Canning Wild Game Stock at Home: A Safe Pressure-Canner Method for Alberta Hunters

Most Alberta hunters end the season with a chest freezer that’s running out of room and a pile of bones that gets thrown in the bush. That’s a waste. The neck, shanks, rib trim, and marrow bones off a mule deer taken in WMU 150 or a moose out of WMU 353 will make a stock better than anything on the shelf at the Save-On in Red Deer ΓÇö and once it’s canned properly, it lives on a shelf instead of eating freezer space you need for backstrap.

The catch is that stock is a low-acid food, and low-acid foods canned badly are how people get botulism. There’s no shortcut here and no folk method worth trusting. Pressure canning is the only validated way to do it at home, and Alberta’s elevation means the numbers printed on the side of most American canning guides are not the numbers you should be running. Here’s the method, the gear, and the parts that matter most.

Why Stock Has to Be Pressure Canned ΓÇö No Exceptions

Wild game stock sits around pH 6 to 7. That’s squarely in the range where Clostridium botulinum spores survive and, in the oxygen-free environment of a sealed jar, germinate and produce botulinum toxin. Boiling water tops out at roughly 100┬░C at sea level ΓÇö lower in Alberta ΓÇö and those spores shrug it off.

Only a pressure canner gets jar contents to approximately 116┬░C (240┬░F), which is the temperature validated to destroy the spores in a reasonable processing time. That means:

• No water-bath canning. Not for stock, not for meat, not “because Grandma did it.”
• No oven canning. Dry heat transfers poorly and jars can shatter.
• No electric multicookers. Instant Pot and similar units with a “canning” or “sterilize” button have not been validated by USDA or Health Canada for pressure canning low-acid foods. The USDA’s National Center for Home Food Preservation explicitly advises against them. Those appliances don’t hold calibrated pressure the way a true canner does.
• No added thickeners, flour, rice, barley, or dairy. Those change heat penetration and void the tested processing time. Can the stock plain; build the soup when you open the jar.

Alberta Altitude Changes Your Pressure ΓÇö Not Your Time

This is the single most-skipped step in Canadian home canning. Because water boils at a lower temperature as elevation rises, you have to increase pressure to hit the same internal temperature. The processing time stays the same; the gauge reading goes up.

Where that puts you in Alberta:

• Calgary (~1,045 m / 3,430 ft), Lethbridge (~929 m), Red Deer (~855 m), Medicine Hat (~717 m), Edmonton (~645 m), Grande Prairie (~669 m): 12 psi on a dial gauge.
• Canmore (~1,309 m) and Banff (~1,383 m): 13 psi on a dial gauge.
• Fort McMurray (~369 m), Peace River (~330 m), Cold Lake (~540 m): 11 psi on a dial gauge.

If you’re running a weighted-gauge canner, anywhere in Alberta above 300 m means the 15-pound weight ΓÇö there is no partial setting. That covers essentially every hunting camp and kitchen in the province. Look up your actual elevation rather than guessing; a cabin near Nordegg sits in a different band than a house in Lloydminster.

Choosing a Canner That Meets the Standard

Two designs, both acceptable:

Dial gauge. The Presto 23-quart (model 01781) is the common workhorse and holds seven quarts or 20 pints in a double layer. The advantage is that you can dial in 12 or 13 psi exactly. The disadvantage is that dial gauges drift. USDA guidance is to have them tested annually ΓÇö which is genuinely harder in Canada than the U.S., where county extension offices do it free. Practical options: contact Presto’s service department about gauge testing or replacement, buy a spare gauge, or switch to weighted. A gauge reading 2 psi low is a batch of unsafe stock you won’t know about.

Weighted gauge. All American’s cast-aluminum 921 (21.5 qt) and the Presto three-piece weight set both regulate by venting steam at a fixed pressure. Nothing to calibrate, and the jiggle or rocking tells you it’s holding. For Alberta, weighted is arguably the better choice purely because the calibration problem disappears.

Jars: standard Bernardin or Golden Harvest mason jars in pints or quarts, widely stocked at Peavey Mart, UFA, and Canadian Tire. Half-gallon jars have no tested process for stock ΓÇö don’t use them. Use new two-piece lids every time; the flat lids are single-use because the sealing compound deforms. Reusable plastic-and-gasket lids were not used in developing the tested processes.

Making the Stock: Hot Pack Only

Simmer bones and trim ΓÇö neck and shank meat carry a lot of flavour ΓÇö in water with aromatics until the liquid tastes like something. Roasting bones first at 220┬░C for 30ΓÇô45 minutes deepens the colour and flavour considerably. Then:

1. Strain out all solids. Stock going into jars should be liquid only. Chunks of meat and vegetables have their own separate, longer tested processes.
2. Chill overnight and lift the fat cap off. Excess fat on the jar rim is a leading cause of seal failure, and it goes rancid in storage.
3. Reheat to a full boil immediately before filling. This is a hot pack, and the time assumes hot liquid going into hot jars.

Salt is optional and purely for taste ΓÇö it does nothing for safety. Leave it out and season at the stove later.

Jar Prep and Headspace

• Wash jars in hot soapy water and keep them hot (in the canner, or a 100┬░C oven) so they don’t thermal-shock.
• Ladle boiling stock in, leaving 1 inch (2.5 cm) headspace. Not half an inch. Underfilled or overfilled jars both cause seal problems.
• Slide a plastic bubble-remover or chopstick around the inside to release trapped air, then re-check headspace.
• Wipe the rim with a clean cloth dipped in hot water or vinegar ΓÇö fat residue will break a seal.
• Centre the lid, screw the band to fingertip-tight only. Air needs to escape during processing.

Processing Times (USDA Guide 5)

The tested process for meat stock or broth, hot pack:

• Pints: 20 minutes
• Quarts: 25 minutes

At your altitude-corrected pressure from the table above. The sequence matters:

1. Put 2ΓÇô3 inches of hot water in the canner (check your manual ΓÇö volumes differ) and load jars on the rack.
2. Lock the lid, leave the vent open, and bring to a hard boil. Vent steam steadily for a full 10 minutes before closing the petcock or adding the weight. This purges air; skipping it means the canner is cooler inside than the gauge suggests.
3. Bring up to pressure and start timing only when your target pressure is reached and held.
4. Adjust heat to hold pressure steady. If it drops below target at any point, bring it back up and restart the timing from zero.

Cooling, Sealing, and Storing Through an Alberta Winter

Turn off the heat and let pressure fall to zero on its own ΓÇö no cold water, no cracking the vent early. Once at zero, wait 10 minutes, then remove the weight or open the petcock, wait another 10, and unlock the lid tilting it away from your face. Lift jars straight out without tipping and set them on a towel with space between, undisturbed for 12ΓÇô24 hours.

Then check seals by pressing the centre of each lid ΓÇö no flex, no give. Remove the bands (left on, they trap moisture and rust), wipe the jars, and label with contents and date. Any jar that didn’t seal goes in the fridge for immediate use or gets reprocessed with a new lid within 24 hours.

Storage matters more here than in most places: keep jars between 10ΓÇô21┬░C, dark, and never in an unheated garage, shed, or truck canopy. A ΓÇô30┬░C stretch in January will freeze the contents, expand them, and pop seals ΓÇö and you may not notice until the thaw. A basement shelf is the right spot. Quality is best inside a year; a properly sealed, properly stored jar stays safe well beyond that.

The Rules Hunters Miss

Chronic Wasting Disease. Alberta runs a mandatory head-submission program for deer in designated WMUs, concentrated along the Saskatchewan border and the Red Deer, Battle, Oldman, and South Saskatchewan river systems. Submission requirements and WMU lists change annually. Critically: canning does not destroy prions. No amount of pressure, time, or temperature makes a CWD-positive animal safe. Alberta Health and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency advise against consuming any part of a positive animal. If an animal from a mandatory-submission WMU is still pending results, do not can its bones ΓÇö wait.

Transfer and sale. Alberta’s Wildlife Act prohibits selling, trading, or bartering wild game meat. Giving jars of stock to family or friends is generally permitted, but transferred game should be accompanied by written documentation identifying the hunter, licence number, species, and when and where the animal was taken. Check the current regulations for the exact requirement before handing jars out.

When to Throw a Jar Out

Never taste-test a questionable jar. Discard without sampling if you see an unsealed or bulging lid, liquid that spurts on opening, cloudiness or unexpected sediment, mould, or any off odour. To dispose of a suspect jar safely, boil it ΓÇö lid on, submerged, in a covered pot ΓÇö for 30 minutes before putting it in the garbage, and disinfect any surface it touched. As a standing precaution, USDA recommends boiling home-canned low-acid foods before eating: 10 minutes at sea level plus one minute per additional 1,000 feet, which works out to roughly 13ΓÇô14 minutes in Calgary.

Done right, this is one of the highest-value things a hunter can do with the two-thirds of an animal that usually gets left behind.

Hunting & food-safety disclaimer: PickinRocket is informational, not instructional. This article does not teach hunting, shot placement, field dressing, or dispatching animals. Processing wild game carries real risks ΓÇö bacterial contamination, parasites, and CWD among them ΓÇö and home canning carries a risk of botulism if tested procedures are not followed exactly. Nothing here replaces the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning (Guide 5), your canner manufacturer’s manual, or guidance from Alberta Health Services and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. If you are pregnant, immunocompromised, or feeding young children, consult a health professional before serving home-canned wild game products.