AFTER THE SHOT

Choosing a Processor

EDITOR'S NOTE: The decisions you make once your game is down are what make for the best of memories or the worst of nightmares. This week we'll look at the best ways to take care of your deer once you bag it.

Although you can process your own deer, you may prefer to have your deer processed by a commercial processing company, which can ...
* age your meat,
* make venison hamburger,
* prepare a wide variety of deer sausage for you,
* cube your steaks,
* make special cuts and wrap your meat according to the portions you want in each                                    package,
                               * give you time to create a place for the meat in your freezer,
                               * cape the head property for the taxidermist and
                               * take care of your meat faster, quicker and with less hassle than you can.

Of course, like many hunters, I've often worried about getting my deer back when I've taken it to a processing house. Bob Walker of Livingston, Alabama, who runs a meat-processing plant that's regularly checked by the Health Department, explains that, "You need to talk to friends and relatives who've used a meat processor in the past and learn if they've been pleased with the meat they've received back. Also, ask the meat processor how he keeps up with each individual's deer as it's butchered and what special cuts he offers." Walker has processed several of mine and my son-in-law's deer in the past. We've been very pleased at the quality of his service as well as the cleanness of his facility. One of my favorite meat items that Walker makes is marinated venison steaks, wrapped with bacon. These steaks that resemble filet mignon are absolutely delicious when grilled on an outside grill, indoors on a George Foreman Grill or pan-grilled on the top of your stove.

Some meat processors use a multiple-tag system to insure that a hunter gets back what belongs to him. They attach tags to the deer's antlers when the hunter brings in his buck and often let the tagged deer hang in the processing plant's cooler for 24 to 48 hours to age the meat before they begin processing it. Too, the processor puts tags on the hindquarters of the deer and the cape and the head when he skins it out. After skinning and quartering the deer, the processor may choose to place all the meat in one basket with the same tag from the hindquarter and next cut the venison into pieces for sausage, hamburger, roast, steak or cubed meat before wrapping the meat and putting it back into a basket with a tag on it. Then the processor places the basket with the meat in the cooler or the freezer, depending on when the hunter plans to pick up the meat.

Prices for processing a deer vary widely across the nation, with generally one price to skin and gut the deer and a certain price per pound to process the empty carcass any way the hunter wants it. Generally this fee includes buying beef fat for hamburger and pork fat for sausage as well as cubing, making steaks and roasts, butterflying the steaks and/or cutting the meat with the bone in it. I recently had a 175-pound deer processed in Missouri that already was skinned and caped that cost me about $100 for processing, packaging, wrapping and making it ready for the freezer.

To learn more about preparing and cooking venison, go to Night Hawk's home page and click on books to see the "Deer & Fixings Cookbook," written by John and his wife, Denise, who now have more than 80 combined years' experience of cooking venison. Call (800) 627-4295 to order with a credit card, or you can send a check or a money order to 4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham, AL 35243.

TOMORROW: PROCESSING YOUR VENISON YOURSELF