Meat Handling of Game Animals

[dalegribble]

"Anyone here use a dehydrator for jerky?"

we use one to make beef jerky and it is excellent. i'm sure it would work just as good for wild game. a friend used one to make bear jerky and it was excellent also.

 

[1tfl]

Do you guys bleed out your animal?
I was always told by my dad to slit the animals throat to bleed it out as soon as it is killed. I think he said it delays the decay process and make the meat taste better.

 

[Rembrandt]

Do you guys bleed out your animal?
I was always told by my dad to slit the animals throat to bleed it out as soon as it is killed. I think he said it delays the decay process and make the meat taste better.

No.....by the time blood leaks out entry and exit wounds, then you gut it.....not much left to bleed.

 

[Rembrandt]

Ground up some venison to make sausage.....Just put 100 lbs of ground deer in the fridge. Start making sausage soon.

 

[Doyle]

Anyone here use a dehydrator for jerky?

All the time. My favorite is pork jerky made from the whole loins that Sams sells for $2/lb. I save the fat trimmings to use for making sausage with wild pork (which is usually so lean it needs extra fat).

 

[Rembrandt]

Finished up some sausage making, added 20% pork fat and high temp pepper jack and habenaro cheese. Makes great burgers too.

 

[Rembrandt]

 

[johnwilliamson062]

Are you smoking them in the bags or was that just for temporary storage?

 

[Rembrandt]

Casings are to form & hold everything together until the meat is smoked and cooked...discarded before eating.

 

[johnwilliamson062]

I don't know much about this, but...

I'm under the impression a smoker gets at least as hot as a dehydrator.(150+) I was thinking hotter, but I am not sure.
There are not many soft plastics that can take that kind of heat without degrading into the food. Silicone being an obvious exception, although relatively expensive.
I have had smoked sausage, and it was probably in synthetic casings, I just never thought of it before. Jerky sits on plastic in my dehydrator, but it is not a pliable plastic like a sausage casing.

 

[Rembrandt]

The casings I used for the bigger sausage are made from durable beef collagen which makes stuffing exceptionally easy. The flat collagen casings are non-edible but easy to peel-off the sausages when they are cooked/smoked.

I usually run the smoker around 120-140 degrees for several hours, then finish cooking the meat in the oven till the meat temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Below are sticks made with edible casings....good stuff.

 

[Mike1234]

...

 

[johnwilliamson062]

I see.

Those do look absolutely delicious.

 

[OkieGentleman]

Shoe Strings

What I was taught/shown was to buy some sets of shoe strings and put in my pocket when hunting game I was going to clean and eat. First thing when dressing a male animal use a shoe string to tie the penis so no urine could escape, if a female cut around the vagina and tie if off. Cut around the rectum and tie it off, then cut the throat and pull out the esophagus and tie this off. You have now sealed shut as well as possible the major sources of contamination to the meat. Now all you have to do is gut it without cutting a hole in something you should no cut a hole in. As to kooling down the meat and parting out the animal into eatable portions I have nothing to add to previous posts.

 

[1tfl]

OkieGent,

I carry couple of zip ties in my pocket for the same purpose as your shoe string. Zip ties are much easier and faster but just as strong.

 

[wizrd]

An outfit in Buffalo NY, the Sausage-Maker, Inc. has some of the best meat processing equipment you can find. They have a book on sausage making that is a "MUST HAVE" for anyone wanting to do all types of sausage. Proper sausage handling is very important, it is the most common way to end up with botulism type food poisoning. Have made a few batches of kielbasa using their products & recipes, it as the best I've ever had. They'll send you a free catalog, they're online.

 

[math teacher]

Cool the animal out as quickly as possible.
Clean immediately.
Skin ASAP.
Hang in a cool place.
Keep hair and dirt off meat.
Cut through as little bone marrow as possible.
Bone out the meat, saves space and improves flavor.
Remove and discard all fat. Fat and marrow make for gamey meat.
Double wrap steak pieces and freeze whole. Will keep much longer. Easy to slice perfect steaks while half thawed out.

 

[Mayor Al]

Today we finished slicing anf packaging the Missouri Hog Hunt Pork Bellies from our Hunt in September.
We did four 'batches' each taking a week to get thru the curing and smoking process.

We experimented a bit with the curing recipe to find the right balance of Surgar and Salt to get the final Bacon to our liking. Here are some photos of the final batch. We totaled our packages at about 30+ lbs of finished Bacon and "Scraps for Beans 'n' Things" !

I recommend this kind of home project on the less attractive parts of the Hogs we take...it sure tastes great now !

 

[jimbob86]

MMMMMMmmmmmm.........Bacon!

I am thinking I am going to be spending a bit of money on a better grinder, and a vertical stuffer ....... I made my own Summer Sausage this year for the first time, and though those stuffers look spendy, they'd sure take a whole lot of the PITA factor out of making sausage. A wood fired smoker grill is on the list, as well.

Anybody have a good source on wood fired smokers?

 

[wooly booger]

I have never killed a hog but i average 4 deer, 2 antelope and at least 2 elk every year and a bear if I am lucky.

I never field dress elk...they are just too darned big. I skin, quarter and bone the animal where it fell. I usually try to salvage the heart and it is easy to get the tenderloins by making a cut behind the last rib. Antelope are field dressed and quartered and go into the cooler asap.

I had a blacksmith make me a game pole that fits into my hitch receiver. It has a boat winch of it and is capable of hoisting a large bodied whitetail or mule deer. This works great for skinning and boning out game in the field as long as you stay legal. I package and grind my own meat as well. That way I know whose it is and how it was treated

I really like the idea of the pump sprayer. I have a 5 gallon plastic one that is going into my truck specifically for hunting this year.