1st day of deer rifle season is busy for some deer processors, not so much for others

Mike Galup has hunted with his grandfather since he was a kid, and this year, was no exception.

Galup, 29, of West Deer, and Matt Ciocca, 85, were up at 5 a.m. and in the woods an hour later on Saturday — the first day of rifle season — to get a prime spot on Ciocca’s 10 acres in Crawford County.

“I have good memories going with my grandfather,” Galup said, “It’s a tradition in Pennsylvania.”

They climbed into their respective tree stands and waited.

By 9 a.m., Galup had gotten his first deer — an 8-point buck. By 11:30, he had a doe, too.

His grandfather didn’t get anything.

“I actually felt bad,” he said.

The two finished up around 1:30 p.m., and by 4, Galup was dropping off his haul at Wright’s Deer Cutting in Clinton Township.

He paid $200 to have both deer processed. Galup will get smoked eats — jerky, hot sticks, deer ham, as well as ground meat, steaks, loins and chops.

He said he will share with his friends from work, too.

“That’s a lot of meat,” he said.

Dave Wright, who operates Wright’s Deer Cutting, said that he felt like Saturday was slower than normal. He’d gotten about 40 deer to be processed by the late afternoon — down from the average 60 or 75 on the first day.

He was skinning the deer to be processed on Saturday and said he’d start butchering them on Monday night.

The ones dropped off on Saturday should be done by Wednesday, said Wright, who has operated his business for 25 years.

He also makes deer bologna, kielbasa and hot dogs.

“We’ll do anything,” Wright said.

The basic cut is $125 for all sizes.

“I get screwed if it’s a big one, and the customer gets screwed if it’s a small one,” he said.

Barbara Rosensteel, who works with her son and husband at Rosensteel’s Deer Processing in Belle Vernon, said they were swamped on Saturday.

“It’s crazy,” she said.

They try to cut about 20 per day, and each one takes about 30 minutes. During rifle season, they work as many as 17 hours per day, Rosensteel said.

They charge $90 per deer, and have been operating since 1999.

Neither Wright nor Rosensteel like the changes made in recent years by the state Game Commission that allow hunters to take bucks and doe at the same time and extended hunting to the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving.

“You get swamped,” Wright said.

“We’ve had to turn them away,” Rosensteel said. “They overload the butchers.”

Last year, they had to turn people away.

Wright said they process 800 to 1,000 deer during archery season.

George Karmon, who operates George’s Wild Game Processing And Deer Taxidermy in Elizabeth, also said his business was slow Saturday. He had only gotten 30 by the later afternoon, when normally he’d be at 50 to 60.

“I think the weather’s holding people back,” he said.

Karmon was supposed to go out hunting Saturday morning, too. He woke up, checked the weather and saw it was 20 degrees.

“I rolled back over in bed,” Karmon said. “I think that happened to a lot of people this morning.”

His snack sticks — with or without cheese — are very popular, as well as bologna, kielbasa and bulk and link sausage.

Karmon, who has been processing deer since he was 16, charges $125 per deer, and size doesn’t matter. He can normally process about three to four per hour.

The state Game Commission estimates that there’s about 60% waste in a deer. A 200-pounder will result in about 88 pounds of meat, Karmon said.

Most of the deer he’s seen so far this year have been small-to-medium sized.

“Normally, you get the larger ones during archery season,” Karmon said.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, in 2023-2024, there were just over 430,000 white-tailed deer taken during all hunting seasons.

Game Commission Lt. Andy Harvey, said he spent Saturday in Somerset and Westmoreland counties and saw more hunters out than he expected.

“We saw a lot of vehicles pulled over and some successful hunters,” he said.