Butching Buffalo , Elk and antelope

[Wintergrower_OH]

I found a ranch in KS that will field dress a buffalo for me . This means buffalo for $2.00 a pound . I'm doing the leg work for a church in S.D . All i have to do is to pick it up at the ranch . Recommendation on what i would need . Knifes , grinders , vacuum seal , etc?

[oregon woodsmok]

Bone saw, butcher paper, freezer tape, freezer marker (grease pencil or sharpie), sanitary table to cut the meat on.

[big rockpile]

Can you Quarter it,pack it with with Dry Ice until you can work with it better.

This is what we've done with Elk.We just use Knife and Axe to Skin and Quarter it.My wife is saying easier to Debone it.

big rockpile

[texican]

Get a couple of large clean tarps. You can skin one, by peeling off one side, then the other. If the guts are out, it's real 'easy'. I'd quarter it up, throw it in the truck, wrapped in a clean tarp. This time of year, it should be frozen solid in hours.

Get it home, with a clean table, bright lights, hot water, and get er done.

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by texican

Get a couple of large clean tarps. You can skin one, by peeling off one side, then the other. If the guts are out, it's real 'easy'. I'd quarter it up, throw it in the truck, wrapped in a clean tarp. This time of year, it should be frozen solid in hours.

Get it home, with a clean table, bright lights, hot water, and get er done.

Yea I was just thinking on Temperture my wife wasn't too happy cutting up a solid Frozen Elk last time

big rockpile

[Sanza]

Find a place to hang it and age it just like you would beef. 2 - 3 weeks would be proper length of time if you want it tender. Then worry about cutting and wrapping.

[oregon woodsmok]

I would bet that "field dressed" in this case is going to include skinning because the buffalo robes are worth some big bucks and the buffalo farms aren't going to just give away the robe.

[texican]

And speaking of the hide... what are they going to do with the head? I'd love to have a western mount skull (without hide, just bone).

[haypoint]

There are places all over the country that raise buffalo. Seems that if you are in Ohio, that http://www.eatbisonmeat.com/webapp/GetPage?pid=45 might be another option.

Sounds like a big job for a first time butcher. $2.00 a pound might not provide cheap meat, if that is a goal, because that $2.00 will also be buying a lot of bones, hooves, perhaps a head and raw hide. Unless it is a trophy head and you have a way to tan the hide, that might not be worth the $2.00 you are paying for it.

Maybe instead of asking what tools will I need to process a field dresssed bison into packaged meat, you might want to ask how much meat can you get from an 1100 pound field dressed bison? If you haven't ever butchered a bison, you might find you are ending up with a lot less meat than you'd bargained for.

[texican]

Originally Posted by haypoint

There are places all over the country that raise buffalo. Seems that if you are in Ohio, that http://www.eatbisonmeat.com/webapp/GetPage?pid=45 might be another option.

Sounds like a big job for a first time butcher. $2.00 a pound might not provide cheap meat, if that is a goal, because that $2.00 will also be buying a lot of bones, hooves, perhaps a head and raw hide. Unless it is a trophy head and you have a way to tan the hide, that might not be worth the $2.00 you are paying for it.

Maybe instead of asking what tools will I need to process a field dresssed bison into packaged meat, you might want to ask how much meat can you get from an 1100 pound field dressed bison? If you haven't ever butchered a bison, you might find you are ending up with a lot less meat than you'd bargained for.

I didn't even think about the cost... assumed the church was wanting buffalo meat for some spiritual reason (Native Americans). As for value, be a heckuva lot cheaper, meat wise, to to the local butcher, and get whole t-bones, rib-eyes or sirloins, for 3 to 4$/lb. Wouldn't be buying a lot of bone and inedible stuff. Adding in the fuel for the drive, and that'd be some expensive eating. Adventure > Yes... Cost efficient supply of meat > No.

[ErinP]

There are buffalo ranches all over SD and most of them sell meat straight off the place. (No, buffalo is not a particularly pricey meat. And don't let anyone convince you otherwise).

Shoot, call this one! lol
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id...roup/homepage/
I know they sell meat and now they're probably REALLY wanting to get rid of some!

[texican]

Originally Posted by ErinP

There are buffalo ranches all over SD and most of them sell meat straight off the place. (No, buffalo is not a particularly pricey meat. And don't let anyone convince you otherwise).

Shoot, call this one! lol
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id...roup/homepage/
I know they sell meat and now they're probably REALLY wanting to get rid of some!

I wouldn't imagine consumer ready packaged buffalo 'would' be that pricey... but field dressed, in my minds eye, means 'gutted only'. At least, when we field dress deer and elk (in the Rockies), it's minimal processing, as long as it's below freezing. Bones, hides, head, all the inedible bits add up quick. I'd guesstimate at least 30% waste. A very large elk, once completely processed and ready for the freezer (all neatly 'squared up' in packages) will go in half dozen large paper bags. (At least, the ones I've home butchered processed out that much).

Not really ragging on the cost, if someone want's an exotic animal (and buffalo are exotic to most Americans... maybe not Native Americans), obviously straight nutritional value and cost price points aren't really an issue.

There's a fella in the county here, that a couple times a year, is looking for someone to butcher his buffalo... to a T, I'm extremely busy during those periods.

[oregon woodsmok]

You're in Ohio, the bison is in Kansas, and the church is in South Dakota?

There's going to be a lot of transportation cost for that meat. Has the church looked into a local bison grower? Like Erin says, there are bison ranches in SD.

There's bison ranching in Oregon, too, but you wouldn't get it for $2 a pound hanging weight. (last time I asked)

No telling what the church wants the meat for. Around here they have bison barbecue for fund raisers.

The carcass will be lots easier to work with if you have a place tall enough to hang it and a block and tackle to get it hung. Then you need a spreader to keep the back legs apart and steady. It'll already be gutted. Slight chance you'll have to skin it, and that's easier to do hanging. In order to saw the backbone to get the halves apart, hanging makes it lots easier.

I'm thinking that bison should be aged. Do you have a way to age it?

[ErinP]

but field dressed, in my minds eye, means 'gutted only'

That's what I was reading it as also. At I think $2 a pound is pretty steep for field dressed. Unless he gets to keep the head and hide, that is.
The last time I paid attention to these things a green, fresh-from-the-critter hide was worth about $500 and a head was closer to $700... So being able to sell those might be worth the extra hassle of having to process your own animal.

[jwal10]

You have antelope on your list too. Those hollow hairs will give a taste that is worse than an old billy goat if they touch any meat. Buffalo, you don't want one with a trophy mount head if you are going to make anything but chili to sell to the public....James

[ErinP]

ALL buffalo have "trophy mount heads."

[oregon woodsmok]

You don't even have to pay to have the head mounted for it to be worth $.

Around here, they bleach the skulls and paint Native American art on the forehead or do bead work on it, and they sell for really big money in the art galleries.

The value of the hide and head was why I was thinking that his "field dressed" bison was actually going to be skinned and beheaded when he got it. They might weigh it before skinning if it is advertised at $2 a pound field dressed. That wouldn't make me very happy, to pay weight on the robe and head and then not get them.

[Wintergrower_OH]

Sorry for getting back so late . Computer problems . Smarter to buy local buffalo since the church doesn't have allot of storage ? What is a good price to pay ? I was also thinking that a nearby ranch that raises Scottish highlander beef would be good alternative . Looking to make briquette too for heating . Any good books or web pages ?

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by oregon woodsmok

You don't even have to pay to have the head mounted for it to be worth $.

Yeah...!
That $700 that I remember was for a head fresh off the critter!

At the buffalo ranch we used to work on, one of the guys would take the heads and hides off animals that would die while being worked (buffalo are prone to heart attacks. Go figure) and sell them to the Indian store up in Mandan, ND. It's been a few years though. I don't know what they sell for at the moment...

[Sanza]

What about cleaned skulls? Last year I gave 5 to a friend ....