Making Deer Jerky

With a Jerky Gun and Dehydrator

Ground deer meat makes excellent jerky!

We find that, for us, making deer jerky goes quicker and easier, if we use a jerky gun to press out the strips, and then dry it in a dehydrator.

If you have never used a jerky gun before, it only takes a couple of tries before you easily get the hang of making the strips.

You want to apply an even steady pressure, on the trigger while slowly moving the gun towards you.

If you try to pull it towards you too quickly, you can cause breaks in the strip.

If you go too slowly, the strip will not be flat and will ruffle on the edges.

You do not want ruffles, as it will not dry evenly. Some of it will be wet, and other places will be too hard and crunchy.

When refilling the gun, you can occasionally get an air pocket inside, which causes a burst of deer meat to come out unexpectedly.

This will cause the strip to break off. You can either leave it like that, or just put the broken sections back into the gun the next time you refill it.

All the strips will not be even lengthwise anyways, and that does not affect the drying time. It is the thickness that affects how long it takes to dry.

Leave space in between the strips, when you form them onto the dehydrator racks, so air will circulate better.

We usually rotate the racks about every hour.

When making it, the time estimate on when it will be ready, greatly varies.

It will depend upon how wet your ingredients are, and on the type and temperature of the dehydrator you are using.

You can probably count on it taking anywhere from 3 to 8 hours, although 3 hours is probably an understatement!

Here are some good products for making deer jerky!

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