Had a successful weekend hunting thanks to the cold weather that came through this past weekend. I harvested a nice 5 1/2 year old buck that I’ve affectionally named Chicken foot due to his unusual rack. I have pictures from last year just after he broke off that side either in a fight with another buck or some other accident. Processed him Sunday morning and dropped off the head and cape to be mounted.

So my youngest daughter and I got up a little after 0300 this morning to get ready and head out to our hunting lease. We were in the blind right at 0500 ready to catch a few zzz before sunrise. About 6 we heard a deer blowing, pretty sure not at us. I’m fairly certain I know the deer and she blows at everything, next time I see her in the daylight she’s taking a ride home in the back of my truck. Just before 7 I noticed a deer had come into view, we watched for a little bit and Shorty decided she couldn’t pass it up. She made a perfect shot, the deer ran maybe 50 yards and crashed. Not the giant I was hoping for but a trophy none the less for my baby. And the venison will be extra delicious knowing my baby girl is the one who harvested it for our family!

My first turkey, he’s not the biggest fella but it doesn’t matter it was an awesome hunt with a great friend.

I’m retired Air Force, went overseas and worked as a contractor for a little while after I retired. I took a few years off after having my second spinal fusion to just heal and relax. I work at a small family owned business in sales now and really enjoy what I do.

I cooked some brats I made a week or so ago for a snack. My wife and girls went out shopping and told me to fend for myself. I cooked some chicken Sunday for dinner but forgot to take pics.

I was born and raised in Louisiana and have tried the Excalibur Boudin seasoning and it turned out great. I’m not a huge fan of liver so I only used a pound and I pureed it and added about 8 cups of cooked rice to it. I cooked to butts in the seasoning in my crawfish pot outside until the bone fell out then mixed that with the rice and a little of the juice and stuffed into 32/35 mm hog casings. I’ve also used that seasoning to make a cured/smoked sausage as well as fresh sausage and it has been great every time I’ve used it.

Used the Cajun sausage seasoning and it turned out great, I only made 10 lbs of it but that is plenty.

North If you are making a snack stick or summer sausage you definitely want to use the Cure that comes with the seasoning. If you decide to use encapsulated citric acid (ECA) you still NEED to use the Sure Cure. If you don’t use the ECA then yes, hold at least 12 hours before smoking, and make sure you stuff your casings after you are done mixing. Don’t wait until the next day or it is going to be extremely hard to stuff casings. If you use the ECA I wouldn’t recommend holding it any longer than it takes you to stuff your casings, maybe an hour or two at the most.

Departing Contestant Gonna brag a little bit … She’s in three different choirs but also has a 5-2 Muay Thai Kickboxing record and a championship belt, trains Jiu Jitsu and MMA. She has already been accepted into a couple different Universities and wants to be a Psychologist. Needless to say I’m extremely proud of her.

Something else to keep in mind, if you have the ability to control the level of vacuum on your machine it is a good idea to turn it down to about halfway. The reason being is I have found if I vacuum pack Fresh sausages on the maximum level they will flatten as they thaw out. Another way to combat that problem would be to just cut open the bag when you pull them out of the freezer, but I never remember to do that so I don’t use the max vacuum when I package them.

STRYKER ACE I have the same smoker and if you moisten the sawdust or chips you won’t have to add them as often. Also remember you don’t have to have the smoke going the whole time you cook either, usually an hour or two will get you a good smokey flavor without over doing it. Also as was pointed out a couple times your temp was too high, which would also lead to you having to add chips more often.

I think you have a couple issues at hand here, first you should’ve used a binder, second too much total water and if you didn’t chill the meat in between grinds then like someone else said you probably got the meat to warm during your process. But a #29 grinder plate (https://www.waltonsinc.com/300-x-29-triumph-plate) would be a good investment. I’d only grind 3 times, using the plates you currently have for your first 2 and the #29 plate for your 3rd and final grind. The last issue I believe you had was your cook schedule, it was too hot to soon, you really want to start low and step it up until you reach an internal temp of 160.

Nice, congratulations to you both. I have yet to go, my hunting buddy and I have both been too busy, hopefully soon.

@ndmike I bought a winch that goes into the hitch before the season last year and glad I did. I have a Titan XD Pro 4 X and there is just no way I would’ve gotten that deer in the bed without it. I’ve had two spinal fusion so I have to work smarter vs harder some times.

Got my mount back last week,

I’m retired Air Force, went overseas and worked as a contractor for a little while after I retired. I took a few years off after having my second spinal fusion to just heal and relax. I work at a small family owned business in sales now and really enjoy what I do.

That looks amazing!

processhead That electric stuffer also has a small line that states it is not for small diameter products so he wouldn’t be able to use it for snack sticks.

johnsbrewhouse It is my wife’s favorite and she doesn’t like real spicy stuff. The batch I made yesterday was split into a 15 lb portion and a 10 lb and I added ghost pepper cheese to the smaller portion for me and it pairs very well with it.