Butchers/Meat Processing Experiment

[Radar]

After reading some complaints on this web site by some people in my hunting party about Sumas Meats and their processing of our meat and us being shorted I decided to do a little experiment. I should say that as the person who usually drops off and picks up our meat from Sumas Meats I've never thought we were being shorted, but wanted to see to alleviate any concerns or bring to light any problems in a more factual way.

I went to Sumas Meats and picked up one of the crates they use to pack our meat. I filled it as they do with a mixture of hamburger and roasts (mostly hamburger) I then weighd it and deducted the weight of the crate. I was left with a weight of 53.5lbs of meat cut & wrapped.

When I picked up the meat this year there were 11 crates filled to the top and 110lbs of Pepperoni and Garlic Coil. Based on 53.5 lbs per crate and adding in the Pepperoni & Garlic Coil we received back 698.5lbs of meat.

The meat we weighed in weighed 1010 lbs hanging weight. Once of the Moose had a shoulder shot and I'm not sure about the other two. (they were two small spike forks and one slightly larger bull).

I talked to three butchers (one from this site, none were Sumas Meats) they told me we should expect a loss of 33% and up to 50% depending on the shot placement etc.

The amount of meat we received back based on my little experiment was 69% with a loss of 31% slightly below the loss I was told to expect from the three butchers.

So the only conclusion I am left with is that based on the facts I have at hand is that we received back the meat that we put in. That we were not in fact shorted and the comments that were posted on this site were unfounded.

Even if my experiment is slightly out (I did weigh everything 3 times) and we recevied slightly less than 69% back we are still well within the amount of loss that is expected based on the opinions of the three butchers.

I should also say that if my experiment had shown a high rate of loss that I was prepared to go and talk to Sumas Meats about it, but that appears not to be necessary.

[Steeleco]

We used Kurk for 5 years before his mouth made me look elswhere. The product was always good, except for a bear ham one time we were quite happy. If you run a service to the public a little PR would help.

[Ddog]

i used Kurt for years, the only reason i left there was because one night he was very upset (at what ,i do not know) and he yelled at me to take my meat elsewhere but not so politely..so i did and have ever since..i was never disapointed with his service or the amount of meat i recieved back,and to this day when someone asks me where to get game cut i always mention Sumas Meats,and also tell them i dont use him anymore , but i will give 'ol Kurt credit..he does make excellent sausage!

[Radar]

I agree with you both on the PR side of things from things I've witnessed, from personal experience I've not had a problem, but know exactly what you are talking about.

[Tonto]

As I am one of the guilty parties that "Radar" refers to I would like to take this
oppertunity to appoligize and retract the earlier implications that we had been shorted meat by Sumas meat.
Expectations where obviously set too high regarding the amount of meat expected back from (3) moose and conclusions where drawn and commented on before all the facts were available.
I would like to thank Radar for "doing his homework" and again appoligize for the comments made regarding Sumas meats.

I was at Sumas meats twice this week (dropping off and picking up a deer) and Kurt was very polite and professional.

The wife is still a little shy about going into the shop after being ass-grabbed
but thats another story.......

[Radar]

Tonto, you are a class act my friend, that is why I like you so much. I learnt a lot during this whole process about meat processing which I will keep stored away for future use!

[bigalinbbar]

i would just like to say that i have used sumas meats for four years now and have never had one doubt that i was ever shorted on my meat,in fact everytime i had brought meat into sumas i was quite often surprised on the amount i got back due to my shitty shot placements(very rare but it does happen).I am also shocked about the pr statements that i have read because i have never had any problems with kurt,i think he is a class act,he is the only butcher that i have called late in the evening and would take my meat in after hours due to high temperatures.Very happy with his service and will continue to utilize his service for years to come.

[smokey]

i have used sumas meats for the last three years,he never treated me wrong,he knows my family pretty well and will take my deer even when his shop is over flowing with animals,he remembers people very well,so when he calls to tell you to pick up your meat do it asap(because of his freezer space)you put him on the top of the your list he will do the same for you

ennis meats on the other hand shorted me bad i brought in a 3 pointer 4 years back and walk out with 1 crate of meat which included only one pack of ribs (qty 4 pces in the pack)and two of the ribs had my bullet holes thou them
i will never go back

peguin meats in white rock is a good place to go too,but they decided to cut my deer up before calling me to see what i wanted done,long story short they had to give me at least 100 pounds of pepperoni,dinner weiners and garlic links for free

[coach]

i have used sumas meats for the last three years,he never treated me wrong,he knows my family pretty well and will take my deer even when his shop is over flowing with animals,he remembers people very well,so when he calls to tell you to pick up your meat do it asap(because of his freezer space)you put him on the top of the your list he will do the same for you

ennis meats on the other hand shorted me bad i brought in a 3 pointer 4 years back and walk out with 1 crate of meat which included only one pack of ribs (qty 4 pces in the pack)and two of the ribs had my bullet holes thou them
i will never go back

peguin meats in white rock is a good place to go too,but they decided to cut my deer up before calling me to see what i wanted done,long story short they had to give me at least 100 pounds of pepperoni,dinner weiners and garlic links for free


I don't mean to hijack the thread, but.. I used Penguin meats a few times when I lived in the Lower Mainland and was reasonably satisfied with their service. I don't understand how you could have dropped an animal off for them to process without going through an order form specifying how you would like the animal cut up?

Radar and Tonto - Great job posting the results of your "experiment" and retracting your earlier questions about Sumas Meats. Your honesty is refreshing.

[M.Dean]

When you unwrap your meat from the butcher and it's all super clean, rind cut off, bone removed and looks like store bought meat, thats great! But to get it to look like that the butcher has too cut off a fare bit of the edge, bone, blood shot area's etc. It all weights something, I cut up lots of deer and moose, on some there's very little waste, yet on others it's awful what you have to cut off and throw out! With the " Bread Basket Shot" if the bullet go's in one side of the ribs and out the other there's little waste, but if the opposite side leg is back and the bullet hits the front shoulder and go's through, you lost the shoulder! Deduct that and the waste and it really adds up. With deer ribs, unless there cut off right away before hanging there's not a lot you can do with them. There's very little meat on them and there's usually a layer of fat in between the meat, if you've ever tried to eat deer fat you know why you don't now! A lot of the meat you get back from the butcher depends on shot placement and how you cared for the meat after the kill. I think if the butcher saved the scrap meat and showed it to the customer it would help them realize why there short x amount of weight! I think with some cases of "Shorted Meat Orders" if we seen both sides of the story, shot placement, cleanliness and the scrap bucket etc some of the questions would be answered!

[smokey]

it was dropped off for me,my phone # was given to them it was even written on the meat tag and they called someone else # and took their order for my deer

[M.Dean]

it was dropped off for me,my phone # was given to them it was even written on the meat tag and they called someone else # and took their order for my deer How bad did they screw up your order? There's only so many ways to cut up a deer, roasts, steaks, stew meat and burger etc. They must have given you back all stew meat to warrant the 100 or so pounds of Pepperoni and garlic coil etc!

[Steeleco]

Wow a 5 year old thread resurrected!!

I for one never bitched about Sumas meats as a service, just his attitude.
But hey I should thank him after all. Since his meltdown, I took his challenge "go cut your own F'n meat" and ran with it. Just did the last of 5 deer this year in my shop.

FWIW, the pile you end up with isn't nearly representative of the size of deer you drop in the woods. I can see why so many cutters get accused of skimming. That 200lb deer might net you 70lbs of meat, MAYBE!!!

[f350ps]

I have to laugh everytime I hear about these dastardly butchers stealin everybodies meat. They must just get tired of eatin beef tenderloin and get a hankerin for some rutty buck or some bull that's been dragged through a swamp, ya that's it. :-D K

[smokey]

How bad did they screw up your order? There's only so many ways to cut up a deer, roasts, steaks, stew meat and burger etc. They must have given you back all stew meat to warrant the 100 or so pounds of Pepperoni and garlic coil etc!

no they smoked all the meat besides a few steaks,it was basicily buddys order i just got it for free because it was my deer