Who processes your wild game?

[gitrdun]

One more year of entrusting the Gour-Mart in Calgary with my venison leaves me thinking that it can't possibly get any better. I just enjoyed a pepperoni stick and no surprise, absolutely amazing. I have some Garlic and Chili sausage as well in the freezer. My meat is what I got back, not pooled with other meat, the price is reasonable, the delivery....my sausage was ready 1 1/2 week after delivery. I still have some in there that will be done in January, but it's an air dryed sausage, thus the longer delivery time. So, if you have some meat in the freezer waiting for processing and you wonder where to go, I highly recommend that you contact Darrel @ the Gour-Mart, you won't be sorry. :)

[glen1971]

I look at the guy that prcoesses my deer everytime I shave in the mornin..

[gitrdun]

that's awesome if you can do that glen, but I don't have the knowledge nor the time to make something edible, never mind enjoyable. It's truly an art.

[sheephunter]

Our last Gourmart Peperoni looked and tasted like flavourless weiners and we asked for spicy....they will never get our business again.

[Pudelpointer]

Me.

[deadeye]

Me too

[flyguyd]

I do my own also. That way i know its done right

[recce43]

i do my own to

[GoneFishin']

My dad and I do our own, other than the Moose I shot this past fall just because of the size of it..we make our own sausage and jerky as well :)

[elkhunter1234]

We do all our own also.. Just cut and vacuum sealed 350 lbs of elk and moose steaks and roast and 300 lbs of moose/beef burger and 125lbs of moose/pork suasage meat and 100lbs of elk/pork suasage meat and another 100 lbs of good jerky meat.. Looks like its time to get busy and smoke up some suasage for Christmas. Oh ya and we made 3 deer into jerky already this year..

Jim..

[Piker]

After one bad episode I decided to do my own. That was twenty years ago or more and have not regreted it once. Piker

[FallAirFever]

The last time I had game processed in Calgary I used Ryan's for a batch of cheese smokies, they turned out pretty good. I may use them again.

I make my own fresh sausage but not smoked sausage yet.

Git, I may have to give Gourmart a try, you haven't steered me wrong yet buddy!

[Frans]

The best moose bratwurst I ever tasted was done by... me!

Lots of work though.

[TBark]

Edm area people gotta try K&K liners on Whyte Ave and 99th.
They process only, they do not butcher.
We brought in 75 lbs of deer in late Nov, 7 days later and we got our order back.
We went with 3 recipies for our smokies. Apprx 30 lbs ea order, Jalapeno & cheese, Black bean & salsa, and 3 chilli & cheese, and they did 35 lbs of european weiners for us too.
Our family, and the guys at work are very impressed with this stuff.

TBark

[graybeard]

One more year of entrusting the Gour-Mart in Calgary with my venison leaves me thinking that it can't possibly get any better. I just enjoyed a pepperoni stick and no surprise, absolutely amazing. I have some Garlic and Chili sausage as well in the freezer. My meat is what I got back, not pooled with other meat, the price is reasonable, the delivery....my sausage was ready 1 1/2 week after delivery. I still have some in there that will be done in January, but it's an air dryed sausage, thus the longer delivery time. So, if you have some meat in the freezer waiting for processing and you wonder where to go, I highly recommend that you contact Darrel @ the Gour-Mart, you won't be sorry. :)


I have been going there since Darrell was just off of his mom's breast.

His staff is very friendly and if they don't know an answer to your question then a qualified staff member will step up to assist.

There are no other shops that I trust my game to.

Their selection of specialty sausage and jerky is great with no problems with the butchering.
They are on time and no meat mixing. I know this; as my meat goes in as clean as a professional would have and I have NEVER had any hair or debris in my returned order.

They are a straight up operation and won't accept any BS from hunters or a dirty animal. Their meat pricing is very clear in their hand out.

I recommend them anytime.........

[jgupnorth]

I have boned out all game in the bush, hung the pieces in the garage and cut it up on the kitchen counter for the last 40+ years. I did have a relapse once with a moose which I took to a butcher and never again. The #10 hand grinder gets its work out every year and with a little TLC on the cutter works like a charm. We have also taken to adding nothing to hamburger. We used to make our own sausage also but have gotten away from that so at the urging of my oldest son and hunting partner I took a well trimmed WT buck to Rock's Meats (DAS SAUSAGE HAUS on the web) and had mild Italian and honey garlic frying sausage made. I was impressed by Rocky and his staff, their facilities , promptness and professionalism. My two year old grandson was reported to be chomping down the sausage last night so I highly recommend this facility for anyone around Calgary.

Once again - debone and cut your own! #10 hand grinder has done a ton of meat (literally!) and works just fine with little touch up on the cutter every once in a while. Saran wrap and freezer paper and you are good to go!

[Lefty-Canuck]

Just wondering if the folks who had bad experiences with a butcher told the butcher? How did the butcher handle the situation?

LC

[sheephunter]

Just wondering if the folks who had bad experiences with a butcher told the butcher? How did the butcher handle the situation?

LC

No, we just chose never to return.

[honda450]

I do my own too. Deer are pretty easy. Moose are big. Might not know all my cuts. Kinda like a hacker. Gets all eaten though. :sHa_shakeshout:

[Gretz5582]

I can't say enough good things about Real Deal Meats in south Edmonton. Darcy and his wife are reasonably priced and have unbeatable jalapeño and cheese smokies. I butcher and debone all my meat and take it in. Always about a ten day turnaround
Food for thought

[honda450]

I do my own too. Deer are pretty easy. Moose are big. Might not know all my cuts. Kinda like a hacker. Gets all eaten though. :sHa_shakeshout:

[honda450]

Dang boys I seeing double today. I wasn't even drinking last nite. Can' t edit either. :scared0018:

[st99]

I do my own as well... butchers are too pricey and it ain't that hard

a deer takes me and my wife 1h30, 20 lbs of sausage, and cost under 50$ for pork and vacuum sealed bags

[Lefty-Canuck]

No, we just chose never to return.

Fair enough I can understand where you would get to a point to not want to deal with a place anymore.

I was wondering how a butcher would handle that? I know years ago we had some sausage made that was not what we ordered....the butcher offered to give us some other stuff (where he found that amount of deer, who knows) so we thought ok, let's give him the opportunity to make it right.

Well we got some of the worst tasting hair ridden meat we had ever seen...the trim we originally brought in was "pristine"....never again would I accept other wild game in place of what I brought in...beef maybe.

LC

[omega50]

One more year of entrusting the Gour-Mart in Calgary with my venison leaves me thinking that it can't possibly get any better. I just enjoyed a pepperoni stick and no surprise, absolutely amazing. I have some Garlic and Chili sausage as well in the freezer. My meat is what I got back, not pooled with other meat, the price is reasonable, the delivery....my sausage was ready 1 1/2 week after delivery. I still have some in there that will be done in January, but it's an air dryed sausage, thus the longer delivery time. So, if you have some meat in the freezer waiting for processing and you wonder where to go, I highly recommend that you contact Darrel @ the Gour-Mart, you won't be sorry. :)

We contracted Darrel to teach a game sausage making course in my buddies garage back in the late 90's. It was amazing and everyone in attendance that day is better for the experience.

He has my complete trust.
But as in every situation where you have employees something possibly could get mis-communicated and in every case where I have an issue with a product or service I immediately discuss it with the owner to see if it can be corrected. Only takes 1 dis-satisfied customer to taint a reputation

[sheephunter]

Fair enough I can understand where you would get to a point to not want to deal with a place anymore.

I was wondering how a butcher would handle that? I know years ago we had some sausage made that was not what we ordered....the butcher offered to give us some other stuff (where he found that amount of deer, who knows) so we thought ok, let's give him the opportunity to make it right.

Well we got some of the worst tasting hair ridden meat we had ever seen...the trim we originally brought in was "pristine"....never again would I accept other wild game in place of what I brought in...beef maybe.

LC

I wish ours would have tasted bad...lol...at least it would have tasted like something.


It does make you wonder how he replaced your meat though...scary

We do all of our own butchering, our own jerky and most of our own sausage but every year we like to get at least one treat made. If I had to guess, I'd guess that they forgot to add any of the seasoning...it was honestly the most flavourless mush I've ever eaten. Perhaps we should have gone back but I really didn't want the hassle and there are lots of other good butchers around for the small amount we get done. I heard of a few other long time Gourmart customers that had really bad experiences that same year so perhaps it was just a staffing issue. It's good to hear they apparently got things sorted out but they sure lost a lot of good customers.

[Lefty-Canuck]

I hear you about processing on your own.....we have always cut, wrapped and done our own burger. The only thing we don't do on our own is make sausage....but I see a new smoker in my future after we just bought the 1 3/4 HP grinder/sausage maker from Cabela's this fall :)

LC

[pottymouth]

No, we just chose never to return.

By not commenting on your disappointment , your only contributing to the problem . Most cases it's a staff issue, or it may be an equipment problem. Either way most business owners , never get to hear about the problems. They just see it on their bottom line. Customer feed back is crucial, especially in small businesses. Its amazing how staff can ruin a business.

I would have said my piece to the owner, and if you still felt strongly about it, never return.

[Piker]

I took my meat back to the butcher and showed him the messmand said I wanted my money back or I was going to the health dept as he was running a meat market and a frozen storage locker place as well. He paid and I took the meat home for my dogs. Piker

[sheephunter]

By not commenting on your disappointment , your only contributing to the problem . Most cases it's a staff issue, or it may be an equipment problem. Either way most business owners , never get to hear about the problems. They just see it on their bottom line. Customer feed back is crucial, especially in small businesses. Its amazing how staff can ruin a business.

I would have said my piece to the owner, and if you still felt strongly about it, never return.

As a small business owner I get that...I really just didn't want the hassle. Perhaps if it was someone I'd done business with before I'd have handled it differently but this was one of those once was enough things. Not like they really could have done much anyhow...our meat had already been processed. I guess we could have asked for our $250 back but honestly......I didn't want the hassle so just chose to walk away.

[TomE]

I hear you about processing on your own.....we have always cut, wrapped and done our own burger. The only thing we don't do on our own is make sausage....but I see a new smoker in my future after we just bought the 1 3/4 HP grinder/sausage maker from Cabela's this fall :)

LC

Just putting 25 lbs of Deer Garlic in the Smoker..16 lbs of Moose and Deer Jerky Done..25 lbs of Fresh Moose Honey Garlic...Have to Wrap the Jerky and Honey Garlic..I am also gonna try a Smoked Turkey..It's Marinading now and will be smoked tomorrow..$10 Turkey from Safeway..Not a big loss if it don't turn out..Merry Christmas!.:sHa_shakeshout:..and there goes my diet..:thinking-006:

[bigshell]

I do my own as well LC..But that is just cutting,grinding and wrapping.I made smokies a few times but now that I'm on a salt reduced diet I don't eat processed meat.Saves me alot of work :)

[omega50]

I hear you about processing on your own.....we have always cut, wrapped and done our own burger. The only thing we don't do on our own is make sausage....but I see a new smoker in my future after we just bought the 1 3/4 HP grinder/sausage maker from Cabela's this fall :)

LC

There is a universe of knowledge available from sausage makers in your area.
As we did , I contracted a guy to teach me who I respected as a master.

You pay him a flat fee for teaching the course. Then you discuss the course content and he brings the applicable recipes to make 2 fresh and 3 smoked sausage recipes as well as a jerky. He brings all the trim/spices/cure and charges you separately from the course fee. You simply divide the total cost among all the participants.

As a courtesy we purchase all of our trim/casing/supplies and spices from him for the next year. That compensates him from any loss of business he might experience from us processing our own meat. Four of our group decided it was too much work/mess to do at home and he found 4 new customers he did not have before, plus any new recommendations that those 4 provided him in the future.

Imagine how short of a learning curve for you and your hunting buddies if you contracted a different sausage master every year to come to your location with your meats/ equipment using his recipes. Then you get him to provide a handout for your reference.

Learning on your equipment provides the advantage of being immediately able to reproduce the results.

Pick the brains of as many masters as you can and gain incredible skill in a short time.

[Sledhead71]

Process my own from field to table, this has been a family tradition for generations.

Try to encourage a few each season to process their own game, supply the equipment and knowledge and enjoy swapping stories and seeing others take on the challenge of processing.

Proud to serve up my table fair to anyone :)

[cds]

EDM area I use a little polish deli on 82ST and about 130 Ave at the DELTON center just down from the TIMMYS. I been using them for 4 years now GREAT peporoni and GARLIC CHEESE SMOKIES. YUMMIE ME HUNGRY NOW.

[Maverick29]

Took my deer to H & M meats grande praire. Little bit bit pricey but do a great job. Very impressed :sHa_shakeshout:

[ishootbambi]

growing up we always did our own. my kin was always kinda cheap that way. as i aged, i realized that it was expensive to do it myslef. i had to take time off work, and i get paid far more than what it cost to have the meat shop do it. lately, i have been doing it again myself. i can make snossages how i want em, steaks cut how i like em, and i know what went into the grinder. it costs me more to do it myslef, but i like the end results a lot better.

in medicine hat, i had the best results from mikes meats, but overall, the best meat shop ive found is them guys in blairmore....forget the name, but they have pretty good processed meats.