As busy as they want to be

Hunting season in the Platte Valley is a busy time of year for many people, but nobody more than the local meat processors. With over 80 years combined experience, Encampment River Processing and Merrill Meat Company are given plenty of business. Lloyd Buford, owner of Encampment River Processing, bought his business in 1983 and experienced his first full season in 1984.

“I think the first year we had this, our first full game season, we did six deer for the whole season,” said Buford. “We did quite a few antelope, but back then there were a lot of antelope. We did a few elk.”

This didn’t bother Buford much as he had purchased the business with the original intention of operating it as a processing plant for beef, pork and lamb. Interestingly enough, this was the exact opposite of how Merrill Meat Company began. According to Cade Merrill, when his parents first opened their business it was to process wild game and they eventually began processing beef.

Merrill Meat Company first opened in 1972 and, according to Merrill, the wild game business took off for his parents. The younger Merrill stated that, before the winterkill of the early 1980s, Merrill Meat Company processed nearly 900 antelope in a season. The number of antelope has declined since then, as has the mule deer population. For both meat processing companies, elk has become the most common wild game they process.

“You can only take as much as your coolers can hold. When we get 35 elk in in a day, that’s a full cooler,” said Merrill.

According to Buford, processing one elk is equal to that of four antelope. While Buford stated he is only as busy as he wants to be and caters to repeat customers, Merrill Meat Company can see as many as 100 elk within the first four days of elk season.

“It happened for a couple two three days during that time where, late in the day, you might not be able to take anymore for that day, but the most we ever tell people is ‘If you can find a place to hang it tonight, bring it about 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning.’ If we’re that busy, we’ll start at 3 o’clock in the morning to get animals out of the cooler so we can make room for the next day,” said Merrill.

While Merrill Meat Company is staying in the family as Cade Merrill takes over, Buford is looking at making this his final season after 35 full seasons. With two meat processors, currently, operating in the Valley, one closing its doors may lead to an influx with the other. According to Merrill, if Buford does make good on his decision to retire, Merrill Meat Company may consider increasing their coolers to accommodate. 

For the time being, however, there are still two experienced options for hunters to take their harvest to get processed.