Venison Burger Made Right

Many people have much of their venison ground into burger but are never really happy with the results.  The fat on deer as a whole is not a good tasting fat and there is no marbling of the meat like on beef.  Therefore unless you add fat to venison burger it will be dry and will not have much taste.  Since there is no fat in the meat to bind it together it will crumble if you try and make it into a patty. The solution to this dry tasteless burger is too easy, you just add fat.  You can have the processor add pork or beef fat to your venison burger and then use it just like ground pork or ground beef.  If you do it at home you can mix it many ways.  I try to end up with a product that is about 25 percent pork or beef fat to 75 percent venison.  I sometimes buy the cheap overly fat beef hamburger at the grocery store and mix in ground venison until it has enough fat in the mixture, this makes great burgers.  If my area grocery stores run the packer beef briskets on sale that have not been trimmed of the excess fat, I will buy one of those to grind and mix with my ground venison.  A brisket ground up with and equal amount of venison makes very good burger. I buy pork jowls or fatback to mix with my ground venison for my breakfast or link sausage recipes.  If you like the flavor of Bacon Burgers you might try my favorite way to make them.  I buy the cheap bacon ends that come in a box or a big plastic bulk package. These are the end pieces of slabs of bacon that are odd sized and cannot be sliced to go in the packages as sliced bacon.  It is just small and end pieces of actual cured bacon.  I grind it up and mix it with the ground venison until the mix fries up like you want and then it can be made into packages of formed burger patties.  The taste when done on the grill is of a great bacon burger, with a slice of your favorite cheese most will not be able to even tell that the wonderful burger they are eating is 75 percent venison.  I sometimes take the bacon burger mixture and add seasonings to make breakfast patty sausage, be sure and cut back on the salt as the cured bacon is already salted. This will make a patty sausage with a cured bacon flavor. With a little experimentation you can come up with all sorts of ways to use your venison burger.  My wife and I use the burger in mexican food, Italian food, meat loaf or any other way we would use ground meat. Just remember to add at least 25 percent fat when you grind the burger and you will have a product the whole family will enjoy.  Wild Ed

Coons Take Over the Deer Feeder

As the pictures from one night this last week show, the coons have taken over the new feeder. It has become obvious that I am going to have to remove some raccoons from the habitat. We counted fourteen coons at just two feeders. You might enjoy some of the pictures taken by the new Primos Truth Cam 60. I am becoming a fan of the pictures and the quality of the product it produces. Have a great Thanksgiving and I will be back next week, Wild Ed

 

Results With New Primos Truth Cam 60




Truth Cam 60 Test Area


To say I am impressed with the Truth Cam 60 is an understatement.  I put the camera out for three days and instead of just a few pictures it had taken 591 pictures.  The camera was placed approximately 60 feet from the feed pen as that was where the closest tree I could mount it on was located.  I would have liked to have mounted it a little closer to the pen yet the night pictures still let me identify the wildlife from that range.  The daylight pictures were good and the camera is so sensitive it took pictures every time a bird flew in or out of the feed pen, pretty impressive to say the least.  I am going to turn the sensitivity to medium and see if it will not take so many pictures of the various birds.  We ended up with pictures of deer, cows, turkeys, raccoons, grey foxes and a bobcat.  I have a feeling that I will really enjoy this camera.  I do however have a bone to pick with Primos on the 20/20 Mounting System I purchased for the camera.  The T-Post adapter does not fit the T-post size that most Central Texas ranches use in the fences and will have to be bent or put undue stress on the plastic mount.  The mount as a whole is made out of flimsy plastic and the magnetic connection was almost undone when I went to check the camera in just three days.  I am going to have to mount the camera somewhere else as I fear the mount will drop it out the tree and damage the camera.  The staff at Primos needs to get busy and come up with a mount that is equal to the great camera they are producing.  It needs to hold it securely without fear of the camera falling out and being damaged. I feel as if I just wasted $20.00 on the mount. Get out and take a few pictures of your own and I
hope you enjoy these, Wild Ed

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Trail Camera Pictures Continue

My family and I have become addicted to Game Camera pictures. We cannot wait to get to the place each trip and change out the SD cards to see what has visited the feeders and waterer each week. Not only do we get birds and wildlife, but the little cameras are excellent at letting you know who is at your place when you are not there. We have found through the years that you pretty much get what you pay for in game cameras. We have had some inexpensive ones that would do ok on close-ups but let us down on distance, night and heat. We have pretty much stuck with the Bushnell trophy cams until my brother bought one of the Primos Truth Cam 60 infrared cameras. I now have a Primos Truth Cam 60 on order and will be using it soon at my wife’s new feeder. I will give you a report in the future; meanwhile here are some pictures from my brothers and my cameras over the last three weeks. Get out and make some pictures of your own. I think you will be surprised to see what you capture, Wild Ed