First attempt at deer sausage

[MrSlick]

Well I finally got all the parts together and made my first attempt at making deer sausage.  I decided to keep the batch small since I am just learning how to do this.  I started with 3 pounds of ground venison and 2 pounds of ground pork and  premade seasoning.   

The stuffing process is something that I need more practice on but it wasn't too difficult. 



I went with 4 hours of hickory then finished in a water bath.  Other then needing more practice stuffing it all turned out good and I'll be making more.  It definitely goes good with smoked pepper jack cheese and an Alaskan Amber!

[Smoker John]

Looks great

[rajzer]

Excellent first effort!  Which seasoning mix did you use?

[pensrock]

Looks good, if you feel it was too dry increase the pork butt to 50%. When we do venison sausage we always go 50-50 and it is great.

[tailfeathers]

Looks good, if you feel it was too dry increase the pork butt to 50%. When we do venison sausage we always go 50-50 and it is great.

Not only that, but it will make your venison go farther as well.

[SiFumar]

Good start!  Looks mighty fine!

[Saber 4]

Welcome to the Dark Side, your sausage looks tasty and well done, it only gets better with time so you're off to a great start.

[cobra6223]

very nice looking first batch

[ragweed]

Looks more like batch #25.  Well done.

[MrSlick]

Thanks everyone,

The seasoning is called Signature Smoked Kielbasa from Walton's Inc and the bag has Excalibur logos on it. 
http://www.waltonsinc.com/p-2374-signature-smoked-kielbasa.aspx
I hope to figure out the correct blend that will match the deer sausage I used to have made when I lived in Austin.

I will probably go 50%-50% on the next batch just to see how it turns out. 

[Saber 4]

If you're like me as you get more experienced you'll start shifting away from pre-mixed seasonings and more into the recipes other members post for us to try. That will probably get you closer to what you got in Austin than a mix will, have you tried to find out what the place in Austin used? They might tell you since you're so far away now.

[Tenpoint5]

Looks really good. I did the 50/50 thing for a while but I have moved more towards the 60/40 the 50/50 was right on the edge of too dry for me.

[Bagman]

Me and a couple of hunting buddies use to take a couple of hundred pounds of venison to the processor every year for summer sausage, bologna and dogs.  The desire to do our own and the cost of the processing pushed us into the Dark Zone of sausage making.  The flavor and quality of the sausage from the processor was top notch so we talked to the owner about his recipe.  He was not willing to divulge the recipe but agreed to sell us the seasonings packaged for 25# batches (which we always make) at a price cheaper than we could buy the spices and mix our own.  So MrSlick you may call the place in Austin and see if they may be willing to sell you the seasonings. 

[pensrock]

For Kielbasa I actually use 70% pork to 30% venison. Kielbasa is a very moist sausage and too much lean doesn't work real good. IMHO
I tried lesser amounts and was not happy till I got to 70-30. But that is up to whoever is eating it.
It is still leaned than store bought which is all pork but has a great taste and moist.  :)

[Tenpoint5]

As you can tell by the responses. We ALL make things a little different based on our personal and regional tastes. What does that mean in reference to your question? That means you get to make more sausage until you dial it in to YOUR sausage. ;D There's nothing wrong with that.