# Ground Venison....who adds beef or pork to it?



## Crimefighter

My wife is not a big fan of ground venison, so I was thinking about adding some beef to it to make it a little tastier for her. 

What do you guys add to yours? Ground Beef, beef fat or maybe even pork? What kind of ratio is it?


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## gmphk

When butchering ground venison I used to use a 50/50 mix with pork roast. Three years ago I started using beef chuck roast that was already trimmed, though not too much as the fat adds to the flavor. This makes a really good hamburger, especially when fresh (not frozen). I do not think she will know the difference. When making meatloaf, tacos, chilimac, or something similar, the pork does just fine. The pork, by the way, is much less expensive also. I just use the beef as we do more burgers during the "off season".:smile:


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## da white shoe

Last year, we tried buying the cheapest, fattiest hamburger and mixing it 50/50 with ground deer. It came out tasting great and looking like really lean burger. I like it better than what you get when you just add suet.


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## Meleagris1

Just a thought, you might want to explain to her how healthy venison is, rather than adding a bunch of artery clogging hormone filled beef or pork fat. Worked with my wife, and now she loves venison.


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## bowhunter1807

we mix 50/50 with cheap hburger makes good chili and tacos:darkbeer:


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## Crazy_Boxer

I add nothing except when I make breakfast sausage. Then I use 80/20 mix with pork butt.


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## buck-n-nuts

We grind ours with bacon and seasoning salt..
Never gets dry and has the best flavor.


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## atwanamaker

I take mine straight up


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## hammertime989

I have used hamburger, and pork but BACON is the best. Use 1 lb. per 10 lbs. of venison.


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## ILLbucknut

buck-n-nuts said:


> We grind ours with bacon and seasoning salt..
> Never gets dry and has the best flavor.


I grind mine up with bacon also, makes the best burgers in the world. I used beef fat in the past and always thought it tasted kinda nasty, the wife wont eat it with beef fat period.

Try the bacon


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## UntouchableNess

Meleagris1 said:


> Just a thought, you might want to explain to her how healthy venison is, rather than adding a bunch of artery clogging hormone filled beef or pork fat. Worked with my wife, and now she loves venison.


EXACTLY! 


Maybe before you add something, do a venison burger grind with NO fat, silver skin or tendon. Improving the product before the grinder helps immensely with the final product. If you don't want to work so hard on the butcher side, then adding things can hide the gamey flavor of the fat.


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## ELECTRO

I add some beef fat and it works for us. 

However the butcher suggested using smoked bacon, I haven't tried it yet but see a few bacon recomendations on here already.


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## Timber Troll

I use pork trimmings and grind them in at about 10%. Adds a little flavor and gives just enough body to hold burgers together on thr grill.


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## johnnyv917

Meleagris1 said:


> Just a thought, you might want to explain to her how healthy venison is, rather than adding a bunch of artery clogging hormone filled beef or pork fat. Worked with my wife, and now she loves venison.


right on bro why screw up organic healthy venison .how bout few spices ?


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## Meleagris1

If you do a lot of burgers, one thing you can do to help hold the venison together is add a small amount of EVOO to the ground meat. This will hold the meat together nicely on the grill and is considerably better for you than beef or pork fat. I only add the oil for burgers on the grill, not tacos, caseroles, soups, stuffed peppers, meat loaf etc.


Locally grown, locally harvested, free range and 100% organic = venison. If you put that in Hannaford it would be $20 per pound.


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## LAMADMAN

I did the bacon mix with those boxes of bits n pieces and it was not bad. When I make sausage I mix 1/2 deer and boston butt and stuff into links its great. But, all my ground meat is strait deer. I like to soak the deer in a ice chest four or five days before cutting and grinding, it draws out the blood. Make sure to get all the gland areas cleaned out of the hams and neck area before grinding. When yall cook it drain the pan before seasoning or you can add water to the pan when cooking then drain it off. We have not bought ground meat in a long time, we use deer in everything.


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## lavazhole

I use organic grass fed beef fat, it's stupid cheap and man does it make a huge difference. I only add around 5% but the burgers stay together and that flavor is go much better. Most of the fat will burn off when cooked.


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## jjm1975

70% deer 30% Ground beef at about 85% lean. Perfect combo..


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## yoda4x4

While I was in the process of researching my grinder, an LEM model, I spoke with one of the customer service reps at LEM about what they recommend I put into the venison mix so I can add a bit of fat to it - beef vs pork suet. They recommended the pork suet since it begins to melt at a lower temp than the beef suet and as such, works better in the ground venison mix. So that's what I go with. 20% pork suet to 80% venison so far has been awesome.

But I may have to try adding some bacon as that sounds awesome.

David


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## OHTribute

I've added 50/50 mix to get my family to start eating venison. I'm slowly cutting back each year and will eventually not add anything.

However, I may try a round with the bacon - that sounds like a great idea.


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## Yellowfin

I'm surprised to see no one here adds lamb. Seems like that would be a better flavor match.


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## carcus

2/3 deer 1/3 pork works best in my household


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## HoytHunter4

jjm1975 said:


> 70% deer 30% Ground beef at about 85% lean. Perfect combo..


This is what I use.


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## JG358

Meleagris1 said:


> Just a thought, you might want to explain to her how healthy venison is, rather than adding a bunch of artery clogging hormone filled beef or pork fat. Worked with my wife, and now she loves venison.


:thumbs_up


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## Mooreski

lavazhole said:


> I use organic grass fed beef fat, it's stupid cheap and man does it make a huge difference. I only add around 5% but the burgers stay together and that flavor is go much better. Most of the fat will burn off when cooked.


This is what I use too.


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## Buckeye Buck

My venison is usually straight up unless I'm doing burgers on the grill then I will add an egg to it to help hold together. Why put fat in a healthy lean meat?


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## Tmaziarz

*add smoked Bacon*

We add Smoked Bacon along with pork


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## DOGMEN

Charazo (spelling??) Mexican sausage mix 2 parts deer to 1 sausage. Makes a real good burger!!


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## madarchery

Straight up here. No need for filler.

If I do burgers I use beef.:mg:


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## scrapejuice

thanks for the ideas.


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## godex003

UntouchableNess said:


> EXACTLY!
> 
> 
> Maybe before you add something, do a venison burger grind with NO fat, silver skin or tendon. Improving the product before the grinder helps immensely with the final product. If you don't want to work so hard on the butcher side, then adding things can hide the gamey flavor of the fat.


I'm a firm believer that if you take out all that nasty stuff before you grind it, it helps a TON! A lot of people feel bad for wasting a good amount of the meat to get the silverskin off, but a year later when you're tossing out old frozen packages of venison you'll understand. You'll take advantage of the well trimmed stuff, where the other stuff gets wasted in the future.

People always comment on how great our family's sausage and polish taste and how it doesn't leave that fatty slimey feeling in your mouth afterwards. It's cuz we spend almost an entire day in the processing of the meat. We've made sausage and ground venison other ways... it just tastes bad. Get all the fat and silverskin off and you'll have a great flavor.


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## weldorman

hammertime989 said:


> I have used hamburger, and pork but BACON is the best. Use 1 lb. per 10 lbs. of venison.


We tryed lots of differnt add ins for the kids and found this same to be the
right balance also.


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## godex003

Oh yeah, and bacon tastes great as far as ground venison goes. If you're making sausage however you need ground pork. Almost 50/50 for sausages.


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## Skewerer

Glad to have come across this thread. I killed a hog late last spring and saved all of the irregular cuts, fat trimmings, etc for when I shot a deer this fall. Since my trimmings have a high fat content, I'm probably going to go with the 1 to 9 mix between pork and deer. Thanks for the advice! :darkbeer:


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## DougKMN

It depends on what I am making.

Restructured Jerky: 100% Venison
Beefsticks/sausage: 2 parts venison 1 part pork
Recipes that call for ground beef: 25 % beef (or less) and 75% venison.
Burgs: 2 parts venison and 1 part beef

I may have to give the bacon a shot....


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## longnoodle

Take ours straight up use for jerky, but never thought of bacon will give this a try soon.


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## R. Lang

buck-n-nuts said:


> We grind ours with bacon and seasoning salt..
> Never gets dry and has the best flavor.


I have had this and I must say, it's a great combination.


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## St8shooter

What I found works for me is pork suet but I do use bacon in my sausage. Another good recipes is a six pack of your favorite beverage and some well trimmed venison with no silver skin, from there you just make sure that you are using equal parts in your mixture for every pound the grinder gets you get one beer:darkbeer: just make sure not to get your fingers in the way.


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## Tom_in_CT

for sausage, 80% venison, 20% pork butt. for ground venison for burger, i add a little bacon...maybe 5%


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## NoSecondBest

godex003 said:


> I'm a firm believer that if you take out all that nasty stuff before you grind it, it helps a TON! A lot of people feel bad for wasting a good amount of the meat to get the silverskin off, but a year later when you're tossing out old frozen packages of venison you'll understand. You'll take advantage of the well trimmed stuff, where the other stuff gets wasted in the future.
> 
> People always comment on how great our family's sausage and polish taste and how it doesn't leave that fatty slimey feeling in your mouth afterwards. It's cuz we spend almost an entire day in the processing of the meat. We've made sausage and ground venison other ways... it just tastes bad. Get all the fat and silverskin off and you'll have a great flavor.


I agree! Spend the time getting the meat ready to grind and you won't have to do anything else. It tastes great! The last couple of years I added 10% strip steak trims (fat) to the meat to hold it together. I don't care for any other kind of additive. It ends up tasting like you ground up fillet mignon. My wife would NEVER eat venison before and now she loves it.


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## CLB

The reason we like eating the ground deer is that it has very little fat, so I definately don't want to mix it with anything that will add fat. Even when I eat lean ground beef now I can taste the fat, which I dislike. We will add 1/3 pork when we make sausage to keep the sausage a little more moist, but that is it. For burgers and chilli and anything else with ground deer it is straight up and way better than beef. Anyone we have fed it to always says it is so good and we don't let them know what it is until after they are done eating, most are very surprised it is deer and say they would eat it anytime.


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## Backlash

the only time I grind deer, I add pork and make sausage out of it.


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## kg4ghn

BACON!!!!!!!!!!


Deer burgers with bacon grinded in is about as good as a burger can get!


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## Crimefighter

lavazhole said:


> I use organic grass fed beef fat, it's stupid cheap and man does it make a huge difference. I only add around 5% but the burgers stay together and that flavor is go much better. Most of the fat will burn off when cooked.


Where can you get this at? Thats the other thing, I'm trying to keep the cost down also, so if I buy a bunch of beef, it'll add up quickly. Thsi sounds good, but the bacon way sounds really good.

Thanks for all the responses guys. This thread got way more responses than I expected.


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## zara_puppy

10% pork - 90% venison. Works great in anything you'd use burger for. Meatloaf, tacos, chili, firecracker burgers (mmmmmm), spaghetti sauce - whatever.


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## woodshed

100% why change it? If you want it to taste like beef and have fat,,,, then eat the beef.


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## StruttinRattlin

*I add*

I add bacon and chopped jalapeno if you are looking for a little kick. They make some great burgers. I 75/25 on the ratio.


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## FL-HNT-N-FSH

I do not add anything to my ground unless its going to be made into sausage or snack sticks


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## ratliffc

I buy a lot of port loin roast when its cheap. If its not around deer season I freeze it till its grinding time. For me I mix 70 deer/30 pork. For others and my wife i do 50/50


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## Crimefighter

Thanks for all the suggestions. I appreciate it.


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## IANative

DOGMEN said:


> Charazo (spelling??) Mexican sausage mix 2 parts deer to 1 sausage. Makes a real good burger!!


_Chorizo_, amigo.


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## Tarheeler

20% beef fat  roughly


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## MOC

I don't add anything when I grind. I do want to try some burgers with the bacon added, but for anything else, we don't like to add anything.


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## Crimefighter

Gonna put this up ttt one more time for some opinions. Thanks.


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## JDJHNTR

My processor adds 10-20% pork fat to mine. We all love it.


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## bunnybrew

Pork fat is considered a neutral fat. In the sausages and other forcemeats I make in the restaurant, pork fat is the only fat we add so as not to add another flavor. All my venison for sausage gets straight ground pork fat courtesy or my meat purveyor from work, local butcher shop (you will have to ask for it). I can find it every time at the mexican marts. They buy the cheap cuts of meat to make fajitas and will have the fat in large chunks. To me adding bacon or really any other meat takes away from the venison flavor, though sometimes venison needs the fat for certain cooking techniques.


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## foxj66

dont add any other meat to it, and i have had alot of diner quest that dont like venison think we had realy good beer


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## westernskies

go to sams club (or wherever) and get an uncut beef brisket. Usually around $20 That will have all the beef and fat you need in one shot. Grind it up and mix. I do 2/3 deer to 1/3 beef. We also mix in some pork butt on occasion. The brisket is the key in my opinion.


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## shkyhnds

The first time I tried ground venison I really didn't care for it! It was ground venison from the butcher. It really tasted foul! So I decided to give it a try myself, making sure there was no silver skin or tendons in the meat I ground. WOW! What a huge difference! 100% ground venison with nothing added and making sure that there was no silver skin or tendons with the meat I ground! It tasted great! Everyone in my house loved it! 

My old boss used to add some bacon to his ground venison and he says that is the way to go! Not for me, I prefer the 100% ground lean venison! 

You really have to be careful about meat processors! They don't take the time to make sure there is no silver skin or tendons in the meat they are grinding....time is money! I have found that the tendons and silver skin can make the meat taste a little rancid!


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## ohiohikerguy

We mix three parts ground venison to one part bulk pork sausage. It cooks up great for burgers, and gives just enough fat for chili, lasagna, etc.

Also makes for killer summer sausage, at least to our taste buds.


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## cougarslayer

*10/2 ratio*

I always add 2lbs of beef fat per 10lbs of ground venison and it works out great. I grind the fat, then also the venison. Mix the two together, then send them through the grinder again. I love the combo, bc it isn't overkill IMO and make a very nice burger. The fat helps hold the venison together on the grill.


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## rkswyo

I use 20% beef fat with my hamburger and it is awesome. For Breakfast sausage I use 50/50 antelope and pork. Just made 30lbs of it this past weekend. Sometimes I like bacon instead of the beef fat for a change.


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## GETMRUTN

When I used to process deer I would do a 50/50 mix on all the sausage I made so that it wouldnt be to dry. All ground that was consumed as burgers or chili or whatever else was just venison. You can add whatever you want to it and give it some fat content. But 50/50 is a good starting point.


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## spoco57

We don't add anything. We use the ground venison as jerky, in spaghetti sauce and in tacos and such. The other guys are right, make sure you trim all the deer fat off of the burger meat, it will be so much better! If we want straight burgers, we generally opt for beef.


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## LeftemLeakin

I don't add fat, I just grind very clean deer meat through a chili plate 1 time. It will hold together for a burger or anything else I want to do.


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## legacy_hunter02

we have beef added to ours but as for jsut a burger i still dont care for the taste of it but we use a ton of the burger for everything else like chilli,spagetti and all kinds of other stuff so we use a lot of it


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## jwatts

I grind 2 different batches. The meat I will use for cooking is ground straight up. The meat that will go to burgers is ground using bacon ends and pieces. You can get a box of the ends and pieces around here for around $3 for 2lb. I mix it 10-15% bacon ends to 85% deer. I also take the time to clean the deer very well before grinding.


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## WNYBuckHunter

The ONLY time I add anything other than spices, etc to my venison is when I make burgers. I make a 30/70 mix of beef/venison to help hold the burgers together. Otherwise, I use 100% venison for everything else.


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## tfosterjr

Buckeye Buck said:


> My venison is usually straight up unless I'm doing burgers on the grill then I will add an egg to it to help hold together. Why put fat in a healthy lean meat?


Yep, that's the recipe for me. Even got my own layers so the eggs are natural too. Tastes great and healthier than pen raised beef/pork.


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## dfrank900

Tried this last time for the first time, and will continue to use this combination forever.... tastes great and holds together on the grill nicely:

20 pounds very lean venison (no silver skin, tendons, fat, etc)
3 pounds of 80/20 hamburger
1 pound of smoked bacon

Best burgers, tacos, chili, meatloaf, etc. I have ever had! We made 100 pounds like this in January, and have been rationing the last 20 pounds for about the past month! We have not bought ground beef from the store since!


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## zeestyle

DOGMEN said:


> Charazo (spelling??) Mexican sausage mix 2 parts deer to 1 sausage. Makes a real good burger!!


Churizo :wink:


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## zeestyle

I'm getting 103 pounds of elk burger, and the butcher recommended %10 beef fat to help hold it together. I took his advice. He had a knife.


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## SHSlamma

the best thing ive found is if you can find some bacon ends and pieces. You should be able to find them in your grocery store in the fresh meat section. Really good bacon burger and cheap too


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## axman

All deer for me..


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## jlmorasco

Buckeye Buck said:


> My venison is usually straight up unless I'm doing burgers on the grill then I will add an egg to it to help hold together. Why put fat in a healthy lean meat?


That sounds good, but one question, doesn't your venison dry out when you cook it? Seems to me that it would. I am all for healthy, but not for dried out venison. Just my .02


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## brutus82

100% venison, i had a buddy and his wife over one time i had made some chili his wife said she couldnt stand deer meat!! i didnt bother to tell her that all i used was deer burger in the chili, she absolutly loved the chili!! after an hour after she ate i told her that it was all deer, she changed her mind on deer meat!


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## Rick Hodges

Pure venison tends to be dry. I add up to 20% pork butt.


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## WNYBuckHunter

tfosterjr said:


> Yep, that's the recipe for me. Even got my own layers so the eggs are natural too. Tastes great and healthier than pen raised beef/pork.


Ill have to try that next time.


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## majestic_rb

*1/3 pork*

Mine is 1/3 pork. Seems to help it from getting too dry and doesn't seem to effect the taste.


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## deerhuntinfool

ILLbucknut said:


> I grind mine up with bacon also, makes the best burgers in the world. I used beef fat in the past and always thought it tasted kinda nasty, the wife wont eat it with beef fat period.
> 
> Try the bacon


mmmmmmm bacon burgers on the grill!! every deer i kill is ground into bacon burger except the tender loin and back straps.


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## 12bhunting

i add beef fat if im makin hamburger. smoked bacon when makin sausage. i dont like pork with my hambuger


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## The Guardian

I can not eat straight up ground Venison with nothing mixed in-it's way too gamey tasting that way! When I have Venison ground up I do so in 10 lb. lots. I mix in 1 1/2 lbs of 85/20 ground beef for every 10 lbs of ground Venison, then vaccuum seal in 2 lb packages. I opt for 2lbs cause we tend to typcially use 2 pounds at a time for tacos,burgers,chili,etc . It works great for us that way and tastes ohhh so great!!

I opt for 85/20 ground beef so we can keep the mixture as lean as possible. After all, that is one of the reasons why we love to eat so much Venison is cause it is so naturally lean and packed full of proteins!:tongue:

I need to try some ground up venison with ground pork mixed in. How much different does it taste that way? I would really like to try the mixed in bacon idea as mentioned by many on this thread. Silly question maybe, but do you worry about the bacon not getting fully cooked when it's ground into the venison? Since it always seems that bacon takes quite a bit longer to cook than most other meats! Or maybe it just takes our bacon longer to cook since we like ours extra crispy!


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## MOUNTIE1

I go by the local supermarket the morning I am going to grind and ask the butcher to save me some fresh beef fat trimmings from the day and then just mix to taste. Add as little or as much as you like and they don't charge anything for it.


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## KylePA

I do 100% venison, why ruin a healthy thing. I just make sure I really take my time with removing silverskin and tendons. In order for it not to fall apart on the grill as burgers I simply add an egg and a little bit of bread crumbs.


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## bbtownman

*Making me hungry !*

I butcher my own deer and although I do not grind much into hamburger, what I do grind are quality cuts. Excellent suggestions in the previous posts about no fat, silver or tendons, but I see many folks keep loins, steaks and roasts and use the "scraps" for hamburger - try grinding up some choice cuts.

Thanks for all the ideas!


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## pjwatson05

As many others have said, Bacon is excellent, I have used diffrent kinds of bacon & they all work & taste good. I usually use the double wide bacon strips & use a aprox 1lb of bacon per 10lbs of venison.
I also spend a full day cleaning tendons, hair & everything off the meat I grind. I can be time consuming, well worth it for the taste factor though.


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## Crimefighter

Thanks for all the feedback guys. This thread got much more attention that I figured.

I shot a doe in the Urban Hunt yesterday and got the deer cut up. Going to my uncles now and going to use the bacon method with the ground venison.


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## buckhunter77

ILLbucknut said:


> I grind mine up with bacon also, makes the best burgers in the world. I used beef fat in the past and always thought it tasted kinda nasty, the wife wont eat it with beef fat period.
> 
> Try the bacon


Will it last in the freezer with the pork added to it?


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## ruffme

jjm1975 said:


> 70% deer 30% Ground beef at about 85% lean. Perfect combo..


ditto,
beef will taste better longer in the freezer than pork will also.


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## Army3244

I've had it with both beef and pork up until this year. I can honestly say it's better without either and better for you. Like said previously, take time to trim and you'll be better off.


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## brianhokie

First, you must must must trim Every bit of silver skin (fascia), tendon and fat off the venison. Pure red meat, nothing white!!!
Then and only then mix it. I use fwiw 75% fat free burger in 3:1venison to burger ratio to get 90% lean venison. It's then very popular with the ladies in the house however we cook it.
Btw, age it first


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## hoosiermathews

My wife used to not like venison at all 20 yrs ago when I had beef or pork fat in it. Then someone said the beef or pork fat was what made the meat taste gamey. So I tried straight venison. That was the ticket; she has loved it ever since. If you are making burgers on the grill though I would suggest adding some bacon to make them stick together.


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## buckhunter77

hoosiermathews said:


> My wife used to not like venison at all 20 yrs ago when I had beef or pork fat in it. Then someone said the beef or pork fat was what made the meat taste gamey. So I tried straight venison. That was the ticket; she has loved it ever since. If you are making burgers on the grill though I would suggest adding some bacon to make them stick together.


So, will the bacon last in the freezer for say 8-9 months.


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## walleyehunter78

Why put fat in lean organic meat. I add lean beef around 30% . Now when I make burger patties I use bacon. Turns out great and they stay together.


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## alancac98

da white shoe said:


> Last year, we tried buying the cheapest, fattiest hamburger and mixing it 50/50 with ground deer. It came out tasting great and looking like really lean burger. I like it better than what you get when you just add suet.


x2. This is what we do. Everyone loves the burgers.


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## 544daniel

jjm1975 said:


> 70% deer 30% Ground beef at about 85% lean. Perfect combo..


Ditto


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## goathollow

Meleagris1 said:


> Just a thought, you might want to explain to her how healthy venison is, rather than adding a bunch of artery clogging hormone filled beef or pork fat. Worked with my wife, and now she loves venison.


This^^^^^


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## S.F. steve

I added porkf at to my deer burger after I shot my first deer. it was horrible. mix it with beef or go with 100% deer.


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## SteveB

walleyehunter78 said:


> Why put fat in lean organic meat. I add lean beef around 30% . Now when I make burger patties I use bacon. Turns out great and they stay together.


Lean yes - organic probably not if there are any kind of farm fields where the deer feed.
And certainly not if you mix regular beef or bacon in it.


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## ozarksbuckslaye

I normally add 20% beef fat. I'm fixin' to grind another 50 pounds here in a minute and it's getting 17% beef fat added because that's all I had left. Sometimes on a batch that size I'll grind in a pound of bacon with it too if I happen to have any and fine if I don't.

I preformed a little oven sorcery on a deer last night. I added 3 ounces of magic powder to 5 pounds of deer burger and turned it into big stick of bologna. Still proud of that one and thought I'd share. :set1_rolf2:


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## buckhunter77

If you don't have enough grinding meat from a deer you've just shot, how do you guys store that meat until you shoot another deer and are ready to grind a batch? Is it ok to freeze the unground bulk meat, then thaw it out to grind after you've shot another deer, then refreeze it in 1-2lb packs? It's the refreezing of the meat I'm unsure about, thanks.


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## CrabDaddy

Crazy_Boxer said:


> I add nothing except when I make breakfast sausage. Then I use 80/20 mix with pork butt.


Same here.


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## H20fwler

I just go pure venison right now but have added pork in the past and liked it just fine.


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## CrabDaddy

buckhunter77 said:


> If you don't have enough grinding meat from a deer you've just shot, how do you guys store that meat until you shoot another deer and are ready to grind a batch? Is it ok to freeze the unground bulk meat, then thaw it out to grind after you've shot another deer, then refreeze it in 1-2lb packs? It's the refreezing of the meat I'm unsure about, thanks.


Ha! I thawed out a batch of trimmed hinds today, which I just got done grinding. I've never had a problem re-freezing meat, especially for this. You'll lose some moisture and firmness, but ... you're grinding it. 
Another thing I have done is get my boned hindquarters really frosty (turn garage fridge way down) if I'm not going to get them trimmed within a few days.


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## bowhntrcritter

I mix 70/30 deer to chuck roast. It makes great hamburgers!


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## buckhunter77

CrabDaddy said:


> Ha! I thawed out a batch of trimmed hinds today, which I just got done grinding. I've never had a problem re-freezing meat, especially for this. You'll lose some moisture and firmness, but ... you're grinding it.
> Another thing I have done is get my boned hindquarters really frosty (turn garage fridge way down) if I'm not going to get them trimmed within a few days.


Thanks. I just trimmed some hinds up and I guess I'll freeze them as our season runs for another couple weeks in anticipation that my son our I will be lucky enough to get another deer.


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## Mr. October

Nada. We like it just fine the way Mother Nature intended it.


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## spencer12

I don't process my own but I think we use pork in our sausages.


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## cab207

I add bacon! we do a mix of roughly 2lbs venison to 1lb of bacon. it makes for awesome burgers or lasagna.


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## deerwhackmaster

Ours has 80/20 mix with beef fat and it makes a world of difference , try it and she will love it


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## Ctrider

How do you evenly mix whatever you're mixing?


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## zwalls

50/50 beef brisket,whatever seasoning you prefer and I also mix high temp cheddar cheese to my patties. as far as using it for chilly I use straight deer meet. for sausage I mix 50/50 pork. either picnic or boston butt. picnic is cheaper and has a little more fat which is what you want for flavor and so it's not to dry!


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## Freelance Bowhunter

buckhunter77 said:


> If you don't have enough grinding meat from a deer you've just shot, how do you guys store that meat until you shoot another deer and are ready to grind a batch? Is it ok to freeze the unground bulk meat, then thaw it out to grind after you've shot another deer, then refreeze it in 1-2lb packs? It's the refreezing of the meat I'm unsure about, thanks.


Whenever I butcher a deer, I use a cardboard box with a garbage bag in it to throw the good trimmings in. Then I simply roll up the top of the bag and put the box in the freezer. Next deer I just take it out and put the trimmings from that deer in there and then back in the freezer. When I am done for the year, I thaw the whole works out and do all my grinding at once. For extra fat, I have the butcher give me trimmings off the ribeyes, which adds a really nice flavor to the burger. Any time I am making sausage I will use Bacon ends and pieces to add flavor and fat to the sausage. Once you try that you will wonder why you never did that before!


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## dead_fowl

I don't add anything, just grind, vacuum seal and freeze.


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## CrabDaddy

Ctrider said:


> How do you evenly mix whatever you're mixing?


1. Mix chunks before you grind 2. Toss by hand after you've ground (optional) 3. Grind again


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## fxdwgkd

I get a pork roast and grind that in with the venison. I use a 1/3 pork roast 2/3's venison.


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