For meat lockers throughout the state, the message is remaining mostly the same.

“We got guys calling. We turned away probably two or three this morning because we can’t get them in,” said Larry Swerczek, owner of Albion Meat Locker.

A backlog of meat to butcher stretching out to next year and beyond. Business is rolling so well, that hunters bringing their fresh kills sometimes get left out in the cold.

“A lot of people aren’t taking any deer meat at all because they’re so swamped with cattle and hogs,” said Jim Liebig, owner of Liebig Meat Processing in Columbus.

There’s a mountain of beef and pork to work through. It’s made butchers busy for nearly a year and may be keeping them occupied for even more.

“It’s been this way since COVID started,” said Cedar Rapids Meat Locker Manager Norma Moore. “We’re booking now way into the middle of next year, and it’s hard for people to get anything in extra.”

All the pigs and cows on the table leave no room for deer, and with the deer season underway, the venison may need to be put on ice for a while.

“There’s a lot of deer hunters around here,” she said. “And there’s a lot of lockers not doing it this year, which makes it even harder.”

The Cedar Rapids Locker is expecting their backlog to continue until this time next year. Even as the queue clears up, the future and what it will demand makes deer vacancy an uncertain prospect.

“It’s hard to say come November 2021 what it will be,” she said.

While not all meat lockers are turning away the venison, hunters may want to keep their knives sharp and brush up on their Field Dressing 101.