# Processing Day 2019



## indaswamp (Jan 12, 2019)

Well, Processing day is fast approaching...

I hunted at the deer camp this week and shot a 122# doe for the freezer.








The largest doe ever shot on this place was 132# so this was a big doe for the area.

A club member shot a nice buck the same evening...





He did not need the meat and gave it to Dad since Dad has not killed a deer this season. Mission accomplished. Got meat for processing day. 

My cousin has 3 deer in his freezer ready and waiting. My buddy shot a 150# sow and has roughly 70# of wild hog meat to add to the mix on processing day.






Shot in the head @ 45 yards so all the meat is clean. He was very careful cleaning it and had all the right equipment at the camp to do so.

One of his friends has 2 deer and another hog and will pitch in to help on processing day. 

Still have until the end of the month for deer season so a few more may be added to the pile... pics. and thread on processing day to come.


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## WaterRat (Jan 12, 2019)

Sounds like it's going to be a very busy day when it comes...but so worth it in the end! Good eats :)


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## hillbillyrkstr (Jan 12, 2019)

I had NO IDEA you guys had bucks that size down there! Nice buck for sure! Your season runs late to. Our deer seasons have all come and gone. Everything is in the freezer! 

Nice hunting! Enjoy your processing day! Just as fun as hunting!

Scott


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## pineywoods (Jan 12, 2019)

Looks like a great time and should lead to some great eating. What all do you process it into? I think this year most of mine other than backstraps and tenderloins are going into sausage.
I've got two in the freezer so far we hunt till the middle of next month so maybe I can add another one.


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## indaswamp (Jan 12, 2019)

We do:
Fresh sausage
green onion fresh sausage
Sage Breakfast patty sausage (in 1# plastic bags)
Jimmy Dean clone Maple Sausage (usually with all the left over pork we over bought)
smoked sausage

And ground 50/50 pork and venison


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## indaswamp (Jan 12, 2019)

hillbillyrkstr said:


> I had NO IDEA you guys had bucks that size down there! Nice buck for sure! Your season runs late to. Our deer seasons have all come and gone. Everything is in the freezer!
> 
> Nice hunting! Enjoy your processing day! Just as fun as hunting!
> 
> Scott


Shhhhhhh......don't tell anyone......
We have until the end of the month in mississippi, and bow season runs through feb. 15th in some areas in Louisiana.


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## chilerelleno (Jan 12, 2019)

Sounds like plenty of work and meat to go around.
Nice hunting/harvesting.

I still need to get a buck or three this season.
My son has killed the only worthwhile buck at my buddy George's property, and there has been no lack of people hunting it.
But the Rut is on now, maybe the big bucks will start thinking with the little head.


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## indaswamp (Jan 13, 2019)

Just added another deer to processing day. My B-I-L shot a doe last weds. so that puts us at 8 deer, and 3 hogs so far....


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## pineywoods (Jan 13, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> We do:
> Fresh sausage
> green onion fresh sausage
> Sage Breakfast patty sausage (in 1# plastic bags)
> ...



Sounds like some good eating I used to cut some into roasts and cube some but this year will only be one batch of fresh sausage and then summer sausage some with cheddar and jalapeno and some with just cheddar, If I kill a couple more or my brother in law kills another one I might do some ground venison jerky which I haven't done yet. Thankfully we don't have hogs around my place yet brother in law usually kills some (mostly hunts 150 miles south of me) but I told him I wanted one or two so he hasn't even seen one this year.



chilerelleno said:


> Sounds like plenty of work and meat to go around.
> Nice hunting/harvesting.
> 
> I still need to get a buck or three this season.
> ...



Cool your rut and ours must run at the same time cause it's on here too



indaswamp said:


> Just added another deer to processing day. My B-I-L shot a doe last weds. so that puts us at 8 deer, and 3 hogs so far....



Your gonna have a lot more work than me but then again you'll have more finished product at the end as well. This morning the wife and I went out the back door to do something and saw nine deer including two bucks one a shooter and one young guess I'm gonna have to spend some time hunting


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## indaswamp (Jan 13, 2019)

pineywoods said:


> I used to cut some into roasts and cube some


I saved the loins, back straps, top round, rumps, bottom round, and eye of round primal muscles as whole cuts. I can cook them any number of ways when I pull them out of the freezer. The rest is in the sausage pile.


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## indaswamp (Jan 13, 2019)

Oh- and the heart- I saved that too. It is on ice and I will cook it this week in a gravy with some onions.


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## indaswamp (Jan 13, 2019)

Local grocer has boston butts on sale for $0.98/lb.....Awesome!


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## HalfSmoked (Jan 14, 2019)

For sure a busy day coming up waiting to see some finish results.

Warren


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## crazymoon (Jan 15, 2019)

IDS, I can't wait to see your processing pics !


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## weev (Jan 15, 2019)

wow someones going to be busy


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## indaswamp (Jan 19, 2019)

weev said:


> wow someones going to be busy


Yes indeed... but, I will not be doing this alone. Should have 6~8 people helping out.


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## indaswamp (Jan 19, 2019)

Well, this afternoon I mixed up the seasonings for the sausages we are going to make.

Made seasoning for:
100# Fresh sausage
100# Smoke sausage
50# sage Breakfast sausage

Might need more, but that is a good start....


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## chilerelleno (Jan 19, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> Yes indeed... but, I will not be doing this alone. Should have 6~8 people helping out.


Many hands make the work so much easier.
Couldn't imagine doing all that alone or even just with one other.


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## indaswamp (Jan 19, 2019)

9 deer and 3 hogs... take that to a processor and you're looking at $250 per animal minimum. I am saving them a LOT of money by helping them process their animals. The LEAST they can do is show up and help....


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## HalfSmoked (Jan 20, 2019)

Not much help but could be a top taster (sampler) for you.


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## chilerelleno (Jan 20, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> 9 deer and 3 hogs... take that to a processor and you're looking at $250 per animal minimum. I am saving them a LOT of money by helping them process their animals. The LEAST they can do is show up and help....


Believe me, I know which is why I do all my own too.
I spend enough money on hunting/fishing without paying someone else to do the butchering.
And I've my wife and son to help.


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## indaswamp (Jan 20, 2019)

Well, add another deer to the tally, my cousin shot another one...a young buck. That makes 10 deer and 3 hogs.....


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## indaswamp (Jan 20, 2019)

I feel fortunate that I learned how to butcher animals at a young age. Helping out with the boucherie's and taking care of wild game animals at the camps. It is an invaluable skill.


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## crazymoon (Jan 21, 2019)

IDS, Keep building up that tally ,need full freezers! :)


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## HalfSmoked (Jan 21, 2019)

Keep on and the man going to knock on your door and ask for license to run a butcher shop. 

Warren


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## James Coburn (Jan 22, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> 9 deer and 3 hogs... take that to a processor and you're looking at $250 per animal minimum. I am saving them a LOT of money by helping them process their animals. The LEAST they can do is show up and help....


I know what you mean there. Ive been cleaning my own since 1987. Last year i heard some guys raving about a guy's jalopeno cheddar brats and summer sausage. So the Saturday of Thanksgiving i killed a 110# doe and had to be home by noon to help the wife. I ran it by this guy and got 10# of brats and 8# of summer sausage. The rest was the backstraps and ground into burger. It ended up like $275. I was shocked. 
The worst part about it was i made some summer sausage that same year and froze it with his. 6 months later his was mushy and mine was perfect once thawed.


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## indaswamp (Jan 22, 2019)

There is no way I could process deer commercially. The customer would have to bring the deer to me deboned and trimmed the way they want it ground. Processors charge that much for the time it takes trimming the fat off the meat-and most are not too careful about it trying to optimize the yield from a deer. AND- they charge on green weight that you bring it....


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## indaswamp (Jan 22, 2019)

All in for supplies, seasonings, casings, NFDM powder, Bulk pork back fat, plastic 1# bags for ground meat, Propane for smoking, and wood...etc....it costs us $150~200 each year we do the processing day. We'll process anywhere from 300~500# of meat. I charge the guys $40 bucks each just to cover the cost of supplies....it's cheap really....


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## indaswamp (Jan 22, 2019)

My B-I-L may have overbought on his pork butts. Might make a run of all pork andouille but stuff in large hog casings. But that will be after processing day is over.


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## indaswamp (Jan 25, 2019)

Add another deer to the total for processing day...

Our buddy finally got a buck. That put the total @11 deer...


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## indaswamp (Jan 25, 2019)

Rough estimate, we have 260# of venison to process and 120# of wild hog.....and we're not done yet.


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## indaswamp (Feb 4, 2019)

Processing day has been set...Feb. 17th. I'll take lots of pics...


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## indaswamp (Feb 15, 2019)

Alright, day is getting close....
I have the following seasonings all mixed up and ready to go:
175# of smoke sausage seasoning
150# sage breakfast sausage seasoning
100# fresh sausage seasoning
25# green onion fresh sausage seasoning

I need to pick up some steene's cane syrup for the breakfast sausage and some milk powder and we should be good to go. Also need to pick up the 45# order of pork fat from the butcher.


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## indaswamp (Feb 20, 2019)

Wow...it was a loooong day sunday! We got started early; 6:30am... did not finish until 10pm that night. I apologize for the late post on this thread. I was dead dog tired and crashed.

We ended up with:

125# of smoke sausage
120# sage breakfast sausage
95# fresh sausage
25# green onion fresh sausage
105# 50/50 ground
10# chili meat 100% venison

We have 175# of pork left over...so tomorrow I am making 75# andouille pulled through 42mm hog casing (cousin has been begging me to make this in hog casing so here I go...), 52# regular pork smoke sausage, and 30# 100% all pork sage breakfast sausage.

Here are some pics. the guys snapped while I was running around keeping everything straight and flowing smoothly...
First grind on the smoke sausage, mixing in TSPP, salt and seasonings...











Had to swap out...it's a workout with a paddle!!





We put the smoke sausage meat paste back in bags and inda fridge to cure for 10 hours. Then we moved on to the fresh sausage.

Dad running the grinder....





One long coil off the stuffer. That one casing took all 10# inda stuffer at once...





Makin links..






Then the sage breakfast sausage and ground meat...packed in plastic bags...











Monday morning bright and early I loaded the smokehouse with 125# of sausage to smoke...






12 hours later...done!






Onda rack to shower with water to cool..





The 10# of green onion smoke sausage after blooming...


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## indaswamp (Feb 20, 2019)

Smoked the sausages with hickory and pecan wood...

There was a scheduling conflict to use the building so we moved processing day inside the firehouse kitchen, that's why you see guys lounging in recliners in the background....


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## HalfSmoked (Feb 20, 2019)

Great job there indaswamp glad to see pop being over seer.

Warren


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## indaswamp (Feb 20, 2019)

HalfSmoked said:


> Great job there indaswamp glad to see pop being over seer.
> 
> Warren


Thanks Warren.


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