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MEAT LOCKERS

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thegeneral

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who does everyone go to? who's the best, cheapest, ect...seems i go to a new locker every season in central iowa trying to find the best one.
 
i would suggest taking it to Boyds in Washington. Im not sure how expensive it is but they make good bologna and jerky!!!!
 
I do my own. I've made burger, jerky, steaks, roasts for years. Recently I started making my own Deer pepper sticks, summer sausage, bratwurst, bologna, wieners etc. My friends and relatives can't believe how well it all turns out, and I can't believe how much fun I have making it. For legal reasons I do not make sausage for anyone else, but people are constently asking me to and trying to buy some from me.

If anyone wants tips on how to get started, e-mail me at [email protected]
 
My buddies and I have been taking our deer to Gile's Meats in Cascade, IA. Their hot rods are the best I've ever had. Otherwise we cold pack the rest down...yumm! Damn, now I'm gunna have to break out another can of the stuff just from talking about it.
 
Big Timber, I have had my grinder, smoker and 4qt sausage stuffer for over 20 years so my brands and models may not even exist anymore. However below is a list of the minimal stuff I would recommend someone starting out to buy.
1. Electric home grinder, with coarse and fine plates. ($75 - $99)
2. 3lb sausage stuffer with 3 tubes ($45) (I don't like stuffer/grinders combos)
3. Little Chief type smoker (mine is a clone of this made by Sears that my dad had) ($75 - $90)

You can buy/make things even cheaper if you look around.

And if you checkout the WEB for suppliers like Eldon's Sausage or the SausageMaker you can find free recipies, instructions and order casings or premixed spice packets. Personally I recommend Eldon's mild Pepper Stick seasoning.

E-mail me if you want any more details.

IaCraig
 
Ridgeport Locker, 7 miles north of Boone. They make great summer sausage with cheese. These guys are hunters themselves. They know what hunters want and expect. I've had deer and bear processed all over central Iowa. These guys get my vote.
 
i've heard alot of good things about ridgeport, i may try them next year.
 
Big Timber, I got a #32 enterprise grinder
with two pulleys off of ebay for $40, and found a 1 gallon enterprise sausage stuffer
with all of the plates,cracklin screen, and
a stuff tube at a yard sale for $20, they are out there you just gotta hunt em up! Now if I could only find a nice Hobart bandsaw
a real deal I would be set.

Steve
 
******THIS IS NOT A GENERALIZATION*****
Just something that happend to us!!!!!

I don't want meat locker employees and owners storming the village like a Boris Karloff movie okay!!!

BUTTTTTT

The thing that really pisses me off is when you take your quailty, clean, carefully packaged meat in somewhere to get sausage, sticks or whatever, they shove it in with everybody elses and who in the hell knows how they took care of their animal.

Case in Point: 6 years ago took some great cuts and already ground venison into a locker in Audobon, (he is out of business and if he gets upset about this, GREAT! I would LOVE for him to reach me, since I can't find him!!!)

Pappy and I order $275 worth of summer sausage, hot mild. the whole deal.

Once we finally get it back, if it was in the fridge for TWO days, GREEN, RANCID, MOLDY F*&^ ROTTEN!

No money back, not even trying to make it right.

His claim: You must not take good care of you venison..........

Father narrowly missed out on A: A heart attack. B: A prison term.

We haven't since, nor will we ever trust our wonderful wild game to anyone else. Not gonna do it.

Starting to figure out how to do it on our own, getting better all the time, plus it is a ton of fun.

Again, I would welcome the idiot that use to own the Audobon locker to reach me should he care to comment. Better yet, call my dad.
 
one question...do you really think that the lockers would EVER get done w/deer if they didnt mix it in w/others meat....i work for my uncle over christmas break every year...who just happens to own a locker..and he gets probably atleast a hundered deer in a year...he would be doing deer until july if he didnt mix it in w/others....here's a suggestion...if you dont want it mixed...SAY SO...im positive he would understand your request...there are a few guys around our area that have their own spices they like to use, so he has to do these deer seperate....as you could tell i really have a problem w/people who bash lockers...sure there are bad apples...but most people are so ignorant that they think..."the locker stole some of my meat, because im sure i had more"....are you kidding me
 
as far as sausage goes, i took my deer to granger and they told me to order at least 10# so that i could have my own "batch" made. i thought that was nice of them.

i was also told that it is illegal for a locker to mix up the meat, according to state regs. any truth to this?
 
I am going back over 20 years. I did work in a meat locker for 6 years. We did a pretty high volume of deer and the only time we mixed them was if we had a group of hunters that came in together and wanted all their deer meat and processing bills divided evenly. I know some other lockers combined everyones deer when they did burger or sausage, and in my opinion that is wrong and they were being lazy. (I've been there, it does not take that long to do things right)

We also had a minimum charge for making sticks or brats etc. This minimum charge was equal to a 10lb order.

Hey General, does someone new operate the Granger locker now or is it still that arrogant guy who was there 10 - 15 years ago?????



[This message has been edited by IaCraig (edited 12-19-2001).]
 
from what i understand, it's a new guy. this was my first time going there, but someone told me they wouldn't go anymore because they liked the old owner and they thought the place was kinda dirty now. (i don't know if i've ever seen a 'clean' locker.)

one thing of note, i took my bowkill there in mid-november and still haven't recieved it back. they have a policy that for everytime you call asking for your meat, you get charged $10. so i won't be calling anytime soon. my dad took his first season shotgun kill to maxwell and got the meat back within a week.

[This message has been edited by thegeneral (edited 12-19-2001).]
 
Someone told me there was a new guy running it, and I was thinking of getting a 1/2 of beef from him this winter. But if he is actually charging $10 to answer the phone it doesn't sound like we will get along too well.
 
yeah, the phone answering policy is a little absurd. as far as results, i know bone crusher and big timber have gone there before. maybe they can weigh in on how good the meat is...
 
I used the Yedder locker last year....Had the standard cuts, lots of berger, and some smoked venison done on a 200+ lbs deer for about 60 bucks.
 
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