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Wild game butcher recommendations

01906

01906

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Getting back into hunting this year. Looking for recommendations for a butcher.
I used to know someone but has since moved to New Hampshire. I should have asked at the club last weekend but I didn't think of it till afterwards.
Would liket to line someone up so I'm not scrambling at the last minute. Looking for someone that does a good job. Table ready removes fat and silver skin.
Also makes a decent sausage breakfast, hot, and sweet.
 
Oh, I said North shore between Boston and Newbury. When I edited it. I must have deleted it my phone's messed up.
 
smokey-seven said:
Karls Sausage Kitchen in Peabody will do it. The last time I asked was a couple years ago right after they moved to the Bourbon St. location. He did say it would be VERY expensive if he hit any metal while cutting. So if you have a clean kill with no residual material, check with them. Give them a call now and don't wait till you have a deer.

Karl's Sausage Kitchen and European Market | One Bourbon Street • Peabody, MA 01960 • 978-854-6650
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Thanks I'll have to give them a call.
I saw them when I did a Google search.
On their website it said they dealt with frozen meat no bones no bullets and would make it into sausage.
 
anyone have any recommendations in the greater Springfield area? might try and take a deer on property of a friend in Hampden, MA. would be first time deer hunting so obviously I know not a guarantee but would like to know of a reputable butcher in this area if anyone has a recommendation. thanks, cheers
 
If you can cut the deer up yourself it’s your best bet in the long run as you will do a better job and take more care then most butcher’s as time is money for them.
I get some people don’t have time or the space to cut up deer.
I have used this guy a few years back and he did a good job and was reasonably priced. I would call and see if he is still cutting he is in Ware ma
6DDAC21D-1E30-44F1-AF55-B5B73BD17C34.jpeg
 
smokey-seven said:
Karls Sausage Kitchen in Peabody will do it. The last time I asked was a couple years ago right after they moved to the Bourbon St. location. He did say it would be VERY expensive if he hit any metal while cutting. So if you have a clean kill with no residual material, check with them. Give them a call now and don't wait till you have a deer.

Karl's Sausage Kitchen and European Market | One Bourbon Street • Peabody, MA 01960 • 978-854-6650
Click to expand...
I called today they only process between January and March. Right now is their busy season Oktoberfest. Their lead butcher gave me a name and phone number of someone that does it in Middleton. Thanks for the lead
 
Sparkey said:
Another thing is ask if they use a band saw I find bone dust in the meat makes it taste strange
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Band saw or manual bone saw will both leave bone residue, they just didn't clean it off the meat before wrapping. A quick wipe with a cloth is all it takes.
 
01906 said:
I called today they only process between January and March. Right now is their busy season Oktoberfest. Their lead butcher gave me a name and phone number of someone that does it in Middleton. Thanks for the lead
Click to expand...

Was the Middleton shop “the buck stops here”?
 
I use Arenas in Hopkinton they debone and do what you want with it:. steaks, ground and/or sausage. I do as many thick steaks as they can get out of the legs, shanks, rump, shoulders and get the rest ground for chili, half and half with beef burgers, and tacos.
 
01906 said:
Oh, I said North shore between Boston and Newbury. When I edited it. I must have deleted it my phone's messed up.
Click to expand...
Jim Wallace in Newburyport might still be in the business. (Not sure how busy GOAL keeps him.)

Blood Farm in Groton does good work but isn't cheap.
 
I’m short on time but because I am biased when it comes to learning things myself I will process my own deer. When I’ve researched others’ experience of letting someone else process their game they mostly regret it in the long run. You may not get those fancy cryovac’d frenched rib roasts the first time but I believe anybody who puts their efforts in will be more rewarded in the end.
 
Good opportunity for a class, I don’t hunt (yet)but I would like to learn the skill. One of those things I wish I learnt from my farther, but he didn’t know how to do it either.
 
HarryPottar said:
Good opportunity for a class, I don’t hunt (yet)but I would like to learn the skill. One of those things I wish I learnt from my farther, but he didn’t know how to do it either.
Click to expand...

There are a bunch of YouTube videos on processing you deer.

The DEEP in Connecticut has a class that is offered once a year.

Venison Processing Workshop:
This workshop guides participants through all the steps of taking a deer from whole animal to freezer-ready, packaged venison. The workshop team includes a professionally trained butcher, a restaurant owner/chef, and a cadre of experienced deer hunters. Participants leave the seminar with a recipe booklet, list of processing supplies, and an enhanced understanding of how to break down a white-tailed deer.


DEEP: Advanced Hunter Education
 
This is a post I made some time ago on another forum and I thought I would post it here has well. Hopefully it will help.

This is one of the better pictorials I have seen for boneless deer processing.

The Hunting Beast - Login

Bob

This is a great series from Perdue University:

From Field to Table. How To Process Your Deer

Hunting is an outdoor sport many enjoy while learning new skills, receiving fitness benefits and bringing healthy food options to their table. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife & Sport Fish Restoration Program, reported 36,825 licences for 2017 as hunting continues to be a recognized and respected sport.
Purdue Extension-Forestry and Natural Resources has recently increased their resources for handling harvested game. This new video series shares step by step instructions starting with field dressing and continuing all the way through to packaging.
Video Series:
Handling Harvested Game: Episode 1, Field Dressing
Handling Harvested Game: Episode 2, Hanging & Skinning
Handling Harvested Game: Episode 3, Deboning
Handling Harvested Game: Episode 4, Cutting, Grinding & Packaging
Free handling harvested game workshops are held every year in September by Purdue Extension. If you would like to attend any of the available workshops please contact Jonathan Ferris, Wayne County Extension Director, or Dave Osborne, Ripley County Extension Director. Feel free to view the Purdue Extension Calendar or the Purdue Extension-Forestry and Natural Resources’ Calendar for future scheduled workshops.
Other resources:
How to Score Your White-tailed Deer, video, The Education Store, Purdue Extension Resource Center
White-Tailed Deer Post Harvest Collection, video, The Education Store
Age Determination in White-tailed Deer, video, The Education Store,
How to Build a Plastic Mesh Deer Exclusion Fence, The Education Store,
Bovine Tuberculosis in Wild White-tailed Deer, The Education Store,
Maine Hunting License and Rules, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife
More resources with Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and Purdue Extension:
Indiana Deer Hunting, Biology and Management
Food Safety & Handling Take-Home Tips (80kb pdf)
Deer Tips 1: Scouting
Deer Tips 2: Practice
Deer Tips 3: Clothing
Deer Tips 4: Hunting Private Lands
Deer Tips 5: Location, Location
Deer Tips 6: Etiquette
Deer Tips 7: Tracking
Deer Tips 8: After the Harvest
Deer Tips 9: Final Thoughts
Deer Processing 1: Skinning


Bob Cordes, Wildlife Biologist
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Brandon Fields, Meat Science Manager
Pig Improvement Company (PIC)
Rod N Williams, Engagement Faculty Fellow & Associate Professor of Wildlife Science
Purdue University Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
 
I understand why people will choose a butcher instead of doing it themselves, lots of valid reasons. I have been butchering all my deer for the last 15-20 years and it's just part of the process. A few years back I took one in as it was #4 for the year and I just didn't feel like doing it. They did a decent job but I still regretted it. Like other have said they typically don't do as good of a job as you would do yourself. I also want mine boned out and no bone cutting. After you have done a couple it's not that hard. I have a small kitchen and no where else really to do it. I hang them in the shed. Quarter them and take out the backstraps and tenderloins in the shed and then take each quarter inside to the butch block in the kitchen to bone them out and process.

If you have never done it yourself watch a few videos and have at it, it is not very hard at all to make quality cuts and then vacuum seal or use freezer paper. I prefer vacuum sealing myself. My daughter started doing 50% or more of the butchering when she was 7 and has done 10 or so now.
 
I actually found this field dress to be the best. I would rather not do an open book pelvic fx on the doe but this one is quick and clean. I would supplement the butt out tool and maybe be more tender with the sternum.




Next up the Bearded Butchers have by far the best skinning video I’ve seen. Actually all of their content is god level tier.
 
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