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Every year I threaten to buy a smoker and a good big grinder and make my own stuff. I may have to do it for next year

But I am going to go against the tide, anytime you start doing extras, they take time. Removing the hide for a mount does take a little extra skinning time, even if they don't fully cape the head out. Then the hunter comes back in to pick up the skin and head, which takes up more time dealing with a customer the second time. And let's face it, some people just love to talk, and it's tough to get them to move along so you can get back to work.

Processor should have never used that kind of language with you and needed to be more professional. On the flip side, I have sent many people packing because of the language they have used with me. I have so many of my own horror stories after over 30 years. Sorry that happened to you. Here’s another hint for everyone, ask up front what other charges are added on above a quick quoted price for processing. Most processor’s will quote a price then someone shows up with animal that needs to be skinned as well. Then they order specialty items which are always charged extra for. Good luck to everyone out there!

Matt

I have a processor that prefers deer brought in whole carcass with hide on. He doesn't like quarters covered with hair and dirt that too many guys bring in. I haven't had a deer skinned there so I don't know what it costs.

I do have to type in an "LOL" when people question the prices charged. It's the customers job to do their own due diligence to find out what things will cost, it is not the obligation of the business to hold their customer's hand and walk them through everything. All costs of a business are always passed onto the customer, including the profit margin. Just how business works. Everyone who is employed somewhere does the same thing, they may not know it because of what their job role is.

Are there products and services out there that seem to be priced really high? Absolutely. You can thank a free-market economy and capitalism for that. Still the best economic system in the world though, regardless of its pitfalls. But that's not the system's fault, its the one's who drive it...

The guy I currently use is a gem. His crew is himself, his wife and an adult daughter. Their shop is spotless and neat. All of them are kind and friendly. He's the easiest guy to work with I've ever known. I can drop off a field-dressed deer and he'll process it to my custom order. The cost is $100 which includes skinning (up to the ears), full butchering, vacuum bagging, and freezing. No extra to saw a skull. No extra if you claim the hide. Summer sausage, sticks, brats and so on....definitely extra as they should be.

I'll add this: Most deer processors can tell you countless stories about hunters bringing in game which has been abused or incorrectly handled post-kill. Gut shot and contaminated with no cleanup. Un-gutted kills. Smelly carcasses with bone sour from heat. Grossly dirty and hair-covered meat. And still those hunters expect superior meat and lots of it. As a result, some processors begin to lose respect for hunters.

Regarding the F-bombs, it never should've come to that. However, as they say, there's 3 sides to every story.

Like Kevin, I won't use a processor unless his place is clean. My biggest issue with processors is not knowing whether I'm getting MY meat back, especially the ground or processed meat. I also don't think most butchers take the time to trim the burger meat as clean as I do.

Matt

Not charging for skinning is strange to me. It takes the processor away from cutting animals where they will make their money. I view it as charging for shop labor just like a mechanic shop will or even taxidermist’s charge for shop labor for extra things. It’s giving your labor away for free. Selling the hides is worth Pennie’s. Our buyer was at $10-$15 for a full elk hide, $5-$10 for a deer. Now add in the price of salt and labor to pay an employee or myself to skin and salt the hide. Wasting time and money. The hide buyer dropped prices down to only a few dollars for elk and deer hides so we just started throwing them away. Beef hides went from $40 to $10. Those all go into the dumpster now as well.

Another charge we add on now is a carcass disposal fee. Costs us close to 10k a year to get rid of all the processing and slaughter waste. So, as a result, we either raise prices higher and add that in the price/lb or keep the price the same and add in the small fee separately on the invoice. We list it separately from the processing fee.

I arrived at 8am and they told me to put the buck on the driveway with ten other bucks needed to be caped. They said I could pick up the cape and horns end of day and the meat would be ready in a week.

I came back at 6, nobody was there and all the bucks were still laying on the blacktop. It was 75 degrees all day. Flies were all over the deer.

The next morning they called and said my buck was no good. He didn’t even want to cape it but said he would. I was pissed. I told him I wanted the carcass back for coyote bait.

I showed up an hour later to get my skull and cape. He charged me $50 which was 25 more than the quoted price. I was getting more pissed now. Then he brings me my buck caped with the head still on. I specifically asked the girl taking the order if the caping included removing the entire skin from the skull but apparently it did not.

And they threw away the carcass before I arrived.

I normally do all that work myself but was short on time.

Never again!

Just as an explanation:

I would add that many processors in my area are backyard affairs doing it for extra income. They aren't operating as a professional slaughter/butcher business. As such they aren't looking at every line item expense, nor are they trying to account for the extra minutes spent skinning, sawing or handling a game animal. Those few that do that typically don't last many years as (in this area) lowest price with satisfactory results seems to be the equation that survives. There are very few people who are willing to invest $150 to process a young doe yielding under 50 pounds of meat. It inevitably comes down to money spent processing versus weight in the boxes for most hunters here. I think most backyard processors tend to look at costs from the perspective of their customers, as many processors are themselves sensitive to costs. A lot of them are supplementing their annual income from blue collar employment.

I’ve only paid to have an elk processed. I took skinned and quartered deer to a commercial processor to be ground and packaged. I was very pleased with what I got. Like others I would worry taking my deer to a WG processor that I wasn’t getting my animal back.

Back in 1994 my dad came to WY hunt elk. He shot a really nice 6x6. My dad wanted to go fishing so we dropped it off meat processor in Laramie. We came back 3 days later and the guy brings out little box of burger and a smaller box of steaks. I asked him where the rest of the elk meat was. He states that’s it. Our conservation went south after that. I called the local game warden and he stated they were getting lots of complaints about this outfit. About 2 weeks later they were in the local news they were giving game meat to there buddies. They got shut down. I vowed never to let anybody touch my game meat again. I can cut up a deer in about 1.5hrs and an elk in 3hrs by myself. Also you may not get your own meat when they cut it up.

Where I live many butchers will not take bone-in meat and they cannot process or hang WG with domestic. I freeze the sausage meat till January till all the game and domestic processing is done, then take it in. Butcher has more time and little chance he's doing other WG at that time, especially poorly field dressed, dirty, half spoiled carcasses that often show up.

Sounds like Pat's processor should be charged with wanton waste.

I wouldn’t think a deer would go bad with the hide on that quickly. An elk is a whole other story. Should have been cool enough over to night that it should have been fine but that’s not the issue. Bad, bad, bad processor. I can’t tell you how many times I was skinning deer and elk at 10 or 11 at night just so I could get it in the cooler. The customer of course didn’t drop it off till late. I used to roll the shop phone over to my cell and then meet customers at the shop at a certain time after hours. That got old really fast. My last one was when a guy showed up at 9 pm with 5 deer to be skinned and caped. Guess who was there after 11 getting everything skinned and tagged with customers name? I put the heads in the cooler and caped them the next day. Yes, I charged for skinning and caping.

I never charged for cutting skull caps off or heads off for customers. Everything was always tagged with their name on the carcass before it went into the cooler. All batches of sausage, jerky, snack sticks, etc we’re done in 12 lb batches keeping everyone’s meat separate. Bad ones were done very last. I still make sausages for hunters that want it but it has to come in deboned, clean, ready for the grinder. Or, they can bring in 12 lbs of processed meat or hb with no fat added after the season and I’ll make it for them. I’m just so glad I don’t process WG anymore. It’s not worth the headache. Sorry I have long posts everyone but there is just much info and I try to help where I can. Anyone can ask me questions or pm anytime they want.

Have to have a place that has an actual meat locker to keep flys off and the the meat right temperatures after drop-off, and reason I wont trust flyby night backyard butchers...

Then there are a couple popular ones near Sugarcreek amish country, Farmerstown Meats and Sugar Valley Meats... I've tried both and liked them but haven't a clue of processing pricing these days for of any since it has been years.... Usually costs me a day of vacation, a 30 pack of Busch, and a sore back from a couch sleepover...8^)

I’m not sure how you or Pat controlled yourself.