Venison gorging!

[Barnacle Bill]

Well, the venison in the freezer is almost gone. My wife has turned into a venison cooking specialist. The stew she made yesterday was incredible. We've made smoked venison sausage, smoke jalapeno sausage, smoked cheddar sausage, smoke cheddar/jalapeno cheese sausage, jerky, etc. My daughter eats it like there is no tomorrow. Our venison doesn't stay in the freezer very long. We shoot the deer, skin it and let it age a few days then butcher it ourselves obviously.

So, my question is: How long does your venison from a kill last?

Ours doesn't last a month. I know people who are eating venison in May and June.. It doesn't happen here because by the Spring it is GONE... LOL

[Night Wing]

If I kill a deer, the meat lasts about two months. We don't eat it constantly because if you live and shoot a deer in a one buck county, once the meat has been eaten, there is no more. As for does, one needs an antlerless permit where I live and if no permit, no doe.

[Mythman]

The last two deer I killed, I had to throw frozen meat out after two years.

The wife and I, just don't eat it much, anymore.

Hence, I got off my deer lease and haven't killed a deer in 3 years.

Time changes things!

[lcso41]

Normally...............NOT AS LONG AS I WANT IT TOO....

This year we should have deer till next season. I got two does, and my youngest son got two does and one 13 point buck. the buck we had processed into smoked garlic sausage and the does I processed. I ground all but the back straps and tender loins. took half of that and mixed 50/50 deer and cheap hamburger. the other half mixed 60/40 pork trimmings/deer and made pan sausage. my freezer it at max capacity. if not me, someone in the house eats deer almost every day. I take the pan sausage and pre-make patties and freeze them that way on cookie sheets, then once the are completly frozen, separate them and freezer bag them, that way if you want a couple you dont have to defrost a large bag, just grab a few and get to cooking. The deer/hamburger mix can be used for anything that you would use regular hamburger. its healthier and we love the way it taste.

[Hooch]

I usually kill (harvest) 3-4 deer a season. I process them myself. We pretty much eat deer as our red meat all year and usually have a little left by the time archery season rolls around. The lease I'v been on for the last 2 seasons has a lot of free ranging exotics. I took 2 axis and a follow deer on it this year. I love white tail deer but those 2 exotic species are superior table fare. They are a little bigger too.

[Roofish]

Consider yourself Lucky BB. I haven't any venison in 2 maybe 3 years

[TexaRican]

Only shot one doe this year. Wife helps me process and we agreed to steak out the backstraps and tenderloins and grind the rest. I'd say I've got 25lbs of quality ground out of her. I'm pretty picky and toss alot of the tough stuff. This is the best venison we've ever had, I think because I hung it overnight (was 37 degrees that night) and skinned the next morning, then iced 3 days in the cooler. The tenderloins were done on skewers over mesquite coals - gone the first day!
Just made 8lbs of sausage yesterday - my first time. I think this deer will be gone by the end of Feb.

No funny captions on this photo please

[butch sanders]

why does icing them help?

[TexaRican]

why does icing them help?

I use a big marine Igloo and the 20lb bags of ice from buckees. When I quarter the deer I'll dump the ice in the cooler and put the bags on top, then lay the meat on them. Over the next 2 or 3 days I drain the bloody water out each day. It is supposed to reduce the gamey taste, I guess because the blood drains out. This time I hardly had any blood in the meat after hanging that first night.

[Barnacle Bill]

TR is right on. The icing makes a huge difference in taste. 3 days is the minimum I usually ice the quarters for. The last deer I shot I iced it for 7 days. I fill the big cooler with ice and open the drain plug. Then I put the deer in. I leave the drain plug open the entire time. I add ice as needed, which usually isn't much considering it's winter. LOL

[PawPaw]

usually try and make the venison last until the next bow season. Harvested 3 deer this year ,no big buck though they were nocturnal all year. When I have the $ have a processor do my deer. Smoke sausage, ground , steak, a couple of roast, he tenderizes and vacuum seals and only charges $75.00 for a field dressed deer $65.00 for a quartered deer. $75.00 for everything except the sausage, that is around $3.25 a lb.

[daveg99]

I had some really good venison stroganoff the other night.

[Bigrock]

I leave the drain plug open the entire time.

I used to leave the plug open also, but the first time I saw a couple blowflys fly out of the drain when I tilted the cooler, I quit.

[let's go]

Camille has determined over the years that we need 5-6 deer in the freezer to last us throughout the year. Now that I have her and the girls out killing their own deer it has gotten easier to fulfill her quoata.

Between that, fish and the never-ending supply of pigs we don't buy any meat other than chicken. Might even solve that once we move out to the property, but I'm not so sure how she'll feel about eating what I'm sure will become her pets. Feathered rats will probably live a long and happy life just delivering eggs.

I do all my own processing on the deer and pigs. Backstraps for steaks (or pork chops) and roasts. Thighs get cubed two sizes for stew or chunky chili. The rest gets ground for hamburger or sausage. I just finished up 25lbs of breakfast sausage a couple days ago.

I need at least one more deer, maybe two before the season ends. Probably go out the last weekend of Jan and take care of that.

[Barnacle Bill]

We're going to try and take a couple from the herd on Wednesday if my near-sighted, slightly insecure rifleman friend can correct his 1 for 19 shooting problems.

[Bigrock]

We're going to try and take a couple from the herd on Wednesday if my near-sighted, slightly insecure rifleman friend can correct his 1 for 19 shooting problems.

You have friends!? I'd like to meet this guy you're talking about. He must be a basketcase.

[Kodiakk]

I shot a buck and got a doe just last weekend. I did a bit of hamburger, roasts, fajita, but mostly steaks. The doe I'll probally process into more hamburger since my buck made a lot of steaks.

I'll bet my deer meat won't make it to summer. See I live with two little girls that are more pirhana when it comes to deer meat then human. They will nail that deer meat as often as I let them until it's gone.

[Barnacle Bill]

We're going to try and take a couple from the herd on Wednesday if my near-sighted, slightly insecure rifleman friend can correct his 1 for 19 shooting problems.

You have friends!? I'd like to meet this guy you're talking about. He must be a basketcase.

I have one friend. He's a pretty good egg, nice character for the most part, even if he is a bit left brain dominant at times when it comes to shooting. Of course, his shooting is right in line with mine so it's like we're kin without the blood lines.

[BigBuck]

We hunt a MLD ranch so we have plenty of venison. I have killed 5 and my wife has killed 6 deer so far, we have about a month of season and two tags each left. We put up a bunch of meat, I usually put up 75# of hamburger and about that much breakfast sausage, plus roasts and steaks from the backstraps. I give a lot away to people at church and work, but we have meat all year. We are really blessed, as we love it and so does our (grown) kids.
BB

[Troutless]

One or two a year since the kids are out of the house. I process them make steaks and roast out of them.
BB: Are your ears burning. I was talking to a couple of the CCCF guy's and we were wondering about you. I hope to see on the sand ( Sam's Beach ).