Deer meat question????

[The Manager]

I just completely boned all the meet off the quarters of a deer that I killed this past week. My question is I want to have all of this meat made into sausage. I put it all in freezer bags and made sure i got as much of the air out of the bags as i could. I intend on keeping the meat frozen until I am able to harvest a hog or two to mix with it. Will it be ok to leave the meat in the freezer and then have the sausafe made with it at a later date, or do I need to take it to a processore and have it done right now. Any info on this would be appreciated.

[Hit The Release]

Unlike pork and beef, deer meat will last a long time in the freezer because it is very lean. It is the fat in meats which causes the meats to go bad. What I like to do is cube and cut steak strips with deer meat, put the meat in freezer zip locks, remove as much air as possible, wrap the zip lock with either paper grocery sacks or freezer paper, lable it with date and contents, and store all the meat in a cardboard box it the freezer. Every once in a while a package will get lost in the suffle and I have grilled some that were 2 years old and it tasted great.

[Strummer]

When I make sausage I buy boston butts and use that instead of wild pork. No you don't have to do it now.

[Woodrow]

It will be ok in the freezer till a later date, I have made sausage with venison and wild pork, the only problem is there is very little fat, and you can't cook it long or it gets dry.As mentioned above by strummer use the boston butt pork roast, it has more fat, or you can use seasoned bacon ends and pieces, they are pretty cheap also, deer are so lean you need some fat if you are making sausage. Just my experiance and 2 Cents worth. Have made alot of sausage, It's just kinda trial and error, till you get it like you like it.

[ZZ Pops]

It doesn't hurt a thing to freeze it, thaw it to make sausage, then refreeze it. Just follow the advice already given to avoid freezer burn.

[Goat]

I have made sausage two years later and still tasted great. The key is to take the earlier advice when freezing.

[DRow]

itl be ok

[switchback]

I used to go to Kroger and buy a few pounds of beef fat for a few bucks and then run it thru the grinder then when you start grinding the meat put some meat then fat then meat then fat. Add what you think you want. that way you have the fat to help it stick together.

[crittergitter]

i bone all my deer out and use my misc portions of meat for sausage at the end of the year. you doing link or pan sausage? if it is link it going to be smoked anyway

[killroy]

It will be fine take advice from above to keep it from freezer burn

[Trykonshooter]

Vacuum packed meat will avoid freezer burn the best and keeps it fresh.

[The Manager]

Thanks for all the input, I am going to make link sausage but I ma not going to make it for a while.

[Russ81]

It does not cost much to get either beef fat or pork butts from the store, I like using the farm raised pig better, you know they're fat!