When it’s time to get your meat processed, the closer to where you shot your animal the better. Luckily, a variety of high-quality meat processors bed down right here in western Colorado, ensuring you can enjoy the spoils of your hunt without spoiling your game.
Steamboat Springs
Elk River Custom Meats
Twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, Elk River Custom Meats supplies the needs of Yampa Valley hunters. Located at 2464 Downhill Drive, the business has been in operation for nine years, with owner Dan Bubenheim available 24-7 to assist hunters in the field. “Anyone can reach me on my cell phone (970-846-7642) at any time,” he says.
The facility processes elk, deer, antelope, bear, mountain lion, moose, bighorn sheep and “pretty much anything.” “The way we wrap is pretty unique,” Bubenheim says. “We also offer flash freezing for shipping, and free pickup service.”
The pickup service, he adds, is particularly important during bow season. “We’ll get out there and get the animal in before it gets too hot,” he says.
The business also employs four chefs, who prepare a variety of sausages and jerkies, and maintains a retail store, supplying a variety of hunting needs. “All our sausages are made from scratch, and we have seven types of jerky, all preservative-free,” says Bubenheim, also a culinary school graduate. “We’re very customer oriented. We spend a lot of time with each individual, and I welcome hunters to come in and take a tour.”
Info: (970) 846-7642
Steamboat Meat & Seafood Co.
A longtime winner of Steamboat Springs’ annual Best of the Boat contest, and recipient of numerous grand-champion awards for its bacon, sausage, hams and summer sausage, Steamboat Meat & Seafood Co., a USDA-inspected, HACCP-certified facility, has been operating in Steamboat Springs since 1982 (it purchased O.K. Meats in 1999 and changed to its current name). Located at 1030 Yampa Street in downtown Steamboat, the company specializes in big game processing, including elk, deer, antelope bear, moose, mountain lion and buffalo and boasts more than 25 years experience.
Services also include custom meat grinding and a variety of sausages and jerky.
“We make a game breakfast sausage and a game Italian sausage,” says owner Bill Hamil. “We also can custom make sausage, summer sausage, Bratwurst and different kinds of jerky.”
The company offers 24-hour-per-day access to its courtesy cooler for after-hours drop-offs. Hamil says the business’s success owes itself to quality. “We have the finest, cleanest workmanship around, and we process for a lot of the big outfitters,” he says.
Info: steamboatseafood.com, (970) 879-3504
Kremmling/Walden
Troublesome Meat Processing
Surrounded by pristine hunting grounds, Troublesome Meat Processing, formally known as Kremmling Wild Game, is the perfect location to process your wild game. Owners Mitch and Christina Lockhart are fifth generation beef-cattle ranchers who also own the Middle Park Meat Co. butcher shop, long popular with locals and visitors. All fees include cutting orders to your specifications; cooling of carcass in walk-in cooler; cutting, grinding and wrapping. Troublesome uses Freshguard meat wrapping paper that’s good for up to nine months in your freezer; and freezing of your meat, if time allows. Info: www.troublesomemeatprocessing.com, (970) 724-3759
North Park Specialty Meats
Situated in North Park, a premier destination for thousands of hunters and fisherman each year, North Park Specialty Meats opened in 2012 with products they’re proud to market (including their signature elk snack stick). It processes all variety of big game, including elk, deer, pronghorn, moose and bear. Enabling you to take a package of meat and put it right on the grill without having to trim or cut it, their team strives to accommodate hunters and have game meat packaged and frozen when you’re ready to leave. Orders are custom to each hunter and they only process one animal at a time to insure you get your meat. Info: www.northparkspecialtymeats.com, (970) 723-8333
Grand Junction
D&M Meats
Dan and Michelle Gillian are the husband and wife team that put the D&M into D&M Meats. The Grand Junction business is in its 17th year, recently relocating to a new 3,000-square-foot facility at 1301 20 Road near Fruita. “Hunting season is a huge part of our business,” Dan says, noting they’re processing more elk now than deer. “With wild game, we cut out as much of fat as possible and take out all the bone.” He adds quality and customer service is what they keep in the crosshairs.
“People like our quality,” he says. “They’ll get their animal back and it’s the way they want it. We have some good smoke products too, but the biggest thing is quality and customer service.” Info: (970) 241-1073
Old World Meat
For more than 50 years, Old World Meat, at 1765 Main Street in Grand Junction, has been processing wild game. It’s been in the same family the entire time, and is now run by the husband and wife duo of Matt Anderegg and his wife, Cyndi, and Matt’s sister, Sue, and her husband, Rick Nehm. “Our busy time starts around county fair time and goes right through the end of the year,” Matt says. “We do domestic processing all year, but wild game is a big part of what we do in the fall.”
Whatever the meat, quality control and high standards is always the goal. “We’re known for our wild game sausage and snack sticks,” he says. “And when you open a package of wild game we processed, it’s ready to eat. There’s nothing to cut off.”
And rush service for out-of-state clients is no problem. “We can get an animal in the early afternoon and have it ready and frozen the next morning,” Matt says.
Info: oldworldmeatgj.com, (970) 245-2261
—Dale Shrull
Craig
Brother’s Custom Processing
Brother’s Custom Meat Processing, at 383 East First Street in Craig, offers full game processing as well as selection of award-winning retail products. Owner Dave Satterwhite says his business can handle any northwest Colorado game as well as livestock. “We get trophies ready for hunters to take home, we ship, and we make different sausages,” he says.
Brother’s has been operating for 17 years and has won numerous meat processing awards. The business received four Grand Champion honors for its smoked turkey bone-in ham, specialty wild game and bacon, as well as Reserve Grand Champion for large diameter luncheon meat and meat snack sticks and a champion distinction for jerky. “We’re just doing a good job,” Satterwhite says.
Info: brothersprocessing.com, (970) 824-3855
Mountain Meat Packing
At Mountain Meat Packing, processing is the family specialty. Four generations of Baysingers have offered game and livestock processing services to the Craig area since 1977, with the company recently celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Because of the connection to the family name, Mountain Meat fosters an expectation of excellence. “Our name is kind of on the line there,” co-owner Jeff Baysinger says.
Jeff’s grandfather, Loren Baysinger, started the business and at 86 he still helps out around the shop. Located at 291 Lincoln Street in Craig, Mountain Meat can handle any type of northwest Colorado game, minus poultry, and also processes livestock. It also offers specialty sausages, shipping services and a selection of retail items. “We can accommodate whatever hunters’ needs are,” Jeff says.
Info: mountain-meat.com, (970) 824-4878
Custom Quality Meats
The name says it all for Craig’s Custom Quality Meats; they process to perfection. “We custom cut it the way you want it,” says owner Dave Tafoya.
Tafoya has processed most every big game animal in North America and can handle whatever hunters bring in. Despite experience with ostrich and other birds, he doesn’t process poultry. “I don’t deal with anything with feathers,” he says.
Located at 1430 Yampa Ave. in Craig, Tafoya has been in the business since 1992 and is now entering his 26th year processing meat in Moffatt County. As well as high-quality processing, he also assures customers leave with exactly what they brought in. “The animal they bring in, I guarantee it’s the one they take back,” he says, adding the company can also FedEx orders overnight. Info: (970) 824-4668
—Patrick Kelly
Rifle/Silt/Glenwood Springs
Eagle Springs Meats – Wild Game Processing
Located at 1733 Railroad Ave. in Rifle, Eagle Springs Meat–Wild Game Processing processes meat from wild game and domestic animals, offering a reasonable price at a flat, non-fluctuating rate. It also guarantees that quality food comes from their customers’ game. Operating under its current ownership for seven years, products start at $175 for deer and $275 for elk for products like steak, roast or ground meat. The company offers far more products beyond that as well, including smoked meats. Info: eaglespringsmeats.com, (970) 797-4970
Holy Cow Packing Plant
Since 1982 Holy Cow Packing Plant, at 964 Garfield County Road 229 in Silt, has been taking hunters’ game and turning it into food for the dinner table. During peak season the shop is busy with about seven employees, processing such wild game as deer, elk, bear and mountain lion. It also processes domestic animals. Holy Cow specializes in producing 25 different varieties of fresh sausage, six types of snack sticks, six types of bratwursts, as well as jerkies and summer sausage. Among their different types of sausage Holy Cow also makes a number of ethnic varieties. Info: holycowpp.com, (970) 309-3673
Gross Locker Plant
Gross Locker Plant, at 140 South Eighth St. in Silt, has been a family-owned meat processor servicing Silt and the surrounding community for more than 65 years. During hunting season, the business is open seven days per week, starting at 6 a.m. and often staying open as late as it takes. The company, which is usually run solely by Rocky Gross, who’s owned the business for 16 years, will process both wild and domestic game – just about anything except poultry and fish, he says. Info: (970) 876-2334
—Ryan Summerlin