UNDERWOOD — Despite high winds and raindrops, hunters trickled into Abe’s Deer Processing on Saturday with their catches from the morning. Saturday marked the first day of firearms season and local hunters braved the weather for the occasion.
Sunday Broadus, business owner of Abe’s, says the difference between firearms and bow season is marked.
“We run a skeleton crew in bow season because it’s hit or miss, might get one deer one day and three the next,” she said.
Opening weekend of firearms season, weather dependent, can bring in more than 100.
In 2016, 65 percent of deer were harvested during firearms season and 24 percent during bow, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Business at Abe’s reflects these numbers — the business brings in nearly 400 deer during firearms season and 100 during bow on average.
The increased number of customers leads to a longer turnaround; typically it takes three to five days for a catch to be processed. Opening weekend it can take a week and a half.
Jennifer Moody, who runs the front office and rings up the customers, says part of the initial spike opening weekend is from trophy hunters out for a deer they’ve been eyeing all year.
“People are out there getting those big deer,” she said.
Local taxidermists also utilize the small business Sunday Broadus said, “because of the way we cape.”
“Caping” is a way of skinning the deer to prepare it for a hunting trophy. Bonnie Browning, Sunday’s cousin, is one of the skinners and takes pride in her job.
“I walked out and my uncle was skinning and I said ‘that looks interesting’ and I’ve had a knife in my hand ever since,” she said. Now, she skins six to eight deer an hour, faster than her co-workers.
The family-owned-and-operated business has been around 20 years and has processed “moose out of Alaska, elk out of Idaho and wild boar out of Arkansas,” according to founder Abe Broadus.
"We’re known all the way to Florida and Louisiana,” he added.
The key, Abe and Sunday both say, is the family touch and keeping things consistent.
“When you bring your deer in you get your deer back, you won’t get somebody else’s meat,” Sunday said. “That’s an important thing. We have a rule of thumb: If we wouldn’t eat it, you don’t get it. If you shot it in the shoulder and that’s nasty, we won’t give it to you.
"A lot of these processes are the same as what always they were. We are never rushed. They can tell us how they get their deer. If you want to sit down and chit-chat, we can do that. That family environment and it being family, that gives it that draw.”
The rest of the time, those who run Abe’s work elsewhere. Sunday does taxes, Browning is a heavy equipment operator and Moody works for the Division of Family Resources. But they intend to keep the operation going for another 20 years, with Sunday’s 10-year-old son Wyatt ready to take over when he’s old enough.