View Full Version : Where do you process your big game
I've used Steve's meats in Arvada for years, I'm very happy and don't need to go elsewhere. However if anyone has any recommendations for anyone else I'd love to look into them. Would have to be no further than 40 minutes from Highlands Ranch
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Shooter45
09-24-2017, 19:16
I've used Steve's Meats before and was overly satisfied. Now living in the Springs and looking for a reliable place as well.
hunterhawk
09-24-2017, 19:35
My garage/kitchen if i just want steaks or burgers...if i want anything more than that Steves it is
if I don't do it myself, I've taken critters out to Simla Locker and been very satisfied with the meat I get back, including this years archery antelope.
I've used Steve's Meats before and was overly satisfied. Now living in the Springs and looking for a reliable place as well.
We have our meat processed by a place down in Canon City and they just ship it up to Steve's. You can probably find a place near you that does the same thing.
The family does it as a group a beef and a hog every year we used to do chicckens too. I hate plucking birds
I use a piece of plywood, a couple sawhorses, and some butcher paper in my garage. But a friend gave me a wild game jalapeno cheese log from Steve's and gawd damn that was good! I need to see if they sell that OTC.
Colorado Osprey
09-25-2017, 05:44
Randy's Custom Processing between Peyton and Calhan is pretty close to Springs and worth the trip.
Phone: (719) 347-3204
Address: 15250 Ellicot Hwy, Calhan, Colorado 80808
Randy is also a go to for SCI and regularly gets shipments of animals to process from out of state and over seas.
There is some caribou hanging currently in the walk in.
The cheese and jalapeno sausage is great!
In addition to wild game processing he is busy year round doing custom beef and swine processing.
Another vote for Steve's. We have used them for years and like their product especially their specialty meats.
There are butchers that come to your home and cut it. Check around, or ask for a referral from a butcher at say Tony's.
Hudson meat locker in the town of Hudson.
Not quite the selection of Steves, but better priced and much closer to me.
spqrzilla
09-25-2017, 12:50
We have our meat processed by a place down in Canon City ....
Who, if I may ask?
Great-Kazoo
09-25-2017, 19:31
Hudson meat locker in the town of Hudson.
Not quite the selection of Steves, but better priced and much closer to me.
Darrinof HudsonLockers will take care of you. Steve's Meats, Stan's in Timnanth off prospect east of ft collins. Arapahoe Meats (erie) Dustin and his sisters will get you taken care of also.
zimagold
09-25-2017, 20:02
Darrinof HudsonLockers will take care of you. Steve's Meats, Stan's in Timnanth off prospect east of ft collins. Arapahoe Meats (erie) Dustin and his sisters will get you taken care of also.
Thanks for the northern recommendations. Need a backup plan if I'm feeling lazy.
cableguy11
09-25-2017, 20:07
I hear Reliable here in FoCo is pretty good as well.
Trigger Time 23
09-26-2017, 08:09
We have used Steve's for 18 years and the end product is always good, but expensive. I guess you get what you pay for. I have heard bad stories about other lockers and have always shied away from trying someone else. It would suck to ruin the meat for the year.
Steve's is good. I prefered Brothers in Craig. We had 3 done at Steve's and 2 at Brother's (2008 and 2009) out of 200+ done, but have done the rest ourselves. My Wife and Mom prefer ours to either. We got taught by a butcher back in 1980 or so and have been doing it mostly ourselves except when we in process of fixing the old house and moving to the new one. When we built our house in 2009, I added some things so I could set up a processing station in my 2nd garage. Works great and I can hang 4 elk. Stainless sink (hot and cold with a 1 HP garbage disposal) with a 3x5 Ceasarstone adjacent. Make all our own burger and sausages too. About 5 hours for an elk on average from hanging to wrapped in the freezer.
Who, if I may ask?
Stoners.
.455_Hunter
09-26-2017, 10:27
Another +1 for Steve's.
theGinsue
09-26-2017, 20:47
I hunt down south just East of Wolf Creek Pass. I've used PDA Big Game Processing in Del Norte (Phone: (719) 657-3471 (tel:(719) 657-3471). Address: 14511 W. Hwy 160, Del Norte, Colorado 81132) several times. They do a good job, but don't do any sausages that I've ever seen.
They're simply a "licensed to process wild game only for the owner's consumption. Firm may not process livestock." type of place.
If I get my harvest early enough in the season they've got it processed and frozen by the end of the season.
I don't recall the prices. I want to say a bull elk is arund $300. They do charge extra for skinning (I believe it's $30).
kawiracer14
09-29-2017, 11:14
In the garage.
buffalobo
09-29-2017, 12:20
^^^This.
If you're unarmed you are a victim
^^^This.
Yea, not really the subject of the thread as intended by Gunner, but we butcher all of our big game at home and have never used a commercial processor. About 80 deer, elk and pronghorn have been cut and packaged on our kitchen islands, (and once on the pink Maytag washer and dryer in the little two-room house we lived in when building our home).
It's really pretty easy to reduce big pieces of meat into meal-sized portions. Best of all, we can control the cleanliness, the cuts and packaging, and get more yield of both steaks and scraps for sausage. It takes us about 2-3 hours to butcher and package a deer, about 5-6 hours for an elk. When I get an animal I call my wife who empties the backup/garage refrigerator so we can keep an elk properly cold before butchering.
I've toured a few commercial game processors and while their methods are impressive, I'm always appalled by their level of sanitation. We value quality food and for us it's worth the effort and $avings to do it ourselves.
I've used Steve's Meats before and was overly satisfied. Now living in the Springs and looking for a reliable place as well.
Im new here as well and just dropped my Antelope at Andy’s Meat Market. I’ve good things about Crippens as well.
Grant
Yea, not really the subject of the thread as intended by Gunner, but we butcher all of our big game at home and have never used a commercial processor. About 80 deer, elk and pronghorn have been cut and packaged on our kitchen islands, (and once on the pink Maytag washer and dryer in the little two-room house we lived in when building our home).
It's really pretty easy to reduce big pieces of meat into meal-sized portions. Best of all, we can control the cleanliness, the cuts and packaging, and get more yield of both steaks and scraps for sausage. It takes us about 2-3 hours to butcher and package a deer, about 5-6 hours for an elk. When I get an animal I call my wife who empties the backup/garage refrigerator so we can keep an elk properly cold before butchering.
I've toured a few commercial game processors and while their methods are impressive, I'm always appalled by their level of sanitation. We value quality food and for us it's worth the effort and $avings to do it ourselves.
LIKE!
Well I just got terrible news today. My wife and I got a couple bucks yesterday for our antelope season, called up Hudson to make sure they were open for Columbus Day and found out their processor no longer accepts wild game bones so they will only take wild game if it is completely boneless.
So I took them to steves and when I saw the prices I remembered why I stopped going there.
Might try the guy in Erie, if not I'll be shopping for a stainless table and sink for the garage.
buffalobo
10-09-2017, 17:59
Well I just got terrible news today. My wife and I got a couple bucks yesterday for our antelope season, called up Hudson to make sure they were open for Columbus Day and found out their processor no longer accepts wild game bones so they will only take wild game if it is completely boneless.
So I took them to steves and when I saw the prices I remembered why I stopped going there.
Might try the guy in Erie, if not I'll be shopping for a stainless table and sink for the garage.Let me know, I have a 3 bowl unit about 9' long that we swapped out several years ago, just collecting dust now.
If you're unarmed you are a victim
Well I just got terrible news today. My wife and I got a couple bucks yesterday for our antelope season, called up Hudson to make sure they were open for Columbus Day and found out their processor no longer accepts wild game bones so they will only take wild game if it is completely boneless.
So I took them to steves and when I saw the prices I remembered why I stopped going there.
Might try the guy in Erie, if not I'll be shopping for a stainless table and sink for the garage.
Were you hunting in 951 by chance? I watched a guy take an antelope yesterday.
Shooter45
10-09-2017, 20:21
After checking prices of local processors, me and the wife just put the money towards a meat grinder from Cabela's from a sale they had going on recently. It will pay for itself after 1 elk.
Were you hunting in 951 by chance? I watched a guy take an antelope yesterday.
Yeah we had one there and one in 87. What truck did you see near him/me?
We watched two people take shots and get bucks as well
Let me know, I have a 3 bowl unit about 9' long that we swapped out several years ago, just collecting dust now.
If you're unarmed you are a victim
Let me see how long that space is when I get back home. That sounds a little too long but I'll check
Yeah we had one there and one in 87. What truck did you see near him/me?
We watched two people take shots and get bucks as well
I want to say it was a white/silver, crew cab, F-150, but I'm not sure. Doesn't sound like you. I can tell you exactly where if you think it was you.
Not me then, Im in a new silver 1 ton Chevy crew cab. We were mostly on the northwest side of 951. There were people everywhere out there
I heard a lot of bucks were taken opening weekend
Public land looks pretty scare in that area, especially compared to 87. I was in the very NorthEast corner. Congrats on your hunt.
theGinsue
10-11-2017, 18:07
Im new here as well and just dropped my Antelope at Andy’s Meat Market. I’ve good things about Crippens as well.
Grant
I took exactly 1 deer to Andy's and will never return. The deer was a good sized buck and when I picked up the meat it was enough for a medium sized dog. When I questioned them about it they said they had to dispose of a lot of meat them hadn't been handled properly. I'm very particular about field dressing and field to processor handling and know they were full of it. Either they're careless with processing and saving as much meat as possible, or they took a share for themselves. Interesting to note that they do sell deer meat in their store; just saying. They also cut my backstrap and tenderloin into steaks after I very specifically told them to leave them whole.
Shooter45
10-12-2017, 13:43
We've always taken our animals to small individual processors or cut it up ourselves. We always take such good care of our meat and get it hung and cooled fast so the thought of it getting mixed into other animals that were not taken care of the same way scares the hell out of me. That's why I just bought a new meat grinder to set up in the garage and just do it myself. Then I know how it was handled and processed. Plus the 1st elk will pay for the grinder itself.
KevDen2005
10-21-2017, 08:50
Hudson meat locker in the town of Hudson.
Not quite the selection of Steves, but better priced and much closer to me.
What prices are you looking at with Hudson? I'm about to head out of town and hopefully bring back an elk. I prefer some place close to process the meat.
Bringing this thread back to life.
Hudson is now reducting their big game processing even more. It is only burger and custom products when you bring in deboned meat. Steaks and roasts are no long cut. Apparently it is harder to figure out the cuts of meat when people bring it in deboned.
After getting turned away at Steves and the same thing happening to my buddy, then having to get there 20 minutes before they open only to be 15th in line I’ve had enough.
I’m frustrated to the point I got a stainless steel table that fronds up against the wall out of the way and drops down as needed. Got a stainless steel sink, and now ready to get my own processing stuff. With 4 deer tags this year hopefully I can get some practice and get pretty good recipes going. Steaks are super easy, burger can’t be too hard but the custom stuff will take some practice
What prices are you looking at with Hudson? I'm about to head out of town and hopefully bring back an elk. I prefer some place close to process the meat.
Summer Sausage (1.5 lb chubs) $4.50/each
Jalapeno/Cheddar Summer Sausage (1.5 lb chubs) $5.00/each
Smoked Polish Sausage $3.50/lb
Smoked Jalapeno/Cheddar Brats $3.50/lb
Darren's Hot Dogs $4.00/lb
Snack Sticks (Packaged in 1/2 lb packages) $2.50/pkg
Jalapeno/Cheddar Snack Sticks (Packaged in 1/2 lb packages) $2.75/pkg
Pepperoni/Mozzerella Snack Sticks (Packaged in 1/2 lb packages) $2.75/pkg
Jerky Packaged (Packaged in 1/2 lb packages) $4.00/pkg
Steve Rinella has a show on Netflix called Meat Eater. It's mostly hunting, but he peppers in episodes about cooking or preparing game meat. The is a whole episode on breaking down a deer. I'm sure that him, and a million others, have even more content on YouTube.
I watched that show a good bit, probably watched that episode, will pull it up again and get more details. I’m pretty competent around the different cuts and very comfortable cutting up any animal, just have never done the actual processing and grinding
Steve Rinella has a show on Netflix called Meat Eater. It's mostly hunting, but he peppers in episodes about cooking or preparing game meat. The is a whole episode on breaking down a deer. I'm sure that him, and a million others, have even more content on YouTube.
Yeah, there are a ton of youtube videos that show you how to separate all of the different muscle groups/cuts and what each muscle is good for as in steaks, roasts, stew, osso buco, burger.. whatever. Honestly it looks pretty simple to do, just time consuming.
barney fife
12-15-2018, 21:41
Do it all in the garage. Dad always used a oiled sheet of plywood growing up in ND. A couple years ago I started using food grade HDPE plastic. Found a plastics factory in Washington state that sold me a 4x8 sheet of plastic for $20. Stationed in Omaha I paid $50 for a 4x8 sheet probably 1/8" thick, had them cut it in 4 two foot sheets for storage. Just throw it on the plywood for a large plastic cutting board.
Need to find a plastics factory in Colorado to get new sheet, let me know if you know of any.
Great-Kazoo
12-15-2018, 21:59
Do it all in the garage. Dad always used a oiled sheet of plywood growing up in ND. A couple years ago I started using food grade HDPE plastic. Found a plastics factory in Washington state that sold me a 4x8 sheet of plastic for $20. Stationed in Omaha I paid $50 for a 4x8 sheet probably 1/8" thick, had them cut it in 4 two foot sheets for storage. Just throw it on the plywood for a large plastic cutting board.
Need to find a plastics factory in Colorado to get new sheet, let me know if you know of any.
1 of 3-4 in the denver area, on google search
https://www.professionalplastics.com/Denver_CO
For some years we used a plywood board over the island with butcher paper for the cutting surface. Now I bring in a folding plastic table for the meat cutting and simply tape the paper, shiny side up, directly to the table. We use cutting boards on the paper which are easily taken to the sink for washing. At the end of the day the paper is rolled up and tossed for easy clean up.
We usually have two tables, one for meat cutting, another for fine trimming and vacuum packaging. Makes for a neat and clean production.
buffalobo
12-16-2018, 01:38
Sniper, how goes your adventures in home processing? Hooked yet?
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