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How To Make
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All that you need to make deer jerky the way that we do is some ground deer meat, a jerky shooter, a dehydrator and some seasoning.
Obtaining the deer meat is the fun part. Refer to the rest of this website for advice on accomplishing this.
A jerky shooter is simply a caulking gun type gadget that has an attachment on the end of it that forms the ground meat into a thin strip as you squeeze it out. These come by different names depending on the manufacturer. The bigger the better depending on how often you want to re-load.
Dehydrators are not hard to come by and can also be used to dry fruits to eat. As with most things dehydrators come in a few different forms and a wide price range.
The biggest decision that you will make is what to season the meat with. I have tried a few different seasonings and we have liked them all. I usually use the seasonings manufactured for making deer jerky and mix in a little extra of the different varieties. I haven’t made a batch yet that didn’t have a good flavor.
Making the jerky is easy. You just thaw the ground deer meat, sprinkle in seasoning while working it in by hand, load the jerky shooter and shoot the strips directly out onto the dehydrator trays. We can get about three pounds of meat onto our dehydrator. Once the dehydrator is full just leave it alone and go watch deer hunting shows or read the rest of this site.
Cooking time varies and you should consult the directions on your dehydrator. Generally we leave the jerky in the dehydrator for five to seven hours. You can check it periodically to see how it is doing. If it is not left in long enough it will still seem raw if you tear it and if left too long it will dry out and become brittle. Just check on it and remove it when it is done, it will not go from the raw stage to a brittle stage in a matter of minutes. You cannot mess it up unless you completely forget about it.
I have yet to find a jerky seasoning that I did not like. Try a couple different varieties.
