Sounds like I may have to not temp the flavor demons like RM dont wanna feed the mosinitus.
I thought deer would taste different then cow.....
Wait... Is mosinitus directly related to eating deer jerky??
Well....I'm not gonna say it is...but...come to think of it....I may need RM's addy as well Now I've heard Reindeer jerky is a given. It'll have you digging through every LGS and pawnshop in the country.
Think of good deer as Grass fed, organic, very lean beef. IMO the fat of any animal is what will start throwing different flavor profiles and with jerky....you go lean, lean, lean. I've had real gamey deer given to me in the past and I would assume it might transfer to jerky, but don't know for sure. What bbush said about debone/defat/and deslimeing the meat is key. I even go as far as "bleeding" the meat in ice water/ salt water if it hasn't had a chance to hang. Every1 has a different method and some deer will be gamier than others ( Like a buck at height of the rut) I go a tad OCD with trimming.
AH - I have to agree with you 100% on deer vs beef taste. We are very OCD when we are processing deer, and a lot the gamey taste does come from the fat, unlike beef where it adds a good flavor. I have used the "grass fed, organic beef" term to several deer meat haters over the years. My biggest battle is with my girlfriend on this topic. Her ex used to deer hunt, and they would run a deer, shoot it, let it ride around in the back of the truck for hours and then drop it off at the locker plant. Then have it thrown in with the rest of the deer that where harvested much of the same way. When they got their meat back from the locker they would over cook all of it, and **** it was gamey.
I field dress my deer minutes after it has been shot. Several times I have shot a deer at first light, jump out of my stand, gut it, wedge something in its ribs to cool it down and get back in my stand. After an hour or so the deer are back under my stand. I have shot deer hours apart from the same stand. When my hunt is over I flush any remaining blood from the deer and load it in the truck. We then hang them in a walk in cooler until we are ready to process them. It is really all in how you handle the meat after you have harvested it.
My GF will eat deer now, and actually will request it when I am grilling. I have to hide all the jerky from her too!
The only reason we add the beef to our ground deer is for the fat. Otherwise it is to lean and won't stay together if you try to make a hamburger patty.
Bbush....That answered my questions perfectly. Thanks man Some great info there. Sounds like you got going on, what I'm trying to get to. Man would I love to try making some Brawts. Come to think of it, moms got a jerky caulking gun like you mentioned. Think I'll give it a try this year.
I am very thankful my dad has picked up all of this equipment over the years, and shown me how to use it. We usually process 4-6 deer a year and have gotten pretty good at it.
The brawts are time consuming, but are pretty tasty.
This is similar to the stuffer we use, but I believe ours is 10lbs.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/hunting/food-processing/sausage-making|/pc/104791680/c/104723280/sc/104552280/cabela-s-5-lb-sausage-stuffer-with-steel-gear/1968590.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FN%3D1117843Here is the kits, that come with the seasoning and cases.
http://www.himtnjerky.com/Sausage-Kits/Danny, you'll like this ...I've involved my lil 1's in the meat processing every year since they were still in diapers. People think that it might "traumatize" the lil 1's but its quite the opposite. I've found that its not till 1 gets older and is taught that, that is "gross". My kids were very curious and happy to be a part of the food making process. Heck my cousins kids were flabergasted that fast food burgers came from cows and not from deer. With non-meat processing...the more lil hands stringing green beans, the better I always joke with my kids that, 1 of the reasons I had 'em was to get around all those pesky child labor laws.
I've helped my father and late grandfather process deer for as long as I can remember. It is probably why I still deer hunt today and choose to process my own instead of take it to a locker plant. I rarely have any straight beef in my freezer, and prefer deer. My 8 year old nephew has helped us the last 3 years, and really enjoys it. As he gets older he really is a big help, and is picking up on the process very well. My sister says the only downfall is he wants to wear nothing but camo, and won't quit talking about when he gets to shoot his first deer.