Something Terrible Happened
 

Had the meat from my deer and my 7 year olds buck in the dedicated venison freezer. Opened it up today to get some ground for sausage making this weekend and it was all rancid. Freezer was warm. It stunk to high heaven, blood dripping from the racks.

No venison and the season ended on Saturday. Even worse is my little guy has no meat from his first.

What a sick and depressing feeling. :sad:

Bummer, sorry to hear that.

Wow my heart aches for you. That is something we all worry about. Freezers are just a machine and they all break from time to time. We all hope when it goes south it is empty but that isn't the way it works. Sorry for your loss.

That IS bad news, you have my condolences...

Thanks. I knew other hunters would understand. It wouldn't have been as bad if it was beef filet mignon and lobster. Next paycheck I would go to the store and replace that stuff. Venison is not replacable. Well, until next year.......

I've had it happen. I felt terrible, but then I took the rancid meat out and threw it in the woods behind my house. That afternoon about 10 buzzards feasted on the meat and it provided me with some feeling that the meat had not gone to waste.

That is AWFUL.

Knowing nothing about your house or its age, is that freezer plugged into a ground fault protected circuit? While code requires all of them to be, any circuit that is ground-faulted and has either an outdoor outlet or a freezer/refrigerator plugged into it is going to trip all too frequently due to the moisture. When I bought my current house my freezer tripped the ground fault 3 times in a month, fortunately it's right in front of my car so I saw the light off and reset it.

I took the ground fault plug out of the circuit and replaced with a normal one.

Sorry to hear the bad news BarnesX.308.

It's happened to me twice, with one of them I lost a trophy buck and cape I was going to have mounted.

A recommendation for all who have freezers for meat, etc, should get a freezer alarm. They tell you if the power goes out or if the temperature reaches to high a temperature and warns you.

iSnipe

Man that is some bad news.

What no back straps!! enough to make you cry.

this happened to a buddy of mine and he made an ins. claim, they filled the whole freezer with beef of his choosing, it didnt really compare to the venison he lost but at least it was something.

Last March our daughter's freezer went bad and they lost 5 deer that my grandson's and I had shot and had processed.

Happened to me last year. Lost the venison that was in there as well as an entire hog that I had picked up from the locker just a week earlier. Definitely a bad deal. Sorry about your situation.

The same thing happened to me when I just left for Iraq. My wife had to clean it out, and she wasnt very happy. Blood was all over the garage. I think the neighbors thought she chopped me up with me being gone at the same time.

What part of Pa are you in? I am in SE Ohio, we still have 3 weeks of bow season and I would be glad to take one for you, I still have tags. I am seeing 10-12 does every evening but have been holding out for horn.

Some yo-yos would think it was well aged.

That's a helluva nice offer. Quite generous, a real show of the spirit of the hunter tradition and well, quite frankly, an altruistic gesture.

damascus I urge you to shoot Barnes a PM or email because this is a very important time and a great opportunity to show his youngster how things should be done in our deep brotherhood.

I certainly wouldn't let it pass by.

Thanks for rhe offer. I appreciate it. However, I'm in eastern PA. About 6 hours from Ohio.

I had the same thing happen to me.
My freezer was full of sirloin steak, and hamburger from sirloin steak.
I would buy whole sirloins, when they were on sale.
Pork chops, and all sorts of chicken.
around 350 to 400 lbs worth.
I had to throw it all away.
It made me sick.
The bad thing is I didn't have the money to replace it.
So I know what you feel like.

Things like that happen.
You just have to go on, and forget it.

barnesX.308, I'm really sorry that that happened to oyu and your little one.

Very sorry for your lost.
I know if it was my freezer it would be affecting at least 3 other families, as I provide some venison to 3 farmers where I hunt.
Best wishes and success on your hunt next time around....

louie

I know all to well how you feel, this has happened to us 3 times with venison, and we also lost a whole beef.

Not to mention the smell in the freezer :eek:

When I was in college, we had our dorm fridge full of venison and trout. We forgot to clean it out before going away on spring break. I guess they want to save electricity and turn the power off for that week. The meat was like a gray liquid. We had to throw away the fridge.

A few years ago we went away for a week and a half in the summer. Our fridge went early in the trip. This time we also had eggs, milk fruit and veggies, mayo.....you name it. I remember trying to get it out of the house. It wouldn't fit through the door. I was gagging while unscrewing the hinges to get the door off. Even though I had Mineral Ice rubbed all over my shirt and my shirt up over my nose :D

The sting is wearing off and I'm bowhunting tomorrow. I told my boy that some of his ground was in the kitchen freezer. Actually a friend is giving me 12 pounds. We're making sausage today and the little guy was proud as a peac0ck that we were using his deer. Here's his buck.

Hopefully I'll poke a big one tomorrow ;)

Talked to my dad today and he brought my Mathews down from the cabin last weekend. Here I thought I had to borrow a bow. Things are starting to look up. :happy0001:

In February I'm taking the little guy on an exotic ram hunt. But I heard the meat sux. Never tried it myself. :confused0024:

Sorry to hear it. That would suck. I keep meaning to buy a freezer alarm. Good warning for us all.

Good idea!!!!

If this is a fridge in your garage where freezing temps occur be careful as in cold temps the compressor I believe it is won't work, happened to me, then warmed, refroze etc....spoiled antelope, was pretty angry.

It's in a garage. This week in the uppe 40s. Last month in the single digits.

scott, that bites dude, sorry to hear that...what happened? power failure? freezer died out?

Had the meat at my parents' freezer. Ours is full. They had the phone company out to do some work. They unplugged the freezer because the needed the outlet for something. It never got plugged back in.