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Friday, September 18th, 2026

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Storage matters when it comes to keeping wild meat fresh

There is an optimal time frame to use frozen meat and fish. For ground meat it is between 3 to 4 months, for large chunks of meat it is somewhere between 6 to 8 months. For fish it is usually between 3 to 8 months depending on the type of fish. Consume fattier species like trout, salmon or tuna closer to the three-month mark. Leaner fish like walleye, panfish or cod can last a little longer.

As hunters and fishermen, one of our biggest problems is food waste. We have all been out hunting or fishing and brought home our quarry, processed it and put it in the freezer. Almost certainly we have gone to that freezer and found a package of frozen meat that is 2 or 3 years old.
We are then left with the dilemma of whether it is still good to eat or not? That answer is not as simple as good or bad. Like many things it depends on several factors.

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