Filling the freezer.....why ?

Im probably gonna get bashed for this post. But I really just don't get it. I like venison just as much as the next man. However, it's definitely not something I would eat EVERYDAY. No way in hell I would fill an entire freezer with it. I'd get burned out so easily. I'm fresh out of college. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is to have some extra meat in the back of the freezer when funds get low. But an entire freezer ??? I know it's just my opinion. But I'd really like to hear an explanation from someone who makes this one of thier hunting goals.

we eat venison almost exclusively. I will buy a steak bout once a month, porkchops every now and then. Wife can make anything from venison from meatloaf to tacos. I try to put 5-6 deer in the freezer every year and that about fills it up.

We eat deer meat for about 80% of our meat. We do buy pork but also use wild pig if we have some and buy steaks and occasionally a pack of burger for certain things. I hunt to kill stuff even though I love watching them more then shooting now but my son and wife still love to kill them. I guess you get tired of beef, pork and chicken? We get ours made into burger, roast, cube, stew, and stir fry. How is that different then buying those things in beef except we kill it and you go to the grocery store and buy it.

i eat about 2 deer a season.

We eat it but not too much. Most years we (my immediate family) consume typically 1, 2 tops. This year we slayed them in Texas (brought home 4) so we've got a venson surplus and we're making a point to cut out other meat and eat this venison.

People do things differently. Fred and Turkey have given good, clear, solid reasons - the majority of their meat is venison, so they stock up.

Our doe limits, for now, are good for this. And if you need more, get a Georgia license and start ticking off their 11-per-season or go to Tennessee where the west half of the state is 3-does-per-day and stock up.

If we ate more venison I'd be hunting in Tennessee. They can't get enough of 'em kilt up there.

Thats pretty much our family too. We buy the occasional steak here and there, but everything we make at home that has meat in it is deer meat. Usually takes us about 4-5 deer to make it through the year. With the kids getting older and eating more that number will probably start going up though.

Well, I'll be the first one to agree with you.

Ribeyes. The only thing that venison cannot replace the taste of.

I don't fill the freezer as the wife won't eat venison. I try to eat venison 1-2 times a week and to that end usually try to kill 2-3 deer a year. That's split between FL and AL. Venison is tasty in its different forms like burger, backstraps, and sausage and good for you.

This exactly at our house. Other than a good ribeye and pork chops we eat deer. Haven't bought store burger in more years than I can remember.

I understand if that's a bulk of your meat. All I'm getting at is that why limit your self ? If venison is your #1 meat cool. What about the other choices to keep variety in your diet beef (venison), pork ( wild hogs) chicken/turkey (wild turkey, quail, grouse) if you know what I mean. But I'm stressing it's only a question.

We ate beef 4 times at my house last year. Everything else we ate was wild game, except chicken. I don't know where to go to hunt chickens!

Us too... I've about gotten to where I even prefer it over store bought steaks. To me, deer meat just has more flavor (if it's well taken care of after the kill).

And if you think you'd get burned out on it, then you just don't know enough ways to cook it.

The only time I eat beef is at a restaurant. I will buy some pork but only because we (luckily) dont have a lot of hogs. I buy some of chicken and my wife's preferred fish is salmon. I used to put up 6-7 deer a year, but now that the kids have moved out we get buy with about 3.

I dont really like all the crap they feed to animals before they slaughter them. Antibiotics and stuff...

Have you ever cleaned a "wild turkey"???? It's not like a Butterball from the store. Not many wild quail or grouse running around these days either.

Venison is basically fat free protein. While wild hogs are a nuisance throughout the state, there are many areas that have no hogs, but have a healthy population of deer.

my wifes cubed steak in gravy is better than anything bought in a store. Period.

Soooo what time should we come over?

To answer your question there are plenty of people out there who eat it to save money. They deer hunt while you and I are at work.

Which is circular. That's why they have to save money.

I am definitely not one to fill the freezer, but in most years I will eat at least 2 deer, but this year for the first time in 15 years and only the second time in my life that I can remember I will not be eating any deer meat due to my lack of ability in killing one lol.

I don't eat it to save money, no telling what that meat costs. I eat it because I prefer it to beef.

10-4 and x2

Yea the cost of deer meat can cause confusion in relationships lol

When I'm able to fill the freezer we use it for everything instead of beef. I prefer it over beef but a good ribeye is hard to beat

I definitely don't eat it to save money lol

Last year I was able to hunt a couple of places where they asked me to shoot does. So we put 5 in the freezer and ran out of everything but ground venison in September. If we have it we would eat it 3-5 times per week. Family of 4 with an 8 year old who doesn't like ground beef (grew up eating ground venison) and a 4 year old who will eat almost anything at least once lol.

I have 2 in the freezer this year and we will be out of the good cuts by late spring. It doesn't help that my wife and I eat lots of protein and very little carbs. We eat LOTS of meat.

I eat it because I like to kill deer and I eat what I kill. I do not prefer it to beef. I do replace beef with deer meat in most of the recipes i cook not for flavor but beacuse we have it in the freezer. I don't prefer turkey to store bought either but i like to turkey hunt, so I eat wild turkey.

Depends on the size freezer

I try to fill the freezer because I enjoy the taste of venison, it’s healthier than beef, and there is a satisfaction with knowing that the food I’m eating came from my own hands. In my opinion, there are far too many people on this earth who eat meat but have never experienced taking the animal’s life that it came from. I think anyone who eats meat should have that experience at least once in their lifetime.

Venison (which I had just finished for supper), wild hog and fish from local ponds, sloughs and rivers make up a majority of our meat.
And, I really enjoy it!!!

Like Troy said.....it dang sure ain’t because of the price!!

Another ‘shocker’ to the snowflakes.....you can grow vegetable in your own garden too!!!!

It ain’t chicken McNuggets.....but, it will keep you alive!

Tacos, Nachos, Spaghetti, Chili, Hamburger helper, Meatloaf, Country fried steak, Grilled Backstrap are just a few of the reasons why we keep a nice freezer full!

X2

This is me in a nutshell!

We eat mostly deer and we buy some beef and pork from a local butcher the beef is usually steaks or trimmings/stew meat and the pork we get is whole pork looks, pork chops bacon, and bacon trimmings. When I raised courtnix quail and Bob white quail we eat that instead of buying chicken. Store bought chicken is so flavorless to me. Every now and then I can stock up on crappie. I'll fill a freezer if given the opportunity

I'd rather eat it than beef. Like everyone has mentioned you can make anything with it and since I killed it I know exactly whats been put into it. We do not have wild hog here or I would shoot them too. I'll agree the only thing it can't replace is a ribeye....ribeyes are good.

3 deer a year gets me my burger /link sausage and cube meat and neck roasts. It’s just my wife and I and we are usually out by the next season. 1 wild hog for patty sausage and a couple turkeys for frying breaths and use the legs and wings for stew meat. We eat a lot of turkey burger and mainly cook the deer burger for hamburgers. I’m allergic to fish but a dozen speckled trout and 3-4 reds a year gets my wife her seafood fix and twice a year I’ll go gig a mess of blue crabs which I can eat. That fills my freezer up. And it all gets eaten. I don’t eat limb rat, coons, or any dove or duck so I don’t kill them.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford eating just about whatever I want to but I choose to eat venison for lunch several times a week. That’s a lot of venison

I like the taste and it’s good healthy meat

Estimating we are 50-60 lbs though our freezer of elk, deer, ducks and wild turkey.

We've probably got another 175 lbs of meat to last us until season opens again. Might get an off shore fishing trip in at some point, so maybe we'll put a little fish in there too.

Not trying to save money and we certainly don't. There's nothing as fine as appropriately processed game meat prepared well. That cost can't be calculated.

Never about saving money. My kids have been raised on clean, organic protein. Theyll eat a beef hamburger at a restaurant but they don't mind a bloody, gamey flavored roast cooked to medium rare.

I don't eat it much cause I have to fix it myself everytime. I do know two families next to a place I use to hunt that couldn't get enough. One family was giving it away to their employees. Another country family that hunted out their back door shot 10 one year and said that was not enough they could eat them all. Of course it made hunting near them tough to say the least. I am sure if you had someone that cooked really well you would like it even more, but you would eventually want to mix it up. One a year is usually enough for me and some years none is ok too.

We don’t eat beef unless we go out to eat. If we eat red meat it’s venison. I have a family of 5 and me filling my freezer with enough meat to feed them for several months is what we choose to do.

I like at least 2. 3 is better. 4 is just right. Beef is so expensive and venison is much healthier

Some would say the same for beef. If i dont fill the freezer every year the wife gripes about why i spend all that money on hunting club dues etc and we still have to buy hamburger. We eat almost exclusively deer meat, only time i buy meat at the store is if i want a steak or fried chicken. Not to mention its about as healthy a red meat as you can get my cardiologist asked if i eat alot of red meat once when i said only deer he immediately said oh well thats nit bad for you.

I've got two freezers. Between the farm raised beef and deer meat, they're both almost full.
I've got just enough room left for about 60# or 80# of wild pork and a couple of turkeys.
By November they'll both be empty.

About 5 deer a year takes care of us. Anything we'd use a cow for, we use good old venison for. Tacos, spaghetti sauce, burgers, grilled backstrap, roast etc. The only red meat we buy is a good fatty steak.

I deer hunt for the ultimate enjoyment of killing deer. Filling my freezer is a bonus. I have a family of 5 and all of my kids have been raised on venison so we go through it pretty quick.

I prefer venison over any other red meat. When my daughter was living at home, she would not eat beef but loved deer meat. When I would take half a back strap and cook it on the grill, when I would start cutting it up, my kids were like little birds with their mouths open. To me, it is better than a Ruths Chris fillet, and I've had a few of them.

I like to put at least 5 deer in the freezer, but this year I put up 6. My kids are both grown and married and I share with them too. My parents are still alive and they love when I take them some deer.

Why would I not want as much of my favorite meat as I can eat in a year???

Daddy used to buy a box of winchester silvertips(original) an hed give me 5 of them. Hed say.."son, i expect you to kill 5 deer" if you missed or wounded a deer you wer subject to get your butt tore up...no questions asked. Daddy used to take huntin away as a punishment an id squall like you took my favrit toy...id act right too, for awhile anyways...least til hed let me go huntin again. We killed bout 7-10 deer a year, shot rabbits in febuary, caught spawning and post spawn crappie(many as we could catch with minners while theyd still bite), switched over to bass after that caught as many as we could an frozeem, dog days we didnt do much but eat, september was dove huntin every week day and weekend day we had the chance to, then squirrel season but didnt huntem til the frost an usually deer season had started by then. Never been in a world where everythin i eat, 80% wudnt kilt or caught.

Probably the fact you can only get it four months out of the year makes it more unique. Around june or july we start comparing the remaining packs of meat to the remaining days till deer season . Plus we both love it!!!

damn, intense.

I buy half or a quarter of a cow nearly every year, as it's cheaper than going to the store. If I could put 5 deer in my freezer every year I could probably go 65-35 beef to venison consumption. As it stands now the 2 I've got will last till May. If I spread it out. I've already spoken for 9ish lbs of ground for some summer sausage.

I'd eat Vension at least 2 days a week if I had enough of it.

Something isn't adding up to me here Zay unless I have you confused with someone else. Didn't you kill like 5 deer on public this year? How could your freezer not be full if you eat what you kill?

I also was taught to eat what I kill. I guess the good news is that me and mine really like venison and other wild game, cause I sure like chasing the critters.

We do not buy ground beef. Period. We eat ground venison in place of ground beef exclusively. If we run out, we have family members that kill more deer than their households can even think about eating (don't get me started on that) so we take some of theirs off their hands. In addition to the countless uses for ground venison, we'll do all sorts of stuff with other cuts - grilled loin/backstrap, pan-fried loin/backstrap, cube steak, roasts, osso bucco with the shanks, fajitas, stir-fry, jalapeno poppers, kabobs...the list goes on and on.

My guess is your venison menu is very limited. Find some good wild game recipes online and start experimenting. Steven Rinella has a ton on his website and their are countless others online. Cooking and eating wild game that you killed yourself is so much more satisfying than cooking store-bought meat. I'd imagine that satisfaction is amplified even more when you butchered/processed it yourself, but I'm not there yet.

Same thing with arrows an broadheads, i literally sit and straightened blades on vortex broadheads with 2 pairs of needle nose pliers to reuse them...got dang good at it too. They were my brother and daddys hand me down heads. If i wanted to bowhunt thats what i had to do.

I started seriously filling the freezer back in the late 70s, early 80s hunting a DMP property in Baldwin county with literally hundreds of doe tags. Then we got a few doe days, then more, then 2 does a day. Never bought beef. Ate venison almost every day, sometimes breakfast and dinner. Ate a lot of bream, crappie, bass, Spanish and king mackerel. Gave up on the mackerel due to mercury concerns. Every year bought a couple of turkeys, a few chickens, and some pork butts for the BGE. Unlike the mackerel, there is no data showing anything nasty in venison. Low fat, high protein. And a much more humane treatment for the animal--no nasty feed lot, no hormones or antibiotics, and none of the stress of a slaughterhouse. Just meandering around, then bang/flop.
Now that we live in Oregon, my wife and I can take a total of 2 deer per year. When I finish boning out a deer, there isn't enough red meat left to feed a coyote, and I keep the liver, heart, and kidneys too. We do buy some Pacific wild-caught salmon and steelhead, along with Dungeness crab, but most of our red meat is still venison.

What do you do with the kidneys?

Same here bigt. Good thing I’m better at saltwater fishing than deer hunting or we would starve.

I'm not full on deer meat but, I'm close to full with elk in my 2 freezers. My last 2 elk have been ground into burger except for loin and I have several steaks and stuff as well for 3 elk ago . In the last 5 years my wife may have purchased 5 or 6 packs of hamburger at the store for convenience sake.

I'm always in or near having a bad financial cycle ,, if not for a freezer near or full of deer meat,,, there would have been near no meat to eat at all many days and nights in the dining room saw venison dishes,, deer stew,, burgers, ground venison spaghetti ,,sausage, chili, grilled and fried,, filled the gap for need of meat. My family always tries to fill a freezer or two if possible for never having to want for meat. This doesn't mean beef is off the table though,

My son's family of 5 needs 8 to 10 a year to carry them thru. The only beef they buy is ground when they want a good, greasy hamburger. He has the processor to do a variety of cuts and types of sausage, Salisbury steak, etc.

That's just blasphemous right there.

My wife makes a wild turkey caserole with a cornbread crust..man its good.

We don't eat it as much. My wife is not a huge fan of venison but I give a good bit away to patients, friends, and family. However I know one guy who has not bought meat from a store in so long he can't remember and the only meat they eat is venison. He told me once that it takes 13 deer to feed his family for one year. I like it but dang, I got to have a rib eye at some point! I try to put 2 deer a year in the freezer and I give most of it away.

Dr. B

Yes I did kill 6 total all on public but I wasn't obsessed with filling my freezer. I only kept maybe 3 deer. I only eat a little bit of it. The rest is taken by various family members. I eat what I can't give away because it's no point in wasting food boss

What public land do you hunt?

I'm pretty sure most of the time, people are using that as a term and not a literal statement. So when I say, "I want to fill my freezer", I'm saying "I want to get some deer in there to last me the year, but not be the only thing I eat."

Also freezers come in many different sizes.

I hunt Tuskegee national forest. I hope you are right Jono!

Could be a matter of heritage for some. I have a meat freezer and a vegetable freezer. I put up vegetables out of the garden, which costs me more than i could buy them for at the store, i put up about 3 deer a year, which costs me more than ribeye steak if you consider all that goes into it. Im a hunter and a farmer so this is how i live. I always say my son will not be the first walker man to ever starve to death. Im just doing my part to keep a lifestyle going.

I have family members, specifically my father and father-in-law who's families relied on hunting, fishing, farming and trading goods to get what they needed to survive. They would butcher a hog, smoke and hang the meat once or twice a year, but most of what they ate was wild game. This is how my people lived, not that long ago. So yes, it's heritage for some of us.

Have we gotten that far from what hunting was originally all about? I'd rather have free range wild game, specifically those animals that don't feed on GMO AG crops with herbicide/pesticides used year after year. I can tell you, the only red meat in my freezer right now is white tail deer of the Tennessee and Alabama variety!

Now I probably don't need deer meat to sustain me or my family but we eat our share. Years ago after my father had open heart surgery, his cardiologist told him to limit the red meat unless it was venison. Dr. told him he could eat all of that he wanted. I can't say it is the only red meat I eat, but it is the majority. I've got to break down and have a good ribeye every now and then though.

It's the only reason I hunt. I eat it for health reasons. I eat chicken, salmon , and tuna. Every now and then pork chops come from the store. No beef at my house. I eat a beef steak a couple of times a year.

We eat 2-3 a year. We get breakfast sausage, cubed, ground , smoked sausage and 2 or 3 roast. Sure does help the grocery bill and better for you.

My daughter and I together killed 2 bucks and 4 does this season. That is about average. The bucks did not have great racks, but were mature.. I do get a little smoked sausage made after we get enough burger. Substitute seafood and chicken for the ribeye. I almost forgot those 2 gobblers I get most years.

Well to revisit one of my posts only to say dang I wish I would've filled the freezer. Ain't killed not one deer since the season started. I ain't got no meat left not even a link of summer sausage lol

It's an additive in our house too. We get plenty of other meat off the farm.

We do too. But no deer smh

We will eat around 2 a year. Its healthier, it helps on the grocery bill but most of all we just like it as good if not better except for Ribeyes.

Holy thread resurrections these days Batman....

Better eat them before CWD gets them.

Sounds great! When we eating?

we eat venison every other day at my house 4 or 5 deer last us all year i mainly get it as burger some cubed and the wife makes spaghetti, hamburger helper, meatloaf, pretty much everything you do with beef. if i didnt fill up the freezer every year shed complain about having to buy groceries when Ive paid for a hunting club. I dont get burned out on it we just prepare it alot of different ways.

I replied in February, but we are doing better this year. Had my best season ever last year, and we had beef exactly once at home this year. I didn't even run out of backstrap!

Already got one in South Carolina, and about to start a group of Texas trips.

Got one I need to pickup from the processor here in SC and rolling to Mizzou next week. That ought to fill up the freezer for a year. It’s a little easier to fill the freezer only having to feed myself and my gf from time to time. For those with families I could see where 4-5 deer wouldn’t last but a year or so.

Progress report for me too - We didn't previously eat a ton of venison but put 4 in the freezer last year and now have less than a half of one left. Pretty pleased with that.

Venison is the most expensive meat in our freezer. The fillets and rib-eyes from baby show calves don’t cost nearly as much

So is Mine!!! and Tenderloin as well!!

I dont think folks necessarily mean "fill the freezer". They mean to put enough in the freezer to get through the year. If it were everybody's goal to fill the freezer, that would be easy. Just buy a smaller freezer.. I dont know how many it would take for my family of 4 to eat venison for most every meal. 4 deer usually let's me eat venison 2-3 times a week for the whole year. Put up 3 last year and had to raid my brother's freezer a month ago. With ground beef $5-6 a pound, really helps with the grocery bill too.

I understand what people mean by this, but last year I killed 3 on land that I hunted for free, with a bow that I've owned for 4-5 years now, without having to buy new arrows, and processed it all myself. There really wasn't any cost other than my license.

Again, I understand why people say it, but it doesn't HAVE to be expensive.

If your time is valuable to anyone (you, your family, your employer, your kids, your spouse) it has to be expensive. If you buy any supplies, bow, tree stand, bullets, arrows, flashlight, binoculars, camera, fuel Hunting is expensive

Ah yeah the time thing is a good point. I guess my point was, if I hunted for 10 years with the same bow and same stand and only had to replace arrows every so often, the gear thing isn't too much. Don't have binoculars, don't use cameras anymore.

I'm not saying it doesn't cost anything, but it also doesn't have to be extremely expensive.