NYBowhunter

Im sure you can put that many miles if not more if you took the same trips anually with the atv. Most avg. Joes with sleds typically ride local and dont make trips to canada or the like. My cousin is already driving 3 1/2 hts one way to his cabin to ride, some years are better then others. But there have been years where snow was hit or miss. Based on time constraints and responsibilities you could be missing out on the days with great snowfall. Its just my opinion they are a wasted investment for the amount of times you get to use them annually, but i will admit they sure are fun.

Sure does seem like alot of hoof prints in such a small concentrated area.

Trade it in, unless there is snow, its useless most of the year. My cousin is heavily into snowmobiles and there have been some winters he couldnt even use it, crazy for such a costly machine to sit for two years before you can enjoy it. An atv or utv can be utilized 12 months in most years. The worst investment was the one and only snowmobile i purchased, didnt take long for me to sell it. Get 50x better use and fun out of my tractor and utv.

Sorry for your loss, you and your family will be in my prayers.

Too bad i missed that vid., few blocks from my job.

My rat terrier

Yep thats why i have to shoot for 4 deer a year, with 2 teenage boys and 2 younger ones it goes fast. Like you said, once you start making jerky and sausage 2 deer just dont cut it.

When im making sausage i go to a local asian meat / fish market in brooklyn and buy 10lbs of very fatty ground pork , think when i went last week it was .79 cents a lb. Makes for excellent sausage when mixed with a 50/50 ratio to venison.

Thats fine then skip the drying part, smoke for 12 hours, they are just as delicious this way. I even took one link right out of the smoker, cut it up and fryed in a pan and the family had that for breakfast with eggs. Was delicious, with 4 kids lets just say a link doesnt go very far...lol..thats why i have 30 links drying, kids love them as a snack.

An electric masterbuilt with digital display. No need to dry if thats ypur preference (which is knid of weird to me)..lol..who doesnt love dry sausage!!! But yeah once they are done smoking and you achieved an internal temp. of 155f then at that point you can eat them as is and freeze the rest. At that point they would have the consistency like a pepperoni.

I guess you could but the purpose of me using the smoker is two fold, to cook the meat to speed up the drying period without burning the casings and also to infuse a smokey taste. Using an oven i would imagine will burn the casings, which you want to avoid. The smoker doesn't burn the casings, it just cooks them by heat/smoke.

I have used an ice bath and have also left them in the smoker to cool down if the temps outside is real cold, the purpose of that is to stop them from cooking any further. The reason for the drying period is to create the dry sausage, basically drying the meat to get a firm italian dry sausage.

Also want to make mention that because i smoke my sausage for 12 hours at 160 degrees the sausage is basically a cooked product before i even hang it hence the dry time is alot less then if you would hang a raw sausage. The dry time can be less then 4 weeks, depending on air temp. and humidity levels, you just need to monitor the firmness.

Yes, when i first began making dried sausage i used an edible colligan casing , i believe it was 21mm (ensure to get the edible type because they also make non-edible casings) and they came out great. This time i wanted to make a wider dry sausage so i went with natural hog casings, LEM puts out a great product, packaged well and casings are seperated. As a side note the edible colligan casings are much sturdier to work with, dont have to be cleaned and overall much easier to work with for someone doing this for the first time. Heres a picture of when i made the dry sausage with the colligan casings.

Electric smoker will provide as little or as much smoke one could want. I smoke sausage for 12 hours and Jerky for 18 and its gives off smoke the entire time. Best part is the one i have has a digital display where you set temps and time and also has an on and off button for an internal light, in addition to a mounterld temp. Probe with a wire lead. It makes smoking a no brainer, program and walk away. No babysitting iinvolved. I have the masterbuilt electric with digital display.

Thx

Its actually much firmer then a pepperoni, its the same firmness of dried sausage that you would typically get from an italian specialty shop. I hang them in my patio which this time of year will range below 50 degrees . The patio does have heat but is uninsulated and has windows on three sides. I can open windows and get similar temps as the outside. To dry the sausage it needs to be hung in an area that is cool and dry.

I also want to add that before i place the meat in fridge, i will take a handful and make a patty, fry it up and have the wife and kiddies do a taste test. This way before you stuff the meat you can determine if anything else is needed.

Heres the recipe and procedures i take to make dry sausage. These ingredients will make 20lbs. 10 lbs ground venison and 10 lbs of grounnd fatty pork. Place meat in large tub and mix well. Once the two meats are mixed well add 1 cup of soy protein powder, 1 cup of red wine, 4 teaspoons of prague powder ( disolve the prague powder in wine and pour over meat), 2 teaspoons of suger, 8 oz of non iodized salt (disolve in 1/2 cup of water and pour over meat).the following ingtedients are not measured, i just add by eyeing it and by taste preference: black pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, fennel seed and paprika.. once all liquids and spices are added to meat mix again very thoroughly. Once done, place in fridge overnight for everything to absorb into the meat. At this time you should also have on hand pig natural casings to make 25lbs of sausage. Take casing out of package (they are usually packed heavy with salt and are not plyable at this point) soak in a bowl of warm water for a half hour and then thoroughly clean each casing (inside and out) with warm water. Once they are cleaned i place them in a conntainer filled with a 50/50 water and vinegar and set that in fridge overnight as well. Whenever your ready pack the meat in casings, cut to length you want and tie off each end with butchers rope. Ensure that you pop any air pockets in casings. Once all done, hang casings in smoker for 12 hours with temp set to 160 degrees. After 12 hours take the links out and give them a cold bath to stop them from cooking any further. Make sure once cooled down that they are completely dried off before hanging. Before i hang them i like to poke holes in each link with a sausage pricker so that air can penetrate the casings. Hang in a cool dry place for 4-6 weeks or until they dry out (become hard). You can also make fresh sausage for cooking using the above same method, minus the prague powder, no need to smoke and no need to hang them

Ok ill post it later.

I posted recipe few times on here, if you cant locate let me know. They are now hanging for about 4-6 weeks.

That time of the year, made 21lbs of venison dry sausage, placed in smoker for 12 hours, will now be hung to dry for 4-6 weeks.

Best of luck !!

Funny you say that, me and my wife live by those words " it can always be worse " . As bad as we may think we have it, there is always someone that has it worse. Just have to go with the punches and push full steam ahead. So with this new job, does this mean you get to attend the Paralympic?