Am wondering what experiences others have had there. I picked up a deer this year and had some of it made in tamales. The guy brought the tamales out from a different room than the rest of the meat, and they were not marked. Makes me think that I'm not getting my deer meat back, which is important to me.

I don't personally have any experience with Midway but have heard about this being a problem there.

Again - just repeating what I've heard. I take my game to place in Porter.

I have had several deer processed there, and I can tell you that this is a common occurrence. I am not saying that you dont get your deer back, but there is no real way to prove that it is your deer. We stopped using them about 4 or 5 years ago for that very reason.

We used them a few years back. Would not use them again, primarily because the breakfast sausage they made for us was terrible. It had no flavor at all and tasted vastly different from the samples they were handing out when we dropped our deer off.

I have heard the same thing about not getting your deer back. I take mine to J&M Sausage in Spring (near Hooks Airport).

Been using them for years and I know Herman, the owner.

I am not a fan of everything that they make but the not getting your deer back part is based 100% on rumors.
I will post a picture of their price sheet and item list later, that clearly states, " We process you deer and return your deer to you".

That might not be exactly what that says, but it is something like that. If you don't like their products, don't use them. But don't base your decision on a bunch of unsubstantiated rumors that have been floating around for years.

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have had several deer processed there, and I can tell you that this is a common occurrence. I am not saying that you dont get your deer back, but there is no real way to prove that it is your deer. We stopped using them about 4 or 5 years ago for that very reason

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So if there is no real way to prove you didn't get your deer back, how can you say it is a common occurrence? Furthermore, how can you ensure that a different processor is returning your deer?

I used them this year... actually based off of positive recommendations from this board haha.

Ill confirm that their breakfast sausage is terrible. I mean its just plain bad. I havent figured out how to make it edible yet.

Their sweet smoked sausage however, is excellent IMO.

I dont really know how you tell whether anyone really returns YOUR actual deer, nor am I sure why it matters, so long as their not giving you spoiled meat. If they weigh what you bring in and give you the same back, Im fine with never knowing the truth.

Prasek's

I've had good fortunes with Slovacek's in Snook. I bring them a lot of different kinds of meat. They take good care of my business.

Dozier's in Fulshear is another option pretty cllse to Katy

Just picked up about 150 pounds of red deer meat processed over the last month by Slovacek's! I used to use Readfield's but I changed several years ago because I preferred the slick thick plastic vacuum packaging and that ability to maintain the meat in a frozen state without damage from Slovacek's.

It's a bummer to get meat back in a mix you don't like re: your pan sausage. That's a shame. For all the effort to get it to a processor, you want to know and trust your butcher totally. I wouldn't really hesitate taking meat to either Readfield or Slovacek's based on my experiences with them. They are always able to do what we want and to age things per our requests, and I've never had a quality issue with either.

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So if there is no real way to prove you didn't get your deer back, how can you say it is a common occurrence? Furthermore, how can you ensure that a different processor is returning your deer?

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The last several times that we took deer over to Midway they didnt really tag what we dropped off and label it with our name. Granted they were busy, and and perhaps they slipped something in the bin that they took back. I didn't see it. Hence the "I can't prove it" comment. I just watched them take the meat back to a cold storage room with everyone else's stuff that was coming in, no label, no tag. I know several people who have had that exact experience. They dont take the same measures that other processors take.

We now use Prasek's, and if i don't get the deer that I took, they at least make you feel like it with how many times it is tagged/labeled, etc.

I am not a super dooper deer hunter like most of you guys, but if you really want to worry about not getting your own dear back, you should just process your own.

I know all of the excuses why it is important and that you are paying them to do it.

Reading threads like this makes me glad that I do all my own processing, including the sausage.

I used Midway the season before last and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of sausage and meat. Although I have no way to unequivocally prove my meat is what I turned in, I did review the tracking sheets at pickup. These logged weight of the deer when dropped off and weight of meat out. From this standpoint it matched. I took two large South TX deer in so I ended up with alot of sausage and the link is very good as was the summer. People have actually commented on how good it was and when I tell them Midway they act very surprised. I have eaten steaks twice and both times appear to be the right size compared to the deer brought in.

I recently used Doziers since I live about a mile from them now for hog sausage and they had a similar tracking number and weight system that I reviewed and appeared correct. I have not tried that sausage yet however.

Agree with the above posters. If it is important that you get all your own meat back , do it yourself. I have heard of a few small places that do individual batches of sausage, but most of the time, anything you get that is ground is going to be a mix of deer. You should always get steaks and roast from your own deer at any processor, it's just not efficient or economical to grind individual deer and make a 10# batch of 5 different sausages for one person

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Agree with the above posters. If it is important that you get all your own meat back , do it yourself. I have heard of a few small places that do individual batches of sausage, but most of the time, anything you get that is ground is going to be a mix of deer. You should always get steaks and roast from your own deer at any processor, it's just not efficient or economical to grind individual deer and make a 10# batch of 5 different sausages for one person

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This is exactly it. I worked at a game processor for about a year. You get your cuts back because that's easy for them to do. The burger, not so much, anything that you have ground will likely end up with 100 other meet. Most commercial grinders take a couple hundred pounds at a time... Think about it you really only ever have 10-15 lbs of burger. So they weigh how much all your scraps are for burger, then check your card later and pull out that many pounds from the communal burger batch. If you have 25lbs of meat to be ground and turned into sausage, you are likely to get your own stuff back because the kits for that are in 25lbs increments.

If you want I get your own ground stuff back but you don't want to do it yourself, cut up the deer your self, bag the stuff you want to be ground and freeze it till the off season. Then bring it in when they have low volume. They won't have any other deer to mix with then.

Bad experiences several years back.....use Bellville meat market and have been happy.

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it's just not efficient or economical to grind individual deer and make a 10# batch of 5 different sausages for one person

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Exactly. As above poster said. If your processor allows you to order sausage at anything less than a 20lb minimum you can be assured meat gets mixed. I have used Arnold's in Hempstead several times. You will get your meat back there but he has high minimums. It is a somewhat small scale operation but he does good work & has good sausage recipes. I used Belleville this year to see what they had to offer & I can highly recommend their chipotle sausage.

09, I'm a lifer Katy guy and we've known Herman personally for years. I frequent his store and BBQ joint but I'm in the "may not get your deer back" camp. That is no indictment on Herman and I'm not sure how much involvement he has in the day-to-day deer processing operation.

The final straw for me was when I went to pick up a deer about two weeks after they called to say it was ready and the box of sausage wasn't frozen in the middle. The links on the outside were frozen solid but the inner packages were merely cool. I'm under the impression that the sausage given to me was freshly ground (within last 24-48 hours) and not the deer that was ready two weeks earlier. Add that to several other strange encounters (mostly gross inconsistencies with the yields) and that was the basis for my change.

I still prefer their product over pretty much anyone else's I've tried so it sucked to give up on them but I'm a believer that the masses aren't just ganging up on Midway. I just choose to get my fix in the BBQ joint.

Yes, this is very common practice for Midway.

But other than that, their meat is absolutely horrible. Why anyone would
take it there to begin with boggles the mind.

[This message has been edited by PlayToWin2000 (edited 3/22/2014 7:58a).]

I'm going to start a **** storm but does it matter as long as the weight matches up?

I think that's a fair question Red and I'll say specific to this thread my first issues with Midway were that the yields were all over the place, wildly. Then I suspected, with reason, that I was getting back the last deer processed and they weren't even trying to hide it.

For me it's like this, when you eat at a restaurant you know that someone else is handling and preparing your food. You operate under the assumption that those people are taking the best care possible while handling something you are about to eat. And that trust/denial/whatever is fine until you see the kitchen door swing open and see the cook drop something on the floor and put it back on the counter. Game over, trust/denial/whatever is out the window. You now can't imagine eating your meal or ever coming back to that establishment.

I am fairly certain on more than one occasion Midway has given me someone else's deer and for all I know it could have been yours, and you took great care with it, but the trust/denial/whatever is gone. That's how I see it.

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I'm going to start a **** storm but does it matter as long as the weight matches up?

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Because I drug my deer through 5 miles of cactus. And most of the meat was spoiled but they put it in the communal bin anyway.

Not sure if question is serious or highly ignorant.

I'm hoping that any processor would check to make sure they aren't using spoiled meat and I would hope that was written into the health code for such a place.

I just figure that the deer we shoot is fairly random and I'm not emotionally tied to the deer meat I drop off just like I'm not emotionally tied to the steak I order at a restaurant.

Don't worry. When you grind it all up you can't tell the difference.

[This message has been edited by sjislepilot (edited 3/23/2014 11:36a).]

RedAgs, it is a huge deal for me, because I go to a lot more trouble to do my hunt right, low stress kill, immediate electro-stimulation, quick skinning/gutting and proper method of temperature control within minutes of taking the animal. When you taste venison that is handled in this manner, you will know the difference. Best to know your butcher, and establish that you aren't looking for quick but right, and you will pay for right when it is done right, with no variance or error in procedure. You set the rules and they understand your reasons.

If you aren't particular, I understand. Some of us are trying different ways and learning new tricks. You have to find associates that want to play along and see what happens. Aging is important, and some people are increasingly getting into charcuterie. I hope to ultimately expand my red deer operation into a field to restaurant experience, but I am still taking small steps using other experts to learn and taste what works best. I'm about to quadruple my pasture size.

[This message has been edited by Yuccadoo (edited 3/23/2014 4:04p).]

FWIW:

http://www.saltandtime.com/

Yucca.....if you go to THAT much trouble, why take that kind of risk at processing ??

[This message has been edited by Brazosdog02 (edited 3/23/2014 8:58p).]

I don't take any risk...I know my butchers. THAT is my point. I have processed myself, too.

RedAg- hate to burst your bubble, but unless your deer processor processes domestic animals in addition to wild game in their establishment, there is no health code to speak of. Wild game processing in Texas is not regulated.

You can tell the guys on this board that are familiar with processing animals - pretty much all butchers mix people's deer together to grind it up. You can find smaller operations that will do individual deer, but it costs more just because of the hassle.

Personally, I have never taken a deer to a processor for this reason. I can make hamburger meat and steaks for $5 per deer and it takes 1.5 hours. I do not want to pay around $100 for this to have my individual deer done, and I do not want mine mixed with other peoples, so I do it myself - usually 3 deer per year.

Driving back from hunting the hill country, I am ok seeing hunters driving back with deer in the bed of their truck with no ice when it is 60 plus degrees out outside and sunny. It is more important to show off the 2.5 year old 110" 8pt "trophy" they killed on the way back to Dallas or Houston then to quarter the deer and put it on ice. Call me crazy, but I don't want to take a chance my meat is being mixed with those deer that sat in the sun for half a day.

MIDWAY WILL SCREW YOU. 1 Star only because -5 is not an option. This year was my first experience with Midway. I took a deer in for processing when I picked up my meat the order was way less than what I ordered and paid for. In fact I weighed it all once I got home on a proper scale. I had ordered several different items, summer sausage, links (with and without jalapeño & cheese), slim Jim's, ground, etc. The ground meat portion was close to what I ordered(only about a half pound short) but every other item came back several pounds shy, and the slim-jims, the most expensive item came back LESS THAN HALF what I ordered. I called them to get it corrected and was given a ridiculous story about how that it is standard to lose 50% in processing. (actually the guy said you lose 10%, til I told him I was 50% short and he quickly changed his story to 50% is standard lose) This moron failed to understand that they add meat not subtract it. Then when I asked to speak to the manager (Trish) she wasn't there, I called for 5 days in a row, everyday being told each time she would be there the next day and never was. The messed up part was when I started telling my buddies who all hunt about it they laughed and said oh yeah, Midway will screw you bad! 5 different people all had almost the exact same response. . I wish I had known before I went there. So I am going to tell everyone I can. Here is a pre-warning, stay away from Midway. If you already went there and have not picked up your deer yet, tell them to put it on the scale and show you the weights when you pick it up. It's time they were held accountable. Good luck, and watch out for the midway scammers!

After reading the thread about getting YOUR specific deer back I'm a bit surprised at how nave or willfully ignorant some people are about the processing process. I get the arguments about some people will handle the meat properly before drop off and some won't, but has anyone stopped to think it through? If someone comes in with a deer that is tainted in one way or another because of poor handling, do you really think the processor's are cleaning and disinfecting all the equipment before every new batch is put through. Your meat is extremely likely to be mixing with blood and some meat bits and chunks left in the grinders, on the prep tables, the utensils etc. from a dozen other deer. You guys are gonna ignore that and still quibble over what deer it came from? C'mon! I would truly love to know I was getting my deer back. I take great care in handling the game I take, but unless you are processing your own, it is mixed. Maybe only a little, (i.e. blood and bits) or maybe a lot (i.e. this ain't even my deer) but the only way you can be sure it is not mixed is to do it yourself. So can we put this argument to bed already, if you go to a processor big or small you will find this to be true. (Caveat: with an exception for a small processor only working on one animal at a time, then MAYBE! big maybe.)