How You Figure?

 I was intrigued by Old Dog's estimate of the total value of a deer.  At first I thought his numbers were a bit high, but then I figured they were talking about the value of the finished product, not the value of the raw material.  Looking up all those numbers would be a major project, so I am going to discuss the general principles of what is called "value added".  When you buy something at the supermarket, probably less than five percent of what you pay for it represents profit for the store owners.  The rest of it is called "overhead", what it costs the store to put that item on it's shelves.  Everybody who handles the product from its production to its retail sale adds value to the original raw material, and the final customer is paying them all to do it.  

Speaking economically and disregarding aesthetics, a deer running around in the forest is practically worthless because you can't do anything with it until it's harvested, transported, and processed.  If you do all this yourself it's almost pure profit, if you don't count the cost of your own transportation to the woods, your gun and other gear, any other expenses like overnight accommodations if you need them, and your own time if you place any value on that. You have to enjoy it because, like I said before, I wouldn't work this hard for mere money.  

Last I heard the going price for a professional butcher to process a deer was $165, and that's after you deliver it to his shop and pick it up yourself when its done.  Depending on how bad it's shot up, you might be lucky to get 30 pounds of pure deboned meat from the average deer in this neighborhood.  Depending on what cuts you buy and where you buy them, you might pay $100 to $300 for an equivalent amount of beef in a store.  The other parts like the head, hide, bones, and feet go relatively cheap, if you can find a buyer for them.  They are worth considerably more after the taxidermist gets done with them, but that's money in his pocket not yours.  Slaughterhouses make some money off these by-products because they produce enough of them to justify sending a truck to transport them to a tannery or rendering plant, but the hunters in Cheboygan do not.

Another way to look at it is, if you weren't out hunting, you would be doing something else with your free time that would probably cost you money.  The meat in your freezer represents a partial rebate on the cost of your recreation.