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Hunter Smokehouse

thephatchef

PMA Member
Had anyone ever used this locker for their deer? Last year when we were boning out our deer, a guy outside of our group let us try some pepper jack cheese and jalapeño deer sticks from Hunter Smokehouse outside of Chariton. We decided to give them a try this year because Uhlrichs Meat Market in Pella did a really poor quality job on our deer last year.

We hunt led the first shotgun season, and delivered all the grind meat (we package the whole muscle meat ourselves) on the Monday of first season. Last Friday we gave them our order for what we wanted it made in to. Yesterday we got the call that it was done and ready for pick up. That's a one week turn around after placing our order. Ridiculous!

Let me just say that I would get kicked off this forum for all the expletives the would precede my comment about how freakin' good this deer is. Everything seemed to be smoked, but the smoke flavor isn't very strong at all. What so amazing about this is that I could give this stuff to my mother, who hates deer, and she would never know it was deer. There is absolutely no gamey flavor to this meat at all. Their Italian sausage looks like and tastes just as good as any Italian sausage I've ever had, including Graziano Brothers in Des Moines. The summer sausage tastes almost like a brown sugar cured ham, the bologna, which I normally avoid like the plague, is awesome, the sticks are unbelievable and all the same size in the bag. Oh, and every bag is a ziplock sealed bag, so when you are done eating your fill, you just zip it up. I've never seen that from a locker before.

I live in Ames, but hunt first season at lake Red Rock. I will drive from Ames to this locker whenever I shoot my next deer, and all future deer. It's that good.

One thing to note is that I believe you have to have your deer boned out before taking it to them. And it's pretty awesome that you get your own deer back. That's pretty sweet!

Ok, raving over. If like to hear if anyone else has tried them. If not, please do. The service is incredible, and the product you get back is out of this world good.
 
Never have but how do you contact them?
On a side note had Mikes a Meats in Knoxville make pork jerky and breakfast sausage out of a boar 2 weeks ago and was very happy and less than a week turn around.
 
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Never have but how do you contact them? On a side note had Mikes a Meats in Knoxville make pork jerky and breakfast sausage out of a boar 2 weeks ago and was very happy and less than a week turn around.

The number on all their bags is 641-862-4460. When Ross went to pick up the deer, he was greeted by his first name after only having met the lady when he dropped the meat off. As a manager of a family business myself, that speaks volumes to the kind of people they are.
 
Mike's Meats from Knoxville and Hunters from Columbia are definitely some of the best around. Another good one is Western's Smokehouse down in Greentop Missouri
 
Sounds good. I didn't see the usual run on deer at our local locker so it probably doesn't take as long compared to a few years ago to process.
 
Their barbecue sticks are amazing.... AMAZING! Yeah definitely recommend Hunter and I've had a lot of different places.
 
I have never been to Hunter, but the locker I do use has one thing in common with what was stated above about Hunter. They do not mix your meat with anybody elses. After having a couple bad experiences at other lockers I will not take deer to a place that mixes my deer with others. Having good venison is so much about how you handle the deer and meet from the moment of the kill on. Since not everybody understands this I will no longer risk letting mine get mixed with some poorly cleaned, misshandled, gut shut deer.

Thanks for the post too. It is always nice to see positive reviews on services and products shared so that others can enjoy the same quality.
 
2-bucks.. you bring up a valid point about deer meat not getting mixed together... to bad we cant start a list of lockers that DONT mix your meat with others? I have a bad feeling about the locker I dropped mine off this year and will be changing because he didnt label it while I was there... so I have no idea what I will be getting back :confused:
 
I have never been to Hunter, but the locker I do use has one thing in common with what was stated above about Hunter. They do not mix your meat with anybody elses. After having a couple bad experiences at other lockers I will not take deer to a place that mixes my deer with others. Having good venison is so much about how you handle the deer and meet from the moment of the kill on. Since not everybody understands this I will no longer risk letting mine get mixed with some poorly cleaned, misshandled, gut shut deer. Thanks for the post too. It is always nice to see positive reviews on services and products shared so that others can enjoy the same quality.

It says something about a place when I'm willing to drive almost two hours to take deer to a locker. They seem like a place that might be willing to try a different blend of spices for some sticks. I really like hot sticks, and will see if they can work something up for me. Even if they don't, I'll be seeing them for every deer I shoot from here on out.
 
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