# freezer life of wild game??



## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

how long would you think frozen wild game would last before thinking about discarding it?? I know a lot has to deal with proper packaging,, mine isn't vacuum sealed or anything. its wrapped tight in plastic wrap and then packaged in butcher paper. just curious about the average time frame. I don't like eating anything past a year but just curious.


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

I had some deer that lasted over 2 years. It was wrapped in plastic coated freezer paper only. I think if you keep it wrapped tight you'll be okay.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

A year is kind of a rule of thumb for game meat wrapped like yours. Many go longer. I think the food people say less. I will go two years with vacuum packed meat, but I usually clean out old game meat after a year and then make salami with it. 

I try to vacuum pack all my game meat and keep it at 0°. 

Moose is an exception. A once-in-a-lifetime moose from Utah will last for 78.4 years and in a Wyoming moose will keep for about 32 years. :lol:


FYI: In many states, Wyoming is one, you can't be in possession of a previous year's, say a 2009 deer, at the start of the 2010 deer hunt for example. This is supposed to guard against people killing a deer, not punching their tag, and packaging the deer with last year's date. It's rarely enforced anymore, especially in whitetail deer country where deer numbers have exploded. But, if you get your freezer searched by the fish cops and have years-old game meat in the freezer it can be an expensive oversight.


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> FYI: In many states, Wyoming is one, you can't be in possession of a previous year's, say a 2009 deer, at the start of the 2010 deer hunt for example. This is supposed to guard against people killing a deer, not punching their tag, and packaging the deer with last year's date. It's rarely enforced anymore, especially in whitetail deer country where deer numbers have exploded. But, if you get your freezer searched by the fish cops and have years-old game meat in the freezer it can be an expensive oversight.


Thats why you always mark any wild game as "BEEF" . See us Utahahns do know some tricks :wink: :lol:


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

Oh goobs going to love that one! I am reading a book right now called from mountain top to table top. Its a great book that costs 10 bucks at sportsmans. It says that it depends how it is cut. He suggests cutting roasts from most of the deer, freezing them, then cutting steaks off of that at a later date. It says that if you miss a small piece in the wrapping procces and some air gets in and freezer burns that area, you can cut it off.

So yeah, it depends on how thick of a cut the meat is. He mentions that they found a Wooly Mamoth around the turn of the century that was like 30,000 years old but had been encased in ice and frozen solid since its death. He said that they acutally thawed it out and cut some meat from the inside and SOLD IT IN SOME NEW YORK RESTAURANTS for an assinign amount. So as long as its tight you should be good for 100 years!!!! :mrgreen:
This is an article I found that talks about these rummors. 
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... for-dinner


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

utahgolf said:


> how long would you think frozen wild game would last before thinking about discarding it?? I know a lot has to deal with proper packaging,, mine isn't vacuum sealed or anything. its wrapped tight in plastic wrap and then packaged in butcher paper. just curious about the average time frame.* I don't like eating anything past a year but just curious*.


One year is about all I can stand, like Nor-tah explained, the larger the cut, the longer freezer life. I always figured burger, stew meats, etc. 3 months, steaks about 6 months and roast no more than a year. Good vacuum packing could prolong it I guess, but what for? I don't particularly like the gaseous smells that frozen meats can produce....so, one year is it for me.

btw Nor-tah....the link sent my computer in panic mode, said it's got a virus...
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... for-dinner


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## STEVO (Sep 13, 2007)

Nor-tah said:


> Oh goobs going to love that one! I am reading a book right now called from mountain top to table top. Its a great book that costs 10 bucks at sportsmans. It says that it depends how it is cut. He suggests cutting roasts from most of the deer, freezing them, then cutting steaks off of that at a later date. It says that if you miss a small piece in the wrapping procces and some air gets in and freezer burns that area, you can cut it off.
> 
> http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... for-dinner


Isnt that the book that Beartrekker guy or whatever his name was from the DWR forum wrote? If it is then It is a good cookbook. I bought it at that time!!


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

My link works for me??? The one you linked doesnt?

I dont know if its the same guy?? I wasnt on the old forum. Its a guy from Levan.


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## duneman101 (Nov 6, 2009)

I will let some of the hamburger and stuff go for 2+ years, only if it's getting heavily seasoned like taco or chili or fajita's or stew, infact i have one pound left of an elk my old man killed 4 years ago, i put half of it in taco's the other night, the other half is waiting to be turned into sloppy joes tomorrow. 

If it is going for roast or a good steak i don't think i have ever allowed it to sit in the freezer for more than 6 months because i eat it


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

STEVO said:


> ...............
> 
> http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... for-dinner


Isn't that the book that Beartrekker guy or whatever his name was from the DWR forum wrote? If it is then It is a good cookbook. I bought it at that time!![/quote]

Yes that is Bear Tracker's (or what ever his name is) book.

If meat is packaged in vacumm bags it doesn't matter what the thickness is.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

STEVO said:


> ..........................
> 
> Thats why you always mark any wild game as "BEEF" . See us Utahahns do know some tricks :wink: :lol:


That's funny....Time for a story.

If you ever had a search and seizure warrant served, and had the sheriff and fish cops go thru your freezer you might look at how you package your wild game differently........Anyway we marked some packages of game meat, "Beef, "Pork," "D2wI," "C79m," blah blah, secret code stuff. After 3 months we forgot what the names really meant. Why we did that is not important. So The fish cop says "what's that?" pointing at the "LB72" wrote in pencil on the wrapping paper. "Ah, "beef loin 1972" I said. It was largemouth bass from 1972; this was 1974.

So they have a warrant. They can take the wrapping paper off with a warrant. So they take the wrapping paper off the "LB72". (Where I come from any fool can tell it's a largemouth just by looking at it, even without the patch of skin on it the law requires.) Blah blah blah, there was much argument about dates, and rules, sizes, and sex, and feathered wings, and meat processors, packaging, and laws. I lost all the arguments.

It was a learning experience. I always thought in Illinois there was no limit on largemouth bass or if there was it was like 100, or a toe-sack full or something. They called them "game fish" for crying out loud.

All I got were warnings, like 11,238 of them, and I got a tip, knew they were coming, and before they came I removed the stuff that had paperwork technicalities!! :lol: (had a good friend that worked in the county court house :wink: ).

That's enough. It's a great story, takes about 30 minutes for me to tell the whole thing...and I tell it so well.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I am the freezer master in the household.

I vacuum pack almost all my meat. Mark the packages with a Sharpie pen. If the meat gets over a year old I can just take a little lighter fluid on a paper towel and wipe off the date and then change it. Presto, that side off beef I bought years ago freshens right up, and all my guests say "man, that's just like it came off the meat counter".


Time for a short story, an analogy.

My youngest son had to have whole milk, hated 1%. So the Mrs. would have a gallon of whole and a gallon of 1% in the fridge. B.S., too complicated. So I would just pour 1% in the whole milk carton. No problem, he never new the difference, drank the 1% thinking it was whole milk. Some day I will tell him.


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