Frequently Asked Questions
Bringing your venison in to Cordray's can be done is several ways. We prefer you bring whole unskinned freshly harvested carcasses. We will clean and wash the carcass and hang it whole. We also accept deer that you have skinned and cleaned according to safe handling practices. You may also bring in fresh venison pieces kept on ice. Frozen meat is accepted from August 15th to September 14th and the second Saturday in January. Please note our operating hours to avoid a wasted trip.
We take frozen meat from August 15th to September 14th and then the second Saturday in January. When hunters start using the antlerless deer tag on September 15th, we get swamped with fresh carcasses. In order to do the best job of processing those carcasses at just the right time to get the best yield of safe venison, we must process these fresh carcasses according to a strict time schedule. Frozen meat must be unthawed and then processed immediately. There isn't time to do both frozen meat and fresh carcasses together. We insist on giving you with the best product we can provide. Reserving frozen meat for these specific times ensures we have time to concentrate on each product separately.
When you drop off your deer, we take your order and give you an orange pick-up card with your Ready Date. Your order will be ready on that day. You don't need to call and check or wait on us to call you. We'll call you in the unlikely event that it won't be ready on time.
Most of our customers pick up their orders on time and we appreciate it! It is important that you pick up your order on the Ready Date or as quickly as possible after that day. We are just not setup to be a storage locker. We have very limited freezer space and have to make room for the hundreds of new orders coming in every week.
We'll store your orders for free for 7 days. Orders left more than 1 week after the pickup date will be subject to a $1.00 per day storage fee. After 30 days, your order will be donated to charity. However, you are still responsible for payment of the processing fee.
We hear this question all the time. But the fact is, it is against the law. If someone leaves a deer with us and then refuses to pick it up, we can't sell it to you, even for the cost of processing. We agree that it doesn't seem fair, but it is the law and we abide by it. That fact also explains why we work so hard to remind you of your pickup date! If something happens and you change your mind about getting your meat processed, please give it to a friend or neighbor. Lots of people love venison!
From the DNR website:
Deer Processors - Deer processors should recognize
that it is unlawful to sell deer meat to regain
the processing fee for deer that have not been
picked-up by the owner (50-11-1910). The best
practice is to take a deposit for the processing
service when deer are left at the facility. If meat
is not picked-up by the owner it can be given to
another individual at no charge.
pg. 32 SCDNR South Carolina Rules & Regulations • 2007-2008 • www.dnr.sc.gov
Cordray's Venison Processing has grown from a small backyard part-time business to a growing operation that hires over 20 employees and is open for 82 hours per week. And now our son, Kenneth Cordray, operates Cordray's Taxidermy from the same location. For our sanity, spiritual life, and health, we must have some time off each week and since the shop is in our backyard, we have to be closed to take time off. Even though you are a friend, opening the shop for that "just a few minutes" it takes to check you in or out disrupts our one morning of rest. We open the gate at 6 p.m. on Sundays. Please understand when we are unable to help you on Sundays before 6 p.m.
During alligator season, we schedule a few Sunday mornings just to take in alligators. We schedule these based on the temperatures and moon phase - and to be honest, our fatigue! Stay tuned to the blog and we'll announce those Gator Sundays.
Cordray's Venison Processing is a small family run business located near Charleston, South Carolina. Run by Michael Cordray and family, this full-service venison processing business specializes in custom deer processing for hunters of white tail deer. Michael is a third generation meat cutter, who has a BS degree from Clemson University in Animal Science with a concentration in Meat Science. His grandfather, Joseph Cordray, carried meat from the Ravenel area to the end of the trolley car tracks in downtown Charleston and sold it from his horse and wagon. His son, Lolace Cordray, continued the Magnolia Meat Market on Herriot Street until the early '90's. Michael's maternal grandfather, Michael Hogan Grooms, also ran a meat market in that same area. Michael entered the meat business as a salesman for Armour and Poston Packing Company. He opened Cordray's Venison Processing in 1991. His children, Kenneth , Tristan, and Michelle have continued the family tradition of learning early the value of working hard to provide wholesome products for the community. The facility is located on County Line Road, between Ravenel and Summerville, S.C.
What can I have done with a wild hog?
We process wild hogs into whole meat cuts like roasts and chops and make a wide variety of sausages. It is best to process sows or immature boars for meat. Older mature male hogs have a distinctive odor that ruins the taste of the meat.
Have you tried smoked wildhog hams? Let us smoke your butts!
Looking at having a pig for a BBQ?
We skin all the pigs we process, so they can't be used in a skin-on cooker. We'll skin the pig, split the carcass, and freeze it for your cooker.
What is an approximate cost for processing ?
The cost of processing a deer is based on the weight of the deer and on the complexity of the order. An average sized deer of 100 pounds (carcass wt. 60-65 lbs,) already skinned with just the basics (steaks, roasts, and burger) will cost about $40 to $45. If you need us to skin it, add $25. Adding cooked items, linked sausage or other "champagne" items will ruin your "beer" budget. Don't be hesitant to ask us to give you an estimate. We understand living on a budget. We can give you a fairly accurate idea of the yield and cost of processing your deer.
At Cordray's we make every effort to process your venison so that it will last as long as possible. This includes being "fanatical" about cleanliness. Clean, bacteria free meat will have a much longer shelf life than meat that is poorly handled. You control much of this factor by your safe handling of the deer in the field or during transport. Once we get the meat, we keep it at the proper temperatures, process it as you have instructed, and then package it for you. Fresh cuts are vacuum-sealed and frozen. As long as the seal remains intact, these may be kept a year or more in the freezer. Ground meat is packaged into airtight plastic tubes and tied. These also keep a year or more at freezer temperatures. When unthawed, fresh meat should be used immediately. Spoiled meat has an obvious odor and feels "sticky" or "slimy" to the touch.
Cooked products - anything smoked and ready to eat - are also vacuum sealed in plastic bags. These may be kept in the sealed bags for up to three weeks as long as the vacuum seal remains unbroken (there is no air in the bag). Once you open the bag to use part of the package, leave it open in the refrigerator so the product can "breathe". Smoked meats tend to mold if tightly wrapped in the refrigerator. For best flavor retention, store cooked venison in the freezer and take out only what you will use immediately. Even jerky, which has a refrigerator storage life of months, has better flavor if kept in the freezer until you are ready to use it. Our forefathers kept dried venison jerky for months, but you can bet it tasted like shoe leather!
What is brucellosis and why should I worry about it?
Brucellosis is a disease carried by wild hogs. It has been found in SC wild hogs. The following article from Clemson tells of the dangers and how you can keep yourself safe and still enjoy this delicious wildgame. Click here to read the Clemson article.