Game processing starts long before your wild harvest hits the freezer. Our Editors’ Choice gear is built to handle meat with power, precision, and flavor in mind. See what made the cut this year.
Proper game processing is key to making the most of your harvest. Not only does it help preserve flavor and texture, but it also ensures food safety from the start. With the right tools, you can minimize waste, avoid contamination, and store your meat for the long haul. Ultimately, quality gear makes the difference between a rushed chore and a rewarding part of the hunt.
The Best Game Processing Gear
LEM Products #32 BigBite Meat Grinder 1.5 HP
If you grind your own game, and want a grinder to last a lifetime and grind meat as fast as you can feed it, then this is a good one to consider. The grinder can blast through meat at 17 pounds per minute, allowing you to process even the largest animals in a short amount of time. The grinding head and components are made from stainless steel, and the system includes three grinding-plate options: 4.5 mm, 10 mm, and a stuffing plate. The unit has a carry handle, a necessary feature for this 57-pound grinder, and we found the addition of a storage drawer under the grinder head to be a smart upgrade. We grind our own burger, and make several kinds of sausage, and a unit like this makes the job a snap.
JVR Vac110 Vacuum Sealer
This low-profile vacuum sealer is a good solution for hunters and anglers who want to put up a year’s worth of fish and game and ensure that the meat quality stays high in the freezer by preventing freezer burn. It features an oil-lubricated, rotary-style vacuum pump that produces consistent and lasting seals. The standard Vac110 can seal multiple bags at once, and can also seal 8-ounce mason jars. By purchasing the 3-gallon chamber accessory, you can also seal 32- or 64-ounce jars.
Camp Chef XXL Pro Wifi Vertical Smoker
Publisher Melissa Norris wanted to check out a larger-capacity smoker for her salmon-smoking needs and she was really happy with the Camp Chef XXL Pro Smoker. Right out of the box it was a fairly straightforward to assemble thanks to a video Camp Chef supplies showing the step-by-step process. When it came time to smoke fish, she added their proprietary smoke pellets to the smoker and synced her phone to the Camp Chef app.
The Camp Chef XXL Pro Smoker totally delivered without any hiccups. She really appreciates the app keeping her in the loop on temperature and found that feature to be highly valuable. Melissa also really likes that this smoker by Camp Chef is on four legs, lifting it up off the ground to her height. It’s much easier on the back for loading and unloading the rack. This would be a good unit to consider for smoking sausage or making jerky.