Alaska provides a range of excellent hunting opportunities. With luck and skill, you can bag an impressive trophy and fill your freezer with steaks, roasts and gourmet sausages. But before you can take your animal in for game processing, you need to be properly equipped and know how to care for the meat so it won’t spoil. From supplies to tactics, below are a few quick tips to follow on your next trip.

A Quick Guide to Successful Hunting 

1. Preparation

The most important part of your hunt is to have a plan in place. Before you set out, think through the challenges of getting your game from the field to your fridge, so you’ll be equipped for the process. Your equipment is important to your hunt and ability to bring the animal home afterward. In addition to your weapon and the items you need for safety and navigation, you should have two hunting knives, a sharpener and steel, plenty of sturdy rope, and game bags or another waterproof fabric covering. Once you have your supplies ready, pack everything in a sturdy, lightweight backpack.

2. Aim

Whenever possible, you want to make a clean shot in the neck or behind the animal's shoulder. Other locations can destroy significant portions of the meat. To ensure an opportunity for a clean shot, the sit-in-wait method of hunting is best.

3. Butchering

It's essential to gut the animal without letting the stomach contents touch the meat. Cut through only the skin and muscle to get the stomach out. If you puncture the stomach, the contamination from its contents is impossible to remove. When cutting up big game such as moose, it is imperative that the animal is skinned and gutted as soon as possible so the meat can cool as quickly as possible. 

4. Food Safety

Cooling the meat is important. The meat must be free to “breathe” while cooling or it can spoil. Airtight packaging like plastic bags will also cause the meat to spoil during the cooling process. The best way to bring in clean meat to the processor is to keep it clean in the field – regardless of the conditions. 

5. Preservation

Once you've butchered the animal and brought it home, you'll need to find a long-term storage solution for most of the meat. A game processing company is a good option to transform your game meat into sausages, hamburgers, roasts, and neatly wrapped steaks ready to freeze.

The most important part of your hunt is to have a plan in place. Before you set out, think through the challenges of getting your game from the field to your fridge, so you'll be equipped for the process.

If you're looking for game processing services or just want to taste the flavors of the wild, Alaska Sausage & Seafood is the place to go. They will turn your moose, caribou, deer, or sheep into delicious products that you’ll be proud to share with your family and friends. Choosing a processor such as Alaska Sausage & Seafood will allow you to enjoy the bounty of your hunt all winter long. And while you’re there, visit the retail store for samples of a wide variety of smoked seafood and sausages. For questions, call (907) 562-3636 or contact them online today.