Keeping Harvested Game after a Year
 

Is there a cut off date that you can keep harvested game <any> in your freezer without getting into trouble? Say if it's over a year old?

There are recommendations of different lengths for various types of meat, although I can't recall any of them accurately. However, I know I often keep frozen goods considerably longer than that conventional wisdom dictates.

We just ate a package of deer chops a couple nights ago that came from a 2007 deer. They were in perfect shape - no sign of any freezer burn. The length of time you can keep such things will be related to how well the packaging is done. I like to use a sealing-type sandwich bag, squeeze all the air out really well before locking it, then wrap that in freezer paper.

I'm assuming you speak of legality. As long as you harvested the deer legally and can prove it with a possession tag and/or field tag, I see no reason to fear anything.

Now if you are referring to meat that is old, I don't think a year is too long provided there's no freezer burn. Bacteria isn't going to build up to start any problems. If you're questioning how it's going to be or taste after that much time, thaw some out, cook it and see for yourself. LOL!

iSnipe

Well, I'm questioning it because I feed my dogs RAW. I had placed an ad on freecycle and a woman replied to me with this warning...

Please be careful of the venison meat for the reason of expiration date. My husband cant remember the cutoff date but several years ago a guy was trying to feed his family and had venison in his freezer (he was unemployed) and the authorities came in and did an arrest. It did not make logical sense. I believe some people need help not arrested. Calll any butcher or deer processer and ask about how long you can have venison in freezer before it is illegal. Option: Butchers or deer processors have a list they keep if a hunter does not want the meat. Good luck. I only want to inform. Patty

When I had placed the ad, I did not specify that this food was for human nor animal consumption. <It is for dog food> I had asked for any freezer burnt meats or people looking to clean out their freezers of old game to make room for the 09/10 hunting season.

I had one response to pick up meat last week and got a few pounds of ground lamb, burger and a beef roast for the dogs. The ground lamb was packaged in freezer paper and the girls loved it!

I would never feed my family old, old, freezer burnt meats but the dogs can have it and I'm just looking for ways to cut down on the cost of feeding them and giving other people options other than throwing meat away but then I got this message and wanted to know if I could get into trouble legally having alot of old game in the dogs dedicated freezer. They have their own, seperate from ours.

Here in MN the ******* game wardens will bend you over if you have game meat in your possession that doesn't have a tag of some sort. If you receive game meat that you didn't harvest or tag, then it's called "gifted" and you need a gift tag for that too while in your ownership. Unless of course you want a ticket, a fine, a court date and a game warden brow beating you every time he sees you... for the rest of your life.(sarcastic roll eyes icon here) Call the game warden in YOUR area and ask for yourself. Then you'll hopefully get the correct facts, because at times even they don't know the law. LOL!

iSnipe

That is pretty much what I wanted to know.

So I should call the game warden and see how they and I would handle it but is it even worth it every time I find someone giving me free game meat? *sigh*

Seems like a whole buncha BS though if you ask me. Like if I get free meat that isn't good enough for human consumption, I gotta call the game warden every time I get some.

Almost seems not worth it to me. I dunno. Who's to say he won't gather my info and pay me a visit just to *look around* ugh... :eek2:

Thanks.

Just called the Game Commisions and spoke to a really nice guy who told me what to do.

He said I must:

Get the full name and address of the gifter, their phone number and hunting license number of gifter and the date I recieved the meats, what is recieved and then date when the meat is consumed by the dogs and what it was that they ate so if anyone would ever show up, it'a all tagged and legal and I could just show the warden my note book.

That's good to know.

He said if someone brings me a carcass without the tags then he would appreciate the call. I said, we'll do and I would call! :kt:

Now, to get people to give up their info when accepting the free meat/game may be another thing. haha

Thanks iSnipe!

Here in NC, I don't worry about it. One can take six deer in a season and once its in the freezer, it doesn't require and proof of legal ownership (to my knowledge). My problem is no matter how many I shoot, it's always gone by August. The more I shoot the more we eat.

I shot a Mule deer in CO in 2007 and kept the carcass tag with it in the freezer until it was consumed.

Ava, that's interesting. Glad you got the right info. Thanks for the follow-up.

iSnipe