What It Costs to Process a Deer in PA: $80 to $160 for the Basics
Out of 306 Pennsylvania deer processors, only 12 post a per-deer price on their own website. Those 12 rate cards, spread across 12 counties and 6 Game Commission regions, put a basic cut-and-wrap job between $80 and $160, with the middle of the pack around $112. Specialty products are where the bill grows.
96% of processors don't publish prices, so most hunters find out what they owe at pickup. Here is what the shops that do post prices charge this season.
Basic processing fee, from posted rate cards
| Processor | Town | County | Region | Basic fee | What's included |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country Butcher Inc. | Woodland | Clearfield | Northcentral | $80 | Steaks, roasts, ground. Skinning extra; +$25 if the deer is cold or frozen |
| Pekar's Smokehouse | Bobtown | Greene | Southwest | $80 to $160 | Priced by deer: small doe $80, doe $110, buck $130, mature buck $160 |
| Troyer's Processing | Bear Lake | Warren | Northwest | $85 | With hide; $125 caped |
| Kip's Deer Processing | Carnegie | Allegheny | Southwest | $95 minimum | Plus $0.90 per lb |
| Wenger Meats & Ice Co. | Carlisle | Cumberland | Southcentral | $100 / $145 | $100 cut and grind only; $145 cut, vacuum-packed, labeled, frozen; skinning $30 |
| Bill's Deer Processing | Langhorne | Bucks | Southeast | $100 | Skinned and quartered; cut options priced separately |
| Charles Ilyes Family Inc | York | York | Southcentral | $115 to $145 | Plus $1 per lb for ground |
| Paul's Custom meats | Jefferson Township | Lackawanna | Northeast | $120 | Skin, cut, grind, vacuum-pack, freeze |
| Demarest Meat Plant LLC | Montrose | Susquehanna | Northeast | $120 | Cut, vacuum-packed, frozen |
| Thomas Smoked Meats LLC | Johnstown | Somerset | Southwest | $120 | Vacuum packaging +$20 |
| Beatty's Country Market | Enon Valley | Lawrence | Northwest | $145 | Regular cut and wrap |
| Bryan's Meat Cutting & Ctry Butcher Shop | Milan | Bradford | Northeast | $150 | Regular cut: steaks, chops, roasts, burger |
Median basic fee: about $112, using each shop's lowest full-service price (a standard doe for shops that price by deer size). Vacuum-packed service clusters at $120 to $145.
Add-ons to budget for
| Item | Range on posted cards |
|---|---|
| Snack sticks | $4 to $8 per lb |
| Jerky | $12 to $25 per lb (some shops price per hind leg, e.g. $35 a leg) |
| Bologna, kielbasa, summer sausage | $2.50 to $7 per lb |
| Fresh bulk sausage | $1.50 to $4 per lb |
| Adding pork or beef to the grind | $2.50 to $5 per lb |
| Caping for a mount | $25 to $50 |
| Skinning a cold or frozen deer | $20 to $25 extra |
| Late pickup / storage | $10 a day after 3 days at one shop; $10 if not picked up in 7 days at another |
Donating to Hunters Sharing the Harvest? The program reimburses participating processors, so donated deer are typically free to the hunter. One card in this set lists HSH processing at $0. Where to donate, by county →
By region
12 rate cards is too few for a county-by-county price map. What they do show: no region is a clear outlier. Northeast shops with posted prices sit at $120 to $150, and the lowest posted basics ($80 to $95) are in Clearfield, Warren, Allegheny and Greene counties.