questions about grinders & processing deer

[pafdrn]

Just paid $550 to process 3 doe. The price of processing goes up every year. Even when i debone it myself, it still always cost more than the year before. For those that do their own, is it worth it considering the time and money you spend? Recommend your favorite grinder; I am planning to get one of the larger HP grinders to save on time, but how big is overkill? I usually kill 3-5 deer per season.

Also, who uses wild pork to mix with and what are some things to avoid regarding using wild pork?

Thanks in advance

[Grizz83]

It is absolutely worth it.

I have a Cabelas 1.5hp grinder. It is overkill, but man is it awesome.

[Jimbo Rambo]

A cabelas #8 grinder grinds abourt 8-10 pounds a minute. Had mine about 14-15 years. Boning out takes the most time, grinding is very fast with a good grinder. The little grinders are OK, but take a lot more time to grind and must be cleaned up sometimes before you can continue grinding. Not fun. Bone it out. cut up in cubes, along with pork cubes , season, grind and package it. Done.

[texashunter]

I have a Cabelas 1.5 hp grinder. Its just right. I use pork or brisket when making my venison sausage. I find the wild pigs are to lean. I have made some sausage using with wild pork, its good.
Its easy and fun, and will save you money in the long run.

[Muskles]

I have LEM 1 horse. Been using the same one for about 12 years. I do not add wild pork to venison, I add beef fat that I have the grocery store save. Be sure you remove all the fat from any wild game and bleed it out for at least 3 days, preferably 4-7 days.

[texashunter]

I have LEM 1 horse. Been using the same one for about 12 years. I do not add wild pork to venison, I add beef fat that I have the grocery store save. Be sure you remove all the fat from any wild game and bleed it out for at least 3 days, preferably 4-7 days.

Why do you bleed it out?

[Stins]

Cabelas grinders are awesome. I have the 1hp and my only regret is that I didn't get the 1.5hp. It is a little bit of work but it saves me probably $1K a year.

[Rush2Judge]

I will likely end up being the odd man out because everyone always seems to think they need bigger and more HP but, I bought the Cabelas 0.5 HP grinder 3 years ago and I can't imagine why I would need anything bigger. I grind a couple deer a year and probably 100 lbs of pork butt and beef per year. I also use the heck out of the cuber/tenderizer. Since I am a one man operation, the grinding is by far the least time consuming. No way can I even think of keeping up with the grinder.

It looks like Cabelas has changed their design so, i cannot speak to the newer models.

[El Viejo]

I have a .75 hp Cabelas grinder. It can handle anything I put in it. Years ago, I used to take trimmed venison to get it ground. I got tired of paying to have it done, so I went and bought a cheap little $100 grinder. That worked, but was too slow. Get a good one. You can mix it with pork - no problem. Wild pork might not have enough fat, if that's what you want. When I want to add fat, I'll either add whole brisket, fresh pork shoulder or even bacon ends & pieces. Processing, grinding and packing wild game is, for me very relaxing and rewarding. If you can, try to hook up with someone who already processes their own game to see if it's something you'd enjoy. If you can't do that, just jump on in and get started. It's a great pastime.

[texashunter]

One good thing about Cabelas is that if you ever have a problem they will replace your grinder.

[Muskles]

I let it age (bleed out) to cut down on the wild taste.

[Laner7]

It's worth it. I got a cheaper grinder for about 100 bucks to make sure I was going to like doing it. I actually have fun doing and knowing how to do it. It is time consuming, especially deboning it all and getting all that silver skin off as you know, but it's worth it in my opinion.

[pafdrn]

when y'all say you add brisket, do you mean beef or pork?

[El Viejo]

when y'all say you add brisket, do you mean beef or pork?

Beef. Buy whole untrimmed brisket.

[Grizz83]

Never understood adding brisket to ground venison. Why not just buy ground beef then?