WILD GAME
Definition of the Year:
Backstrap: The Elastic, yellowish connective tissue running from the neck region into the rib region along the spine of Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal, Deer, Elk, Antelope, & Buffalo. Composed of Heavy connective Tissue, removed during fabrication.
Out Of State Hunters: Please look at the video on the Home page. Antelope can be left WHOLE from any state. We can accept and hold more “properly hung” animals…..Do not Piece them out, cooler space may not be available for “pieces”. We have more space for whole carcasses!
COOLER space: All wild game should call ahead before drop off, cooler space is extremely tight since Covid started…..916-685-5431
TIPS FOR HUNTERS
- Gut your animal immediately, including throat, bladder & rectum
- Start skinning your animal within the first hour
- Most game meat Spoils because its not skinned quickly
- Wash your animal with clean water after skinning
- Use a squirt bottle filled with vinegar and water mixture to spray down your animal, inside and out. This helps with bacteria.
- Let your animal dry completely
- Wrap your animal in a dry cloth “no plastic”
- Please don’t piece out your animal, leave it whole “when possible”
- For “Out of State” see the video on our home page on how to remove the spine properly, leaving your animal able to hang properly
- Use Dry Ice only if weather is extremely warm (this is normally not necessary if you hunt late Oct-Dec) If you can’t find dry ice and its above 60 degrees and your worried, double bag regular ice & make sure your animal stays dry. Moisture=Mold. We have more mold growth with animals that are in ice chest, dry game bags are the best option 99% of the time.
- Do not remove blood shot areas, we will do that when we cut it
- Cutting your animal into pieces exposes the “good” meat to air, dirt and bacteria. You will loose more meat if animal is pieced out!
- Leave the tendon attached on the hind legs to hang it properly
- We can only age meat if it is able to hang in large pieces like shown on our video (and it must stay dry after skinning)
Properly Gutted, Skinned & Cleaned animals that are left whole will yield the most meat possible. Animals that are not gutted and skinned quickly enough risk “Bone Sour” Keeping your animal clean and free of hair and dirt will also help you yield a better finish weight.
BEAR HUNTERS
Gut and skin immediately!
Bears bone sour fast.
Validate your tag before arriving at the shop.
WE ONLY take BONELESS clean bear meat for 25# batch specialty sausages, we won’t be cutting bears in this busy 2021 season.
Highly recommend not hunting bear until November when the weather is cool enough, Bear spoil quickly! Take dry ice with you if your hunting bear prior to November.
FOR THE BIRDS
- Bring in Boneless Bird Meat as soon as possible, we will be cutting off game sausage orders and in the spring for FAIR 2022 once the “smoker” is maxed out for the season.
- Please only bring frozen boneless bird meat to make sausages in 1 gallon zip lock bags or smaller please
- Mark you bags with species and number of birds
- Also bring in all hunting license #’s
- 12-15lbs bird meat will make a 25lb sausage batch, we add pork trim
- Please bring birds during the winter months when our smoker is not as busy. DEC – FEB
- NO orders will be run May-Nov due to fair/deer season, the smokers too busy.
- We have limited time to finish all bird sausages before the first Fair in May….call ahead after March 1st, we will be cutting off bird orders for the fair season, once the last weeks smoker batch is full.
DEAR SEASON
- NO after hours drop off appointments after 4:30pm
- Use DRY ICE if needed until the morning when we can meet you at the shop. Click here to see our Early Hours.
- Sorry, but we are currently NOT Available weekends.
- Check special hours Friday night to see if we are working extra hours.
- Call the shop for all information. #916-685-5431
- PLEASE have your animal completely skinned before arriving at the shop.
