Area Deer Processor's
Kansas
It's that time of year again and folks will be asking where they can get their Deer processed. We are open and ready at Pryor's Processing, 8966 Harper Rd. Fredonia, KS. Skinning, processing into steaks, roasts and burger. Skull cleaning for folks that have to cross state lines. extra fee Capping , extra fee Hanging overnight to cool, extra fee Summer sausage, extra fee and this is the only part of YOUR Deer you might not get back as we do 100 lbs at a time. Otherwise, the deer you bring in is the one you get back, so if you want to hang it in a tree or haul it around in the back of your vehicle all day, that's up to you. Clifford 620-288-9336 Marvin 620-485-4351
Very happy with the processing of the buck you did for me last year.
How much for skull cleaning ? Boil and bleached ?
How much for skull cleaning ? Boil and bleached ?
We do not bleach em. Just boil enough to clean flesh and brain material out in order that you can move em across state lines without a problem.
If you are wanting a euro done on the deer I would be careful on letting a meat processor do this for you. I'm sure Marvin and his crew do a great job on processing deer but most of the butcher shops will boil the heads quickly and the grease will soak into the skull making it harder to remove later. You would be better off leaving the head with someone to do the euro and shipping it back to you once completed.
A guy that we know that does a lot of skulls told me to not boil them, just bring the water to a rolling point. Then the teeth don't fall out and skull seams remain tight.
You are correct. Boiling weakens the sutures and nasal turbinates. Beetles seem to be the only way to go for European mounts.
more than one way to skin a cat. just don't let the water get over 200. The butcher shop doesn't have time to do it right. I've done 1000's of skulls without beetles or a single complaint.
I've boiled them myself as well, but beetles eat the connective tissue that leaves brown gristle on the skull, leaving it cleaner.
My process will not leave brown gristle. If done right the SIMMER method will leave it just as clean or cleaner than the beetles.
Last one's I did. Spent a cold afternoon simmering them in a turkey fryer and drinking barley pop in a lawn chair. Turned out ok.
Sad but cool...not the beer thing
Use the simmer and power washer method.
Show us a pic up close of the turbinates Aaron
Is letting the deer "ride around in your pickup" similar to the "dry aging" I hear about?
:)
JT....Probably not the best of pictures but any fresh deer I do will be in tact. Feel free to stop by my shop and I can show you my process in person.
I certainly would, but I live down in Butler County.
If your ever in Osage Co feel free to stop by
Willdo for sure.Good job on keeping the small bones intact.
Being too clean just ain’t right. I like em roughed up and dirty…gives me a good whole feeling.
Lol! All those skulls look great! Well, mostly all of them. Grin.
I think Aaron does great work even after I had tried to screw this one up.
Thanks Martin! I enjoyed working on that big boy! Deer north of the 200" mark are few and far between anymore.
Doing some good with the early antlerless season, have six on the floor and its only 8:30 a.m. saturday. Will be busy on Monday!
Shout out for Breese Deer Processing in South Haven. I didn't see them on the list. Great people and very reasonable pricing. Been very happy the couple deer I've dropped with them .
should start getting busy now, area outfitter camps are filling up now. Do have three to process today.
Things are starting to heat up, three or four carcasses showing up daily now.
Guys must have had an off day yesterday, only brought in two and they were hot boned an sent out last evening. So the cooler is empty, just waiting to see who is braving the wind and rain this morning!
Must have been some serious hunters out this past weekend, eighteen deer brought in. gonna be a two or three busy days ahead.
Heres one for you, had a person from the Hays area call looking for a processor, wow. Maybe he didn't realize where Fredonia was from him?
Hunters are bringing in 5 or 6 a day right now, some nice bucks, but no monsters.
What’s basic processing fee on deer Marvin?
$100 per Deer. Gutting, capeing, making summer sausage, skull cleaning are extra. Looks like we might clean out the cooler tomorrow, local outfitters are resting up for gun season.
Didn't make a clean cooler, as four came in mid afternoon and then ten more saturday & sunday. Pushing a hundred so far. OH what will firearms season bring?
If anyone is in need of a good cape, we have saved back a couple $50 each
To date, counting the few in the cooler, we handled about 120 deer, wit firearms season set to open Wednesday. On a side note, my neighbor taxidermist, (one of the best in the country) says he has over fifty heads to mount and is not taking anymore this year.
Orange guys dropped off about 30 animals yesterday !
Marvin, it looks like you are going to be busy. The weekend is only two days away.
Wednesday, 30 animals, Thursday, 29 animals, Friday, 12 animals. The cooler is full!! Couldn't turn one guy down, he bribed us with two cases of beer for the skinners and a fifth of Crown for me, plus $50.00 and no hurry on the meat. SEE I can be bought once in a while!!
How many are from out of state hunters of the 71?
Nothing positive but guessing that over half are from out of state.
Two cases, fifty bucks, jug fifty bucks, tip fifty bucks, fee 100 bucks. This guy really is afraid of knives and blood and hair.
Hit number 100 for gun season today and that after turning some away on Sunday just because we didn't have room in the cooler
So how many processors are charging a fee for deer donated to feed the hungry?
I bought 3 doe tags this year and was going to buy another 5 or 6 for the other members of my family. I found out that a local butcher is charging $40 for each donated deer… and it’s not the first one. Actually, I’m not sure I know of one locally that isn’t charging?!
I’ve got nearly $70 wrapped up in tags already and if I donate those 3 deer I’m going to have nearly $200 total, not including fuel and ammo.
I want to take some out, it’s needed in our area, but that’s WAAAAAAY to costly. Doesn’t make any sense. We’ve killed 4 this year and I do not need any more meat, something has got to give here.
Not to start any fight here, but it sounds like you want the processor to donate all his water, electric, wrapping material and labor. We normally charge $100 to process a deer, if a deer is donated, sometimes the hunter volunteers to pay all of it or half of it and occasionally the person we deliver the meat to is glad to pay half price, sometimes not. If we just ate the cost of processing every donated deer, how long you think we would stay in business?
It’s a pretty good feeling when you get home from working and she’s got some chicken out to fry for dinner in between cutting and processing the 2 deer from the other day.
Yes I’m about to join in and start helping her but I do have a keeper:?)
Marvin I give you my word I’m not trying to steal any of your work:?)
I don’t have much patience so I don’t necessarily like taking the time of cutting off the thin layer of white…whatever it’s called. She likes it off though and it does make the meat more tender when you take the time when your cutting chunks off the hindquarters or steaks on the backstrap.
Here’s a pic of the backstrap before and after it came off and yes we don’t waste the scraps. Some of that skin that still has meat left in it we put in the grinder.
MDW - Nope wouldn’t expect any one business to take on that cost… and I’ve never had that mentality.
So maybe I’m mistaken on how this program works?
For the last 10-15 years I’ve been able to donate deer with absolutely no cost… zero. I was under the impression that processing donated deer was covered by KSHFH?
After looking online it seems only participating processors… I always thought it was everyone. Looks like I need to find a new place to drop off donated deer.
If you're enrolled in the KSHFH program and jump through their hoops. Supposedly, the owner says he checked into the program and it had to much red tape for him, whatever that means. Be Still, she need a day job? I always like to process my own deer and yes, the more of the silvery stuff you cut out, the better. However, when you do a dozen a day most of the fun is gone!
Ha Marvin I’ll ask her but I think she’s through cutting up meat for awhile…for a few days anyways. I respect the work you do and I wouldn’t want to be doing it all day that’s for sure.
That's okay, we would probably ruin her when she was faced with something that looks like it was hit with a howlitzer. Had one yesterday that had a 2 inch hole into and out of the chest cavity and of course one front shoulder. Another good one, in one shoulder and out the oppisite rear quarter.
Hey, Dave, the big tipper was a one time deal. He is an outfitter and the only thing his hunters want are antlers and cape. He has dropped off five or six deer, so far, an always leaves at least $50 for processing. Having said that, I did see a new bottle of Seagrams on the back cabinet the other morning.
Marvin, just curious if you know how much reimbursement does the processor get through KSHFH?
Hopefully it’s a fair price and would like to add that I think it’s a GREAT program. I hope you can talk your boss into going through the hassle of the red tape. It’s just a good deal all the way around.
Ray....not sure where you live? However, if you have a fairly decent population of Laotians (from Laos) or Mandarin Chinese near your community...they typically live in larger family units and gladly welcome any deer given to them whether gutted or not. In my experience with some of my Laos/Mandarin contacts, they actually prefer that the deer not be gutted as they use stomach contents in some of their meals.
If you looked into it, you'd would probably be surprised at how many pockets or groups of Laos/Mandarin live throughout all areas of KS. Anyway, that could be an outlet to help resolve your deer processing cost concerns.
Jason that’s a great idea and hopefully Ray you can find somebody that needs some meat.
But if you don’t and I make a trip up there later I sure don’t mind stopping by if you’re not too far out of the way. I’ll pay you for your tags and gutting them. I don’t mind them hanging on a tree for a couple weeks as long as the temps don’t get past 50 degrees. I’ll skin them and debone them.
Not sure if I’m going to have a few days towards the end of this month or not to go hunting but if I do I’m really thinking about hitting some Oklahoma public ground. If I do make it to Kansas though I would take that meat if you can’t find anybody.
Hunting for what on Oklahoma public ground?
I built a walk-in cooler… I can keep a deer under 37 degrees. I’ve had 5 deer in it with room for more.
I might take you up on that if you are serious.
Heck yeah I’m serious. Now I kind of consider myself a deer conservationist so I don’t want to feel like I’m pressuring you to go kill a lot of deer. But yeah if you think you got too many does I’ll definitely stop by if it’s not too far out of the way and if I make it back to Kansas this year. Shoot me a PM to tell me what town you’re close to or how far off I-35 it is to your place.
Jason I would still like to kill an old deer this year and I don’t want to give up. Nearly kind of sad when it gets to the point that you feel like you might have a better shot on Oklahoma public than Kansas private.
We have the deer numbers in my area. About 20/sq mile is what is needed, but the management is horrible.
Started with outfitters and leasing followed. Everyone wants big horns, but don’t want to put in the work to keep everything balanced.
Sorry I've not been on for some time, but just got the cooler emptied out from gun season. Did not take any deer in the last three days of season and still had 150 brought in. Think I'll take tomorrow off and rest, then if I can find the energy, go set a stand to see if there is anything left worth tagging.
Get rested Marvin, hope you can get out and enjoy a few days outdoors. Good luck if you do.
Only had eight antlerless deer brought in since the 1st of Jan. One of them was a small buck that had already shed both sides. My lady friend was hunting Monday morning and found a fresh shed antler. She saw nine bucks, but not one doe, must be the lucky sweatshirt I gave her?
The fact that only 8 have been brought in, one being a shed buck, tells me this doe season ain’t workin’.
I don’t understand why we have such a blanket management system in place… that rarely changes in favor of proper management. Bangs head on desk.
I think we can take 15-20 does in each section and it would maintain the current herd (in our area). Yet, no one is shooting does… me included. Why? Because it’s too expensive.
I bought 4 doe tags between my family. If we donated them that’s $160 (not including the tags). That’s ridiculous. I want to make it clear Marvin that processors should be reimbursed fairly for their time for donated animals. And the “red tape” needs to be cut. Shouldn’t be that difficult to provide quality meat to people in need.
We have an area church that quit taking donated meet because of the cost. This is stupid. The program is NOT working. I’d LOVE to go back in time to Topeka and meet with Steve Abrams again. Crossbows didn’t fix the overpopulation, neither does the January doe season.
Legislators should NOT be in control of wildlife regulations
I personally like the January Anterless season. I really like venison and try and put at least 3 deer in the freezer each year. If I don't get them in the archery season, I pick up my rifle and attempt to fill my tags then. I process my own deer, as do many of the other hunters I know. The fact that they are not being taken to a processor doesn't mean they are not being killed. In my area several hunters hunt the late season. My brother and I will be out this weekend.
Looks like a great time to take a doe without worrying about messing up your November hunts! Only downside I see is the inexperienced not paying enough attention to if it’s a shed buck.
I never said we shouldn’t have the January doe season… I just don’t think it’s producing the results that is expected. And I know for a fact that the number of does killed in January in my area is minimal to zero. We need a season (in some areas), but there needs to be some form of incentive because it’s not working.
I’ve got 4 deer in the freezer already. We love venison and my family of 4 will likely have 3 of those deer ate by Sept. and we actually prefer to eat bucks.
As for processing yourself… that’s great! I hope to be able to someday, but I do not have the time to do it or the equipment.
Eight more in the cooler this weekend so far. But nothing with my tag on it. Buddy wanted me to come out last night, sure fire stand to take a doe, you guessed it, not a single deer seen. In fact looking at nine cameras feeding to his ipad, the only activity was in front of the stand he was at. One less doe!
The January doe season was never about population control, it was a response from KDWP to lobbying claims that more NR buck tags were needed because deer populations continued to grow. The pro-commercialism lobbyists have used deer density, crop damage, and car/deer accident numbers since the 1990's to get more NR tags knowing full well that doe populations will continue to increase. NR hunters come here for horns, not for venison. They also knew/know that deer populations will be reduced on public lands and where hunting is allowed, which eventually would/will encourage NR hunters to pay to hunt with them on their properties. KDWP has always offered sound management replies to the commercialism lobby claims, but the Commission and the Legislature has overridden those actions by enacting regulation changes and passing legislation allowing for the changes that have taken place since around 2000. KDWP is often blamed for mismanagement of the herd, but the blame should be pointed towards where it has happened, in Topeka at the State Capital. Late doe seasons, special unit antlerless seasons, pre-rut doe seasons, dropping licensing for outfitters, NR buck tags, special early/youth seasons, any season tags, Xguns in archery, liberalizing hunter education requirements, ALL due to lobbying efforts in Topeka by the folks who want to the deer resource commercialized, turned into a cash crop.
Our wildlife resources should be managed Unit by Unit, not by a blanket Statewide policy. Unit management is also not the best answer often, my unit for example. Where I live and hunt in the NW corner of the Unit, deer numbers are lower than they have been since the early 80's. In the South 1/3 of the Unit, where leasing and outfitter operations have taken over, the deer population has exploded in the last 10 years because does are not being shot.
Is the state quietly trying to eradicate the herd in CWD hotspots? Anyone who has spent significant time in the NW and NC units the last few years can see things are dismal across much of the area. What is the justification for two week/five antlerless whitetail season? It’s certainly not the herd numbers!
Come to SEK KB and you’ll see things different. Horrible mature Buck population and about 20 deer too many per section
I wouldn’t argue that Ray. Goes back to your blanket management comment. Absolutely no way NC/NW are comparable to SEK on a large scale right now. Yet they’re managed the same essentially, outside of an extra week for a handful of units. Covered some significant ground in 1/2/7 last year and 3/7 this year. Private, WIHA, and wildlife areas. Someone taking five does outside of a few river corridors and isolated pockets is absurd. Unless they are actually trying to manage for zero whitetails across much of the region.
Looking at Nebraska’s regs for the units bordering 1, 3 and 7 (all are five doe areas in Kansas) they have roughly the same season structure in January yet allow two doe tags for some of that corridor and only one across a sizeable chunk above unit 1. Each area has a quota for available tags as well. Would be nice if Kansas biologists were actually allowed to make management decisions.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the Jan doe season. This morning I looked through my scope at what I thought was a huge bodied doe. I took a quick glance at the head and realized it was very likely a shed buck… when he turned I got a good look at his glands and knew it was.
I am really tired of the management KB. There is no sense in any of it. There is such a huge disparity across this state and even from county to county. There’s a better way.
Thanks Randy for some of that history… wasn’t fully aware.
KB, they continue to issue the tags in NW and NC because there is no way the Outfitters and large landowners are going to go a few years without selling access to their land, selling hunts, aka selling deer. Think of a couple of little girls being told they couldn't do something that the boys were allowed to do in the next room whining "It isn't fair they get to do it"! That is exactly what would happen in Topeka if KDWP considered shutting down the late doe season, reduce tag numbers, stopped issuing mule deer tags in the counties where deer numbers are way down.
The exact same thing applies to banning baiting, it will not happen with the current politicians in seniority control of both houses. Farmers won't get to sell their corn that won't pass food grade standards for human consumption to bait suppliers, outfitters and commercial hunting operations won't be able to tame the deer for their lazy clients, the lazy clients will whine why should I have to work for my deer?
The only way things will change is with a major change in Topeka, we need more like Will Carpenter up there.
I see your point Randy. If they adjust doe tags it’s an admission that they should likely adjust buck pressure downward as well. And they’re not going to do that, until it’s far too late anyway.
I heard a story this morning that plays into this discussion that really made my blood boil. A person told me that they got a call last evening asking if they wanted four does that they had shot but didn’t want them. They had looked into donating them but as Ray talked about, discovered they would have to pay for the processing too, if they didn’t want the deer the shooters were going to feed the coyotes with them. The person told me the deer had been shot early Sunday morning, had not been field dressed, were shot up real bad, some were gut shot, others missing limbs that had been shot off, throats sliced open etc, rigor set in hard. Two of the four were not salvageable due to the stomach rot that had already spoiled the meat. I asked the person telling me about the incident why the deer were shot if the people didn’t want the meat in the first place? They said the shooters were reducing deer herd numbers on ground they farmed, they hate the deer. I asked if they leased out the hunting rights to the ground, or sold deer hunts. They do I was told.
The person telling me about the incident wouldn’t tell me who the shooters were, I wanted to sic the NRO on them, they knew it and clammed up. I told them they had better read up on the regulations to be sure they had written proof of where they got the meat from to be legal themselves being in possession of it.
Yep, I just spent another almost $50 on doe tags this morning. Tack on the $40/donated deer and it’s ridiculous… some are more than that. Went by a field this morning than had 30+ in one group.
I hear farmers complain about deer numbers all the time, yet lease their land out to outfitters who do ZERO to control the population. I’ve thought about this a lot lately… my response from this point forward is going to be “What are YOU going to do about it?”
I’ve heard stories VERY similar to yours above Randy. Intentionally gut shooting deer so they run off and die… if you’re going to be that brazen about killing deer illegally, at least do it quickly.
Killing does has become a “chore” it seems and then tack on the cost? I hate all of it.
I cannot get into depredation tags.
shoot them, bone them out, grind it up and give the meat to needy local families. Doesn't cost much at all.
can do 3 deer from shot to packaged in 6 hours or less if you're just trying to get it done
Yeah… I don’t have the 6 hours and I’m planning on a few more than 3 deer.
Farming, cattle, 2 kids in activities. Not complaining, it’s my life and wouldn’t change a thing. Just wish I could find someone willing to do the processing… oh wait, there used to be a well-used system in place that did that very thing.
I’ve found a couple needy families that are willing to process themselves. Very happy to help out where I can.
I’ve also recently found a few families who want deer meat and are willing to pay processing… so I think I can get out of those without much more expense other than tags and fuel for delivering.
I figure I might have to pay processing for 3 deer, so I’m going to be into this for over $500 in tags and processing during doe season alone. Makes sense.
if it's something you plan on doing regularly a heavy duty grinder would be a better investment. Not telling you what to do, but we usually just process the does the night we shoot them or the next morning. A commercial grinder can knock out 30 pounds super quick. I get the farming and cattle and kids activities but usually just do it friday night or saturday night after the hunt for that very reason.
Not talking an expensive self contained grinder. Just the grinder portion with a sheave. Imagine you have an electric motor on something around the farm you could swap over for a couple hours and knock out 3-5 deer worth of meat. Save a bunch of money. Build a little frame out of small angle iron or just mount it straight to a bench or table.
It's actually kind of fun. I enjoy doing the processing part with my dad just as much as the hunt. Classic rock, banquet beer and venison...
Over the years, I put several deer through one of those # 32 hand grinders. Was gifted a gear-head motor that turned out 28 RPM, made a coupling and connected to my # 32 grinder. Man I thought I was in heaven! Put all our processing through a commercial hobart machine now, entire boned out deer in 10 minutes, double ground.
Thanks to other lobbying efforts, you can no longer self butcher and donate to the needy, you must pay for commercial processing at a state inspected facility. Ran into this with 4H animals when my kids were involved in that and sold their poultry birds at the auction.
Wish I was closer Ray, would help you with your herd reduction, legally and ethically.
What do you mean? Who is going to stop you from delivering 40 pounds of frozen venison burger to someone in your town?
Not talking about donating your venison to individuals yourself, am talking about food bank donations, farmers feeding the hungry, hunters feeding the hungry, organized food groups that hand out to the needy. They can no longer self-process, has to be done at a licensed processor, food safety issue they say. Preventing the spread of salmonella and other viruses is their motive.
Cherney, my dad built one of those grinders. Bought a huge hand crank grinder from an Amish or Mennonite group, put a pulley on it, then mounted an electric motor to it. Works as good as any commercial unit I've been around and was a whole lot cheaper.
I see, Randy. That's too bad. I think there is a program, but it would be nice if we could raise some funds to cover the processing costs. So hunters could donate the animal and processors could pull from the hunters feeding the hungry fund to cover the cost to process the animal.
Yeah it's a much more cost effective option and works great. Especially if you already a suitable motor that you can dual purpose.
I'm processing one tonight. I simply do steaks and hamburger. I known what cuts are suitable for steaks. The rest goes into the grinder. I don't add anything to the burger. I find a lot of ways to use the burger. I have another one hanging, and will probably do it Thursday evening. I have another tag and a place that needs does removed. I will probably try and fill it this weekend.
Had an old friend in a care home, was there on a visit and mentioned they all needed a fish feed. The folks said ok so I took the place enough frozen cat fish to feed them all, was a little surprised they would allow an individual to bring in meat but they all smiled.
Nobody can venison? Way better than burger.........
Well, got the cooler emptied again, think I'll go set a stand tomorrow afternoon. Still have a few guys calling to see if we are still processing. Tally; 1 barren doe, 1 shed antlered buck, 8 doe with twin fetuses, 4 doe with triplets Only two more weekends and it will be over!!
The doe season should stop. My neighbor's daughter shot at a "doe" a few days ago and supposedly missed. Her dad said as it ran off, it looked like a shed buck. Lots of bucks dropping all across the state as indicated by fresh finds on the Kansas Shed Hunters website. No reason to shoot old does if you want more deer because they are more likely to have twins or triplets. Anybody shooting does with fawns now has no business doing so at all in my opinion. The fawn is as dumb as a sheep and will be easy pickings for any predators.
I’ve got one shed buck on camera. A friend has one and 2 others that have shed one side.
Not a fan.
Well, here we are, coming down to the wire with this being the last weekend of antler-less season in unit 12. Average processing four deer every day this past week. Just hope the folks don't go crazy, think there is five in the cooler right now. Wednesday evening I went out to the farm and in a two mile stretch, I counted right at fifty deer in two fields. My one thought is how far have they traveled to all be in an area like that?
I’ve had that same conversation with a few people here Marvin.
We do have a lot of deer, likely too many in this area. However, they seem to really congregate this time of year.
They were hitting the cut bean fields last night. Counted about 20-25 in a field just west of Augusta.
And it's a wrap here in southeast Kansas, last deer processed and in the freezer! Would you believe it was a bow kill, had been shot a couple months ago and not recovered. Hole in shoulder blade and scar on hide, but otherwise good shape. NO, we are not taking any unit #19 deer!!
How many shed bucks Marvin?
To my surprise, we only had one shed antlered deer brought in and it appeared to be a young one, or at least the pedicals were only about nickel sized. May have had an earlier injury or sick? As I remember, there were like four button bucks. Every doe, except one we checked was carrying twins and one had triplets. The one was barren, or not bred yet?
How many total deer during antlerless?
Don't have the paperwork for reference, but thinking 25 total?
