Processor Selling Meat

Help me out here, I dropped a deer off the last day of the season. I was called and told it was ready, but I told them I would not be able to come back down soon. I was told this was no problem just call when I was around and they would meet me there. I call today to go and pick it up and they tell me it has been sold..

Is this on me for waiting too long? Or, do you think the processor should have called and given me a hard pickup date and that it would be sold if I didn’t show up?

Apparently he is now butchering beef and can’t have venison in the same area?

I’m pissed, just unsure if I should be mad at myself or the guy who processed it. I’m actually a little sick about killing something and not eating it.

Sounds like he’s following USDA regs so the fault would be on you but he could have called you to check and see if you wanted it before it was sold

It's now the second week of March. Season went out 4 weeks ago. That seems like a long time for the guy to hold your meat. No homo.

Yea that’s on you for waiting that long.

It's on you, he's in the business of processing not storing. He was ready to get paid and move on to what he does the rest of the year to make a living

Maybe so but a warning would have been appreciated. First and last season using them.

Each processor is different in regards to what other regulations they have to maintain but, assuming they had your contact info with your meat, a call with message would have been professional. I've taken coolers of processed meat after season to mine(when I didn't do everything in house) after the season to have link sausage made and come back to get it almost 3 months later.
But now I do it all in-house. I was never certain that I was getting my meat back with processors.

@Ron, I would have loved to have known that and I would have made special arrangements. A little customer service wouldn’t have killed him. But, he got paid and that’s what he cares about I suppose.

On you but I think he probably should have told you upfront that has to be picked up by X date

What took you so long to get it? How far away from there do you live?

dropped off 4 weeks ago, but a lot of processors let them hang 2-3 weeks before butchering, it's not like it's been sitting there boxed up ready to go for 4 weeks......

If the processor told him it was "no problem" that he couldn't get there immediately to pick it up, and if the processor never called him to say "it has to be picked up by [DATE] or it will be sold", then IMO the processor is out of line and I'd be pissed too.

I live about an hour and 45 minutes from there but my weekends have been crazy because I am remodeling my house.

Happened to me 2 years ago. I killed a 210lb 7 point opening day and just didn't get around to picking it up after they called. They called 2 more times and I still didn't go get it. When I rolled in about a month or more later, they said it was sold. I was like "What?!" Her reply was "Don't you like to get paid in a timely manner when you give someone an eye exam? Well, so do we when we do our job. We called you three times and didn't hear from you so we sold it" Point made. Point taken. Guess who picks up their deer on time now?! I was upset initially because I've used them for 20+ years and that was the only deer I killed that year. But I'm also man enough to admit it was me at fault. I live 15 minutes from the processor and I should have picked it up a lot sooner.

Dr. B

After the season they are trying to get rid of it so they can shut the freezer off and save some electricity. All of the processors I've used have a notice posted that they will only hold it 10 days after processing. Technically, he didn't sell it as that would be illegal. He just let them have it for the processing fee, which is legal. Most keep a list of people that want the unclaimed deer meat.

Did not know this. In Texas, most processors require a 50% deposit. Any unclaimed meat cannot be re-sold, only donated.

This is kinda like buying your way out of a citation by buying a BaitEmWithCorn Privilege License, isn't it?

/crossthreading/

I killed a deer the last day of season this year. When I dropped it off i was told they were cutting the freezers off the following friday. Had to get somebody to go get my meat...

Somebody got yo meat!!!!!
It wont go to waste.

The processor I use in town sold the 2nd buck I killed this year. It was thanksgiving weekend and I actually hung around and talked while they caped it out for me. I get a call about 2 weeks later saying my deer meat is ready and if I don’t come and get it theyre going to sell it. I never got a first call, or if I did I didn’t realize it. I go by there the next day to get my meat and it’s already been sold! The said they called me 3 days after I dropped the deer off. I actually told them I was sorry for the misunderstanding and I tried to pay them for caping the deer out. He wouldn’t have it and just told me to bring him another deer. I did, no harm no foul.

I laughed.

My dad and wife runs a deer process and in Jan it get busy. I guess people do not realize that the walk in freezer will only hold so much and they need people to pickup to make room for more they give 14 day to pickup and call folks several times to remind them. But like everything now a days a few bad apples ruin it for everybody. It cost a lot of money to run all the cooler and freezer and they try to get things cut off as soon as they can at the end of the season.

Sooo...what are you trying to say....

I did too....

Pickup meat on time or Don't be mad when the processor gets rid of it.

Hell if a processor calls me 3 days after I drop one off I’ll tell him to sell the damn thing. Unless I brought it quartered in a cooler. Mine hang a week or they don’t get left.

No one is arguing that people get busy, or that meat takes up room in a freezer. I would completely understand them selling it if I had been given a hard pickup time as I stated in the OP. This guy is butchering beef and his freezer is still running I would assume. It appears you are calling me a bad apple which is confusing because having my meat sold literally ruined nothing for anyone except myself. I appreciate you making a generalization and pointing out things everyone else knew and understood.

Thank you for such an enlightening statement.

When I lived in Baldwin County, the local processor had a waiting list and once March 1st rolled around, they would sell any remaining meat for processing costs. I've bought a lot in the past this way.

This one is one is on them and I wouldn't use them again if they didn't call and leave a message. How far away are you? An hour or two and you could have called and ran down there. Me, I prefer to pick it up no more than two weeks later. That is why I would say call next time and pick up between two to three weeks. Some like to let it hang for a month. Most processors want it out of the way and I can't blame them for that. You could quarter it and store in a cooler to bring closer to home to process next time. They may still be able to sale their venison to the feed the hungry program which may be what happen to yours. I was talking to one of the better processors/taxidermist and he said you would be surprised how many don't pick up their finished product. Hard to run a business that way.

Most processors wont hold deer after the end of season for maybe a week or so. I would not expect one to run a big walk in freezer for almost a month after season is over just to hold one deer.

Might want to ask the next processor you use upfront if he would hold one for a month after season ends for you or what his policy is.

I agree 100%. Deer have to hang for several days. A deer that is ready in three days is someone else's deer and i will not use that deer processor period.

The one i use told all of their customers that all meat had to be picked up by the 3rd of March or it would be sold.

yes

This.

I wouldn't have dropped a deer off at a processor at my hunting club that's a couple hours away on the last day of the season, knowing I wouldn't be able to get back down there for awhile. Common sense tells you they only do that type of work part time. I would have brought it home and dropped it at a local processor.

Our processor texts us when our deer meat is ready to be picked up, an excellent reminder!

Ya, I really think they just got busy over thanksgiving weekend and got some deer mixed up. I’ve never had that processed call me 3 days after I drop one off, it’s usually at least 2 weeks.

Well they called and you didnt come within a few days so its npt their fault.

My processor calls when its ready, about 8 to 10 days after you drop it off. Then they will call you back in a week to remind you its ready. He gives you a day or two then sells it if he has an opportunity.

He is a processor not a warehouse.

All these processors who are "selling" your deer are breaking the law, unless they've had the venison inspected by a USDA or state Inspector. I'll bet 99.9% of them don't want inspectors snooping around their shops. See attached:


"If wild game meat has received a mark of inspection by a state or federal inspection program, or it has been legally imported, then its sale is legal anywhere within the United States. Game meats that do not have a mark of inspection cannot be sold. This is the case for game meat harvested by a recreational hunter."