More meat cutting questions

[kebes]

How much is to much to cut a deer up before cooling? Is it okay to completely debone and then cool or will that make meat tougher?

[dukester]

How much is to much to cut a deer up before cooling? Is it okay to completely debone and then cool or will that make meat tougher?
trying to understand the 1st part of your Question?? theres a few thoeries of aging game. because theres no intermuscular fat like beef wild biggame requires less aging. I was a butcher and preferr wildgame to be aged 3-5 days. No,, de-boning will not make the meat tougher, it will cool faster as heavy bone retains heat. If your asking about price to cut biggame, not sure what the going rate is in your area, but .60 to .90 c/lbs seems to be average. good luck.

[Steeleco]

I think you'll have a tough time getting a commercial cutter to de-bone your game then cool/age it. This time of year they're run off their feet. Hell a few I know of refuse to make sausage till the seasons over because of the workload.

If your looking to de-bone it, do it yourself and store in a beer fridge. It's really quite easy, and even a good sized deer won't look that big de-boned and in a normal sized fridge!

One cutter here in Langley told me last spring that his rates are $.75/lb

Glad I do my own!!

[willyqbc]

deboning before cooling will not make the meat tougher. However, when you debone you expose more flesh to the air and will therefore lose a little more to trim as all exposed surfaces will need a trim after hanging. Not a big deal, but something to think about. Deboning also makes it tougher to hang, I built a chickenwire rack to lay out cuts like the loins etc as we partially debone.

Chris

[Caveman]

If you're having a meat cutter process your meat, most will charge a small fee for hanging. Just hanging is where they will over charge, because of demand usually. My elk cost me 0.60/lb cut and wrapped. $10.00 for hanging for each day.

[j270wsm]

My butcher is $35/deer, and $150/Elk-Moose. I hang meat at our local union hall $7/day. If I use their band saw and meat grinder it is $.08/LB

[kebes]

Thanks guys, that helps a lot. I was basically just thinking of whether I should cut it up myself and throw it in a fridge to let it cool or take it into a butcher right away. Gonna be a hot one this weekend but I don't get much choice of when I get out.