To answer a couple questions floated out there w/out stirring to pot any more

We wrap all the meat--burger, tenderloin, roasts, steaks etc-- in freezer paper. If you do it well it is quite airtight and when the meat is eaten up within 6-8 months as ours is there is no freezer burn. Plastic freezer bags are easier for beginning tho.

It takes 2 of us about an hour to hoist the deer up, skin and gut it, and then split it with a meat saw. We let it hang overnight when it is below 50 out (or cram it into the fridge in quarters if it is hot). When the meat is fully cooled, it will take us about 2 more hours to trim, cut up, grind, and wrap the meat. That is a timeline for a large buck with around 100 lbs of well trimed meat resulting. Smaller deer take less time.Three hours of work isnot much to me, however it can take longer when you hit the deer poorly...or even just through the shoulders.

my bad[&:]