Financial considerations

The wife and I have been considering buying a 1/4 or 1/2 beef. The good news is that all of the local places I've looked at online claim to only grass feed the cows, they're processed locally and we'd have an inkling of what's in the meat we'd be eating. The most expensive has been $4 per pound and they claim their halves are about 300-350 pounds (place "A"). The least expensive has been about $2.65 per pound, plus 53 cents per pound for butchering and their halves are closer to 250 pounds, as I recall (place "B"). All weights are "hanging weight," which means you lose about 25% of that weight during the butchering process.
So that's $800-$1400 for a half of a cow, ranging from 188 to 262 pounds of meat, making the actual per pound price $4.26 (place "B") to 5.34 (place "A"). Of course, every half cow has its own cost and the cost will likely increase each time we buy.

Let's compare to my hunting adventures. I've figured that I've spent about $2100 so far on equipment and licenses. Yes, I went overboard and I certainly could have done it cheaper (especially in terms of hunting clothes- that's a later entry). But it is what it is. Let's say that I down a 150# blacktail. Estimates of loss are at 50% of pre-field-dressed weight. so that's 75# of butchered meat, a skin for tanning and I'm sure I can have whtever bones and sinews I want (I'd keep the head for the skull and horns). But sticking just to the meat, my first deer would cost $28 per pound. Each deer thereafer is approximately exponentially cheaper per pound: $14, $7, $3.50, $1.75, 88cents.... I'm heartened by the math! If I keep my gear for 18 years like my hunting buddy, and if I get soemthing each year, the meat is practically free in 10 years. There's maintenance to the bow (string replacement every other year, silencers, etc) and arrows (but I have over a dozen that are suitable for hunting) and broadheads (half dozen plus replacement blades in store) to consider and they are what make the reduction in cost each year "almost" exponential. Oh and butchering is around 75 cents a pound at the place that's nearest me, so that should be figured in so as to make as direct a comparison as possible.