I am new to the deer hunting game and I was wondering where I could find a good deer processor in Winnipeg. If anyone has a good place to go I would love to know. Thanks.
Many processors and I think you will be waiting a fair bit of time for your order for the good guys like the butcher in Starbuck.
Did you consider doing it yourself? I butchered my first deer last year following a four part video series I found on YouTube. It went very well. I already had a 1970's era grinder do I grind the shank meat and off cuts for burgers or my own sausage mixes.
My family loves venison thanks to my filleting to remove all the unpleasant pieces. I also know that I am eating 100% of the deer I brought home.
I never liked the idea of taking our game to get it done. So we always did it ouselves. For a long time by hand. Cutting and grinding. Maybe 20 years ago I bought a Hobart 5216 (I think it is). Had it rewired to 220, fixed a few things on it and wow does it cut. We had the shaft machined on a hand grinder to take connecters, and hooked it up to a gear reduction box and electric motor with reversing switch. Works well. Probelm is cleanup takes 5 to 10 times longer than the cutting. This machine however is a real B to move.
Not in the city but if you don't mind a bit of a drive Ridgeville colony in Ridgeville does a great job and dirt cheap. Skinning and deboning $50, will hang it for two weeks, and lots of choices for sausage/processing.
I only make my own sausage patties. It's pretty simple. Do a google search to find out what seasonings you'll need for the particular type of sausage you want...Italian, Fresh, etc. Take your ground venison and mix it with equal parts of a fatty pork shoulder. Take the blend and put it on a table covered with plastic sheets. Spread the blended meats around the table, and add the seasonings. Mix the meat and seasoning together well, using your hands. Then form into individual, hamburger sized patties. Put a piece of wax paper between each patty, then put them into freezer bags. The patties can be fried up as a breakfast sausage...done up on the grill...put in spaghetti sauce...whatever your imagination can conjur up.
Kinda wondering how comfortable you are with the gutting/hiding in the field and basic prep for hanging/butchering process. I presume you have some knowledge of that, from whatever source - friends, internet etc. Just mentioning that, because first time around it can be pretty daunting, unless you have a bit of guidance.
And if you can do that, you can process your deer to the point of having roasts, delicious loin chops and meat for grinding into burger or sausage.
You learn nothing from turning the whole carcass over to a butcher - and you're very likely to get lots of silver skin, fat and unwanted tissue with your cuts, that could easily produce that 'gamey' flavor which is a total turn off. In fact, with some 'processors', it might not even be your venison you get back.
If u know a butcher, or can contact one at a meat shop or grocery store, ask if for a few dollars can they come over to your house and talk you through the process. that's how I did my first one. It's not difficult. All you need is a butcher knife, fillet knife, a boning knife and a hacksaw with a bone blade. And a grinder for grinding ground meat.
Caution do not take this advice if the butcher is a female. Can you imagine the line to your wife "" for a few bucks I have this lady over to show me what to do with my meat"".
Caution do not take this advice if the butcher is a female. Can you imagine the line to your wife "" for a few bucks I have this lady over to show me what to do with my meat"".
Haha, with this line and me walking into the garage with my whiskey and 7 up, it might be me hanging on my other gambrel...
We use a lot of ground meat, so I normally grind pretty much everything up except the tender loins and back straps, which make great steaks, so I don't use processors very often. I did a few times, once my cousin, which turned out great, and twice a different meat shop, but I got my sausages back old the second time, and they refused to take the blame, said it was my fault. That was a a complete waste of a beautiful 4x4 buck! I am going to stick to doing everything myself, I have never had a problem that way.
Caution do not take this advice if the butcher is a female. Can you imagine the line to your wife "" for a few bucks I have this lady over to show me what to do with my meat"".
I got my first deer 2 years ago and processed the entire thing myself. I used Youtube to guide me through it. I would watch part of the video, pause it go cut for 10 minutes then go back and watch more video. The only thing that concerns me is warm weather, what are you archery guys doing when you harvest a deer this early? just processing immediately or do you still let it hang a couple days?
During these warm early season archery days I get to the deer that day if possible or the next day for sure, it's just too warm to hang a deer this time of year in my opinion. I always cut up my own deer, I hate the thought of getting some other guys gut shot, crap and piss infested meat back and not mine. Plus I trim every little but of fat, sinew, silver skin etc that some guy with twenty deer piled up just wouldn't do for $50
What are prices for cutting up a deer? I've always done it myself too, really once you know the general idea of what your doing it's not hard. I mostly cut mine into steaks, whole loins and back straps get wrapped in bacon and done on the charcoal grill, small pieces are ground for jerky, the rest help my dogs maintain their winter coats.
Caution do not take this advice if the butcher is a female. Can you imagine the line to your wife "" for a few bucks I have this lady over to show me what to do with my meat"".
I havent shot a dear in archery season yet, but i bought a small window ac unit and was just gonna poly off a circle around hanging deer and have the ac unit blowing inside and vented out. Figure it will buy me a night anyways.
Having lots of air blowing on the meat can dry it out. Do you have a chest freezer. What we usually do is cut the deer into 7 to 9 peices (like quartering) and put it in the freezer over night. Before doing this clean up the meat as good as possible and cut off waste. Even a large deer can be made very compact. The next day meat being firm will cut a lot better using hand saw or band saw. This can be done in a short time. I take it this would not work well if deboning.
The only thing that concerns me is warm weather, what are you archery guys doing when you harvest a deer this early? just processing immediately or do you still let it hang a couple days?
If weather is too warm or too cold, we bone out our deer and lay the muscle groups in a spare fridge. We've had 3 deer in one fridge. A deer isn't all that big once you take out the bones.
A note on butchering yourself. You can't go all that wrong. The muscle groups are joined by fine tissue and are easy to separate. Steaks off the back and upper rump. Roasts from the lower rump. Stew and grind from the neck, shoulders and whatever you screwed up trying to make steaks and roasts. :lol:
All my early season deer have been skinned and hung overnight and cut the early the next morning... If you have access to a cooler (or the AC thing) would probably be better... Early velvet bucks are really good eats!!!
Inetersting to see what everyone does, I only hunt deer archery lately, we have gotten into boning it out right in the filed, using the cape as a protectant from the ground, pack it out in 6 pieces put it into fridge, next day after morning hunt we cut it and wrap it. As previously mentioned a deer really does not take very much room in the fridge when boned out. A few new guys to our group were quite impressed how easy efficient and fast it is. We have been happy with peperettes from JD hog.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Manitoba Hunting Forums
108.5K posts
8K members
Since 2011
A forum community dedicated to Manitoba’s hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about optics, trails, gunsmithing, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!