Hunters: Safe Handling for Venison (2024)

FAQs

How do you handle venison? ›

Keep uncooked venison frozen.

Make sure juices from uncooked venison do not touch other foods, especially those that are ready to eat, as this can cause cross-contamination. Always wash your hands with hot, soapy water before touching food. Use clean plates, cooking pans and serving utensils to cook and serve venison.

Elk and Venison are very low in fat and is best served medium-rare.

Bacterial growth increases when temperatures reach above 40 degrees and will spoil quickly when temperature reaches above 50 degrees. I have left deer hanging overnight in 60 degree weather but stuffed the chest cavity with ice.

No matter how easy the blood trail is to follow, the majority of the blood loss is internal. In almost any typical or ideal scenario, there is no need to bleed the deer.

Pack hot meat loosely into hot jars leaving 1-inch headspace. Fill jars with boiling broth, meat drippings, water, or tomato juice, (especially for wild game) to 1 inch from top of jar. Remove bubbles, wipe jar rims, adjust lids and process in pressure canner.

Minimize handling of all brain and spinal tissues. Wash hands and tools thoroughly after field dressing is completed. Avoid consuming the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes of harvested animals.

Once the internal temperature of venison is confirmed with a food thermometer and has reached the minimum internal temperature, it is safe to eat, regardless of the color of the meat, which may still have a pinkish color.

coli or Salmonella, so you'll need to cook your meat after thawing it, letting it reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit internally. Eating venison fresh isn't recommended because of how common parasites and tapeworms are. Even in homemade jerky and fermented sausages, E. coli can stay in the deer's intestinal tract.

Eating inadequately cooked venison may represent an important vehicle of human toxoplasmosis infection.

Venison doneness temperatures

You can cook the tender, steaky cuts of venison to the same doneness levels as you would beef, namely 130–135°F (54–57°C) for medium rare and 135–145°F (57–63°C) for medium. Hitting those temperatures just right is important for maximum enjoyment.

Is 3 year old venison still good? ›

you could have something frozen for three or four years, it'll still be safe to eat. as long as your freezers remained on. and that meat has remained below 40 degrees. You can even unfreeze it and refreeze it again.

Brown/yellow/green, watery, and putrid-smelling…

This is never a good sign. You likely hit the deer in the intestines or stomach (called a “gut shot” or “paunch shot”).

Cut from the breastbone to the belly and remove the intestines, stomach, and lungs. Remove the suspended rear leg. Rinse the whole carcass in cold water to remove hair and blood.

The distinct game flavor of either birds or animals will be milder after soaking the meat overnight in the refrigerator in either a salt or vinegar solution. 2. Vinegar solution - 1 cup per quart of cold water. Use enough solution to cover the game completely.

Transport and slaughter

Deer are slaughtered at one to two years of age by shooting them in the field, transporting them to a slaughterhouse, or using a specialist slaughterhouse facility onsite.

You should let your deer hang for 2 to 4 days at minimum before processing to avoid this. For the best tasting deer meat Mississippi State University recommends 14 to 18 days of hanging time. A general rule of thumb is, the older the deer, the longer the hang time.