NYBowhunter

Oh and don't need to worry if it gets dark outside and you have no light source nearby, it has an internal light that lights up the whole inside of the smoker.

I smoke at 130-140 for 15 or 16 hours and last two to three hours or so I bump temps up to 180. Slow cook with smoke makes for great Jerky. Can take more or less then 18 hours all depends on thickness of meat and how often you rotate the trays.

Master built electric with digital display. Plug, set time/temps. and rotate trays every few hours. Great smoker, no babysitting.

Made a batch of venison Jerky. Sat in a brine overnight in the fridge and is now in the smoker for about 18hrs.

Enjoy the day!!!!

Same here I buy the large containers of the key spices so that they last. Another key ingredient which some may overlook or not know about is protein powder, without that I would not make sausage, its crucial as it binds the fat to the meat.

Grinder is great, only grind the venison once for sausage , I don't like to use the grinder to stuff my casings, get yourself a stuffer, I have a LEM with the manual crank arm and also comes with 3 different size stuffing tubes. As for recipes I made my own and have tweaked it to perfection over the years...lol..As for the casings, I use natural Hog casings from LEM, one package makes about 25-30lbs of sausage and can be bought on Amazon. The package says it makes 25lbs but I made 27lbs the other day and still had 2 strands of hog casings left over.

Yeah I do the same, make a patty and fry up and have the family do taste tests before I stuff. I only run my venison thru the grinder once, I feel if you run it thru twice you will get too loose of a consistency which would be fine for hot dogs but not sausage. Stuffing the casings with a grinder is way to fast in my opinion and not a controlled feed, its best to buy a manual stuffer like a LEM where you can control the speed of the feed and stop on a dime.

I never play the wind on my mountain, if I played the wind I would be changing my stands every 1/2hr. I do however pay attention to how I enter and exit my stands, will skirt bedding areas, will hunt certain stands only in am or pm due to bedding/feeding patterns. I pee off my stands all day long and does not bother deer. If I have a mock scrape I will save my pee in a bottle and when I get off stand I will freshen up the scrape. I shower sometimes twice a day for the am and pm hunts and I don't use any soap, not even the non scent soaps, just plain water.There are lots of pine standings by me so I will also pack my clothing in totes with pine branches . I have been very successful with the above approach and works for me so why change.

The Jack is for me, feeling good right now!!!

Made 27lbs of hot Italian sausage.

Happy Birthday

And now dessert, homemade cheesecake flan, chestnuts and chocolate rainbow cake.

Just a little seafood...lol..pasta with clam sauce, baccala, raw and stuffed little neck clams, fried calamari, king crab legs, mussels, shrimp cocktail , fried and scampi. I'm about to bust.

I'm pretty anal when it comes to making sure all my weapons hit the bullseye, bow, crossbow, rifle and ML. Some hunters are content hitting a 8" plate or being a couple inches from a 2" bullseye, Whether it takes 2 shots or 20 shots I need to be in that bullseye , not near it or in the general area,, in that bullseye or I'm not satisfied. When I aim that weapon I need to know that is exactly where that projectile will go. Bought a 6.5 creedmoor for my boy and used a box to sight it in perfectly to the point of getting 1/2" groups and breaking paper and just because it was fun to shoot, took it out first time ever and dropped a nice buck. Shot my ML 5 times before the opener to check its POI and took a doe at 90 yards. I like to say that quality optics, practice and sight in that weapon to the point your very comfortable , proficient and confident , patience and waiting for that right shot and follow through ( if game does not drop on impact get into the habit of getting on that deer and following that deer after the shot ).

As many know I was contemplating heading up to camp this past Friday because of the snow but with some of your convincing I headed up 6am on Friday and got to camp at 9:30am. Let's just say that when I called a local agway to see how much snow was at camp they were spot on, we got dumped 2+ ft. of snow. I had my dad and mom with me, both over 80. My pickup was not gonna make it up the hill. Left mom and dad on road in the heated truck as I treked up the driveway in snow past my knees. The driveway goes uphill then turns right and is 150 yards or so long. Got into camp after digging out the door so that I can get the fire started for my parents. Gotta be honest the hardest part was digging out the tractor from the barn, with snowdrifts the barn doors were blocked with 3ft of snow. Once out the tractor made fastwork of clearing the driveway. Within a half hour my parents were inside a warm cabin. Next task was getting to my treestands, the first trek to each stand was the hardest but each time I went to the stand it got easier as I was packing the snow down. All in all in the last 4 1/2 days of hunting I had seen atleast 20 does and button bucks. Didn't want to cut my trip short, so I opted to wait to kill this big ole doe on the last hour of the last day, today. Made a nice 90 yard shot with the ML as she was feeding in one of my plots with another doe., I still can't believe she actually went 100 yards before she dropped.. Let's just say it was not easy getting her to the road by myself. Much easier with the jet sled but it was still very ruff, pulled her about 150 yards on a logging road, then had to drop down 40ft into a ditch, cross a stream and pull her back up the ditch on the other side. She's all butchered and in the freezer thanks to the help of mom and dad. Truly blessed, 4 deer, 2 bucks and 2 does. Was another great year, Merry Xmas all and stay safe.

Does, does and more does...

I have some shots that can be taken in my plots out to 200 yards, but almost all my ML shots have been from 50 to 100. In order for me to capitalize on the Nikon BDC and its effectiveness out to 300 yards i must use 3 pellets. I have it sighted in at an inch high at 50 yards. Dead balls accurate.

Pm sent.

Saw 4 does yesterday afternoon,, not heading out this morning way too cold to sit, temp shows zero this morning. Will head out in the afternoon where temps are suppose to get into the 30s

Same here, dinner of all kids of seafood. I had pasta con sarde tonight with hand rolled home made pasta that my parents made.

Ok good, how do you think a 40hp tractor with a loader will fair with the amount you got?

Yeah I'm about 30 minutes east of you along route 23, I might be a little higher elevation so totals might be more, I hope not.