Grinding Deer 2019

So we had a good deer season.  We froze the meat and then, as usual, took it down to Rob's to grind.  The plan was to leave Mulberry at 6:15 am.  The issue?  I set my alarm to 5:15 am AND I turned it on - I set it for Mon-Fri ONLY.  It did exactly as I told it, and did not go off.  My bride asks me, "What time are you picking up Alex?"  I sleepily replied 6:15.  She says, "Well, it's 6:15!"  Damn.

I had a text from Alex.  It read - It's looking awful dark over there at your place.  True dat.

We made it to Rob's at 0800.  One man down.  Nick was still working on school work and did not go.

Rob had breakfast ready for us - sausage patties, biscuits & gravy, hash browns, and home-made tomato juice.  It was awesome as always.  We started grinding about 0900.

We made 6 batches of ground deer - the first 5 were 25# each, the last was approximately 40# because we threw in everything we had.  The first 5 were also seasoned with Pepper Stick.  The last was left unseasoned.

We split up with me & Alex doing the seasoning and grinding.  We mixed 20# of deer with 5# of pork, threw in the seasoning, and coarse ground the batch.  We switched to a small grinding wheel and ground it all again.  We then gave the 25# to Rob and Davey (the press holds 25#) and let them stuff it.  Rob & Davey switched positions this year with Davey pressing the pedal and controlling the stuffing and Rob doing the twisting and bagging.

We stuffed 50# of brats, 25# of salami, 50# of sausage, approximately 40# of burger - all before 2 pm.  We then cleaned up.  It was my turn in the barrel and I got to wash 100% of equipment in the kitchen sink by myself.  The other guys all cleaned up the garage and put things away once cleaned.  They also took time to enjoy some of Rob's home brew while I slaved away.

Our normal pattern was to hit BK and eat "lunch" on the road.  We decided to try The Thirty-Six saloon this year instead.  It was awesome!  Great atmosphere with great food.  Kinda like an old Yellowstone Lodge with animals stuffed all around.  Neat.

We were home by 1600, but it was too nasty to split up the meat.  Snow, sleet, and rain.  We never seem to get good weather when we drive to Rob's.  Oh well, it can wait as it's 32F outside.  No worries about it spoiling.  And now we have our freezers full of meat we can eat all year long.

I did accidentally pull out a bag of snow goose.  Oh well.  It's in the pressure cooker now.  Looks like we will either have Italian Goose for our Texas hunt or we will devour it now.

You may have noticed that RePhil has not been mentioned anywhere in this post.  Are you surprised?  We are not.  He has only made it ONE time to grind.  One Time!  Yet he insists that he has no deer and wants some.  Really!  Why not come and help?  He always has an excuse.  I'm in Phoenix that week-end.  Guess what RePhil.  Your deer costs $50 per pound.

The entire set-up.  Grinding on left and stuffing on right.

Alex mixing the next batch to be ground.  25# of deer and pork.

The bucket on the left shows meat that has already been ground

and is ready for the stuffer.

Davey starting a batch of brats stuffed into sheep guts

This is a 25# wheel of deer brats!  These will be tasty.

You can see a bag in the foreground.  We twist & stuff 4 brats into each bag.

A HUGE Shout-Out to Rob for letting us invade his place, make us breakfast, use his equipment, drink his beer, and put up with our BS.  Thanks Brother Rob!  We appreciate it.

I still have to meet back up with Rob to collect our salami.  He will be smoking it for us.  What a great guy!