Frozen deer question

[martinbns]

My son and i got our deer a couple of weeks ago when is was really cold, by the time we got them home they were frozen solid so they spent the bulk of the next two weeks still in the truck. Last week I figured we had better bring them into the garage to thaw so we could butcher them, I hung them to thaw out, the temp inside the garage is just above freezing, the deer are now thawed. I did one of them on Sautrday and will do the other two tomorrow night. I plan on just freezing the meat and getting pepperetes and sausuage done with it the next time Redwater meats comes to town.

Is this OK, the deer were frozen, then thawed, then butchered then frozen again. Then I will give the frozen meat to the sausage processer.

I will survive if I eat them I trust.

 

[dumbdawg]

you could of cut them up while still frozen if you have a band saw

 

[M12shooter]

Don't sweat it. This happens often in the western Canada but it's best to get them into an insulated garage or shed soon as possible should it turn unseasonably cold. One small electric heater can keep quite a space just at freezing... perfect for hanging a couple days.

 

[Gatehouse]

No problemo...

Usual problems wiht freeze/thaw/freeze is freezer burn and warming up too much to allow bactera to grow and then freezing...

In your case, it shoudl be fine.

 

[SuperCub]

Crazy weather here. We shot two deer on Nov 17. It was 65deg F that afternoon while I skinned them out. We haven't had the heat on for almost two weeks other than one or two days.







.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

That's quite normal in the northern Ontario camps. No way to take a deer out, so frequently, the deer may hang for two weeks, and may go through several freeze thaw cycles.
I pity those guys this year. Warm weather made keeping deer outside big trouble.
We quartered ours and dropped them in the deep freeze.

 

[gitrdun]

Martinbns: you will be fine and definetely survive. For such cases where weather is unpredictable here's what've I done. I have an old freezer that I keep in my shop. I quarter the animal and put it in plastic bags. Then I have the freezer set to just above minimum. I plug it into a timer that goes on for 2 hours and off for 2 hours. I can keep it in there as long as I want until I'm ready to process. Is there not a butcher shop in Fort Mac? If not you can keep it frozen till you go to Edmonton. I find that it is better to take your meat in until "after" hunting season. They're not so busy, chances are less likely that the meat will be pooled and you can usually ask for some specialty stuff rather than run of the mill.

 

[Mumptia]

Good thread Martin,

I've often wondered what the limits of the meat were.

Question though, if you cut up the meat and freeze the burger meat before you grind it, a full thaw is not adviseable right?

I was told the meat should only be thawed enough to work with it.

 

[gitrdun]

I'd hate to answer that question without being 100% sure, why not call a butcher and be on the safe side?

 

[Pudelpointer]

I have a lot of experience with meat care and butchering, here's what I have come to believe:

1. You do not need to get the hide off of a deer right away, just hang it in an area with good airflow and prop it open with a stick, and you will be suprized at how quickly it will cool. Now having said that, if temperatures are going to be ridiculously high (high teens and 20's) it may be necessary, but I would be more tempted to leave the hide on and sink the carcass in a cold, clean creek or lake. Now elk and moose are a different story, they will take a very long time to cool down with the hide on, but given cold conditions, ie. around the zero mark, leave the hide on these too (if you can get them out in one piece. The advantages to leaving the hide on are multiple: it keeps the meat clean and moist, the hide actually prevents bacteria and mold from entering the animal (if you blasted it through both shoulders well, they now have another access point), and it keeps the animal a more even temperature, reducing temp. fluctuations, which is good for the meat.

2. If an animal is frozen whole, especially with the hide on, there is no bacteria, et al, in the meat and will present no danger when thawed out and then cut. If the meat has been cut and frozen, then thawed there is a danger of bacteria, that may have been introduced to the meat during cutting, to multiply and become an issue; therefore thaw cut meat as little as possible before grinding for burger. Sausage meat should be kept refrigerated throughout it's processing, until freezing, cooking, or smoking.

3. Cut out all that fat, sinew, and membrane! Especially on deer. If you do, you may find that your wife/girlfriend, or for some of you both, will even eat it. And for Christ's sake, stay away from that band saw!

Having ranted about that, if you are not comfortable cutting your own game and need to give it to the appropriately named 'butcher', then you must remove the hide before delivery....well, that's just one more reason to cut your own.


Ian

 

[Pintail]

Sounds like good advice Ian. My butcher only charges $10 to take the hide off, which I think is very reasonable to keep it clean during transport.

 

[SuperCub]

Now having said that, if temperatures are going to be ridiculously high (high teens and 20's) it may be necessary, but I would be more tempted to leave the hide on and sink the carcass in a cold, clean creek or lake.

Can you please expand on this point ...

Do you "dunk" it in the lake with the hide on or do you "sink" it and leave it there to store it?

.

 

[Pudelpointer]

Sink it!. The idea is to get the meat cooled down and keep it fairly stable - water usually does not vary much and any problems with the meat will be confined to the area exposed to the water, ie. the body cavity and any gaping holes caused by speedy chunks'o'lead (or chunks'o'copper for you barnes fans). Now if the water is a stinking swamp that smells like rotting eggs when you disturb the sediments you may want get it up in a shady area under a tree.

The elk I took this year I managed to get to my truck in one piece (1/2 mile drag, excessive cursing and a minor hernia) and a passing hunter helped me get it in the truck (I am taking him some sausage soon), so I managed to get it hung in the garage whole!

As the temperature was -10c, and was supposed to be the same the next day, I just left the hide on knowing full well that it would cool down easily. The second day the temp. came up +-0, and then it was freezing at night and up to 18c for the next week. I kept the window open (actually a pane of glass was broken/missing) to allow good airflow and put tinfoil over the south facing windows to keep the sun from heating it up. I cut it up on day 10, though I could easily have let it hang for another week, but I was going deer hunting and needed the room to hang them.

Long and short of it is, the elk tastes great and is pretty tender.

As for deer, we've hung them with the hide on when the temp stays above +8celsius at night and cut them on the second day (not much aging there) and they were cooled right to the bone.

Happy hunting!