Taking the Venison for a Walk in the Snow

Every year about this time I wait for the temperatures to dip below zero. You have to plan ahead around here. We're far enough South that it does not happen every year, and it has to be on a day I'm going to be off work. When it happens, I let all the venison out of the freezer and let them go and play on the back deck.

Last year it did not happen at all. The frost was getting pretty thick. This morning, however, the temperature dipped down to minus 5F, which is colder than the inside of the freezers. I got up at 0500 and started walking my venison.

They don't move around much. They pretty much stay in the laundry baskets in their little freezer paper packages. There were about a dozen individuals represented-- more or less. They mingled with the beef, the chicken, and the TV Dinners from two of our freezers. The third is a frost-free that we use for transient stuff.

Along with defrosting the freezers, I also get to sort out the venison. I found some long-missed doe from 2004 and a little bit of Hubert the Wonder Buck from 2005 that had gotten mixed in with the 2007 deer. I also found a package of ribs from Lord-Knows-When that will be sure to go in the next round of dog food I prepare.

The bins got sorted back by year. Sausage and Grind got shuffled back so it is now all together. Little by little the venison went back to sleep to await another cold day perhaps years from now.