I plan to make some deer jerky this fall with the first doe I take. I always take my deer to a local processor. Can somebody tell me what cut I need to get in order to make my own jerky? Is is stew meat & is it a particular part of the deer?

Also, any suggestions or " how to" ideas for jerky is appreciated.


Thank you, my fellow deer hunters.

I use the Jerky Cannon and have been very happy with it. The thing I like most about it is that you use ground mean instead of having to cut strips. it is available from BPS and others. Cost about 60 and comes with some seasonings for you to try.

My brothers and I always process our own deer.

The best cuts of meat we find for jerky come from the neck and shoulders. You wouldn' t want to use stew or other small pieces - the stuff shrinks A LOT in the smoker or dehydrator. Try to use meat with the grain oriented lengthwise... almost like a split piece of wood.

When we process our deer we normally get 4 cuts - steaks / chops / stir fry (whole muscle meat), burger (all the small stuff), stew meat (pieces too large / good to go in the burger bowl) and jerky (neck and sholders).

Wow - thank ya' ll for the quick info! Please do tell me how to make the jerky with ground venison, my friend. I have plenty of that left & would like the try it out - I did not know that was possible.

And thanks for the cuts of meat idea also. I will ask my processor to do that very thing.

You' re very welcome.

I forgot to mention the burger thing, but Brucelit covered it pretty well. Basically, this thing looks like a caulk gun that you can disassemble and fill with burger meat. You mix the burger meat with some dry jerky seasoning, set it in your fridge for a day or two, load your jerky gun, squirt it out on a cookie-sheet-like thing and put it in the oven at 350* or something like that. I have one of these setups but wasn' t particularly impressed with the jerky I made with it.

Honestly, I prefer using muscle meat. Hi Mountain (jerky cure) makes an awesome product available in quite a few flavors... my personal favorites are mesquite and hickory, but the cajun isn' t far behind. The kit includes two zip-lok baggies, one with a cream color mix, the other are darker color seasonings. Mix according to the chart provided in the package. Best if done in a dehydrator or smoker.

I also use beef. Go to the store and buy one of those huge roasts for about $1.89-2.19/lb when they' re on sale. Cut them up like I described before, season and dehydrate.

Also for moister jerky, you can marinate the strips of meat in soy, teriaki, or your favorite BBQ sauce with your seasonings for about 12-24 hours. Drain, add more seasoning and dehydrate or cook in a 200 oven for hours (it varies depending on how you like your jerky.

Only meat I don' t use for jerky on a deer are backstraps and tenderloins (just because they are so good by themselves)...the rest is fair game. In most cases I do one full deer in jerky a year, sometimes more. However since I butcher all my own meat I can pick and choose cuts and freezing methods. This allows me to freeze big blocks for multiple uses or for grinding later. I especially like taking the rear hock(deboned) from the animal and making a batch or two of jerky. This meat is the nicest to deal with and I always remove all fat and silver skin for my table fair. Front shoulder roasts would be the second choice spot for a jerky batch. To do this you slice your muscle meat in 1/4" pieces then either wet or dry mix(with cure) let them marinate in the fridge covered for 24 hrs. Whole muscle meat takes about 5-6hr in a decent store bought dehydrator and will represent the least shrinkage(more bang for your buck or doe...lol) The fore mentioned are for whole muscle meat jerky, my favorite style. Then after that neck, flank and lower muscle meat(from both front and rear legs) is best suited to ground jerky. Same princple execpt grind first, the time for cooking vary from 4-8 hours depending on thickness, dehydrator, etc. I just roll mine with a rolling pin on a counter top (with parchement paper on top and bottom to prevent sticking) and keep it about 3/8" thick which will take about 6-7 hours in my dehydrator. In doing ground jerky I have found Hi Mountain cure and dry mix gives the best flavour(it can be bought at most sporting good stores and is very reasonable).

Tell your butcher to debone a rear hock whole or front shoulder roasts for jerky. You can always just use up the grinder pile as well.

Good luck and it does taste better than any store bought junk. I just finished a batch and it is near half done in a day of football games on the tube

I tried the oven method one time for making jerky and was dissapointed. Could have been that I left it in too long, or maybe too much heat - not really sure. I set the oven for 200 and left it slightly open. Didn' t work out too well, it was edible but too dry and quite tough. It was maybe me and not the method that was the problem, however if I try making some in the future I will buy a dehydrator first.

split-hoof , a dehydrator works better than the oven I have made it both ways The oven temp should not be higher than 170 degrees and the door should be open some to let the moisture out.At 170 degrees it takes between 5 and 6 hrs Your jerky should be @ 1/8 inch thick.

i use ground meat, and use the jerky shooter for myself. just like the cannon that brucelit uses, it is so easy and clean-up is a snap, good luck making them, i love making jerky, i make a new batch about once a week. who_else