VENISON SAUSAGE

 

 

Successful deer hunters are often at a loss with what to do with all that meat.  I always grind one of my deer just for sausage.  Except for Chicken Fried Steak and Chili this is our favorite way to fix venison.  I seem to use the sausage throughout the year and it keeps a long time if you smoke it.  I really like it dried where it is kind of like jerky and keeps forever or until eaten which is not a very long time around here.  The following is a family recipe developed and changed through the years.  It is kind of a combination of both of my German Grandparents recipes and then we added the cheese and jalapenos to the family recipe. You can always leave out the jalapenos and cheese for a more traditional Hill Country style of sausage.

ED’s VENISON SUMMER SAUSAGE AND HOT LINK RECIPE

30 pounds deboned ground venison

15 pounds of hamburger

10 pounds of ground pork butt

The ratio of meat can be adjusted just be sure and use at least twenty pounds of fatty pork or beef to the venison and end up with 45-55 pounds for the amount of seasoning in the recipe.  You can cut the meat and seasoning by half to make a smaller amount.  This recipe is what I use for the amount of deboned meat I get off of an average deer in our area. You can adjust the spices to your taste.

2-4 pounds high temperature cheese (depending on taste)

1 ½ cups of Kosher Salt

1 ½ cups of course ground black pepper

6-8 teaspoons pink salt or meat cure

2 teaspoons Cayenne

1 teaspoon allspice

2 teaspoons of garlic powder

2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons mustard seed

2 teaspoons fennel seed

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 cup of ground or finely chopped pickled jalapeno peppers

4 seeded ground or finely chopped fresh jalapeno peppers

I divide the meat mix and seasonings in half and mix a half batch at a time as it is easier for me to get it mixed well that way.  If you have a big meat mixer you are way ahead of the program.

Mix meats well add cheese and jalapenos, mix throughout the meat mixture.

Mix all spices together in a large bowl or glass and add enough water to stir them into.

Pour spices over the meat and mix in very well.  This stage is very important so that the spices and cure are evenly distributed throughout the sausage mixture. 

Let the mixture stand in a refrigerator or in a cold place (Forty degrees or less) for 24 hours.

Stuff into hog casings for hot links and fibrous casings for summer sausage

Smoke until proper brownish red color and internal temperature of 150 degrees.  Summer sausage can be smoked or just cooked in the oven until proper internal temperature or 150 degrees is reached.  Summer sausage should be given a cold water bath until cool then put in refrigerator or frozen.  Hot links can now be packaged and frozen or left wrapped in paper in a refrigerator to dry, smoke or until eaten.  Enjoy, Wild Ed

 

 

Don't Forget the .22 Rimfire

 

 

In the last year there has been an extreme shortage of ammunition on the shelves and when you could find it prices were unbelievable in many cases.  If one wants to practice you need to go to the bank and take out a loan to shoot most center fire rifles and handguns for an hour or two.  Many calibers can cost a dollar or more per round at this year’s prices.  If it was not for the lowly .22 rimfire I would have almost quit shooting for fun and to maintain my shooting abilities.  Even .22 rimfire ammunition was in short supply at times but I found enough of it available and at prices I could still afford in the last year.  As of right now I am finding more and more rimfire ammunition on the shelves and at reasonable prices.

If you want to shoot for fun any rimfire handgun or rifle will do.  You can shoot several hundred rounds for less than $20.00 at today’s prices for rimfire ammo.  If you need to practice for self-defense most common self-defense pistols have models that mirror the larger calibers marketed today.  Glock, Kimber, Smith & Wesson, Colt and many other brands have copies or even the same models of their larger caliber products in .22 rimfire.  Some even have conversion kits so you can change your firearm from the larger caliber to shoot .22 rimfire in mere moments.  Rimfire rifles are available in most configurations to match any hunting or sporting model.  There are even AR15 models in .22 rimfire and conversion kits to change your current AR15 to .22 rimfire.

Also let’s not forget the .22 rimfire is produced in different velocities for plinking, target shooting, hunting and even self-defense.  With such cartridges as the new Federal Personal Defense Punch Rimfire .22 rounds the .22 rimfire becomes a viable choice for personal protection. This could be important to those that just can’t handle the recoil and muzzle blasts of larger calibers. Many new firearm purchasers have bought new guns and a couple of boxes of cartridges and never fired a shot.  By obtaining a copy of their new gun chambered for .22 rimfire they could practice and become proficient with the weapon and pay for the rimfire model in just a few shooting sessions by shooting the cheaper .22 cartridge.

The next time you want to go out shooting and don’t want to blow all your available funds on ammunition or you want to shoot more than just a few rounds remember the .22 rimfire.  It just may save the day.

The Fall Migration of Hawks is Worth Watching

 

The fall migration of Broad Winged Hawks and other Raptors is underway and should continue through mid-October.  I have started noticing groups of hawks, called Kettles of hawks, headed south where they will go to South Texas, Mexico and on to Central and South America.  Many will actually fly straight across the Gulf of Mexico on their flight to the South.  If you start watching the skies in our area you may see kettles of hawks that number in the hundreds and sometimes in the thousands slowly circling on their way south.  We mostly see Broad Winged hawks and Red-tailed hawks in these groups.  You may also see other hawks and falcons in the migration.  You can also watch for the hawks and falcons on telephone poles along our roadways.  They are often seen resting or feeding in freshly plowed fields in large numbers during the migration.  I carry a pair of binoculars in my vehicle this time of year just so I can stop and watch or identify the raptors I observe.  There are many good bird and raptor identification books you can get to help you know which are which.  The most common seen in our area or the Broad Winged hawk, Red-tailed hawk, Coopers hawk and the Sharp-shinned hawk. We also see a lot of the small Kestrel falcons along with a few Peregrine falcons.