H&H Meat Processing

I called before hand and spoke with the owner. After talking with him a while I asked if they gave Veteran discounts and was told they did. "We'll work something out for you, I'm a Navy Vet myself." I was stoked! I had my very first hunt ever and bagged a beautiful cow. My friends helped skin and 1/4 her and we dropped her off. We were told we'd probably get about 6 roasts some steak and a bunch of burger. I was totally cool with that.

I was called out of town for work, the holidays, and bad weather kept me from going right back up but was told it was not a problem at all. This was my fault and mine alone. But to be told it was no problem meant they were fine with it too.

When I drove back (from Albuquerque) they brought it 2 bags and told us to have a great day. I got home and my son asked hey, why does this bag say 1/3 and this one says 3/3? I called and of course they said they didn't have it. Then they realized their mistake. They'd given my meat to someone else! My wife called because I was a little angry, and was told they were so sorry and they would give us 25 2 pound packages of hamburger because we missed 24 of chili ground and 1 hamburger. "We're so sorry, will throw some extras in because it was our mistake!" They offered to call that guy and make him bring all of my meat back (he'd already given it to friends and family), but who knows how it was handled?

I got exactly 25 2 pound packages of someone else's meat. No idea how it was handled in the field. No roasts, very few steaks. When I asked about the Veteran discount I was told "sorry, not this year, maybe we can do something for you next year."

Oh, and by the way, 2 pound packages are actually 1.8 pounds. So in 50 pounds they skim 5 free pounds for themselves. They cheated me out of 10% of my meat! I paid them and fed them. Total BS.

I will never, ever (no not ever) use or recommend this processor to anyone at all. I wish they made it possible to give a negative start rating.

Review: I hired H&H Meats to process the elk I shot in December, 2013 in New Mexico. Normally, I use another locker plant nearby but several of my friends wanted to use H&H because they use vacuum plastic packaging whilst the other firm still wraps in white paper. Although I have no problem with white butcher paper (it's all I have used) I think most would agree that the plastic when done right is better.

Everything was going fine until they called to ship. I was informed that they would ship 86lbs of meat. That was the problem.

The elk I delivered for processing was 320lbs dressed out. It was weighed on a digital scale at the game barn known to be correct. After removing the hide (est 70lbs), bones and carcass (est 70lbs) I should have ended up with 180 lbs of elk meat. Then they added 10% pork to the burger. No way I should only get 86lbs of finished, packaged meat.

They said my elk was badly shot up and much meat was damaged and discarded. This is a baloney excuse and I am not buying it. I CLEANLY killed the elk with ONE LUNG SHOT. The bullet went in the carcass and did not exit. I know this as I thoroughly inspected the carcass BEFORE sending it to H&H. I was looking for the bullet as a souvenir.

So, what happened? One, maybe H&H accidentally switched my larger elk with somebody else's smaller elk. It's possible. This can easily happen during a busy season. If so, they should have a better inbound quality and identification procedure and paperwork. Or Two, somebody at H&H kept about 100lbs of my prime elk meat. This is possible, too. You can draw you own conclusion on #2.

Either way, next year I am not processing my elk at H&H Meat Processing in Springer.Desired Settlement: Well, they definitely owe be 100lbs of New Mexico elk meat. Good luck collecting that from them.

I guess all I can do is warn other hunter about H&H and let them know what happened to me. What other recourse do I have?

Business

Response:

To Revdex.com:

The elk that was delivered to us, for this customer, was weighed in at 227 lbs. Our in rail scale system is calibrated and know to be accurate. We also tare out the weight of the roller hooks. On arrival each animal is tagged with a lot number and that number stays on the animal through the entire process. Each animal is processed individually. We process boneless which reduces the weight in the finished product as compared to a bone in ratio.

Our paperwork reflects that approximately 95% of the rib and neck meat, and approximately 20% of the shoulder on one side was lost due to blood shot.

Any meat we deem is un-edible or unfit for processing is disposed of.

Respectfully

[redacted], VP

H&H Meat Processing, Inc