Posted: 11/18/2012 7:56:20 PM EDT
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SO! we just got done processing and packaging our deer for the year and thought i would share.
I hunt with my inlaws and we do all the processing together. we took a total of 10 deer this year, total of 562lbs of venison and we mix it 60/40 with pork for a total of about 1000lbs of meat for the freezers! we use a variation of the golfball method to skin em. we string them up from the head with the skidloader and peel off the skin with a rock and roap tied to the base of the loader and just lift the bucket! then crack the pelvis open and slice the deer open from the top down. all the insides come out from throat to butt hole in one piece (more or less), then hang them in the barn till were done hunting. 
de boned and ground the deer and pork shoulders last Sunday. 
next weekend usually we finish up. we mix up 50lbs batches of the meat in a large cast iron cauldron and use a electric drill for the mixer. we do the sausages up first so we can work on the burger while they are smoking 
this year we did maple and polish sausage! 
we have been using a cabelas stuffer for several years now, works well, but we are planning to get something bigger soon. 
pretty good load of sausage for the smoke house! 
ANNND the smoke house! nothing fancy, just a block building with a firebox on the back. 
didnt take any pix of the packaging cuz thats the boring part 
but we line up about 8 of the vacuum sealers and do it all that way. one table weights out and bags, the next table seals labels and boxes them up to goto the freezer! |
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Quoted:
Very nice setup. Do you not do any steaks or roasts? Is it all ground up? most of it gets ground up exept for the tender loins. a few of the family's take roasts, it just comes out of their total weight for their share. a few years we have done whole hogs for the pork and packaged the chops! as for steaks, a few of us have Scottish highlander cattle so we get supplemental beef and a ton of steaks from that. |
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Awesome OP! Reminds me of my childhood. Great to see the little ones having a good time. So many folks these days think meat comes wrapped in plastic. yup, i cring everytime i hear a lib say "theres no need to anyone to go out and MURDER an animal anymore!! this is the modorn era! buy your food from the store!" 
not our kids! they come running out when we come in from the hunt to see how many we got, gather around and watch us dress them out. its really great. came out one afternoon getting ready to head back out to the stand and a couple of the boys were doin this (this ones mine  )
gotta LOVE that grin on his face! |
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Thats an awesome setup. In NY a number of years ago there was no Sunday hunting in
some areas. Opening day was also on a Monday. We used to bring all of our deer to a friends camp on Sunday, wheel in a keg and have 12 or so guys processing deer all day watching the NFL. NY DEC in it's infinite wisdom decided to make Saturday the opener and lifted the blue laws to get more hunters out and increase success rates. It all but killed our Sunday processing day. Now we just do the ones we get at our house. I really miss the "old days", the joking, laughs and running the front loader out to the "bone pile"..... |
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sorry its taken so long to get pix for you guys. last few weeks i'v totaled 2 cars on deer and the boiler sprung a leak...
SO just got some time today to take pix for ya!
this is the firebox on the back, hole in the wall at the top of the pic goes into the smoke house, the hole to the left goes to the outside for draft. 
intake draft is pretty simple, just a sheet of steel adjusted by hand 
here is the inside, there are stainless brackets on the upper walls that the stainless steel rods slind into. that white things is all the stainless steel rods inside for storage. sausages are hung wall to wall and front to back smoke comes through the hole in the wall in the back. the steel plate helps evenly distribute the heat and smoke in the house. 
there is also a damper on the roof to control how much smoke stays in. again, adjusted by hand. 
basicly its a little firebox with a BIG chimny on it! 
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Quoted:
Great setup and tradition - I am envious. So what you process is cooked and you freeze, thaw, heat and serve? Is there a way to process like you see at the store that keeps without freezing or is this only for nitrate added products? Thanks only the sausages get semicooked when smoking, all of the burger and breakfast sausage is frozen raw. not sure which process your talking about at the store. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Great setup and tradition - I am envious. So what you process is cooked and you freeze, thaw, heat and serve? Is there a way to process like you see at the store that keeps without freezing or is this only for nitrate added products? Thanks only the sausages get semicooked when smoking, all of the burger and breakfast sausage is frozen raw. not sure which process your talking about at the store. Your smoked sausages sure sound good. What I was thinking about was summer sausage, pepperoni and such that don't need refrigeration. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Great setup and tradition - I am envious. So what you process is cooked and you freeze, thaw, heat and serve? Is there a way to process like you see at the store that keeps without freezing or is this only for nitrate added products? Thanks only the sausages get semicooked when smoking, all of the burger and breakfast sausage is frozen raw. not sure which process your talking about at the store. Your smoked sausages sure sound good. What I was thinking about was summer sausage, pepperoni and such that don't need refrigeration. we have talked about doing summer sausage but havnt gotten around to doing any yet out of the veni |