Chilliwack butcher

[FortBoy]

Ill begin by saying im not posting this to slam a butcher, but more to inform other hunters that live in the chilliwack area of my experience. I moved earlier this year, and as such, started taking my game to a new butcher. unfortunately, between the bear i took them this spring and the two deer taken this fall, 90% of my ground meat (roughly 90 one pound packs out of the 100lbs of ground i got), has either bone fragments or bullet fragments in it. the sausages had some fragments but not as common as in the ground and the steaks that i got from them had nothing wrong with it, but i get quite a lot of my meat put into ground just for the ease of being able to use it for a multitude of different meals. i for now on will be cutting my own meat, as i cannot justify paying good, hard earned money, for a product that i see as less than satisfactory. Makes eating my game meat (which is all that is eaten in my household) not as enjoyable as almost every meal you have to be wary of chipping a tooth. I would name the butcher shop but am unsure of the policy of naming names on this sight. would pm anybody interested or will post within the thread if the hbc gods see no problem with this. Just my .02 as it would be nice to prevent another hunter from having to deal with meat cutting that is not up to standard.

[ElliotMoose]

Sounds to me like he just throws everyone's scraps together and grinds them, then divides it up instead of doing each individual animal at a time. As shitty as it is, I think this is pretty common.. Definitely better off choppin up your own meat

[wideopenthrottle]

post away ..there has been several threads on complaints about various butchers (as well as some defending the same butcher)..all end with many peeps chiming in about doing it yourself so I would say you are on the right track...perhaps I am too picky in general but I am rarely satisfied paying someone else for something I can do myself (cuz i can likely do it better even if it takes me way longer in some cases).

[skibum]

How does a butcher stop bullet fragments? Isn't that caused by your choice of bullet?

Is the problem someone else's meat getting mixed into your grind?

Cut and grind my own because of these exact concerns

[FortBoy]

Sounds to me like he just throws everyone's scraps together and grinds them, then divides it up instead of doing each individual animal at a time. As shitty as it is, I think this is pretty common.. Definitely better off choppin up your own meat

this butcher seems to pride itself on your meat in and your meat out. so they say, i have no evidence otherwise. this was my 4th year hunting, and i feel ive cleaned enough animals to now start butchering my own meat as i understand it quite a lot more than year 1 or 2

[Salty]

I wouldn't bring meat to a butcher with bone and bullet fragments in it that's pretty much field dressing 101 to remove all the blood shot and damaged meat sap. You're hiring them to cut and wrap not clean and pick hair and debris. my 2 cents..

[FortBoy]

How does a butcher stop bullet fragments? Isn't that caused by your choice of bullet?

Is the problem someone else's meat getting mixed into your grind?

Cut and grind my own because of these exact concerns


I dont know how a butcher shop would stop bullet fragments, i would assume they would not use any meat that would look as if it was damaged, ive always done my best to cut out any damaged meat from the outside and cut out any blood shot to the best of my ability. i use nosler trophy grade BT. i have pulled 3 bullets out of animals in the past and had 99% weight retention in those situations to the point even that i have a bullet that still fit snuggly back into the shell it came out of as the base of the bullet was in perfect form to my untrained eye

[FortBoy]

I wouldn't bring meat to a butcher with bone and bullet fragments in it that's pretty much field dressing 101 to remove all the blood shot and damaged meat sap. You're hiring them to cut and wrap not clean and pick hair and debris. my 2 cents..

do my best to cut everything out, and bring a clean animal to the butcher. i have gotten better with experience, and never had an issue with the previous butcher i have used.

[Daybreak]

Fortboy, have you spoken to the butcher before posting here? Does he have an explanation?

A butcher should inspect the meat closely before grinding for his customer's sake and because the damage to blades and plates adds up in a hurry. Some might get by, but to have 90% of your ground contaminated is bad, really bad.

Invest in your own gear and because you describe eating only game and so much ground it will pay for itself many times over. We ground some fresh venison with 20% pork last night and the hamburgers were
amazing. Best ground meat I've had and we knew exactly what was in it.

ETA; I have heard of animals with bullets, particularly .22, buried in their flesh and not detectable.

[allan]

I cut my own steaks and roasts, and then I bring my trim or deboned meat into a shop for sausage/ jerky in chilliwack. I have never found bone chips or bullet fragments in my meat that way.
If you need a name of a good shop, pm me. I'll trade you your watch out for name for a good shop name! :)

[FortBoy]

Fortboy, have you spoken to the butcher before posting here? Does he have an explanation?

A butcher should inspect the meat closely before grinding for his customer's sake and because the damage to blades and plates adds up in a hurry. Some might get by, but to have 90% of your ground contaminated is bad, really bad.

Invest in your own gear and because you describe eating only game and so much ground it will pay for itself many times over. We ground some fresh venison with 20% pork last night and the hamburgers were
amazing. Best ground meat I've had and we knew exactly what was in it.

attempted to speak with the butcher and informed them that i was not trying to complain, but more bring this to their attention as i would expect they would like to know. i received a reply, saying that they were dissapointed to hear that i was not satisfied with their services. and that they would tell the owner and i should expect a call, which i have not received. the wife got me a grinder for the bday so it will be getting put to use from here on out.

[Daybreak]

Good thing you haven't specifically called them out as it sounds like they may try to make the situation right. You never know what might have happened...busy time, learner at the controls? Always best to be diplomatic and give them a chance to make it right.

[FortBoy]

Good thing you haven't specifically called them out as it sounds like they may try to make the situation right. You never know what might have happened...busy time, learner at the controls? Always best to be diplomatic and give them a chance to make it right.

Not sure how they could make it right, im not expecting a refund or anything, just hope they hear it as constructive criticism and do better in the future for other hunters. was contemplating cutting my own meat this year, but it didnt work out due to time, energy, and lack of experience, but this was the tipping point for me to just do it myself from here on out and from start to finish do it all myself, ill learn the cutting process as i go. like i said, they were friendly to deal with, opened up the cooler on weekends and after hours, if it wasnt for the misc. particles in such a large amount of the ground, i would recommend them

[Daybreak]

You never know what they might do for you. If it's as bad as you described they need to do something. Hard to serve that ground now, especially to company... "uuhh, don't mind the fragments". You are a consumer just like in any other business and deserve to be treated well. Good luck with it all.

[Gateholio]

A little bit of bone goes a long way into ground meat. Unless the bullet went between 2 ribs and didn't contact bone, I would say that you brought in meat with bone fragments in it, they got chewed up and mixed into the meat.

If your bullet never contacted bone, something went wrong on the butchers end.

[shottyshooter]

I like Johnstons - vacuum sealed, professional and the best pepperoni I've ever had! That said they turned me away this year because they were overbooked. They sent me to Gords game cutting and he did a good job. I think I will strive to make more and more of the processing and packaging part of my hunting pastime in the future for its own rewards more than anything else.

[BiG Boar]

if you're doing that much grind just cut your own. All you need to know is front quarters get ground, rear quarters and backstraps for steaks and roasts.

[Bugle M In]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtfNMyWZaE

[FortBoy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtfNMyWZaE

Thank you for the link, have not seen this specific video yet.

[rides bike to work]

Gords does a great job for me real clean cuts.

[rides bike to work]

But

lesson learned this year. I shot my buck quartering to me and the bullet got into the guts and it was a bit of a mess in the cavity I cleaned it up best I could but was a few hours before I could wash it out. My ground tastes a bit tainted. But the steaks and roasts arr excellent .Next time if my animal is gut shot or something pops during gutting I will ask the butcher to keep the body cavity meat separate for the ground

[wideopenthrottle]

But

lesson learned this year. I shot my buck quartering to me and the bullet got into the guts and it was a bit of a mess in the cavity I cleaned it up best I could but was a few hours before I could wash it out. My ground tastes a bit tainted. But the steaks and roasts arr excellent .Next time if my animal is gut shot or something pops during gutting I will ask the butcher to keep the body cavity meat separate for the ground
just wash it real well with a few 5 gal pails of water as soon as you can hang it..then wipe iout the inside a bit and let it dry...the ribs should look white not brownish green

[Glenny]

I cut my own steaks and roasts, and then I bring my trim or deboned meat into a shop for sausage/ jerky in chilliwack. I have never found bone chips or bullet fragments in my meat that way.
If you need a name of a good shop, pm me. I'll trade you your watch out for name for a good shop name! :)

Thats what I do occasionally. I wait till well after hunting season as you can be more sure of getting your own meat.

[hparrott]

this butcher seems to pride itself on your meat in and your meat out. so they say, i have no evidence otherwise. this was my 4th year hunting, and i feel ive cleaned enough animals to now start butchering my own meat as i understand it quite a lot more than year 1 or 2

I had a whole thread where I complained about Johnsons earlier in October. They say they take pride in "your meat in and your meat out." I have had the odd tiny bone fragment in the pepperoni I got but that wasn't even my complaint and I will never go there again.

[hotstuff]

We mostly stood and watched or helped so we were sure we got ours and only ours, over the years we have had questionable meat, and even moose we manage through lots of work we get them out whole, had Many a butcher tell us we brought in nice clean meat, we do a lot of field trimming and try to take all blood shot off.

[FortBoy]

well never received any explanation from the butcher, and just got a pic sent to me from a fellow hunter, that i sent over to johnstons butcher shop in chilliwack, of a piece of bullet fragment that came out of his bear meat as well. I took the last deer of the season over to gords game cutting and was impressed with how he took care of everything, would recommend to stay away from johnstons unless of course you like some texture in your meat.....

[Gateholio]

I'm still not clear why you wouldn't cut out and discard meat that has bullet and bone shrapnel in it prior to dropping it at the butcher?

I always cut that stuff out before I get to processing the meat.

[IslandBC]

I'm no pro but for the amount of metal fragments your describing (your buddy too) it sounds like maybe meat grinder shavings? Cheap grinder ?

[FortBoy]

I'm still not clear why you wouldn't cut out and discard meat that has bullet and bone shrapnel in it prior to dropping it at the butcher?

I always cut that stuff out before I get to processing the meat.

Was a quarterig away shot, hit no ribs so I don't understand the bone, the bullet was most likely lodged in the chest and I figured best to get it to a cooler as it was hot out instead of searching for a bullet buried in the chest cavity, my precious experience with a butcher has implied to me the at they will remove a bullet before running meat through a grinder.......I've had two animals on the past that the bullet was buried and the butcher actually returned it to me as he obviously had a better standard of quality and looked at meat before he sent it out

[FortBoy]

I'm no pro but for the amount of metal fragments your describing (your buddy too) it sounds like maybe meat grinder shavings? Cheap grinder ?

Not sure, looks like bullet to me, of the two bullets I've had returned to me from a previous butcher they had 99% weight retention, still shooting the same ammo.

[Gateholio]

Sounds like they didn't find your bullet. Not that uncommon, actually. We cut up a moose a couple of years ago and found the LRX bullet when I went to make a pot roast, it was stuck in the shoulder meat. We had cut it up and wrapped it and hadn't found it.

I could see a commercial grinder making short work of a bullet as the meat was ground up. Shitty deal but it's another case of getting your meat back the same way it was brought in.

[FortBoy]

I suppose so. Guess my last butcher spoiled me. Lesson learned, time to start doing my own cuts. Thanks for the input

[Sniperdan]

I had an issue with Johnson's a couple of years ago too. Will never go back!

[Camp Cook]

I'm trying to figure out what shot placement would fill the meat with bone fragments in over 100 deer kills I have never had bone fragments in any of the meat.

[FortBoy]

Well ended up hearing back from the butcher. They did not have an explanation but they did do what they could to make amends, will still be cutting my own from hear on out, but they did seem upset that a customer was not satisfied and genuine in not wanting to lose a customer and I felt I owed it to them to say that they did try to explain, and were sincere with the way they treated me.

[Drillbit]

I suppose so. Guess my last butcher spoiled me. Lesson learned, time to start doing my own cuts. Thanks for the input

Read the whole thread. I concur.