The Best Meat Grinders for Deer, Matched to How Many You Process

For three to five deer a season, buy a #12 with metal gears. On Amazon that means the MEAT! #12: .75 HP, 7-10 lb a minute by MEAT!'s own figure, and a lifetime warranty. LEM's BigBite #12 is rated faster, at about 11 lb a minute, but LEM sells it direct rather than on Amazon. For one or two deer a #8 is plenty. At six or more, or with a half beef in the mix, step up to a #22.

Every grinder on this list can grind a deer. What we ranked is whether it grinds your fourth one in the same weekend without stalling, overheating or making you stop to pick silver skin off the knife. That comes down to things makers publish: the size number, their own pounds-per-minute rating, the gearing, any run-time guidance, and the warranty. We haven't bench-tested these machines. We read the spec sheets and manuals and did the arithmetic in the open, so you can redo it with your own deer.

How we sized these picks

The yardstick is Ohio's Division of Wildlife, which weighed 115 field-dressed whitetails from the 2017 gun season. The average deer gave 52.19 lb of venison, 48.52% of its field-dressed weight. Antlered deer averaged 62.51 lb and antlerless deer 45.05 lb, so your number will move with the deer you shoot, where you hit them and how closely you bone them out (Ohio DNR yield study, PDF).

Read that list and the first surprise is that a #8 can, on paper, get through a 5-deer season. The second is how little the #22 saves over a good #12. Raw speed is rarely what separates these machines once you're past the Light tier. What separates them is how long they'll run, what they do when a strand of sinew wraps the knife, and how long the maker stands behind them. The full size-by-size breakdown is in our meat grinder sizes guide.

Why size number and gearing beat peak watts

The number on a grinder (#5, #8, #12, #22, #32) is the size of its head and plates. It sets how much meat reaches the knife with each turn of the auger, and it's the cleanest single predictor of output you'll find. LEM's own line shows the ladder: the #5 is rated at 4 lb a minute, the #8 at 7, the #12 at about 11, the #22 at 13 and the #32 at 17. The hole in the head grows with it, from 2 inches on the #8 to 2.25 on the #12 and 3 on the #32.

Motor ratings are where the box art gets creative. Weston prints horsepower and watts side by side on its Pro Series listings (0.75 HP is 560 W, 1 HP is 750 W, 1.5 HP is 1120 W), a handy reminder that they're the same measurement in different units. Then there's the STX Turboforce 3000, with "3000W Max" in its title. STX's own manual lists that figure as "Maximum Locked Motor Wattage, 3000 W Peak Power," and its listing says the motor "normally uses between 800 Watts & 1200 Watts" while grinding. A locked motor is a stalled one, so 3000 W describes a peak draw, not work at the plate. The number that matters, output, STX's own site gives as 175-225 lb an hour on high: about 3 to 3.75 lb a minute, under the 7 lb LEM claims for its 0.5 HP #8.

That isn't a knock on the STX. It's a #12 head with reverse and a 3-year warranty for a fraction of what the stainless #12s cost, and it's our budget pick. It's a reason to shop on pounds per minute and run-time guidance instead of the biggest number on the box.

Gearing and duty are the other half. LEM lists "all metal gears with roller bearings" on its #12, #22 and #32. Weston's manuals describe an all-hardened-steel gear transmission. STX's manual warns that grinding bones will strip its gears, and asks you to let the machine cool for a few minutes after 10-15 minutes of continual use. Weston's compact #12 electric is stricter still: its manual says no more than 5 minutes at a time. Weston's Pro Series listings, by contrast, describe air-cooled motors built to "continuously grind bulk loads of meat without stopping." LEM and MEAT! don't publish a duty cycle on the pages we read, so we haven't assumed one either way.

Which grinder for which season

1-2 deer: a #8 is enough

Two average deer come to about 104 lb. At LEM's 7 lb a minute, the LEM BigBite #8 feeds that in about 15 minutes per pass, with a stainless head and a 5-year warranty. On a tighter budget, the STX Turboforce 3000 gets you a #12 head and reverse, as long as you work in 10-15 minute runs. The LEM MightyBite #8 (4-5 lb a minute, 2-year warranty) is fine for a deer a year. Torn between the #8 and a #12? We ran the numbers in LEM Big Bite #8 vs #12.

3-5 deer: this is where a #12 earns its place

Three to five deer is 157-261 lb. The MEAT! #12 is our pick on Amazon: .75 HP, 7-10 lb a minute, stainless "down to the last bolt" per its listing, and the only lifetime warranty in the category. The LEM BigBite #12 has the better rating (about 11 lb a minute) and all-metal gears on roller bearings, but you buy it from LEM. Weston's Pro #12 (1 HP, 6-9 lb a minute) is another Amazon-buyable option, though it doesn't have reverse at that size.

6+ deer or a half beef: step up to a #22

Six deer is about 313 lb. The LEM BigBite #22 (1 HP, up to 13 lb a minute) does that in about 24 minutes per pass. The Weston Pro #22 adds 1.5 HP, a 14 lb a minute rating and a forward-reverse switch Weston pitches for meat with connective tissue. MEAT!'s #22 (11-14 lb a minute, lifetime warranty) is the third good option. Whether the jump from a #12 is worth it is its own question, and we answer it in LEM Big Bite #12 vs #22.

Sinew, silver skin and the stall on deer two

Lean venison isn't what stops a grinder. Connective tissue is. Silver skin and sinew wrap around the knife, the plate holes close up, and the grinder starts smearing instead of cutting. More horsepower pushes through it longer, but the fix starts before the meat hits the tray. Weston's #22 manual says to trim off cords, tendons, bones and shot and to chill the meat to 32-34°F before grinding. STX's manual puts it more bluntly: as cold as possible without being frozen solid, "crunchy to the touch," because warm meat balls up in the back of the head.

Reverse helps when a wrap does happen, but read the fine print. Weston's manual says never to run its grinders in reverse for more than 5 seconds at a time, and only after the motor has come to a complete stop. Reverse is for backing out a jam, not for grinding. If your current grinder stalls on the second deer, check the free fixes before you shop: a dull knife, a worn plate, a knife installed backward, or meat that has warmed up in the tray.

What to check before you buy

Size number and the parts you'll replace

Knives and plates are consumables, and you buy them by size number. A #12 plate is about 2-5/8 to 2-3/4 inches across depending on the maker (STX lists 2-5/8; a Smokehouse Chef #12 set lists 2-3/4), and a #22 plate about 3-1/4 inches (Food Service Knives). Buy a spare knife and plate in your size with the grinder. LEM's advice is to change the plate whenever you change the knife.

Gears, bearings and what the head is made of

Stainless heads and augers (LEM BigBite, MEAT!, Weston Pro) shrug off washing. The STX head is polished cast aluminum, and STX's manual says no grinder parts in the dishwasher. For gearing, the published phrases to look for are "all metal gears" and "roller bearings" (LEM) or "hardened steel gear transmission" (Weston). Weston's manual adds that its steel gearing runs louder and warmer than other grinders, which it calls normal.

Warranty, in order

Weight, and where the grinder will live

LEM lists its #12 at 33.07 lb and its #22 at 49.6 lb; MEAT! lists its #12 at 47 lb and its #22 at 57 lb. The #22s are bench machines. Plan a spot within reach of an outlet: LEM ships a 6-foot cord and says not to use an extension cord.

Bones: don't

None of these is a deer-bone grinder. LEM's #8 listing says "not for bones." STX says its grinders will not grind bones. Weston's #22 manual allows smaller, softer bones like rabbit and poultry and says to avoid large, dense bones such as those in large game.

Cleanup between deer, and why it matters more with venison

Grinding at home means your grinder only ever sees your own deer, which is one argument for doing it yourself. It also means cleaning between animals is on you. In a University of Minnesota study published in the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases (April 2025), clean venison run through grinders previously used on meat from a deer with chronic wasting disease (CWD) picked up prion seeding activity in 5 of 8 replicates. Soaking the stainless steel and cast iron grinder parts for 5 minutes in 10% or 40% bleach solutions left no significant activity (Milstein et al., 2025). Check your grinder's manual before putting bleach on aluminum or tinned parts, which the study didn't test.

The CDC's advice to hunters is to strongly consider testing deer from areas where CWD is found before eating the meat, to skip meat from any animal that tests positive, and to check state wildlife and health department recommendations before you hunt. Check your state's carcass-transport rules too, especially if you're bringing a deer home across state lines.

After the grinder: stuffing, sealing and the full setup

The grinder is stage two of a chain. Every grinder here ships with stuffing tubes, and they're fine for a few pounds of links. At deer-season volume, a dedicated stuffer is faster and gets less air in the casing: see our best sausage stuffers. Then the ground meat needs packing. A sealer that overheats at bag 30 is the next bottleneck, which is why we rank vacuum sealers for wild game on back-to-back seals. If you're kitting out a whole season at once, our setup for 3-5 deer puts one pick per stage on a single page.