Do you really get your own venison back?

[Cooter]

Kinda a spin off from the "How picky are you" topic. So you get all the fat/silverseam from your trimmings but what if they dumped in with 100 other pounds of dump trimmings for a batch of sausage. This is an old debate, many say you're just adding to the pot, others say you get your own. I really don't know for sure but would be willing to bet there's a bit of both situations going on. Sure it depends on where you take your meat, but unless you really know them well....

[BKB]

A good friend of mine processes deer and he says that unless you bring in 100 pounds of scrap for sausage, hot sticks etc. you are just adding to the pot. Would take way too much time to do it all seperate, not to mention the cost factor.

[chucker34]

Steaks, chops, roasts are all mine. But the processor let me know that the trimmings will likely be mixed with those of others to make sausage and snack sticks. I understand the economics and logisitics of why he does so and trust him enough to know he won't mix in tainted or rotten meat. So I guess I don't really have a problem with it - as long as I get back the right amount that's coming to me.

[icehousebob]

I used to take my trimmings to a place that mixed everyone's trimmings together until I noticed the quality or lack thereof in some of the other trimmings brought in. I tracked down a shop that does not mix them together. My hunting group takes it all in as a bunch and divides up the sausage. This place is more expensive but the product is much better.

[Froggy4371]

I will tell you this. Where we take out meat, if you take in the trimings you will get your own meat back. If you take in the whole deer you will get the number of pounds trimed off but not necessarly your own meat back just the number of pounds.

froggy

[Guest]

I process my own.. absolutely no question what I am putting in the freezer and later eating.

Its intimidating at 1st to butcher your own deer.. but after a couple, it's really not difficult at all. I can process a deer myself in a little over an hour now. The 1st few I did took a few hours.. thats not that long considering it cost me nothing but some freezer paper and freezer tape. If you want sausage.. take the scraps in somewhere you trust and have it done.

I dont know how reptable processer's are here in Minnesota. I dont know any, or have any reliable sources of information. I do know of some in PA and its pretty simple.. they weigh the deer.. and you get X pounds of meat back from whatever is being cut that day.

I dont really care to shoot a tasty corn fed doe and get a heavy rutting swamp buck back*

To process a deer is easy on your own. Skin it, quarter it out, cut the backstraps, tenderloin, and neck roast off. De-bone the quarters, or carefully cut the meat off in a way that wont hack your steak or roast cuts.

If you do a search on a search engine.. you can get some really basic, easy to follow diagrams on what cuts are where.. kind of like *follow the dotted line*. The rear quarters(most meat) is roast at the rump area, and round steaks for the rest of the quarter(meaty part).. the rest is burger or sausage meat on hind quarters. The front shoulers have a roast, or can be cut into chops.. and lots of scrap. The backstraps can be sliced into chops(best part of deer).. same with the tenderloin. If you want the ribs.. get a bone saw or grab that handy sawz-all.. that is about it.. your scraps you can grind into burger, or take it in for sausage.. whatever. Besides wrapping it up in freezer paper.. your deer is done.

[Swamp Scooter]

I also go the cut ans wrap your own route and I keep the trim seperate. Then I take it to the processor and I get ALL MY OWN BACK!!! They tell me that and they will do batches down to 5#! Cannot be beat anywhere. And the price is about $1 - $1.29 a pound! No lie. Great sausage too. I also take in my goose and have sausage made. I suggest looking around and you will find the right "guy" to take it too.

[CrappieJohn]

I've been cutting my own since the mid seventies. Around 1980 I got into making my own jerkie and that led to making my own sausage. Now I have the stuffers and grinders and a large box smoker to do it all. The smoker does any fish I want smoked too. For the summer sausage I just go to the store and order a fifty pound box of 70-30 pork neck meat and have it ground into a hamburger and mix it with my home ground venison in the proper ratio and stuff up the sticks and smoke it two days later.

Doing it this way, I get what I want and know what I have. Can't blame a soul for anything this way.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

Froggy, where do you take yours? I live in your area and would like to know.

[sheepheadslayer]

if you take it in 3-4 months after the season then you know you will get your own back!!!!

[Froggy4371]

Ripper,

We take it to Schmidts in Nicollet. They are alitte more spendy but it is well worth the price. They do not even clean deer anymore. They only take the scraps.

Froggy

[bob56468]

Have a little fun and make your own! Compared with what it costs to go hunting, it costs very little to make sausage.

All you need is a grinder, a smoker and a cookbook. The casings you can just pick up at the grocery store or your local butcher.

I bought a grinder at Fleet Farm 5 years ago for $100 and I'm still using it today. The smoker is a different story. I had one of those cheap charcoal smokers but it was impossible to maintain the correct temp for the alloted time to smoke the sausage. So I bought a gas fired smoker 3 years ago ($150.00) and it works great.

You can get sausage cookbooks just about anywhere. B Dalton, Barnes and Noble or just get on the web and check hsolist.

Look in last weeks Outdoor News and there is a recipe, similar to the one I use, for Salami. And it doesn't require a smoker.

Believe me, if I can make sausage, anyone can and at least I know what I'm getting. Get the kids involved and they will have fun also. The last couple of years, our whole family gets together on a Saturday, we have a few adult beverages and spend the day making a couple hundred pounds of sausage.

[Cooter]

OK, one more question. I also buthcer my own deer so I know the roasts, loins, etc are mine. But when you take the trim meat in, even if it gets added to the pot with other trim meat that hasn't been cleaned real well, are you going to notice the diff in taste with something like sausage that has pork and seasoning added as well as being smoked? I would think there would have to be an aweful lot of fat to taint the meat. I don't feel getting all the silver seam out of say the shoulder meat is necessary for good sausage, bologna, sticks, etc. I guess I'm asking how bad trim meat has to be before hurting the end taste.

[fishinalot]

I was a meat cutter for 15 years. If you have them grind your trimmings for sausage or burger it will get mixed with everyone elses meat. The best is to buy a cheap grinder and grind it yourself.

[wh1stler]

Quote:

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OK, one more question. I also buthcer my own deer so I know the roasts, loins, etc are mine. But when you take the trim meat in, even if it gets added to the pot with other trim meat that hasn't been cleaned real well, are you going to notice the diff in taste with something like sausage that has pork and seasoning added as well as being smoked? I would think there would have to be an aweful lot of fat to taint the meat. I don't feel getting all the silver seam out of say the shoulder meat is necessary for good sausage, bologna, sticks, etc. I guess I'm asking how bad trim meat has to be before hurting the end taste.

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I make some of my own sausage and have some made. Everything, every meaty scrap that comes off the deer goes into the sausage pile (except giant chunks of fat).

I second Cooter's opinion that by the time you mix fatty pork, strong seasonings, and wood smoke sometimes you can barely taste the venison flavor. In my (admittedly) limited experience with making venison/pork sausage whatever smallish percent of deer fat goes into the mix doesn't matter.

Wh1stler

[blue_healer_guy]

Bob or anyone, I was thinking of trying that recipe in the Outdoor News, but can you freeze it afterward. Don't think I could eat it all at once.

[Ferny]

We butcher our own too. It doesn't take more that a couple hours for 2 deer taking your time for all the trimming. I have made my own summer sausage and it turned out great. I usually only keep the backstraps and tenderloins and throw the rest in the grind. There is no way I'd take it anywhere after taking the time to get the silverskin off. I picked up a hand grinder for $20 new and a foodsaver. It works best for me to just put the trimmings in ice cream pails and freeze it until your ready for grinding. Then set up a grinding/sausage making night then I have a friend smoke and enjoy. It's easier than you think.

[bob56468]

Sure you can freeze it and truthfully, it will taste better after a month in the freezer than it will the day you make it.

[bob56468]

For those that think that taking the time to get all the silver seam off doesn't make a difference has probably not tasted the difference between having and having it. This is even more evident in bear meat.

I guarantee that the more care you take in butchering the meat and getting the silver and fat out, the better your sausage is going to taste. Certainly if you add enough pork and pork fat, it will drown out the taste of the bad stuff. I have put up my sausage against various others and mine wins out tastewise everytime and I am no great chef! I attribute that to the care I take processing the meat and the fact that I'm not taking it to the butcher and mixing my scraps with "One Eyed Jack's" gut shot deer that he trailed for a half a mile before it died and then he did a horrible job gutting it.

You could take the worst tasting food in the world and if you mix it in with something else and add enough spice, it will at least become tolerable if even noticeable. There is a joke here about late hours drinking in a bar with someone of the opposite sex and having thick glasses but I don't want to offend anyone.