I probably could have soaked the deer ham in buttermilk longer than 4 days to let it bleed out more but this whole concept was like my prime rib to learn & gain feedback... I used Cherry wood with apple juice on the water pan while each marinated for 2 days on different marinades... I am not a butcher but I attempted to play one & if doing so first rule is keep very sharp blades... Once I cut the meat onto sections & peeled away what I could of the shiny skin it was into Ziploc bags to marinate... I used Teriyaki in one bag, Bone Suckn Sauce in the second & Garlic Chipotle Lime I bought at Sam's club that was sitting on the shelf in the pantry... Sunday I set the smoker up for 225 & commenced to laying the venison on the racks smothering with 2lbs of bacon I buy from Cracker Barrel... Once MES was up to temp I stuck the probes in & let them smoke out... I set the IT to 140 & waited till it was time... Probe #1 went off a few minutes before probe #2 & #3 so I left it in & as Probe#2 was going off at 140 IT probe #1 was around 145... I took the top rack off first while the bottom rack with probe #3 was @ 138 IT... By the time I wrapped the first 2 in pans & foil to transport upstairs for resting probe #3 was singing take me out also... After resting for 30 minutes I pulled out the cutting board correct side this time & started slicing... I kept some thin & some small chunks but still had a lot of blood almost like medium rare... Which if I was doing a prime rib would have been spectacular... I am not sure if this is a good idea with venison or not but for the most part they were pretty juicy & tender... I stuck 1 thick part in the microwave for a few minutes to see if it would dry it up a smidge but not really... I am thinking I will take the medium rare pieces & may slice thin to make jerky... Not sure if I did right or wrong but this was the first & will be attempting more again soon... Suggestions will help because this meat is tough to make non gamey & tender out of all the other meats I have smoked!!!
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