Hair in butchered meat

[MooseRiverTrapper]

They way I’ve seen some guys skin and treat meat is an eye opener for sure lol. Butcher I know said he’s had guys pound beer caps into hanging moose quarters and sit around the fire shooting at the beer caps with a 22. Then drop them off.

[birdseye]

Sorry wrong thread

[scalerman]

I have butchered my own game since the one time it cost me over $100 to process a deer with less than 100 pounds of meat. I have however, on one occasion, take meat to a butcher to have them grind it for me. The butcher asked me "where's the hair, where are the sticks and leaves? I never get wild meat this clean ever". After watching how some hunters handle the carcass after it has been killed it is no wonder that the butchers end up with a bad reputation. As far as I know spinning gold from straw is still impossible and some of the straw these guys have to work with comes to them covered in crap. The butcher gets the blame when it really was the hunters' fault. Cleanliness is next to godliness is the old saying. Clean meat preserves better longer and tastes better.

[Andrzej]

IMO good butcher should either refuse to work on the hairy carcass or put extra work to clean it for you and CHARGE extra for this effort.
It is not acceptable to grind dirty, hairy, bloodshot meat and call this butchering
I do my own butchering for a reason.

[Smoky buck]

I have to agree with others some don’t look after their animals properly and that plays a big part in it. The torch trick works but if you pay attention to your skinning you should not have much hair to clean up. After skinning, trimming any shock, and giving the carcass a wipe down cleaning off blood ext there should not be much for hair to pick if you pay attention skinning

Two things for guys dropping off animals to butchers. Bag and tie the tail and evidence of sex so it does not continue to get hair on the meat after cleaning. Use game bags to help keep any hair or dirt from other deer hanging in the shop getting on yours. Some probably already do this but some definitely don’t

Lots of different tricks to get things done but for the most part keep things clean and trimmed if you want quality meat in the end

[58thecat]

Take care of your meat...you have since a toddler...after that trim and prep accordingly after all it's your meat.

[Ronaround]

Originally Posted by Ranger CS

Any amount of hair is not acceptable to me. When I use a commercial butcher and do not do it myself, it arrives at the butcher shop free of hair and clean. On occasion there might be some meat damage caused by bullet impact. I make it clear that I want all damage removed before wrapping. I am fussy field dressing and skinning and cleaning up the carcass before taking it to the butcher. As hunter we must assume responsibility for such things as hair in the meat since commercial butchers can not take the time to pick it out.

^^ Agreed above.^^
Proper care,and along with that a good shot and quick field dress goes a long way in decent meat.
I always make sure that the ones that do my butchering of at least deer have control of making burger with each individual animal. some in our area mass make the burger and mix gut shot ,badly handles deer. YUK!

[Ranger CS]

Originally Posted by elkslayer132

As long as it's not pubic hair.

For sure not, it tends to get stuck between ones teeth!

[spoiledsaskhunter]

Originally Posted by nw tradegunner

after i’ve gutted my animal with a minimum of cutting; i get home or to the farmer’s place and hang it and skin it asap. Cut the legs off then leaving the rest for evidence of species and sex; i pull out the propane torch and go over the entire animal; singeing off all the loose hairs and around the areas that i’ve left for species and sex. The torch is the way to go! No picking of hair; period!

yes!

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Any butchers that will shoot it for you too?

Plenty, as long as you're after beef or pork! LOL


We process our own and clean it too. Before we start on an animal, one of us puts on a pair of grippy rubber gloves and uses those to wipe the critter down (works quite well). That doesn't guarantee you'll get every hair so any that are left, we pick off as we're butchering.

I once took an entire deer into a local abattoir to be made into sausage (German fellow who makes excellent sausage). I asked him about cleaning it, he said not to worry, he'd go over it quickly with a torch and burn all the hair off, then give it a quick wipe down.

I didn't find any hair in the sausage and didn't taste any burnt hair so it worked good.

[huntinstuff]

My first moose

My friend convinced me to take it into.a well known butcher shop in Edmonton. He is no longer my friend

Ever since then, I butcher my own. It isnt difficult

My son can completely debone a deer in 25 minutes in the field. We take the meat, wash every piece, remove all fat, let it dry off, then wrap it. So simple.

As much as I admire what butchers do, they never get business from me as far as that goes

[JD848]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff

My first moose

My friend convinced me to take it into.a well known butcher shop in Edmonton. He is no longer my friend

Ever since then, I butcher my own. It isnt difficult

My son can completely debone a deer in 25 minutes in the field. We take the meat, wash every piece, remove all fat, let it dry off, then wrap it. So simple.

As much as I admire what butchers do, they never get business from me as far as that goes

X2 Guys think it's hard, but once you do it you don't need a butcher.

I learnt some 50 years ago from my mother of all people who grew up on a farm, hell she would do a deer in no time and the best dam meat pies I every ate,i still have to old grinder in a bin .

When I hunted solo if you didn't debone in the field if your a ways in, I didn't need to carry bones for nothing.Ive done moose and deer a number of times,plus if your in a boat that extra weight can become a hazard in them heavy winds in the fall.

JD

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by JWCalgary

Hey AO!

Wanting to hear if you all would think that having hair in your butchered meat is acceptable.

Almost every pack of ground from my deer last year has small hairs in it.
I'm thinking .... uh no.... but should I be expecting some in your experience?





Sent from my SM-A102W using Tapatalk

Without seeing you dress, skin, and handle the deer I would not comment on whether the hair being there is to be expected or not.

I butcher my own, it is not that hard, requires minimal tools, and can be easily learned. After a few seasons you will start to notice that your deer is tasting exceptionally good, and wonder if its something they were eating that year... but the next year is the same, until a few years later you go through the same experience.

IMO, while butchering a deer is not a huge time commitment, it can not be properly done fast enough to make it profitable. If I were to butcher your deer the price would not be competitive, and I would make minimal profit. That said, you might still be asking me to butcher more deer for you, and I would tell you to do your own.

[SuperCub]

Originally Posted by Nuck99

Washing down the carcass with water, inside and out, picking hair during and after the carcass is dry is the only way I handle my meat.

^^ This ^^ ...... I use cold/clean water from the hose to clean it inside and out. Finish by picking remainder hair off and put a large fan on it to dry it off ASAP.

[Jamie Black R/T]

Originally Posted by 1899b

Not acceptable. How about having a piece of lead in your ground meat when you arrowed your animal?? Lol. Butchers... fun times...

Ive also experienced this.

Same butcher got an archery whitetail, a rifle mule deer and a rifle moose from me in the same season.

Lead bits in the archery deer, 1/4" sized bits of paper mixed into the mule deer sausage and the ground moose was loaded with hair when I dropped off a totally clean animal.

Thats the last time i ever used that particular shop and do everything I can to keep people from their doors.

Put a walk in cooler in my shop and now I only use a butcher from time to time for sausage...drop off clean trim in the off season and get back good sausage.

The cooler completely changed the way I behave after the shot now. Knowing I have a place to hang in any conditions, i spend the time to breakdown and skin the animal right away now. Do a much cleaner job when you and the kill are both fresh. No rushing to get it to a butcher to cool after a long drive home. Its nice to come home and just get the meat on hooks and pour a drink.

[kilgoretrout]

I think the onus is on the hunter to drop off a clean de-haired carcass.... however make sure you know how he operates ie I went to a shop in Calgary(now gone thankfully) that weighed your animal when you brought it in so I asked why he said so he new how much meat to give me when I picked it up to which I replied don't I get the meat I brought in..... He said no that they pool it all together...... Needless to say I went elsewhere as I am very picky about making a clean kill and taking care of my venison .....

[straight]

Originally Posted by JWCalgary

Hey AO!

Wanting to hear if you all would think that having hair in your butchered meat is acceptable.

Almost every pack of ground from my deer last year has small hairs in it.
I'm thinking .... uh no.... but should I be expecting some in your experience?

Hair in meat is OK, butchered meat is unacceptable.

[MyAlberta]

Originally Posted by Walking Bear

I didn't even know that was an option. I've never heard of any butcher that will skin a deer for you.
But I sure have seen some messy carcasses in the butcher shops

Some guy brought in a double ham shot deer. Pretty messy.

[BC7stw]

Been processing, cutting and wrapping, my own game meat for 25 years now. Old codger across the street talked me into it and I’m thankful he did.

We primarily process moose. Now and again it’s in some ugly spot that has no motorized access. We carry a new or clean tarp in the truck through hunting season. It is spread out back a bit from the animal. As the meat/quarters are removed it is placed on the tarp. While skinning we are extremely careful to limit the hair, dirt, leaves etc that contacts the meat.

Inside the cavity is always washed with vinegar and water in the field as soon as it is gutted (or a two litre bottle of coke will work in a pinch ). Water works too, but the acid in the vinegar or coke seems to strip out the nasty stuff a bit better. This step is especially important if you have any stomach/ intestinal contents in the cavity and should be done as soon as you can as it can taint the meat if not dealt with ASAP.

When we get home all the meat is carefully checked for hair, and if need washed down with vinegar and water then dried as best as we can. The heat in the animal will do this for you if it is still warm

When we do take it to the butcher they always comment on how clean it is. For me, 1 hair is to many, and I haven’t found one in any game we’ve processed in a couple decades.

Do we go a bit overboard, maybe, but the quality of the meat speaks for itself.

When packaging, we always debone everything. We put the meat in the appropriate sized plastic freezer bag, then squeeze all the air out and twist the top and fold it over, then wrap it in freezer paper. No air space in the packaged meat prevents freezer burn. It will last in the freezer a VERY long time when done this way. Bone in of course won’t last as long do to the air spaces.

Are there other ways, yup, everyone has their own method, this one works for us.
It’s a lot more work but the quality of the meat speaks for itself.

During hunting season most butchers are extremely busy and it is unlikely they will be as critical about cleaning up the hair, dirt, etc as you would be.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by BC7stw

Been processing, cutting and wrapping, my own game meat for 25 years now. Old codger across the street talked me into it and I’m thankful he did.

We primarily process moose. Now and again it’s in some ugly spot that has no motorized access. We carry a new or clean tarp in the truck through hunting season. It is spread out back a bit from the animal. As the meat/quarters are removed it is placed on the tarp. While skinning we are extremely careful to limit the hair, dirt, leaves etc that contacts the meat.

Inside the cavity is always washed with vinegar and water in the field as soon as it is gutted (or a two litre bottle of coke will work in a pinch ). Water works too, but the acid in the vinegar or coke seems to strip out the nasty stuff a bit better. This step is especially important if you have any stomach/ intestinal contents in the cavity and should be done as soon as you can as it can taint the meat if not dealt with ASAP.

When we get home all the meat is carefully checked for hair, and if need washed down with vinegar and water then dried as best as we can. The heat in the animal will do this for you if it is still warm

When we do take it to the butcher they always comment on how clean it is. For me, 1 hair is to many, and I haven’t found one in any game we’ve processed in a couple decades.

Do we go a bit overboard, maybe, but the quality of the meat speaks for itself.

When packaging, we always debone everything. We put the meat in the appropriate sized plastic freezer bag, then squeeze all the air out and twist the top and fold it over, then wrap it in freezer paper. No air space in the packaged meat prevents freezer burn. It will last in the freezer a VERY long time when done this way. Bone in of course won’t last as long do to the air spaces.

Are there other ways, yup, everyone has their own method, this one works for us.
It’s a lot more work but the quality of the meat speaks for itself.

During hunting season most butchers are extremely busy and it is unlikely they will be as critical about cleaning up the hair, dirt, etc as you would be.

Great post and it says it all.
You might look into using citric acid for washing down, a little bag doesn’t take any room at all. Mix it with water and you have a great bacteria killer and fly repellant.

Here’s some info on citric acid. I haven’t used it yet but I do keep it in the kitchen so I will try it when the time is right.

https://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com...n-in-the-field

[BC7stw]

I appreciate the suggestion and will give citric acid a try.

[220 Swift]

Originally Posted by Jamie Black R/T

Ive also experienced this.

Same butcher got an archery whitetail, a rifle mule deer and a rifle moose from me in the same season.

Lead bits in the archery deer, 1/4" sized bits of paper mixed into the mule deer sausage and the ground moose was loaded with hair when I dropped off a totally clean animal.

Thats the last time i ever used that particular shop and do everything I can to keep people from their doors.

Put a walk in cooler in my shop and now I only use a butcher from time to time for sausage...drop off clean trim in the off season and get back good sausage.

The cooler completely changed the way I behave after the shot now. Knowing I have a place to hang in any conditions, i spend the time to breakdown and skin the animal right away now. Do a much cleaner job when you and the kill are both fresh. No rushing to get it to a butcher to cool after a long drive home. Its nice to come home and just get the meat on hooks and pour a drink.

The older i get the more i believe in the hanging and draining blood. I believe this to be the answer to good vs bad.

When i thaw out deer meat preferably on a mesh over the sink draining. If its hamburger poke or cut holes in the bottom of the bag. Defrosting in microwave is now off limits with Me. This i think polishes off the hanging to drip mentioned above.

The hair is visable but i believe this is tasteful. I try my best to remove both.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by 220 Swift

The older i get the more i believe in the hanging and draining blood. I believe this to be the answer to good vs bad.

When i thaw out deer meat preferably on a mesh over the sink draining. If its hamburger poke or cut holes in the bottom of the bag. Defrosting in microwave is now off limits with Me. This i think polishes off the hanging to drip mentioned above.

The hair is visable but i believe this is tasteful. I try my best to remove both.

I’m with you on draining. When I take a piece of meat out to thaw I elevate it on something inside another bowl to catch the blood. No good can come from it sitting in a pool of blood.

[Puma]

[QUOTE=Dewey Cox;4143171]Any butchers that will shoot it for you too?

QUOTE]

We had a local butcher who would help eat them.

[vcmm]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Any butchers that will shoot it for you too?

Thank You!!! Someone who gets it.