Best Big Game butcher Calgary Area

[BigBuck$]

Looking for opinions and recommendations on the best place in the Calgary area for deer sausage and pepperoni.

Thanks in advance

[Fwee6]

Rocky's Sausage Haus.

He's a beauty of a guy, and his stuff is off-the-charts good.
Look no further.
Also has a 24hr line during hunting season.

[heybert]

I second Rocky. Great guy to deal with.

[SSTL]

Ryan's Meats makes awesome pepperettes. you can buy sausages from most of the butchers to test their recipes.

[trouty]

If you've been going to Ryan's do your game what it deserves and go to Rocky. And yes I've been to Ryan's and others.

[Chris88CL]

After last year I'll never use Ryans Meats again.

[Duk Dog]

Another vote for Rocky's.

[flatshooter]

Due to all these rave reviews I took my bull elk into Rocky. Will let you know the results. It was a 5 pt bull that dropped in its tracks, had plenty of body fat and appeared in excellent condition.


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[agentsmith]

I used to live a block away from Rocky's. Took my first deer there late on a Sunday night three years ago, and he did a great job. I think it was under $175, cause I only got a few pounds of sausage. He always has great sausages and meat for sale too.

[DRhunter]

Typically cut up my own animals, haven't used a butcher in about 5 or 6 years but due to circumstances had to take this elk into a butcher. Based on good reviews on here I took my elk to Rocky, here is my experience.

Rocky was great, phoned him late afternoon on opening day and he was able to get to his shop by 9:45. I met him there and liked how available he is.

Quick turnaround on the butchering, had the animal back within 10 days (cut and wrap job only).

When I went to pick it up, was disappointed that there were no roasts, all went to trim. Thought we had discussed a couple of the best roasts, but maybe we didn't. Likely my fault for not making sure, and maybe I just assumed there would be roasts? Ha

The guy helping me pick up my stuff gave me a box of steaks, a box of burger I got him to grind (30lbs) and a box of trim. The butcher thought that was all, I was sure there should be more. He looked and looked, phoned a couple of different people and finally after about 15 minutes found my other box of trim. Was a little surprised it wasn't all together??

I get home and unload it into the freezer. Open up the burger and for 30lbs, it is in 12 packages, so just under 3lb per pack. I had discussed with rocky that I wanted 1-1.25lb packages of burger, disappointed over that. Called Rocky and he completely understood my frustration, agreed to meet me back there and fix the burger. Still disappointed I would have to drive back there.

Rocky charges a premium from other shops I see in the area (charges $1.13/lb) and I would have expected premium service. Maybe this is normal for butchering services as I have not used them a ton in the past, but a little disappointed and unsure if I would go back.

DR


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[flatshooter]

Due to this thread I used Rocky and I’m glad I took him my bull elk. One week turn around time, excellent service, delicious smokies and sausage


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[gasman]

I used to use Rocky, not any more.

Last year we had two bad experiences.

First off he "lost" 40lbs of my elk that I brought in for sausage. He made it up by processing another batch for free (I had to provide extra meat) but there is only so much meat on an elk, so what was the value of that 40lbs... Based on my expenses to hunt the elk about $800.

Second a buddy of mine brought his WT deer in for sausage, and when he got them back, they tasted "off" and there were several dark red pieces of meat in the sausage which were obviously elk meat, so either someone was mixing meat in the back, or they aren't cleaning their equipment.

When I first started going there it was fantastic, There are a few guys working the back last year that I would only describe as shady.

[Gowest24]

Its a bit of a drive from Calgary (90mins south) but Bear butchering is amazing. I took a bull elk there earlier this year, everything I had made (jerky, Pepperoni, sausage) were great. I have given some to people who say they don't like wild meat and they all loved it too.

[zewks]

So what is the average price RANGE a guy should be expecting to pay for an average size deer to be cut up up into sausage and/or pep and everything else just cut and wrapped? Just looking for ballpark prices of what your experiences have been.

[Scott N]

Originally Posted by zewks

So what is the average price RANGE a guy should be expecting to pay for an average size deer to be cut up up into sausage and/or pep and everything else just cut and wrapped? Just looking for ballpark prices of what your experiences have been.

I would say $250 - $400, and it all depends on what you get from it. Products like jerky or dry sausage are more expensive than fresh sausage is for example.

[Warrior]

You can spot "dark red pieces of meat in the sausage which were obviously elk meat" in sausage and you think that would make it taste OFF? HHHMMMmm interesting.

Originally Posted by gasman

I used to use Rocky, not any more.

Last year we had two bad experiences.

First off he "lost" 40lbs of my elk that I brought in for sausage. He made it up by processing another batch for free (I had to provide extra meat) but there is only so much meat on an elk, so what was the value of that 40lbs... Based on my expenses to hunt the elk about $800.

Second a buddy of mine brought his WT deer in for sausage, and when he got them back, they tasted "off" and there were several dark red pieces of meat in the sausage which were obviously elk meat, so either someone was mixing meat in the back, or they aren't cleaning their equipment.

When I first started going there it was fantastic, There are a few guys working the back last year that I would only describe as shady.

[Lefty-Canuck]

^^^^

I found that to be an odd observation too

LC

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Warrior

You can spot "dark red pieces of meat in the sausage which were obviously elk meat" in sausage and you think that would make it taste OFF? HHHMMMmm interesting.

Nope your confusing two separate thoughts, although maybe I wasn't as clear as I could be.

1. There were dark pieces of meat in the sausage, meat that didn't appear to be deer meat. Which would lead to the observation that there was something other than pork and deer in the sausage.
2. The sausage did not taste very good. Separate thought from above. It didn't taste like it was spoiled it just tasted...off, poor mixing of the spices or something. But the deer meat that was not sausaged tasted fine so it was definitely whatever was added to it. Have had his sausages in the past and they were great. Last year they weren't as good.


As a separate observation the back of the shop had about an inch of animal fat on the floor, and wild animal carcases stacked on top of each other from the floor to the ceiling of the fridge. I have seen much better care taken to store animals in a much more organized and sanitary conditions .

My point is that I had a bad experience in that he "lost" a bunch of my elk, and my buddy had a bad experience with the quality of his sausages. We have both used Rocky in the past, and found his stuff to be good, but I think when he gets busy the quality suffers, based on my experience and the experience of someone I know. I won't be going back there.
2.

[rschermer2]

Originally Posted by gasman

Nope your confusing two separate thoughts, although maybe I wasn't as clear as I could be.

1. There were dark pieces of meat in the sausage, meat that didn't appear to be deer meat. Which would lead to the observation that there was something other than pork and deer in the sausage.
2. The sausage did not taste very good. Separate thought from above. It didn't taste like it was spoiled it just tasted...off, poor mixing of the spices or something. But the deer meat that was not sausaged tasted fine so it was definitely whatever was added to it. Have had his sausages in the past and they were great. Last year they weren't as good.


As a separate observation the back of the shop had about an inch of animal fat on the floor, and wild animal carcases stacked on top of each other from the floor to the ceiling of the fridge. I have seen much better care taken to store animals in a much more organized and sanitary conditions .

My point is that I had a bad experience in that he "lost" a bunch of my elk, and my buddy had a bad experience with the quality of his sausages. We have both used Rocky in the past, and found his stuff to be good, but I think when he gets busy the quality suffers, based on my experience and the experience of someone I know. I won't be going back there.
2.

Hello gasman it's Rocky here. First off I totally appreciate your frustration and I apologize completely for our errors. I would like to note that my friends and customers know that if I make a mistake I certainly own it. I generally try to offer well over and above what my customer would expect. I usually make a generous offer but seriously let my customer know that they are free to ask for as much compensation that could come close to making them as satisfied as possible. If I did not convey this to you I am truly sorry.

With respect to the animals stacked to the ceiling and the grease on the floor...I can only say that at times we are indeed very busy and in order to save time we pull numerous animals out of the cooler at a time so that our cutting team can pick them from there and not waste precious time walking back and forth to the cooler. All animals removed from the cooler are expected to be completed with the next 2-3 hrs. The great floor well we are a small shop and move a lot of animals through one at a time so on any given day there is a lot of activity I assure you at the end of the day after all sausage is processed and animals cut our plant is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized.

I feel terrible to hear about your friend not enjoying his product...I only wish he would have contacted me as this would fall under our compensation to make sure a customer is fully satisfied. Usually I tell each customer when they pick up to let me know how it is good bad or otherwise because this is how we can improve our consistency and quality. I sincerely mean that. I will say that indeed we did get a new piece of equipment and our mixing may have taken some getting used to since this machine offers mixing capabilities.

Lastly with there being dark pieces of meat throughout your sausage, since we do not pool meat as a strict rule this could be the dryer outside trimmings of meat. My cutters are expected to remove as much dry outer 'crust' as they can and possible they were not careful enough. Not that there is anything wrong with this 'crust' however it does look dark inside the sausage and that is the reason we remove it.

I would like to extend an offer for gift certificates that may be spent on store product or processing. If you like please contact me and I would like to ensure that even if you do not come back for processing you have been at least somewhat compensated enough that you are not left with a bad overall experience. Please extend this offer to your friend as well.

On one final note as we have grown over the last 4 seasons at a rate that is barely sustainable we are looking into finding a larger processing facility in order to prevent issues like this from being a regular occurrence.

Thanks and once again my deepest apologies for your last experience.

Sincerely,
Rocky

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