Best Venison Grinder (in my experience)

Which meat grinder is best for deer and elk? That is the question, but the answer may not be so easy! For starters, each person has varying likes and dislikes, favorite features, size of workspace, not to mention budgets. 

The Best Venison Grinder 

When I say best venison grinder, know that I am speaking strictly from my personal experience. This is not a researched list of statistics. I haven’t even googled which grinder is the best or most popular. This is simply my experience and opinions, for what that’s worth! 

Types of meat grinder for venison 

KitchenAid Meat Grinder

When we first started processing our own game meat, (2o years ago!) we didn’t have a grinder, but I did have a KitchenAid stand mixer in my kitchen. So I bought the meat grinder attachment because it was inexpensive and easy to store. You can find the KitchenAid meat grinder attachments on Amazon for about $40-$50, (affiliate link) or sometimes on Ebay.

 

I used that grinder for several antelope, deer, an elk, and believe it or not – an entire beef! But it was slow, slow going. First, I had to cut the meat into very small chunks so it would even fit down the tube. Then, it clogged up the grinding plate very quickly. I had to stop every 10 minutes to clean it out. 

The meat was ground ok, it came with two plates; large and fine. But it just took what seemed like forever to grind an entire deer, let alone an elk! 

 I had the plastic version and eventually it developed small cracks in the plastic  around the grinding blades. It still works, and I still own the grinder, but I only use it for fruits and vegetables, now. 

STX Turboforce 3000 Series Electric Meat Grinder  

This meat grinder was recommended to me by a friend, and I was excited because it was very inexpensive and seemed like a big machine that would be perfect for our needs. The STX Turboforce costs about $160 on Amazon. (affiliate link)

 

I couldn’t wait to try it out! I pulled it out of the box and started it up, and wow was it fast compared to my KitchenAid! I was super excited now! 

Then sadly, it began to smoke. I had only been grinding for a few minutes, when smoke began to pour out of the motor, along with the unmistakable odor of a burning motor. I stopped it, checked for anything plugging it or obstructing the auger, but everything was fine! I tried again – more smoke. 

So I returned that meat grinder. Maybe it was a lemon, I don’t know. But I was done messing around with inexpensive grinders! 

My husband and I had a serious discussion about how much meat we will process on a regular basis, and we knew that it only made sense to invest in something big enough to handle an elk easily. When we lived on the ranch, we relied heavily on beef to fill in gaps in our hunting. Now that we were off the ranch, we need to harvest enough animals to provide meat for our entire year. 

So we went to the brand that hasn’t let us down: Cabelas. 

Cabela’s® Commercial-Grade 1HP Carnivore Meat Grinder

We spent about $500 (in 2019) on this grinder for venison, although the price has risen since then. I believe it is about $550 now. That’s about the price of getting 1 elk processed at the butcher, in our area!

We put a lot of our wild game into ground burger, so we do more grinding than the average hunter, I’d say. I can run an elk through that grinder in no time. The first grind take about 5 minutes, the second takes longer, naturally. 

Last year I ground 3 elk, 4 deer, and an antelope. It was great! We have been using this grinder for 3 seasons now, and it purrs right along. 

It comes with an ice sleeve that you store in the freezer, and attach it to the grinding head while grinding. It keeps it cool while grinding. I really love that feature.

It has a 1-horsepower motor that grinds 11-13 lbs of meat per minute, according to the website. It comes with 3 sausage-stuffing funnels and 2-piece snack stick funnel, meat stomper, coarse grinding plate, fine grinding plate, and stuffing star.

More wild game and venison posts: 
Cooking Wild Game Tips
Ground Venison Soup
20 Ground Venison Recipes

Note: this is NOT a sponsored post! In fact, I contacted the company to see if they would sponsor this post, but they said my blog didn’t fit their requirements, haha! So this is just my opinion, and my personal appreciation, nothing more! I really enjoy this machine and feel like it is truly the best venison grinder for the average home processor.