Who can recommend and really good deer processor? i`m in west Indianapolis/Indiana, and am terribly frustrated with this mess of trying to find a good one.
I called a deer processor I really liked in Greenwood this morning to get their after-hours phone number in case I`d need to bring one in after their normal hours because deer rarely cooperate and come out early enough in the evening so that you can make the kill, track it, gut it and get it to them during normal business hours. Well, they've ceased having someone available to come take the deer for you, so I told them I can`t use them because I don`t have anywhere to hang a deer overnight.
There is a well known, and apparently well liked processor in Putnam County that I`ve used a few times, but I`ve had issues with them in the past and am not ruling them out entirely, but would prefer to find someone else. I`m not crazy about my deer being frozen, then thawed before cutting up, among other concerns.
There was a time when processors were open late into the evening during deer season to accommodate hunters, but this seems to be nearly nonexistent anymore. Several things go into whether a deer is fit to serve on your table, like how quick and clean the kill is, the proficiency of the hunter in field dressing, and of course, the processors handing and cutting and wrapping. The processor is an extremely important link in all of this, and I`m beyond frustrated with what is available. It seems like a processor is so small that when you pull up you see 20 deer carcasses stacked up in the parking lot waiting to be taken inside to be skinned and cooled down, or they`re so big that they have to add additional steps to their processing, and they`re unresponsive to customers concerns. I tried one smaller guy in Putnam County, and when I picked my deer up, he gave me half of what my meat should have been on a quickly killed deer with only a bolt punch through the lungs. Looked me square in the eye with a smirk on his face when I asked him if the one bag of meat was all there was, and he told me yes. I`ve deer hunted far too long to not have a really good idea of how much meat should be coming to me.
Does anyone know a of a good, reliable, knowledgeable processor? I can go anywhere in Putnam county, and can travel farther if necessary. Full disclosure, I won`t go to the big processor in Mooresville, can`t use the Greenwood processor since they won`t take deer late anymore, and would highly prefer to not use the big processor in Bainbridge. I`ll be honest, this is the kind of thing that could well get me to just quit deer hunting. I put too much money, time and physical and emotional energy into deer hunting to settle for what I consider to be substandard customer service and/or, substandard processing knowledge and ability.
My wish list for the perfect processor would be late hours and/or the willingness to have an after hours drop-off of some sort. Big enough to be professional and competent, but not so big that it takes a month to get the deer back after it`s frozen and thawed. And if they did custom cuts, so much the better. Just asking, although I don`t expect any such processor actually exists.
I called a deer processor I really liked in Greenwood this morning to get their after-hours phone number in case I`d need to bring one in after their normal hours because deer rarely cooperate and come out early enough in the evening so that you can make the kill, track it, gut it and get it to them during normal business hours. Well, they've ceased having someone available to come take the deer for you, so I told them I can`t use them because I don`t have anywhere to hang a deer overnight.
There is a well known, and apparently well liked processor in Putnam County that I`ve used a few times, but I`ve had issues with them in the past and am not ruling them out entirely, but would prefer to find someone else. I`m not crazy about my deer being frozen, then thawed before cutting up, among other concerns.
There was a time when processors were open late into the evening during deer season to accommodate hunters, but this seems to be nearly nonexistent anymore. Several things go into whether a deer is fit to serve on your table, like how quick and clean the kill is, the proficiency of the hunter in field dressing, and of course, the processors handing and cutting and wrapping. The processor is an extremely important link in all of this, and I`m beyond frustrated with what is available. It seems like a processor is so small that when you pull up you see 20 deer carcasses stacked up in the parking lot waiting to be taken inside to be skinned and cooled down, or they`re so big that they have to add additional steps to their processing, and they`re unresponsive to customers concerns. I tried one smaller guy in Putnam County, and when I picked my deer up, he gave me half of what my meat should have been on a quickly killed deer with only a bolt punch through the lungs. Looked me square in the eye with a smirk on his face when I asked him if the one bag of meat was all there was, and he told me yes. I`ve deer hunted far too long to not have a really good idea of how much meat should be coming to me.
Does anyone know a of a good, reliable, knowledgeable processor? I can go anywhere in Putnam county, and can travel farther if necessary. Full disclosure, I won`t go to the big processor in Mooresville, can`t use the Greenwood processor since they won`t take deer late anymore, and would highly prefer to not use the big processor in Bainbridge. I`ll be honest, this is the kind of thing that could well get me to just quit deer hunting. I put too much money, time and physical and emotional energy into deer hunting to settle for what I consider to be substandard customer service and/or, substandard processing knowledge and ability.
My wish list for the perfect processor would be late hours and/or the willingness to have an after hours drop-off of some sort. Big enough to be professional and competent, but not so big that it takes a month to get the deer back after it`s frozen and thawed. And if they did custom cuts, so much the better. Just asking, although I don`t expect any such processor actually exists.
That’s the route I took good luck to you in your search and season.
