Here they are:
- It’s more affordable - I don’t know what they charge to get meat processed, as it is something my family has been doing on our own for years. I do know that it’s more bang for your buck. We get more meat from what we process and all it costs is our own time, packaging, and occasionally new knives. We get this done with the help of a good meat grinder and sealer.
- You get more meat - The last time we took an antelope in to get processed, we walked out with a small box that wasn’t even half full. When we cut our own meat, we know the meat isn’t going to waste and we are getting everything off the animal we can. We also know for a fact that it is our own meat.
- You have more control - With your own walk-in cooler full of meat, you can control how long the meat hangs and ages. With certain animals we age them longer which makes for better tasting meat. When you have someone else process your meat, you don’t have control over the temperature the meat is stored at or how long they store it for. Temperature control can also prevent spoiling. Even those without a walk-in cooler have more control over what happens with their meat. You also control over what gets added to your meat, such as suet. You can control the seasonings and flavors you add to the meat to make it tasty.
For me, the only con is the amount of time it takes to process the meat. While some people dislike processing their own meat, because of the time and the energy it takes, along with dealing with some of the bloodier parts of the meat, I don’t mind it. Our family of four will work together to get it all processed at once. We may make a weekend of it when there are deer and elk to process. Depending on the success of the season, it sometimes takes even longer than that.
Everyone has different preferences on ways to process meat or how long to age it. Some even prefer to just leave it all up to the professionals. For me - it’s all part of the hunt.
Heather
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About the writer:
Heather Reed is a Wyoming native, living just 30 minutes away from the best the Mountains can offer. She fell in love with hunting and the outdoor lifestyle at a young age, when she'd watch numerous family members bring back their harvested animals and share their animated hunting stories. While other kids wanted to play dolls or other games, Heather created hunting games and imagined shooting trophy animals. Now that she's grown, she still dreams of hunting these animals. If she's not hunting, or even thinking about it, she's out fishing, shooting or cheering on the Detroit Red Wings.
