Deer processing

[Scarecrow]

I don't have the time or inclination to butcher my own deer. Any recommendations for Spokane game processing - Crown, Eggers, Dunham, other?

thanks.

[scrappy]

I don't have the time or inclination to butcher my own deer. Any recommendations for Spokane game processing - Crown, Eggers, Dunham, other?

thanks.

Any of the several family owned Eggar's Meats stores will do you a fantastic job. I do my own but I have them grind up the trim for burger. They also make great jerky, but if you want the very best (each store owner has their own recipie) the south hill store is the place to go.

[thumpar]

The south hill Egger's is the best. In high school my friend and I would stop in everyday for a slab of their jerky. The Egger's in town are not all the same. I know someone that lives about a mile or less from the Egger's north of Francis and will drive to the south hill Egger's to get their holiday meats.

[jimmy]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

[Scarecrow]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

Does Eggers not give you back your own deer? That is very important to me . . . .

[hatchdog]

I have had good luck with Crown, not the cheapest. I asked them if you get your own meat back and wad told yes for all the steaks, chops, roasts, etc but not necessarily the burger and sausage. I could be wrong but I don't think either Eggers or Rustys do cut and wrap, only sausage and other processed meats (?).

[scrappy]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

Does Eggers not give you back your own deer? That is very important to me . . . .

They, like every meat store, are under very strict guidelines by both the Game Dept and the FDA regarding processing wild game. In this day and age its a wives tale about them mixing your game up with whoever's with one exception. I just called Eggars to verify all of this. The only time they can do otherwise is when processing sausage. It is cost prohibitive for them to do a couple hundred different batches of sausage of widely varying sizes, so any game being made into sausage is mixed together in a small number of larger batches. Weight wise you get it all back, and you animal is indeed in there, its just not all from you. This is the only exception they are allowed to make and is why they insist that any trimmings you have made into sausage must be very clean and well trimmed of untasty parts. Otherwise any reputable store will ensure that you get back exactly what you took in. One audit that finds otherwise and they could be fines $5000 per offense and barred from processing wild game at all. They cannot even receive your raw product without your deer tag present when you drop it off. Very highly regulated these days.
Have no fear, you will get back what you take in unless you are dealing with some back woods shop run our of someone's garage.

[jimmy]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

Does Eggers not give you back your own deer? That is very important to me . . . .

Don't quote me on this, but from what I remember them telling me, you have to have a certain amount (poundage) or else it gets processed with other peoples deer. The amount? I don't remember... I cut up my own deer and do a very good job of no hair, blood shot meat, grass or twigs and cut out all the fat. I want my own meat back and is very important to me as well.

[scrappy]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

Does Eggers not give you back your own deer? That is very important to me . . . .

Don't quote me on this, but from what I remember them telling me, you have to have a certain amount (poundage) or else it gets processed with other peoples deer. The amount? I don't remember... I cut up my own deer and do a very good job of no hair, blood shot meat, grass or twigs and cut out all the fat. I want my own meat back and is very important to me as well.

I do exactly the same thing. Takes me about twice as long as most people just because I am so picky about it. The only thing I have them do is grind up trimmings for burger, or if I have jerky done. Seems every year I get a comment from whoever receives my burger material that it looks exceptionally good. It should, I wont put a single scrap in there that I don't want to later eat.

[jimmy]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

Does Eggers not give you back your own deer? That is very important to me . . . .

They, like every meat store, are under very strict guidelines by both the Game Dept and the FDA regarding processing wild game. In this day and age its a wives tale about them mixing your game up with whoever's with one exception. I just called Eggars to verify all of this. The only time they can do otherwise is when processing sausage. It is cost prohibitive for them to do a couple hundred different batches of sausage of widely varying sizes, so any game being made into sausage is mixed together in a small number of larger batches. Weight wise you get it all back, and you animal is indeed in there, its just not all from you. This is the only exception they are allowed to make and is why they insist that any trimmings you have made into sausage must be very clean and well trimmed of untasty parts. Otherwise any reputable store will ensure that you get back exactly what you took in. One audit that finds otherwise and they could be fines $5000 per offense and barred from processing wild game at all. They cannot even receive your raw product without your deer tag present when you drop it off. Very highly regulated these days.
Have no fear, you will get back what you take in unless you are dealing with some back woods shop run our of someone's garage.

Yes your animal is in there and you will get back what you brought in, but mixed with others. Sausage means pepperoni sticks, summer sausage, germans, etc.
Rusty's guarantee's your OWN deer back with a minimum of 30-35# per batch.

[scrappy]

Rusty's in Deer Park, literally half the price as Eggers and in my opinion a way better product.. Plus you get your own deer back!
Excellent customer service as well.

Does Eggers not give you back your own deer? That is very important to me . . . .

They, like every meat store, are under very strict guidelines by both the Game Dept and the FDA regarding processing wild game. In this day and age its a wives tale about them mixing your game up with whoever's with one exception. I just called Eggars to verify all of this. The only time they can do otherwise is when processing sausage. It is cost prohibitive for them to do a couple hundred different batches of sausage of widely varying sizes, so any game being made into sausage is mixed together in a small number of larger batches. Weight wise you get it all back, and you animal is indeed in there, its just not all from you. This is the only exception they are allowed to make and is why they insist that any trimmings you have made into sausage must be very clean and well trimmed of untasty parts. Otherwise any reputable store will ensure that you get back exactly what you took in. One audit that finds otherwise and they could be fines $5000 per offense and barred from processing wild game at all. They cannot even receive your raw product without your deer tag present when you drop it off. Very highly regulated these days.
Have no fear, you will get back what you take in unless you are dealing with some back woods shop run our of someone's garage.

Yes your animal is in there and you will get back what you brought in, but mixed with others. Sausage means pepperoni sticks, summer sausage, germans, etc.
Rusty's guarantee's your OWN deer back with a minimum of 30-35# per batch.

Yes, that's what I said as well.....with sausage (or peperoni ) your animal will be in there, along with everyone else's in that batch. If you are having steaks/roasts, etc, you get back only your animal. Also, if you bring in trim to be ground into burger you get back only your animal. These things are never mixed. But it simply isn't possible they said to make 200 different batches of sausage, each of a different size, etc, that's why this can be mixed up.
I am not arguing about anything and I have not dealt with Crown meats, but from my experience with Eggars, as well as a confirming phone call today just for clarification, this is what you can expect from them, or presumably any reputable shop.

[upnorth]

I brought a couple little bucks in to reedys meats in elk. Deer is flat rate $97 cut and wrap. I bought 20lbs of Germans for $70+. Your deer only. Kinda spendy so I am gonna cut up this other one that's hanging in my garage my self.

[Scarecrow]

Thanks for all the info!

[johnmuto]

I've hunted for 48 years and have tried all of them Eggers,Crown, Sonnenbergs, etc.. Last season I took an Elk to Mason Meats near Diamond Lake. They did an absolute great job and the nice thing is all cuts were .60 per pound. My Elk was 330 lbs. on the hang ( meat & bone only ) and I had some steaks but mostly hamburger and it cost $ 235.00. I used to process myself but it is very time consuming and the last time I did Elk burger myself I think I had close to .50 a lb. and that was doing it myself. Mason Meats cannot be beat.

[upnorth]

I call him meat cutter Brian. He lives in deer park and has a legit business at his house. Prices were good. Turn over was great. Sausage and burger perfect. (509) 999-4694

[apesmash]

I call him meat cutter Brian. He lives in deer park and has a legit business at his house. Prices were good. Turn over was great. Sausage and burger perfect. (509) 999-4694

That would be Brian Wear, hes the meat manager at Costco on the north side if you're looking for him.

Funny you mention Eggers, I worked at the north side store for 10 years. When I was there, we were always very careful about not mixing up custom orders... It was a tedious task of grinding small batches over and over, but thats what we did. The only way you might get someone else's deer in your product is from the little bits stuck in the walls of the grinder. Otherwise, all your deer was processed individually. I quit two years back, but I'm fairly certain that they still employ the same method.

[daveM]

I don't have the time or inclination to butcher my own deer. Any recommendations for Spokane game processing - Crown, Eggers, Dunham, other?

thanks.

I used Quadra K last year, like their work a lot.

ETA - cut and wrap, and all the ground was my own.

[RRA629]

Eggers Valley last year told me they mix bulk batches. 200 or 250 lbs at a time.

I used Smokey Ridge in Chewelah last year. Expensive and I'm not a fan of the taste. My Dad used Crown and the sausage is delicious.