HUNTERS CREEK PROCESSING

COVER FEATURE HUNTERS CREEK PROCESSING

You put a lot of work into getting that deer — or elk, or hog. Hunters Creek Processing will make sure you end up with plenty of delicious meat to share with friends and family.

by Charlotte Kovalchuk photos courtesy Cole Stevens

For more than a decade, Cole Stevens has enjoyed being part of the Liberty Hill community —hearing about local hunting adventures (he never tires of hearing the story of a kid shooting his or her first animal). He appreciates being the first stop after someone pulls the trigger and providing a service that “99 percent of the hunting world doesn’t want to do, which is butcher their own animals.” He also recalls the satisfaction of making a difference in the community by stepping up to sell meat in a food desert and donating food to local nonprofits during COVID. “We feel a calling to take care of our community! A community that has in turn taken care of us so well,” he says.

Right: A Family Affair - Cole Stevens and his wife Chelsea and their sons Harrison and Grayson.

Off season hours, February - September, 8am - 5:30pm October 8am - 6:30pm seven days a week Hunting season hours, 8am - 9pm, seven days a week Hunters Creek Processing also provides a 24-hour walk-in cooler for after-hours drop off

512-778-6008 4892 North Highway 183, Liberty Hill, TX HuntersCreekProcessing.com

EXPERT, LITERALLY, IN THE FIELD

With a degree in wildlife and fishery science from Texas A&M and a long-time desire to be part of the hunting industry in some form or fashion, Cole remembers waking up one morning with the realization that the best way for him to contribute was to fill the gap for butchering services. “There are a lot of guys in the hunting industry who plan and hunt and buy and sell animals. But many of them need a lot of help once they pull the trigger. I thought, what better way than to actually help them in a business sector not already saturated by a ton of people?”

Cole launched Hunters Creek Processing in Liberty Hill in 2010, having been drawn by the rest of his family who were all migrating to the hill country. “I’m not a real big-city type of guy. Growing up in West Texas, I looked around and said, man, Liberty Hill has got to be the place to be. It’s small, quiet, and close to everything. I wasn’t the only one with that idea apparently,” he says with a laugh. “We were here when Liberty Hill was still a little community and we’ve grown right along with them.”

THE PROCESS OF PROCESSING

Not satisfied with building a mediocre business, Cole’s goal was to provide a sanitary facility for wild game processing and taxidermy services, with top-quality customer service and quick turnarounds. “You’ll find no meat sitting there for months on end. I wanted my business model to break the mold of the old processor and run it as it should be,” he says. His facility includes more than 1,200 feet of cold storage and freezer space with stainless steel, state-of-the-art grinding equipment and vacuum packages. Twelve years after opening its doors, Hunters Creek Processing has butchered more than 30,000 animals equating to a million plates of food and “providing lean, organic protein that beats grocery store pricing.”

Customers can also check out the facility’s popular jerky and sausages—available at Tejas Meat Supply in Georgetown—including jalapeño and cheese and German-style summer sausages along with Cajun-style or peppered jerky, fajitas, and tamales.

CORPORATE CITIZENS

Hunters Creek Processing is one of the cornerstone businesses of Liberty Hill and frequently extends its services beyond its walls, whether sponsoring events, donating meat to Operation Liberty Hill, or answering the call from the county to sell beef, chicken, and pork to help weather COVID shortages in areas underserved by grocery stores. Now that COVID is subsiding, Hunters Creek Processing is pleased to stick with the wild game processing side of the business. “Giving back is part of owning a business. To only take and not remember where it came from is a surefire way to lose people's loyalty and trust,” Cole says.

Follow Hunters Creek Processing on Facebook to check out videos on how to prepare wild game and stay tuned for upcoming classes on how to field dress animals.

We A-paw-logize

In the August issue of the Liberty Hill Digest, our "Pooch Perfect Liberty Hill" feature included a number of locations at which diners could share some fabulous Liberty Hill hospitality with their dogs. Unfortunately, our story was not accurate as our writer identified DAHLIA CAFÉ and MAIN STREET SOCIAL as locations where dogs were welcome.

While the owners of DAHLIA CAFE and MAIN STREET SOCIAL do have a great love of dogs and their owners, only service animals are welcome at the restaurants and playgrounds. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused the owners and their patrons.