Elk hunt advice.

[Guard Dog]

Hi all. I need a little advice from some of you experienced Elk hunter's. I'm going on my first ever Elk hunting trip this weekend and if I'm succesful I will have more meat than I know what to do with! What do you guys suggest that I have done with it? I will have a lot of steaks cut but what else do you guys like? Sausage, Hamburger, Jerkey?
Has anybody used a Butcher in the FHL area ( Central Coast of CA )? If so is there one in particular that I might want to use? Thanks for any input.

 

[easymoney]

flyboy,
Try Ralphs meat cutting in Atascadero. Small local cut and wrap processer, just be sure to call ahead and make certain they have the room in their walkin cooler.

 

[Guard Dog]

Thanks EasyMoney, I'll give Ralph's a call and check on there availability. Now, What to have made out of it? Of course I still have to take the Elk first!

 

[BDB]

I have used Ralph's Custom Smoke House in San Jose. It's off the 280 when you are heading north through SJ. Not sure if it is the same one mentioned above but I love the place and give it

.

Ground, steaks, roasts, jerkey, cubes for stews etc and sausage . That is what mine gets made into. I prefer the sausage from hogs to that from elk so I don't get too much made up, around 30 lbs or so, plus that is where the $$$$ really start to add up for processing ( do most of it myself now). You are right though, if you get one it is ALOT of meat. I have no shortage of friends that are always happy as can be to get a few steaks a package of sausage and some ground from me if my freezer is too full. I don't usually give away backstraps or loins though, but do host BBQ's for friends that I'll cook them up some backstraps.

Good luck on the hunt. I wouldn't worry about having too much meat, there are always things to do with it. If you are really stuck send me an e-mail, my elk from last year is almost gone

 

[easymoney]

My suggestion is to save the best cuts for the barby and make the rest into sausage. I make almost all my venison and wild pork into sausage. Even duck and goose sausage... And Ralphs Custo Meats number is 805-466-2114.
And if you think you have too much, give away to those of your choice.

 

[BDB]

To each there own but I don't grind good meat. There is plenty of scrap (shank etc) for making sausage and ground. From an elk, I would only grind (for sausage or just plain ground) about 50lbs. The rest for me goes to things I really like, for example a nice roast, cubes for kabobs, stews, chili etc.

Now a hog a get a fair bit made into sausage, but not a deer or elk. That's just me though, like I said, each to them selves. Either way, it's ALL good

 

[Rick]

I just kept a few roasts and steaks and had most of the rest ground into burger with beef fat added. That gave me way too much burger! I would have more made into steaks, etc. next time. Then I could always cut it into pieces for stew or casseroles.

 

[Coues]

I always try to get as many roast as possible. I love roast cooked in the crock pot with potatoes and onions until it is falling apart!

The other reason is that you can always slice the roast into steaks later or grind some up for chili.