I have some dove in my refrigerator (not the freezer) that I killed opening weekend and, quite frankly, forgot to cook. I really hate to throw it out after killing the birds, but I don't want to eat it if it's bad. It still pretty much looks the way it did when I first put it in the Ziploc bag. Y'all think it's still good?

cook. eat it. you'll be fine.

Smell it.

If they don't look freezer burned (dried out, white-ish leathery looking) they should be fine. I had to throw out a couple ziplocs of them a few weeks ago. Forgot they were in there. I vacuum seal mine now, so hopefully I'll avoid any future waste of tasty birds.

I freeze my doves and fish in water which prevents freezer burn. Works great. If I know I will be kkeping them for a long time period I will vac-seal. (sorry off topic)

I personally wouldn't eat them. It's been over a week, and just refrigerated. If you want to try, make sure to overcook them. And next time freeze them.

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Boy did I miss that one. I thought that they were frozen.

Just smell them. You'll know if they're bad. If they smell fine, the cooking process will kill any bacteria.

cook the F out of them. They may taste like **** but they wont kill you. Or throw them away. Lots of help, I know.

"Cook the Sh*t out of them" is bad advice.

Do the three step thing:

Smell it

Look at it

Cook to 180. Anything over that is a waste. All the bacteria dies at 180 so no need to go over.

I suppose until hypothermia sets in deep and their heart can't sustain their body temp.

Problem is if you put to many in there....There is just not enough O2 in there for the little fellas to make it much past a day....Plus, unless you cage them in there, they fly out when you go in for a Cold-Pop.

They don't smell TOO bad, but they don't look all that appetizing anymore. I think I'll just chunk them. Luckily it was only 5 birds, and hopefully I'll get some more to replace them this weekend (and remember to cook them this time).

Scratch that. My wife just pulled a roast out of the crock pot. I plopped those bad boys in the crock pot and I'll let them cook in that good juice for a few hours and see how they turn out.

just throw them on the pit, the should be fine,its happened to me before.

My lab enjoyed them a lot more than I did.

Feed em to someone else first, and see what happens.....

They are likely fine if refrigerated all that time