Inkom man fills niche with wild game meat processing business

INKOM – A passionate hunter, Josh Hanson of Inkom, helped his friends and family butcher and wrap their wild game while the big meat processing places were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When I realized there was no place for people to bring their meat, I told my wife, Amber, ‘Let’s build a walk-in cooler and cut game,’ ” said Hanson.

Filling that niche in east Idaho in a time of need inspired Hanson to open up his own meat processing business “Pebble Creek Meats,” from his home in Inkom last year.

Hanson’s grandfather, Brent Roberts, was a butcher in packing plants that broke down hogs and beef and later worked in commercial cutting in northern Utah for over 50 years. Roberts taught Hanson how to hunt and the skills of meat care and processing.

“I harvested my first elk in 2002 while hunting with my grandfather. I watched him care for and process the meat. I was just amazed and wanted to learn more. I’ve never forgotten it,” said Hanson.

Through years of elk hunting with his grandfather, Hanson was tasked with trimming all the meat while his grandfather did the primary cuts. “He taught me everything about meat care and processing. He comes to the shop to help out to his day,” said Hanson.

Business has been good for Pebble Creek Meats, with 65 game animals so far this year and two months remaining in the hunting season.

Hanson, whose main job is truck driving for Go Trucking, stays so busy during hunting season that his grandfather, wife, two children, Payslie and Paxton, and his mother, Tonya Hanson, a school teacher in Blackfoot, all pitch in to help wrap meat.

Hanson processes elk, deer, bison, moose, antelope, black bear, mountain lions and even big horn sheep.

“Every animal is different yet the same,” said Hanson. “I butchered a big horn sheep this year. Many people don’t realize that their meat is good and tender.”

Hunters from far away as Texas and Alabama have sought Hanson’s meat processing services.

“Hunting is a growing sport. Living in the West, we don’t realize what a treasure it is,” said Hanson. “We live in a great state where we harvest our own meat and know what’s in it.”

Hanson believes meat cutting is becoming a dying trade, saying, “People have to do it themselves or wait for the big butcher shops to get to it, and then you don’t get 100 percent your own meat. Everything is put into giant meat grinders.”

“I handle animals with respect. I use one grinder, one animal at a time. I process every animal as if it’s my own,” he added.

Hanson said he’d eventually like to build Pebble Creek Meats into a full-time business career he can pass down to his children.

“At some point, I’d like to make summer sausage and get a smoker to smoke meat,” he said. “I’ll cut beef in the off-season. But I don’t want to grow too quickly. I never want to sacrifice quality.”

To learn more about Pebble Creek Meats, find them on Facebook or at pebblecreekmeats.com.

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