Probably too late for you, but next time you're hunting in the Hills and need a processor try out Kelly's Wild Game Processing in Rapid City. He always done a good job for my dad and me.
I use both, sometimes my dads .22-250 or my AR. He’s got a savage with 1 in 9 twist and I got a good 70gr load I use for antelope sometimes, and have shot a few deer with it too.
I like to do it myself and get the kids involved. The only time I'll have it done is if the weather is to warm and I don't have time and the last time I did that was about 5 years ago. Even then I just get it cut and wrapped and still grind my own sausage and burger.
I usually use a .308 or .30-06 but have shot about a 1/2 dozen whitetails with an AR-15 and they never went far. Here we need to use a .243 or larger for elk, I don't know if I would feel comfortable using a .223 on elk even if I could,
Newb from South Dakota, been lurking along with my oldest son who has been getting more into hunting since getting his first deer last year. I've been hunting west river South Dakota for about 20 years. Hunted up in Montana when I lived there as a kid and some on my grandparent's farms in...