would you say this is acceptable meat cutting?

[bear buster]

So I took a nice cow elk this year, neck shot at about 150 yards, no other shots needed. went to cook up so steaks last night and they looked like this, big ol bullet hole in the steaks and hair. I shot my cow in the middle of her neck, no other damage anywhere. this gentle man has been cutting our meat for 25 or so years. What should I do? I have heard other complaints this year from other hunters.
http://s988.photobucket.com/albums/af9/carsonbeaulieu/

[Mtn Wonderer]

Ok, if you want to cough up a hairball!!!!

Looks like you may have the wrong animal, I have heard it happens some times. You might want to give the guy a call, maybe He has some new hires.
Be nice thou, meat cutters work hard in the fall, but just the same you are paying good money and are looking for a quality product for the table.

MTW

[rocksteady]

No use complaining to teh cutter, it will get you knowhere....

Take it as a lesson learned and find a new cutter...

However word of mouth negativity may be payback enough for getting a piece of crap like that to look at when you open a package...

[835]

Well it is our job to keep the meat clean (i have neverhad a butcher clean it for me)

but if you shot it in the neck that is not your animal.
what to do? that is up to you if you talk to him there will be an unsolvable argument. There is no way to prove anything.
just warn your friends and dont go back.

[Steeleco]

Well first off, if you shot the Elk in the neck, there's no steaks taken from that area that I've ever done, LOL so it's safe to say that's not your animal.
Is it even an Elk steak??

If you've used the fellow for that long, you obviously have a rapport with him, give him the benefit of the doubt and go ask "What's up?"

The answer will tell you if you need to find a new guy for next season, or better yet, start doing it yourself.

[d6dan]

That sucks, If I were you i would show the cutter the package. Get his take on it. (Probably someone elses animal). If he says to bad. Well, theres other ways to burn his business..:mad:

[lip_ripper00]

This is exactly why we cut and wrap our own meat, contact him, be interesting to see what he says:confused:

[yukon john]

you defiantly need a meat cutter you can trust I know of one in abby who was suspected of pooling his moose meat and then you dont know whos meat your eating or how the treated it. take it as a lesson and find a new cutter

[ratherbefishin]

I suspect its not your animal-and mixups do happen.The other possability is even though you shot it in the neck-did you skin it and see the carcass with the entry and exit holes?-bullets do strange things sometimes -once I shot a deer and the bullet ,reversed direction 270 degrees and came out in the loin on the same side as it entered

[Mik]

I would be absolutely :evil:. Seems that you've gone there for a while, so I would go back to the butcher, show him and find out the excuse, if he even offers one.

[huntcoop]

That is crap, perhaps your dog is hungry.

[tomahawk]

So I took a nice cow elk this year, neck shot at about 150 yards, no other shots needed. went to cook up so steaks last night and they looked like this, big ol bullet hole in the steaks and hair. I shot my cow in the middle of her neck, no other damage anywhere. this gentle man has been cutting our meat for 25 or so years. What should I do? I have heard other complaints this year from other hunters.
http://s988.photobucket.com/albums/af9/carsonbeaulieu/

I would like to put another spin on this. It is posssible that this could be your meat if I see the picture correctly, however its not real clear to me. I can't see a hole in the meat, I see a hole in the fat that I would say is from seperation of 2 layers of fat. I do see bruising (blood in the meat) around the bone area which is common when an animal hits the ground and blood is still flowing in its system from the heart which would be the case in your elk. Have you ever had any other yrs of problems from him as you have used him so long? What cut of steak was marked on the package?

[knighthunter]

I would be absolutely :evil:. Seems that you've gone there for a while, so I would go back to the butcher, show him and find out the excuse, if he even offers one.
Are you sure it was dead when you dropped it off. Maybe he had too shoot it again. LOL.

[Big Lew]

As many others have suggested, if you have an example similiar to the ones in your picture, take it to the butcher and ask for his side of the story. Give him a chance to explain why, or to make it up to you. If you're not satisfied, find another butcher or cut your own, and pass the word around only if you're sure it's not your meat.

[Rock Doctor]

Not acceptable at all.
With a little practice and properly set up, one guy can cut and wrap a cow Elk in 3-4hrs.....EASY.
If you don't have that much spare time, find someone that does.

Having said that, the Elk should not have had hair on it when it was dropped of (unless you had the butcher skin it for you, I guess).

Having said that, if it is not your Elk you would have had no control over how clean it was when it was dropped of.

Having said that, the butcher should not have accepted a (Dirty) animal to begin with. (Having a Cooler at home, I am constantly amaized at the condition of game animals that are brought out to my place, with the hunters fully expecting to be able to leave it in my cooler...............NOT)


Cutting meat is not rocket science, I would strongly recommend trying it yourself. It will take all day, the first few times you do it, but it will get easier with practice:)

[moosinaround]

I had a meatcutter do my moose quite a few years ago. It was clean when I took it in there. When I got my moose back, the steaks averaged 1/2" to 1-1/2 in the same steak!! Not one package, but all the packages!! My sausage salami he made was full of sand?? That is right I said SAND!! I freakin near puked!! I was pissed off royally!! He doesnot get good pulicity from me I can tell you that much!!! Anyways, I have a very good meatcutter now, a fellow I have used for 15+ years now!! I did help cut up my moose this year though, and it was an awesome experience!! Moosin

[Bowtime]

This is the reason I butcher my own. You know what is going in your freezer, and in what shape and size. I suggest more people try cutting their own.

[BiG Boar]

This is the reason I butcher my own. You know what is going in your freezer, and in what shape and size. I suggest more people try cutting their own.

I would never send my meat to a meat cutter again. You can buy a grinder and a meat saw and do it yourself. Its not rocket science. I gaurantee in the long run it will be cheaper and a product exactly the way you want it.

Last time a buddy and I went to a butcher, my buddies deer all ended up in hot itallian sausage, but I got exactly what I wanted. It was maddness!

[Roots]

Wow, can't imagine how freaked out I would be if I were you - talk to him and see what happened, mistakes do happen.

It's my first year hunting, and I was able to butcher/cut/wrap my own doe/buck at home in about 4 hours with just a couple of knives. Easy as pie after you do it once. Can't imagine paying someone $100+ every time to do something you can learn in about a day. Learned everything from Deer Processing 101 - worth every penny.

[Gateholio]

If you have known him for 25 years, I'd start out with having a conversation with him.

[Kody94]

If you have known him for 25 years, I'd start out with having a conversation with him.


Ditto. A "Hey Buddy, WTF, over?" convo can't hurt. Give the dude a chance to explain himself and possibly try to make it right, and at least the courtesy of knowing that he messed up. He certainly can't fix anything if he doesn't know its broken, and I wouldn't avoid the conversation just because nothing can be proven. If he is less than understanding about it, find a new butcher.

[Tikatack]

BB, Did you get Ben to cut/process your animal? I had problems with them 2 years in a row and wasn't impressed with the way the shop was kept when i toured through it. Never went back and never had another problem with processing animals in that area.

[hunter1947]

Did the bullet pass through the neck and hit the back straps ,this is possible ???.

[ratherbefishin]

I butcher my own deer,haven't tried a larger animal,but I think if you had the equipment it[meatgrinder and bone saw,sharp knives ,freezer paper,and a willing wife ] wouldn't be all that dificult.I consider it all part of the hunting experiance.

[Dannybuoy]

definately talk to the man .... I talked to one meat cutter in town here when I was looking to take a moose in a few years ago and their policy was you got back how much moose meat you took in .. Not neccesarily the same meat as they liked to "process" a few at a time ... needless to say i took mine elsewhere

[ohno]

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af9/carsonbeaulieu/hunting09170.jpg

Interesting.

[MikeH]

Thats why i cut my own meat, ******s like this shouldn't be in business.You should try to do it yourself once you get the hang of its easy peasy.

[lunatic]

BB, Did you get Ben to cut/process your animal? I had problems with them 2 years in a row and wasn't impressed with the way the shop was kept when i toured through it. Never went back and never had another problem with processing animals in that area.



X2. Quit going there long before I moved from Dawson to Tumbler. I am EXTREMELY fussy about my game, and when I take it in there is no hair, leaves, dirt, etc on the meat. When I started getting meat back that had hair, dirt, leaves, etc in the package I knew damn well it was NOT my meat. Unexceptable even if it was my meat!

[bullhead]

I have cut up lots of animals and there are no steaks in the neck, good luck with that.:???: let us know what he says.

[steepNdeep]

If the meat goes into a freezer before you get it, he coulda picked up an extra package of someone else's... If you've known him for 25 years, I'd just show it to him and ask him what he thinks.

[Bow Walker]

Firstly, I've been meatcutting for over 30 years, which might give credence to my comments...

That steak looks very much like a steak from the "prime rib area", possibly the standing rib area. - in fact, I'd bet on it.

It's possible that some blood shot leaked down into the shoulder, but not too likely that it would've reached (leaked) past the "chuck steak area and down into the prime rib area. Plus that steak was not scraped with a bone-dust scraper as it ahould have been. Plus that bit of bloodshot should have been cut away, along with the hair.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I believe that you got someone else's animal. Not uncommon, but not cool either.

A 'conversation' is definitely in order.

[RiverOtter]

I've seen blood shot go a fair way down the spinal column from a neck shot, but not back to the tenderloin area of the back straps; assuming a broadside neck shot of course. The bone dust alone would be enough to piss me off, but that is why I have my game cut boneless, on the rare occasion I have a trusted butcher do it for me.

Lastly, it is NOT the butchers responsibility to remove hair from meat, that is the hunters job...The elk didn't have hair in its meat when it was alive, and unless the butcher added it in, there is only one place left to place the blame...
(Not implying you had hair on your elk, but having worked 5 years in a slaughter house/butcher shop, you'd be amazed at what some people expect a butcher to do, over and above cutting, wrapping and freezing.) Cutting out/discarding blood shot and scraping bone dust are included in the cwf price; picking off hair, dirt and shit is NOT...

Quite frankly, any respectable butcher would not even accept an animal that would produce a steak like the one pictured above.........You don't make chicken soup, outta chicken shit...

[bear buster]

BB, Did you get Ben to cut/process your animal? I had problems with them 2 years in a row and wasn't impressed with the way the shop was kept when i toured through it. Never went back and never had another problem with processing animals in that area.
yes I did, who else does cutting around here?

[bear buster]

Thanks for all the feedback. I did take the package up to him, I had re froze it in a freezer bag. He said there was no way it came from his shop, I came home and took 2 closed un thawed packs to him I opened them them and well he had a few excuses, the where the same way blood shot and the first pack I showed the picture of on here had a piece of copper jacket from bullet in it. So first on the list for next years supplys, yup a meat saw, and me and a buddy are gonna make a cooler. Thanks again.

[300win]

I haven't had much luck with game cutters this year either I find them a funny lot. Learn how too do it yourself or find someone you can trust, the meat in question looks like a grizzly carved it??????? Good Luck!!!!

[BearStump]

dropped of a couple of deer once at a smalltime butcher in the fraser valley to have a batch of pepperoni and jerky made up. about a week later I'm chowin down on some of the pepperoni and I end up with a whole whack of buckshot in my mouth.WTF! last I checked, didnt shot my deer with a shotgun.
turns out this guy was going out into his back field and shooting ducks to add to the meat mix for sausage and charging me for the "pork" that he added.
Havent been back since, and now cut my own game.

[wolverine]

Sorry to see you got screwed on your meat. I guess I have been lucky for years and never had any problems with cutters. The only time I switched in the last 25 yrs is when my regular cutter was out bear hunting and couldn't cut the meat. I had to take it all the way to White Rock to Penguin Meats. They won't accept (at least at that time) any game meat without first giving it a good going over. You don't pass inspection, you don't drop the carcass off. Real picky but they sure used to produce and excellent product.

[sawmill]

I`d invite the SOB over for dinner!
Buy a grinder,a good knife and a six pack and cut your own,perfect results every time.:mrgreen:Just don`t chop off a finger.

[bad arrow]

Once I took a very nice whitetail shot in oct to the butcher and got back someones rutting mule deer, that was the last time I went to that meatcutter. I just do it myself now as I make sure its clean and the best thing is I get the cuts I want, I have cut up well over 100 game animals for myself with no one to blame but me. Another option is have a buddy that is a meatcutter come over to your house (if possible ) and cut it and show you the ropes. I save all the trim until after hunting season and take it to my sausage maker, and all the bloodshot and bones go in the freezer for the dog, nothing go's to waste. As someone said ealier bloodshot can travel along ways between muscle groups and unless someone takes the time to clean it up your eatin it.

[hunter1947]

I have had the bullet pass through the neck area and enter the back hind quarter or the back straps a few times in my hunting days.

The pic you posted up the butcher should have cut that blood out of this meat I do agree.

I would not get to upset until you try some of the other meat from this game animal ,maybe it is a bad cut only in this one set of steaks ???.

[doubled]

I try to cut my own IF I have the time and the weather is cool. I have already switched butchers for this exact reason. My old butcher was chep but his last two jobs were awful. Once is a mistake but twice, you are gone.

[troutseeker]

Don't post the butcher's name online, that would constitute libel. But by all means let us all know in PM's who he is as I don't want any of my buds taking their meat to him.

[Roots]

Don't post the butcher's name online, that would constitute libel

If he is telling the truth and can prove it, this does NOT constitute libel. It would actually be a quite a courtesy to the public to know who this person is - especially if there's a possibility that health & safety regulations are being violated.

[ALPINE]

WTF. I would definately talk to the guy. You paid for a service. Looking at that piece of crap you deserve an answer! Hope the rest of your meat is in better shape than that!

[mountainman]

That is a crappy deal. If you still want a good butcher drive to Beaverlodge. Bob does a bang up job and always ensures you get your animal back (and all of it) at a reasonable price.
His sausage are excellent too. Clean and professional.
I was choked last year when he wasn't taking wild game due to a shortage of people and had to use H&M.

[sawmill]

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af9/carsonbeaulieu/hunting09170.jpg

Interesting.

That tells the story right there.Covered in hair and not trimmed up.I do my own and would never put that in my freezer,DISGUSTING:confused:Looks like f?$cking road kill.

[Brett]

I think the issue should not be if it's yours or not. Even if it is your meat, it should have been processed better. I would think, any cutter who likes business would do some cleaning before starting if it were required.

[Bow Walker]

I've cut a lot of game over the years - and generally speaking - the animal is treated (by the butcher) with the same "respect" that the hunter have treated it.

Example - if the animal has been gutted with care, has been cleaned up and cooled down, has been cared for like the hunter wants to really enjoy the meat - then you'll find that the meatcutter will (should) take the time and effort to produce a recognizable product for you.

But....if the animal has obviously been gutted with a "chainsaw" and been dragged through hall-and-back without the benefit of a good cleaning when they get home....then the meatcutter will likely give you back what you gave him - crap.

It's easy to tell if the hunter has respected his/her harvest. Have a care for your game meat and the butcher/cutter will too.

[jales4]

I had similar experience in prince george. neck shot butcher said to me when I went to pick up meat that he had to hamburger one loin as it was shot up. told him no way ,didnt get me nowhere.I had to take it, but told everyone I know.Now I butcher myself.

[Arctic Lake]

Bear Buster
I would have to agree with most of the comments made here from the members.As far as trades go there is no difference between a shody mechanic and a shody meatcutter.Once the trust is gone, you really can't go back.I have been the buisness about the same length of time as Bow Walker.I have worked with some European trained butchers that had papers ie. Master Butchers,they may have been good buisnessmen in the fact they knew how to make money,but some were not the best cutters I have worked with.That also can be the reverse as well.There are expert slaughtermen that don't have a clue how to cut meat and vice versa.I have know meatcutters that cut on the side,and could not give a rat's ass about your meat.Then there's the one's that do a totally awesome job.In general I would say a meatcutter that does not accept dirty carcasse's is probably your best bet.If he takes in anything to cut what's the inside of the place look like.Does he clean up the cutting boards between a dirty animal and a clean one.Try and get a good experinced meatcutter to teach you or a fellow hunter that does a good job himself,or a cutter that you absolutley trust.One thing is a FACT,if you do it yourself you know that it's your animal and how good the job get's done depends on you!
Arctic Lake