets taken off the bone and put into the grind pile..

with a good set of knives I can usually get a deer done, put into 1 - 1.5lb portions in vacuum sealed packages, and into the freezer in about an hour.. (not including the time needed to field dress, skin and quarter several days earlier)..

This, I would like to observe. 'Sounds sensible and efficient.

When first started deer processing, I would trim the shanks and shoulders for grind meat. The shanks were very time consuming, and did not yield much. Several years ago I watched a video on YouTube about the quickest way to process a shoulder. Here it is: Cut the shoulder in half (there is a joint separating the blade) and you are done. Then cook the cut up quarter in a oval shaped crock pot. No meat, or time wasted.