Freeze for now and process later?

[camping1601]

Whole bone in quarters and a bag of loose meat all in game bags. Anyone done this and regretted it when the time to butcher came?

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

That’s what mines doing right now, except hanging in the shed, did it with a couple bears during Sept but they were in the actual freezer, just have to watch out for freezer burn,


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[BravoNovember]

I have once. The biggest thing for me was the motivation to take care of it again. I find it much easier to just take care of it right away.

 

[brancher147]

Never frozen in game bags always deboned and froze in 2.5 gallon ziplock. Only thing tough is planning for the time it takes to thaw. This is how I process a lot of my deer now as I simply don’t have the time I used to

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I've done this many times with whole quarters. I freeze all my loose grind meat every year and thaw to grind or make sausage later and then refreeze. Nothing wrong with this.

 

[Poser]

I have once. The biggest thing for me was the motivation to take care of it again. I find it much easier to just take care of it right away.

Same. I have just a bag of bear bones in the freezer that need to be cooked down for stock and can't even get motivated enough to do that.

 

[wyosam]

I’ve had elk quarters freeze solid overnight a few times, bought them home and hung in the unheated garage for a while, then moved them to a room with a little heat (50ish) for a week or so then cut. No issues.


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[MuleyFever]

I freeze large cuts for later because I'm not always sure what I want it for. I can pull them out and make jerky, cut into cubes for dishes, put the whole thing in the crockpot, or grind.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I’ve had elk quarters freeze solid overnight a few times, bought them home and hung in the unheated garage for a while, then moved them to a room with a little heat (50ish) for a week or so then cut. No issues.


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Yeah, I grew up hunting in Northern Wisconsin and almost every year we brought our deer home frozen solid. Left them in the basement for a couple days and then butchered them and into the freezer.

 

[Wrench]

I froze my bull and buck from Idaho while I went after my son's bull and my Washington buck.

No issue.

 

[missjordan]

I’ve done it in the past when life’s been busy. But I’ve also looked up in July and I’m still picking around the quarters. Everything processes fine but I’ve found it hard to get the motivation to finish the job. I try not to do it if i can avoid it.


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[MarkOrtiz]

We killed 5 whitetail in Tx and froze the quarters and extra meat to put in coolers and bring back on the plane with us to Nevada. I processed them after we got home. No issues at all.

 

[Carlin59]

I’ve found myself doing the “freeze whole quarters in game bags” more and more frequently the past few years. No ill effects, but it does hang over my head until it’s thawed and fully processed. Given the option, I’m more likely to process hind quarters fresh and freeze the fronts (since it will mostly go to grind anyway).

 

[mtnbound]

I typically bone the animal out, so I freeze burger or sausage meat in totes and deal with it after season.

 

[camping1601]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Burch]

For meat that i am processing(canning,grinding,sausage) I debone and freezenin gallon freezer gags with all the air squeezed out and have left them like that for up to a year before processing . Thaw out,process and refreeze. Roasts i vacuum seal