Deer Grinding 2016 - 09 APR

As has become our custom, we traveled S to Montezuma bright and early Saturday morning for the purpose of grinding up all the deer we shot last hunting season.  And Mother Nature did not disappoint either.  She provided us with the worst weather April has seen in many years - snow, sleet, and a brutally cold 27 degrees F (duly noted - brutal for April).  Since no matter when we grind, the weather is horrific, we have decided that we will grind deer in January next year.  That way by April the weather will be Spring-like, we hope.

I picked up Alex at 5:50.  We grabbed a tank of gas and some Mt. Dews and then picked up Davey at 6:00.  We drove down 231 to Crawfordsville, took 47 to Turkey Run, 41 into Rockville, and then 36 into Montezuma.  God's Country for sure.  We arrived about 7:40.  Rob Vincent and his Dad Bob were waiting on us with breakfast ready.

Rob had prepared homemade bacon, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and we washed it all down with homemade tomato juice.  After our hearty breakfast, we headed for the garage to commence our grinding and stuffing.  We had about six deer to grind along with 90 or so pounds of pork.

Our usual method is to put roughly 20# of deer together with 7 or 8# of pork, season it, rough grind it, fine grind it, and then stuff it into brats, burger, or summer sausage / salami.  The first grind is rather quick.  The second grind takes forever.  Stuffing can keep ahead of grinding for sure.

We ground 9 or 10 batches, I lost count.  I do know that the five of us worked for 7 straight hours to get it all done, including clean up.  Alex and I ground everything.  Dave and Rob stuffed everything.  And Bob was our foreman.  Bob was tough.  He said we didn't even get to take breaks and drink some of Rob's fine home brew.  FYI.  We did anyway.  And the beer was awesome!

We ended up with unseasoned ground, seasoned ground, breakfast sausage, brats, and salami.

The Vincent's, Rob (fore ground) and Bob (foreman).
Brats coming out of suffer.
Salami and ground on workbench in back.



Alex and Craig grinding deer.  Davey on break drinking beer.
I told you the stuffing took less time.
Rob and Dave were always on break.

So right now you're asking yourself, Where in the H is RePhil?  Well, we changed the date of grinding like 7 times to accommodate his lame schedule.  Low and behold, he couldn't even make this changed date.  Something about insurance claims.  You can damn sure bet that any deer he gets is going to have a special sauce included.  Come on Man!

Huge shout out and Thank You to Rob Vincent for his hospitality.  He cooked a great breakfast, had home brew ready, and provided all the pork, seasonings, casings, and equipment to grind up all our deer.  We could not have done it without you brother!  Many thanks!


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