I’m Crying

[dr.mooseknuckles]

Truly a first world problem, so I’m thankful that its not the end of the world, especially at this time of year. Things could be much worse, and as you finish reading this opening post, you probably won’t feel that bad for me. So here goes.....

I lost nearly ALL of my first elk (split with my hunting partner) plus a solid 40 lbs of whitetail.

We are in the demo phase of a major home renovation (Read as basically building a new home). The power was disconnected 2-3 weeks ago for removal of huge trees inout backyard and hasn’t been reconnected. This removed power to my he-shed which is where the deep freezer WAS located. We are currently living in a condo in the downtown area without any acceptable place to move the deep freezer when we moved out. My wife didn’t like the idea of covering the thing with a table cloth in the kitchen area of the condo.

Went to the house today to check on the progress, get some of the meat for fajitas and tacos so my in-laws could try it tomorrow, and get some of my Texas-rig decoy lines for some new duck decoys I recently purchased after a much needed upgrade. I discovered that there was no power when I opened the freezer and inhaled an ominous odor. I began weeping on the spot. Worked hard for that meat, not only in regards to paying for the trip, but also in the “sweat equity” if the trip itself. Not to mention that the whitetail were also taken off of Public land, one of them being a great 3.5 yr old buck off of heavily hunted SC land.

Truly sick at my stomach. I’ve got 4 lbs of ground in my condo freezer. I was really looking forward to those roasts (especially the neck) that I won’t get to experience. Haven’t eaten any yet as my wife refuses to eat until the baby comes which is any day now. She feels horrible for me, but slightly balked when I told her I’d be going again next season.

I haven’t even deer hunted in SC that hard because I have no freezer space. Now, I have no freezer.

All I want for Christmas is another tag. Thanks for reading, and if you feel so inclined, pour a stiff liquor drink for me. Preferably a nice Scotch, as I’ve been banned from that now that we’re nearing D-Day.


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[Trial153]

I had the same thing happen, had three deer, a bear and a bunch of fish in a new chest freezer that some how got the plug pulled took me like 3 days after I came home to figure out what the smell was...I thought I was going to have toss the freezer as I couldnt get the smell out, took me weeks to get it smelling ok...turns out there was a drain pull that was gummed up with rotten meat

Little tip....refreeze everything before you take the meat out.

 

[ChrisAU]

Tossed a freezer myself a few months ago due to moving complications. Buddy and I grabbed my freezer from my old house, drove fast to a rental I was staying in for a few months while I sold my old house, and plugged it in and verified it was working in the garage at the rental. Cut the lights off and closed the door. Go to get some meat a week later and my God. Turns out the plugs in the garage were on the light switch. Genius. Lost multiple whitetails.

 

[mtmuley]

That sucks. During your renovation, make sure you install a dedicated freezer circuit. And only plug one freezer into it. Sounds like this wasn't your issue, but it's good insurance. mtmuley

 

[Phaseolus]

This has happened to me also. I have always wondered why there is not a good aftermarket monitor that would give an alarm when it reaches a set temperature. It can’t be that hard to make one. I’d buy it.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

That sucks. During your renovation, make sure you install a dedicated freezer circuit. And only plug one freezer into it. Sounds like this wasn't your issue, but it's good insurance. mtmuley

Thats a good idea. I’ll be able to put the new freezer in a walk-in crawl space area to keep closer to house.

I feel gut punched and like my best friend died


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[CorbLand]

This has happened to me also. I have always wondered why there is not a good aftermarket monitor that would give an alarm when it reaches a set temperature. It can’t be that hard to make one. I’d buy it.

They do make them. They run off a double or triple A battery. Just google it.

 

[juan trueno]

I Took a freezer to the dump with a bunch of refrozen rotten pork and venison from last years hurricane. I let it freeze back up before I took it becuase the liquid mess in there after 10 days without power was not anything I was going to deal with. Its so crappy to lose meat.

 

[Dos Perros]

It has happened to me, twice. My freezer is plugged into a circuit with a GFCI on it, and if it trips it seems like you have to go an manually reset all the outlets on the circuit. I remember Steven Rinella saying he could never be friends with a dude who had this happen to them, implying that the kind of hunters he's around are in and out of their freezers so often that they'd catch the problem pretty quickly. I'll say the first time it happened to me, mea culpa, I hadn't been in the freezer for a week or two because we just weren't in the mood to eat elk again, needed a break. The second time my daughter had been in the hospital for a while and we just weren't taking the time to eat good food. The worst part, we lost about 5 gallons of breast milk my wife had spent an estimated 40 hours connected to a breast pump to make. She was devastated. Didn't even want me to tell her how much milk I threw out. I've since bought a cheapie $20 freezer alarm and it's worth it for sure. I might even upgrade to the one that will send you a text or email if it floats out of a temperature range.

 

[idahohikker]

Bad deal. Sorry OP. I've had it happen to me with nearly a whole deer. It's a bad feeling.

 

[PaLongshank]

man, that really sucks! I feel for ya.....hoping you get back out next season and fill the freezer again though!!! hang in

 

[muddydogs]

This has happened to me also. I have always wondered why there is not a good aftermarket monitor that would give an alarm when it reaches a set temperature. It can’t be that hard to make one. I’d buy it.

Here you go. Amazon.com: La Crosse Alerts Mobile 926-25101-GP Wireless Monitor System Set with Dry Probe: Home & Kitchen

Runs off your WIFI, can monitor multiple sensors and for $12 a year per sensor you get text and or email alerts if something isn't right. I have 2 sensors one on each freezer.

This past summer I had a power issue to one of my freezers when I was 10 hours away from home, got a text alert for a high temp, called a buddy who emptied out the still frozen meat in the freezer and took it to his freezer until I got home. So for $70 with initial equipment cost and monitoring fee I saved probably $300 in meat with some of it being priceless stuff made from my hard earned game meat.

I have 2 years on the gateway and monitors with no issues.

 

[ztreat]

Here you go. Amazon.com: La Crosse Alerts Mobile 926-25101-GP Wireless Monitor System Set with Dry Probe: Home & Kitchen

Runs off your WIFI, can monitor multiple sensors and for $12 a year per sensor you get text and or email alerts if something isn't right. I have 2 sensors one on each freezer.

This past summer I had a power issue to one of my freezers when I was 10 hours away from home, got a text alert for a high temp, called a buddy who emptied out the still frozen meat in the freezer and took it to his freezer until I got home. So for $70 with initial equipment cost and monitoring fee I saved probably $300 in meat with some of it being priceless stuff made from my hard earned game meat.

I have 2 years on the gateway and monitors with no issues.

I'm all over this! I've had this happen twice in my lifetime... I know what my Christmas gift is!

 

[davsco]

yep the only good news about me not getting an elk this year on my first elk hunt, was that our freezer went bust recently and i would have lost it all. other good news is that we were pretty much done with last year's venison.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

That stinks Literally and figuratively.



I used to have a deep freezer down stairs that I kept full of meat, garden veggies, fish etc.... My boys and their friends were down stairs playing one weekend when they knocked the plug out of the wall with a stupid basket ball pitching it around. Seems like doing things forbidden always has a way of catching you in the end.

Anyways, it was about 4-5 days later and I smelled something a funk when I came in for the evening. I went to the trash and whiffed it with no foul odor coming from it. My wife asked what that smell was when she came home. It just kept getting worse by the days. We looked and looked until the smell was unbearable. It never occurred to us to look at the freezer for the cause. The smell was EVERY where in the house. Impossible to pin down. It was awful. To the point we started staying with my mother while trying to figure it out.

I was at wits end. It was almost two weeks later from the first day I smelled it and while at work pondering what could have been causing it, it hit me like a brick!. I left work and went home. I went downstairs and opened that door on the freezer. It was one of the most horrid things I've ever experienced. It had started to turn to liquid it was so bad. I dang near threw up when the full force of that smell hit me right in the face. I gagged and threw a fit but was truly concerned how I was going to get the thing out of the house with that fluid mess in it. It hit me to check the plug and there it was 1/3 plugged in. I plugged it in and it fired right back up. I ended up refreezing the stuff, put the whole thing on a dolly, wheeled it out and dumped it all at the dump. I didn't even try to salvage the freezer.



So, I feel your pain.

 

[Wolverine]

I feel your pain....I lost an elk, mule deer and whitetail when my freezer went out. Such a waste.

 

[elkguide]

That really stinks. Losing such valuable food.

 

[njdoxie]

They do make them. They run off a double or triple A battery. Just google it.

I use them, they’ve saved me a couple times, makes a very loud noise.


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[Yota]

Lost freezer full of elk myself (my mother had a freezer in her garage) and her maid didn't shut the door all the way on an upright freezer. It is a terrible waste of some of the finest meat there is to be had.

 

[jsb]

Ugh. What a bummer OP. Hope you get another elk next year.