Wyoming Wild Meats: James and Jamie Hysell runs thriving meat processing business in Lyman

James Hysell got his start in the meat processing sector cutting meat at the local grocery store, then began processing wild game in the back shed at his home with the help of his wife and kids.

Today, James has a thriving custom meat processing business in Lyman.

Business expansion

James notes at the beginning of his venture, local hunters heard about his services and kept bringing him more animals. Soon he had more customers than he could handle. 

“People wanted us to go bigger, so we built a small shop just to do wild game.  Then, we started making jerky and specialty products, and that part of the business just exploded, especially during the first year,” he shares.  

James and his wife Jamie decided to take the plunge and get bigger, creating a full shop to process meat full time.  

“I quit my job at the grocery store, and we built a new shop the next year,” he explains. “At this time, we were only offering our wild game services, but then we also put in a retail counter to sell pork, chicken, cheeses, milk and other essentials. We made our own jerky and snack items, and it just kept going from there.”

The business kept growing, and soon they had requests from people who wanted them to do beef and other livestock. 

James notes his operation was licensed to process livestock, but his current location – in the center of town – made it impossible to slaughter animals in the facility. 

The Hysells decided if people wanted to kill an animal and bring them the carcass, James and his crew would process it and cut and wrap the meat for them. But, many people didn’t have a way to slaughter and transport the animals themselves.

“We decided to branch out and run a mobile unit,” James says. “We bought a trailer and got it built as a kill unit, then had it licensed through the state so we could go out and do farm calls. We do a lot of this through the spring and summer,” James says.

Local services

“We process lambs, beef, goats and whatever else people want butchered,” James shares. “This aspect of our business has grown a lot in the past few years. We started in the Bridger Valley area but now we go all over southwestern Wyoming and as far as Idaho and Utah. We just have the one mobile unit, but it keeps me really busy.”

The animals are slaughtered on the farm or ranch, then brought back to the shop for processing.  

James and his crew still process wild game, which picks up in September during hunting season so livestock slaughtering services are closed for several months at this time. James notes, if producers have livestock they want butchered in the fall, they must schedule before or after hunting season. 

“This makes it challenging because many farmers and ranchers want to butcher a beef in the fall, but October is definitely out for us,” James states. “Sometimes, we start doing a few beef again in November and December, and by February we are back to doing all beef and domestic livestock.”

He further explains, “We try to keep things separate in our shop. When we cut up federally-inspected meat, we do it first thing in the morning and then do the custom animals in the afternoon.”

Custom cutting operations also work to keep things separate – animal by animal – to ensure individuals get back exactly what they drop off. There is never any mixing.

Cutting is also customized so people get what they like – certain cuts and sizes for roasts or thickness for steaks, etc.

“We give people what they want. It’s their meat, and they worked hard to raise it or hunt and harvest it. We make sure we take care of it the way they want it,” James says. 

And, although James admits Wyoming Wild Meats’ small crew has a hard time keeping up with large demand, the store has filled a gap in the community and become a popular place for locals to stop. 

Among its most popular offering are Dino Eggs – a chicken breast wrapped in jalapeño peppers and bacon – and chicken cordon bleu. 

Efficient crew

James reiterates although the Wyoming Wild Meats crew isn’t big, they are efficient and hard working.

“It’s just myself; another meat cutter; my wife, who does the bookkeeping and accounting and three high school kids who are helping us right now. One of them is my daughter Rylee,” shares James. “The other two are both in 4-H and interested in agriculture.”

“This is just an after-school job for them, but they are learning a lot of new skills,” he adds. “They come in after school and clean up the shop, but they are also learning to cut and wrap meat. This is a skill they could use later in life if they want to. Meat cutting is in high demand and a skill that seems to be dying off.”

Some of the college kids who have worked at Wyoming Wild Meats in high school come back to help out when they are home from college.  

“We try to make it fun and accommodate everyone, and we understand they all have lives outside of work,” says James.

For more information on Wyoming Wild Meats, visit wyomingwildmeats.com.

Heather Smith Thomas is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.