Now that hunting season is underway here in the West, and about to start in earnest in the rest of the country, I thought a couple of tips on game processing might be in order.

First, if you do not cut and wrap your own game, you need to start now. Processing your own meat ensures the best yield from your animal, you receive the meat that you killed, and your meat does not become contaminated from an outside source. You also can pick and choose the cuts you want and the package size, depending on your family's needs.

I like to leave my cuts as large as possible until I'm ready to grill or roast, then I cut the steaks to size. This helps to keep your meat from drying out and keeps freezer burn to a minimum. Speaking of freezer burn the best tool I have found to avoid this problem is a vacuum sealer.

We have used the FoodSaver® brand of sealer and they work fine for the homeowner, however, processing large animals like moose and elk tend to overheat the pump and shorten the life of the machine. They also suggest that you keep all moisture from escaping from the bag or you can ruin the machine in short order. We have found that the VacMaster®, a commercial chamber vacuum packaging machine by ARY, Inc., works best. It allows high volume usage and moisture (blood) is not a problem. In fact, you can seal soups or any other liquid with this type of machine.

Regardless of the type of vacuum sealer, they all require special plastic bags, but the heavy-duty bag and the removal of all the air keeps your meat fresh and palatable longer than wrapping in freezer paper. For example, I just served steak from a deer shot in 2007 and we could detect no loss of flavor or freezer burn. Just remember to label every package with the type of animal, the cut of meat and the date of harvest.