BUTTE — At Terminal Food Center, hunters drop off their game, and Chris Mandic and his team get to work. Cutting the hide off the carcass hanging from hooks, cleaning and getting them ready to be made into what the hunter asked for.
Meat processors like Terminal foods tried to keep up with the demand to process wild game which started back in March.
Mandic, the owner of Terminal Food Center, thinks that the rise in demand for processing meat could be attributed to COVID closures back in March which caused people to go outside more.
"We’ve pretty much been busy since . . .we opened up on Saturday, we were busy then and then when they reopened, we’ve pretty much been busy the whole time all the way through hunting season," Mandic said.
Mandic said that the hardest part to keep up with the demand is that there aren’t enough people to help carve the animals.
"The problem is a lot of people aren't cutting wild game. Right now I got- there's about six, there’s probably about seven of us total including two of my family member," Mandic said.
Mandic operates on a first-come, first-serve basis. If he has the room, he’ll take it.
"It all varies, it could be 10- 15, 20-25 animals a day comes through the door," Mandic said. "You can only do so much a day, you only got so much room and that’s kinda where you roll with it."
