Below zero meat management

[jakeohe]

Hey All,
I can't seem to find a thread that talks about cold weather (below freezing) meat management. I'm going elk hunting in January and the average temps are around -16C during the day.
I'm looking for some information on how guys have dealt with meat during their hunts. I will have a cooler, but not enough for an entire elk. There will be ample space to hang meat. Do you keep the cape on? Game bags? Can it freeze once quartered and hung?
Please be specific with what has worked, and what you would avoid in the future.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Marble]

At those temps, it doesn't really matter what you do to the meat, as long as it doesn't get dirty. I would keep it out of the sun and covered during the day so birds don't mess with it.

Other than that...relax..hair on, hair off, it doesn't matter.

I wouldn't bag it if the hair was on, and the only reason I would leave hair on it is if I didn't have a bag to put on it. Sometimes, the skin on the out edge can be pretty tough to get through after several days of drying.

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[WKR]

When its that cold out, alot of times I dont even bring a cooler. The natural environment is your cooler. A few weeks ago I took a buck when it was 20 degrees out. Quartered him, put the quarters in game bags in the back of the truck and drove home.

Really the only thing that could go wrong in those temperatures is if you left the guts in for a long time. Internal body heat is not your friend.

 

[Arcola]

Just like @WKR said. Quarter it and into game bags to keep it clean. Cold weather meat management is so much easier than warm temps.

 

[Elkdreamer]

Make sure you break the animal down and get the meat in the size, shapes you want to pack out. It will freeze solid and make it hard to do later. Don`t ask me how I know. LOL

Good luck.

 

[mt100gr.]

Make sure you break the animal down and get the meat in the size, shapes you want to pack out. It will freeze solid and make it hard to do later. Don`t ask me how I know. LOL

Good luck.

This!! Base your bag/quarter/load size on space that you know will be available to thaw these pieces later! They take a bit to soften up. A solid frozen whole deer across the washer/dryer for a couple days is not as interesting as it sounds.

 

[TaperPin]

If the animal is kept whole, it’s a skill to pose them while pliable, so they can be stood up for photos. I’ve seen some that look fairly lifelike - the person must have had too much time on their hands to pose it, adjust ears, eyelids and brush it so no hair is out of place or funny looking. Even Elmer Keith has a photo with a frozen deer that was fairly well done.

 

[bpietila]

Skin on can delay freezing by a surprising amount of time. Conversely it delays thawing by quite a bit of time.

 

[johnnycake]

You actually don't want it to freeze while still in rigor mortis, as that can cause cold shortening and result in very tough cuts.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Quarter, bag, hang, and let it freeze. Thaw the quarters at home when you’re ready to process.

 

[cnelk]

Pro tip:

Do not place the quarters where they can freeze together.
Even in game bags they can be a real bitch to get apart.

 

[Macintosh]

I was always told to never let meat freeze before packaging for the freezer, that thawing it to cut and then re-freezing it would significantly change the texture of the meat for the worse. But have always been able to keep it from freezing even in really cold weather. Is this texture thing from re-freezing a myth? Or is it just part of the deal on super late season hunts?

 

[wyosam]

I was always told to never let meat freeze before packaging for the freezer, that thawing it to cut and then re-freezing it would significantly change the texture of the meat for the worse. But have always been able to keep it from freezing even in really cold weather. Is this texture thing from re-freezing a myth? Or is it just part of the deal on super late season hunts?

Just part of the deal. I’ve never noticed a difference on the table.


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[Mighty Mouse]

I was always told to never let meat freeze before packaging for the freezer, that thawing it to cut and then re-freezing it would significantly change the texture of the meat for the worse. But have always been able to keep it from freezing even in really cold weather. Is this texture thing from re-freezing a myth? Or is it just part of the deal on super late season hunts?

I’ve frozen whole quarters, thawed them out months later, processed them, then re-frozen the processed meat many times over the years. I’ve never noticed any detriment to meat quality using this method vs. processing before any freezing. Usually when I get home from an out-of-state hunt, I’m worn out and have a mountain of chores waiting on me…so the quarters go into the freezer to be processed later when I get caught up on other things.

 

[rickyw]

Butchering in cold weather

My antlerless moose tag is valid for October and March. I may wait until March to fill it but the weather could be much colder than the usual fall temps. How do most of you handle this? Meat freezing too quickly is not ideal. Using a snow machine could make recovery easier but deep snow may...

forums.outdoorsdirectory.com

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I was always told to never let meat freeze before packaging for the freezer, that thawing it to cut and then re-freezing it would significantly change the texture of the meat for the worse. But have always been able to keep it from freezing even in really cold weather. Is this texture thing from re-freezing a myth? Or is it just part of the deal on super late season hunts?

Yes a myth. I hunted my entire young life in Northern Wisconsin and we brought our deer home frozen, whole, hide on most of the time. Thaw in the basement a couple days and have at it and re-freeze, packaged. Meat was fine all the time.

Now, I like to get them out of the hide and bagged, hung and frozen, or try to keep them from freezing in big coolers.

 

[realunlucky]

It is a fact that if the meat freezes before rigor mortis the meat will be tougher. There is a bunch of research done with tons of data, obviously it mostly relates to commercial processing but there is plenty of cross over.

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[Larry Bartlett]

I'm a fan of hide on to avoid freezing if temps are well below 20F, but isn't 16C = 60F?

Avoid freezing for 72 hours prior to final processing to avoid cold shortening.

 

[mtnbound]

Hey All,
I can't seem to find a thread that talks about cold weather (below freezing) meat management. I'm going elk hunting in January and the average temps are around -16C during the day.
I'm looking for some information on how guys have dealt with meat during their hunts. I will have a cooler, but not enough for an entire elk. There will be ample space to hang meat. Do you keep the cape on? Game bags? Can it freeze once quartered and hung?
Please be specific with what has worked, and what you would avoid in the future.

Thanks a lot!

During cold weather, depending on the distance of the pack out, I may not bone out the animal, but I always remove the hide so I do not have to mess with the hair. I have processed meat weeks and months later with no issues.

 

[dirtshooter]

I'm a fan of hide on to avoid freezing if temps are well below 20F, but isn't 16C = 60F?

Avoid freezing for 72 hours prior to final processing to avoid cold shortening.

His post says -16C so about 3F