Beware of the meat cutter

[fisherick]

We returned this week from an elk hunt where my two buddies where successful at harvesting a 5x6 bull and a cow elk. Both elk were taken in the morning, skinned, deboned, hung in game bags and transported to them clean on ice the same afternoon. When we picked up the meat to fly home we were told we had 167# from the bull and 71# from the cow. We estimated the delivered weights as > 370#. The owner made some invalid excuses. When we got home to divide up the meat we discovered 15 packages of 4 each backstraps. Friends we should have had 35-40 packages of backstraps. My buddies have notified the CC companies and the BBB. Reminder: weigh meat at delivery and ask for receipt.

[cnelk]

Your estimated deboned delivery weight seems about right.

A cow should net 100-110lbs of packaged meat, a Bull a bit more

It seems strange that they didnt weigh your meat upon arrival.
Most processors charge by the lb and what cuts you want, so how would you [and they] know how much the charges would be?

Have you used them before?

As far as backstrap amounts, there is alot of trimming when cutting them up, but that does sound a bit shady.

[>>>---WW---->]

I don't think your estimated weight of 370# is even close. But I realize that after packing two elk out they probably felt like twice that weight. LOL! Actually, 167# for the boned out bull is a pretty dang good average. But when you take 167 from your estimated weight of370#, that makes your boned out cow weigh 203#. Man! that is one heck of a big cow!!!! JMOH, but your estimated weight was probably about 100# over the actual weight. And when you figure the trimming, I doubt that you got screwed all that much. It all depends on how well you deboned and how cleanly it was done. As well as how much trimming the processor had to do.

I'm not defending your meat processor, but I will say that the ones around here usually give non-residents top preference and move them to the front of the line because they realize that they need to get out of Dodge in a hurry for the long trip home. Residents know this and don't usually mind waiting an extra day or two for their meat.

So I'd suggest if you aren't happy, and you already have the meat deboned, why not just pack it in some dry ice and take it home and cut it up yourself. Save yourself a bunch of money to put towards your next hunt.

Personally, I have never paid to have an elk processed and hope I never have to. That way, there is never a question about how much meat I get and I realize just how much trimming is actually involved before it is wrapped and put in the freezer.

Another thing is that when animals are shot with a rifle or smoke pole, there can often be a lot of blood shot meat. I have seen both front quarters rendered useless by shoulder shots from a gun on some animals.

[cnelk]

Youre right about the estimated weight Bill
I misread the 367# for 267#

267# for 2 elk is more like it

Most processors take great pride in their business.
I would bet that your meat is clean as a whistle and double wrapped

That is better business than lots of dirty meat

Just my 'Nickle'

[Buglemaster]

We dropped our bull Friday at Steve's Meats in Denver. Hanging weight of the bone in shoulders & hind qtrs with some misc trim was 224#. I brought the back straps & tenderloins home & processed this morning. Ended up with 22 pkgs of 4-5 chops per pkg & 2 pkg of tenderloins. I cut my chops 3/4" thick & that would figure in the pkg count as well. As mentioned above, depending on shot placement, there can be a lot of lost meat unless your good with tearing into a steak that's all bloodshot. My wife's not all that excited about cooking purple meat... As a meat cutter of 25 years, I have seen a lot & it is deceiving sometimes as to the finished quantity of wild game. Cut one up yourself & you will be surprised at the weight of the scraps when your all done. Hope my tidbit helps a little.

[Lefty]

We package most of our own meat. Last year my daughters moose was taken care of by a neighbor. He charges a premium price and does a very high quality job . That moose was a big animal,.. when we took it over to him. When I first looked in his freezers it didnt look like much

Every time weve had a processor take care of our meat it appears like a lot less,.. but they do so much of a better job packaging than we do

[NH Hunter]

We dropped our bull Friday at Steve's Meats in Denver. Hanging weight of the bone in shoulders & hind qtrs with some misc trim was 224#. I brought the back straps & tenderloins home & processed this morning. Ended up with 22 pkgs of 4-5 chops per pkg & 2 pkg of tenderloins. I cut my chops 3/4" thick & that would figure in the pkg count as well. As mentioned above, depending on shot placement, there can be a lot of lost meat unless your good with tearing into a steak that's all bloodshot. My wife's not all that excited about cooking purple meat... As a meat cutter of 25 years, I have seen a lot & it is deceiving sometimes as to the finished quantity of wild game. Cut one up yourself & you will be surprised at the weight of the scraps when your all done. Hope my tidbit helps a little.

I got my cow last week and had no bloodshot meat in the quarters or backstraps. I would estimate we had a little over 105# of packaged meat when we were done. I am a mercilous trimmer as I want to present the best product I can to my guests (and myself). My buddy doesn't trim as much. He's taking his share to Steve's in Denver to make sausage. I get rid of any bigger tendons, all the silverskin, etc. We cut the backstraps into chunks of about 1.5#. We might cut a roast or two and grind the rest. The baby loins never make it out of camp. Last years cow was 113# after processing and vacuum packing. Both were good sized healthy cows. Man there was a lotta fat on this years cow. I would guess that 100-115# for a decent cow would be about right. When we were done we probably had about a 5 gallon bucket full of scraps, fat, tendons and such.