Killer Recipe for smoking deer and elk

[Practical Approach]

I am looking at getting a smoker this year to make some smoked deer and elk snacks.  Anyone have suggestions on types of smokers, marinades or secrete techniques? 

[Bean Counter]

Shouldn't this be posted under "Recipies"? 

[Practical Approach]

 :bdid:OOPS.  Sorry, kind of new to the site.  Didn't see the recipe forum. 

[NWBREW]

:bdid:OOPS.  Sorry, kind of new to the site.  Didn't see the recipe forum.  

No apologies necessary........just make enough for all of us.  

[carpsniperg2]

i have always used hi mountain products. they make kits that have everything you need in them. they also offer a ton of diffrent flavors as well. they have kits for snack sticks-jerkey-my fave summer sausage and a few others. i really like propane smokers they work the best i feel. i use a smoker i bought from bi mart. it was like 200.00 and that thing is a beast. it is a smoke hollow, they have the big one like i have. then a mid sized for like 150 and a small for around 100. great smoker mine does a few hundres pounds a year

[Alchase]

I use a Bradley smoker with a remote thermometer pager, you set it up and go watch tv or whatever. When the time or temp is reached it pages you.

http://www.bradleysmoker.com/digital-smoker-6-rack.asp

[jaredpost]

Be careful!!! Smoking is almost as addicting as hunting and fishing  

For a smoker that depends on what your planning to smoke. Hot smoking vs cold smoking. I have a chamber smoker for all my hot smoking and then I built a smoker out of an old commercial food warmer/proofer that I control with a digital thermistat for items that need more precise temperatures. When smoking fish or sausages it is much easier and better to have something that can control the temperature so you don't melt all the fat.

When I got started a while back I got a lot of good information and recipe's from the guys on the Bradley forum.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/
Lots of nice guys and they will answer just about any question you can come up with. One of the toughest things you'll find though is temperature regulation. I have bought plenty of those pre-made seasoning packets and they never seem to taste as good as the recipe's from scratch I've found over the last couple years.

This recipe for snack sticks is great and you could easily use deer or elk meat instead of the beef but I would still recommend using the pork with it.

Spicy snack sticks

Stuff into sheep casings or small stick size casings (17-19mm).
Smoke 1-1/2-2 hours at 150-160 F. Then bump temp up to 175 till IT measures 152 F. Continue until desired dryness or dehydrate further for slim jim like dryness. Can stop at 152 IT for fresh snack stick style.

10 pound recipe
5 pounds of ground pork butt/shoulder
5 pounds of ground beef (extra lean)
2 tsp. Pink Instacure
6 Tbls. Salt
3 tsp. Black pepper
3 tsp. Chili pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
4 tsp. Sugar
3 tsp. Cayenne pepper (add more for additional heat)
1 tsp. Paprika
5 tsp. Crushed red pepper (grind in coffee grinder)
4 tsp. Hot sauce (smoked Tabasco)
1 Cup Water

Mix all dry ingredients together and add liquid then pour over meat and mix. After stuffing cases let sit in fridge overnight if you have room. Bring up to room temperature before placing in the smoker.

[Alchase]

Like Jaredpost said, depending on what you are smoking, temperature is critical. Especially for fish. Cold smoke is awesome for everything from fish, cheese (love smoked cheese) to tomatoes. Heat smoke for cook/smoking turkey, chicken, beef and pork.
Another good source of info is a BBQ site  Smokering that has a ton of smoking and BBQing recipes and advice.

http://www.thesmokering.com/

[wamuledeer]

I smoke quite a bit and for pepperoni and summer sausage I use spices from www.spokanespice.com .Everything I have tried from them has turned out great. The best pepperoni I have made uses a 50/50 mix of their snack stick spices and pepper stick spices. I grind up a 50/50 or 60/40 of deer or elk to pork. For pork I just use the butt roasts when they are on sale for about $1 a lb.
Good luck, it is addicting. One suggestion is to get at least a 3/4 hp or 1 h/p grinder if you will be making a lot of sausage. Also, a vertical sausage stuffer really makes it nice.

[gasman]

I like High Mt seasonings my self, but i did buy a book on Sausage and Jerkey makeing this last winter and plan on trying to make a few recipe's. Most of teh recipes are simple and and can be made with 5lbs of meat. I like being able to starts small with a new recipe and then make more if i like it.

[Wea300mag]

I smoke quite a bit and for pepperoni and summer sausage I use spices from www.spokanespice.com .Everything I have tried from them has turned out great. The best pepperoni I have made uses a 50/50 mix of their snack stick spices and pepper stick spices. I grind up a 50/50 or 60/40 of deer or elk to pork. For pork I just use the butt roasts when they are on sale for about $1 a lb.
Good luck, it is addicting. One suggestion is to get at least a 3/4 hp or 1 h/p grinder if you will be making a lot of sausage. Also, a vertical sausage stuffer really makes it nice.

I use several different spice suppliers but I like your mix proportions. I keep waiting for pork butts to go on sale for $1/lb but it hasn't happened yet. I read that the Russian fires this summer drove up the feed prices. Sounds like just another excuse to me.

Practical Approach, by the way, there are several threads on this board that give lots of other opinions/views.

[jaredpost]

I use several different spice suppliers but I like your mix proportions. I keep waiting for pork butts to go on sale for $1/lb but it hasn't happened yet. I read that the Russian fires this summer drove up the feed prices. Sounds like just another excuse to me.

Practical Approach, by the way, there are several threads on this board that give lots of other opinions/views.
[/quote]

I see pork butts on sale all the time for either .99 cents or $1.19 a pound. Cash n carry is the best place to get them. When it goes on sale for 99cents I will buy a few packages and stick them in the freezer until I need them.

[Practical Approach]

Thanks everyone for the great info.  Now all I have to do is get a deer and elk and I am on my way.  I will let you know how it goes and which recipe's I use.   

[wamuledeer]

Wea300mag, I just heard on the radio this AM that QFC has pork shoulder roasts on sale for .99 a lb bone in.

[huntlakewood]

I like High Mt seasonings my self, but i did buy a book on Sausage and Jerky making this last winter and plan on trying to make a few recipe's. Most of the recipes are simple and and can be made with 5lbs of meat. I like being able to starts small with a new recipe and then make more if i like it.

I used one of the recipes from gasmans book for jerky. I think it is called Hawian sticky jerky the daughter and I love it. I buy the kits from cabellas for pepperoni and summer sausage. I bought a smoker from cabellas also nice little smoker electric for $179 ( I think it is a master built) but it is a little to small for pep, and summer sausage. I built a smoker for a friend DougeDug out of cedar now I am going to have to build my self one and just use the little one for jerky etc. We like pics to make us hungry so send some our way when you get started.