Nice Work!
Thanks Mick....appreciate the input...I really enjoy doing em....kind of extends my hunting season...
dave
Good stuff, DaveT! I sure hope I need your services someday!
My dad has a guy that processes his deer up in Lakeland. Each season on his way back from Georgia he stops by and drops off the quarters to the guy and then a week or so later goes and picks it all up, nicely packaged. Guy makes good sausage. I'll try to get his name and contact info and post it here soon.
i use i guy in Bartow for my clients hogs. Buddy of mine. he will do deer also. Makes some good sausage.
This might be an unpopular post and I dont mean to offend but......
I am really surprised by how many hunters take their deer to a processor....I know there are some good processors out there but here is the experience I had one time.....I dropped by the general store/deer cooler up in Georgia near where we hunt....and just hung around for a while out in the back where they were doing the deer. Basically what I saw is that all the venison was being processed in bulk together and then they were grinding hamburger, wrapping steaks, roasts, etc. and then dividing it out to the customers boxes based upon the weight of the customer's deer when it was brought in..In other words, you aren't even getting your deer back, just a percentage of venison based upon what your deer weighed. I wouldn't have a problem with that until you realize that some guys dont look for or find their deer until the next day when that deer may be starting to get a bit gamey, or it might have been gut shot bad and had that crap spread through the meat or both...this is especially important in Florida where heat is a major factor. I also saw hunks of meat dropped on the floor in the middle of some nasty looking dirt,blood,etc.etc and then just thrown into the meat pan with everything else for hamburger..man thats bad!! I like to gut my deer quickly and quarter it and get it in the cooler while its good and fresh. I believe it makes a major difference in the quality of the meat. I will leave it in the cooler on drained ice for a couple of days to age properly before freezing it. I will then debone the hams and shoulders, and vacuum pack everything and put it in the freezer for a while. After I have a couple of deer in the freezer I will start early in the morning after allowing it to thaw slightly in a cooler overnite and cut up into roast, steaks, hamburger trims, etc. I used the money that I would have been paying processors to give me someone else's meat and I bought a nice meat grinder from LEM products (they are on the internet) and I process my own cube steaks, hamburger, sausage, etc. You can stuff the sausage into skins or put into plastic freezer sausage bags for use in pan sausage, or spaghetti or whatever. When I make my sausage or burger I put in 10-15% pork fat that I get from the butcher from the fat back trimmings which is the real creamy good tasting fat that mixes real well into the sausage. I make one type of sausage that I use all the time for breakfast, for lunch on the grill with mustard onions and peppers on a bun, in meatloaf, spaghetti, everything and will be glad to share the recipe with anyone wanting it. I make it from bulk spices that you can buy anywhere pretty cheaply. I just prefer making sure that the deer I shoot is the one that I eat and that it has been cleaned properly, rinsed, aged, etc. and thats its not somebody else's gut shot road kill or two day old deer or whatever. Again, not meaning to offend but I enjoy the heck out of doing my own processing and have saved a ton of money over the years doing it myself. I figure doing 5 deer a year saves me over $300.00 and I can buy all the processing equipment that I need.
Just my opinion.....have a great day and good hunting...
dave
and will be glad to share the recipe with anyone wanting it.
I would like to give it a try..
