Oh my! All of us like-minded people should live close by. When hubby got a moose permit in 2007, he bagged a large moose and was afraid he couldn’t get it processed before it spoiled , so he paid 300 dollars to have a butcher do it and he has been complaining ever since. He says never again-not trimmed to suit him-steaks not cut to suit him. He has a large butcher wheel (?)- a hugh wheel with heavy rope attached to pulleys. You pull on the rope and yout “critter” is attached to the pulleys and as the rope winds around the large wheel it then winds around a log up in the top of our pole barn, the critter is pulled up in the air for skinnig and processing. There must be a name for this apparatus and if anyone knows what it is called, I would love to know. Several game wardens in the area are aware of this device, so they bring road kills for skinning and we usually get a hind quarter for our help.
We also get the most of our animals. Heart, tongue, liver and hogs head cheese are all items the children shudder at whan hubby is processing. They also hesitate to visit when he is processing lard as the smell turns them off. Guess they have never been through hard enough times. I tell them it smells like “money saved” to me. Likewise with the smell of any seafood. Shrimp is real cheap right now if purchased off the boats when they dock. Hubby has shelled over 200 pounds of shrimp purchased at fifty cents a pound. Shelled out, that averages about $1.30 a pound for shrimp.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I get too attached to animals to raise them for food. In a survival situation I know I wouldn’t be that picky but how do ou know in advance? Have always wanted goats and hubby would like chickens but know our numerous gardens would suffer with either of these.
If I follow the description, it sounds like a ‘block and tackle’ It certainly makes it easier to hoist it to skin and cut. I put a spreader bar between the hind legs and hoist mine from a tree in the back yard. Sometimes here though, I have to bring it in to the extra refrigerator in the back porch to age as it can sometimes get too warm during deer season. I did 4 deer this year - 1 pre-season when a doe had ripped her stomach open on a fence and I put her down (and called the game warden to register it.) and I got one hunting, my brother in law brought me another and his hunting buddy brought me another. They like to hunt, but their families are not too keen on eating it, which suits me fine.
I got innovative with my cutting, and put an 8” wood blade in my saws-all and used that to split the carcass - worked way better than the old meat saw.
Wow, the shrimp sounds fantastic - My wife will be there really fast for that - she can make an all day affair at eating steamed shrimp. peel dip and eat hour after hour...
I like scallops and when we were in Nova Scotia, I stopped in at a small country store and the owner was just sitting down to a heaping plate of them... Looked like about 3 or 4 pounds. Of course I stocked up on them and we had a feast at the campsite that night! Don’t remember the price, but it was way less than they are here.
Something I had up there also that was new to me was lobster sandwiches. Mmmm good too.
>>>>he paid 300 dollars to have a butcher do it<<<<
Oh my, and I was complaining about the $65 one year and $80 the next year to do a deer.
I would definitely do it myself.
Remind him that it is beneficial to have the meat age (as long as the tempreature is down around freezing) as much as a week is not unusual - meat will be more tender and tastier.
You definitely should let it hang at least 24 hours until the rigor mortise has relaxed. If you kill it and process it immediately, it will be tough as all getout.