Is there any particular wood/smoke flavor that is best with venison? For example hickory is typical with pork, oak with beef, or alder with salmon.....

Any roast recipes would be appreciated as well; I did go through a venison search and got what is already on the forum.

The recent thread on venison jerky has me doing some myself soon for a guy from church. This guy is a bow hunter that has special permission to thin out herds in several parks in the area so venison is plentiful.

I prefer the milder woods with venison, especially good quality venison. By that, I mean not an old swamp buck ;{) It has a delicate flavor that is easily covered up. Maple, and the fruitwoods are my first choices, sometimes also pecan.

I would also add- the kill has alot to do with it too. Now, I'm not knocking bow hunting, but many times, even with a good hit in the vitals, the deer will run quite a ways before expiring, and this will add undesirable flavors to the meat.

Not saying they won't run if gunshot, but the kill tends to be quicker.

This information might help determine the processing/treatment of the meat.

I use shag bark hickory or pecan. I treat venison like beef.
I think you're gonna get as many opinions on this as there are on favorite color.

i second pecan for venison & turkey.
peach or cherry for other wild fowl.

i've never smoked any deer meat because of how lean it is. mine always goes to the grill. so i will be watching to see what i can learn from this thread.

good question Bill

i've never smoked any deer meat because of how lean it is. mine always goes to the grill. so i will be watching to see what i can learn from this thread.

good question Bill

wrap it in bacon or put a fatty on the rack above it if you have that option:thumb:

wrap it in bacon or put a fatty on the rack above it if you have that option:thumb:

Ditto. I even cut slits in roasts and stuff it with bacon. You could even butterfly and roll bacon up in it, then wrap in bacon. Bacon, bacon, bacon.

wrap it in bacon or put a fatty on the rack above it if you have that option:thumb:

OH YEA!!!! I saw the bacon wrapped roasts in the Wild Game section, I wouldn't forget the bacon.

I suspect I will get a lot of different suggestions but I'll no doubt know what not to use and likely find some common denominators.

I see a lot of folks smoking whole venison hams. I just don't see how all that connective tissue surrounding the muscles can not ruin the flavor. No offense to anyone who likes to do venison like this, but I would suggest individual whole muscles with nothing but bright red meat to start. There is absolutely no renderable fat on a deer

For slow cooking they will also require some type of larding (as suggested with the bacon). I have seen where folks cut strips of thick bacon into triangles, freeze the pieces solid, then poke the frozen bacon into the roast.

Pecan works well, but I'm sure fruit woods are great also.

The last deer ham I did I every 1/2 hour,the first half hour would get a spiced apple juice and the second would get a bacon grease slather and repeat.

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm136/lindbroach/100_0197.jpg

Well crud, everybody beat me to it. I use pecan and just a small touch of oak, cherry and mesquite. I wrap all the venison in bacon, and on the roasts I'll stuff a slice or two inside. Here is the deal though, I marinade it for at least 10 hours in milk. Takes a lot of the gamey flavor out and even helps with the older bucks. Best deer to take in my opinion for meat quality are the 2 to 3 year olds. Just my preference. Seems in that age group the deer are matured enough to have good muscle distribution and gristle will be low. Besides, I am not looking for a trophy.

Running of the deer after the shot is also a point to be made. A lot of hunters don't believe it, but its there. A quick kill leads to better tasting meat. It was explained to me once the chemical breakdown, but its similar to us. Under stress we dump massive amounts of adrenaline and dopamine into our blood, deer do the same. Furthest I have ever had a deer run on me was 100 feet. Doesn't seem like much, but it is. An amazing amount of blood is lost in 100 feet.

Biggest thing that effects the quality of meat though is what the deer grazes on. Pasture grazing and berry/orchard grazing is different than the robbing of a corn field. Along with the quality of water available.

Another factor is herd size/area population and the stresses that imposes. Those city deer that are thinned out every few years will be over stressed and might even be on the verge of chronic wasting disease. It will effect meat quality. Which is why I don't get involved in those deer herd thinning hunts. Besides, no sport there.

Lot's of good suggestions. I've used hickory and oak so far.

I just did 3 smaller roasts for my brother. We tried it without bacon this time. We did have about 6 chunks of pork loin above them though. He also marinate them for about 15 hours first. Used cherry and apple. Pull them real rare or they'll dry out too.

Well crud, everybody beat me to it. I use pecan and just a small touch of oak, cherry and mesquite. I wrap all the venison in bacon, and on the roasts I'll stuff a slice or two inside. Here is the deal though, I marinade it for at least 10 hours in milk. Takes a lot of the gamey flavor out and even helps with the older bucks. Best deer to take in my opinion for meat quality are the 2 to 3 year olds. Just my preference. Seems in that age group the deer are matured enough to have good muscle distribution and gristle will be low. Besides, I am not looking for a trophy.

Running of the deer after the shot is also a point to be made. A lot of hunters don't believe it, but its there. A quick kill leads to better tasting meat. It was explained to me once the chemical breakdown, but its similar to us. Under stress we dump massive amounts of adrenaline and dopamine into our blood, deer do the same. Furthest I have ever had a deer run on me was 100 feet. Doesn't seem like much, but it is. An amazing amount of blood is lost in 100 feet.

Biggest thing that effects the quality of meat though is what the deer grazes on. Pasture grazing and berry/orchard grazing is different than the robbing of a corn field. Along with the quality of water available.

Another factor is herd size/area population and the stresses that imposes. Those city deer that are thinned out every few years will be over stressed and might even be on the verge of chronic wasting disease. It will effect meat quality. Which is why I don't get involved in those deer herd thinning hunts. Besides, no sport there.

i go for that basically- west texas(uvalde)style. soak overnight in buttermilk & lemon slices then do what we said. oak,pecan,skeet mix...nilgai & pronghorn work well w/ this or red buck.:thumb:

p.s.- texas deer & hawg this year is goingtobestringy rangy & suck- no rain & no acorn to graze on. i'd never eat any texas wild meat this year due to the drought. i don't know where ya live but i know i'd not pay for a southern state hunt/meat this year.

I use cherry most of the time with venison.

I've been known to use an oak/hickory mix as well. Since venison cooks really quickly, a heavier smoke tasting wood doesn't hurt it much.

I like a mix of hickory and apple for elk and deer. I do inject most of the roasts so they don't dry out.

I like a mix of hickory and apple for elk and deer. I do inject most of the roasts so they don't dry out.

What do you inject it with?

Running of the deer after the shot is also a point to be made. A lot of hunters don't believe it, but its there. A quick kill leads to better tasting meat. It was explained to me once the chemical breakdown, but its similar to us. Under stress we dump massive amounts of adrenaline and dopamine into our blood, deer do the same. Furthest I have ever had a deer run on me was 100 feet. Doesn't seem like much, but it is. An amazing amount of blood is lost in 100 feet.

I've heard and read all about that as well. I know all the science, it's true. But, I honestly can't taste the difference. Maybe my tastebuds are fried. Almost every deer I've taken has been down in less than 40 yds. Except one. My arrow hit a branch and deflected. I didn't get her until the next day and that was after kicking her up several times. There was no noticeable difference in taste. I'm much more careful with my shots since then, and have even passed on several deer. (Please don't tell the rest of the hunting party)

Diet is really a bigger factor in taste, IMO. I have a friend who hunts way up north. The deer eat the vegitation. Pine needles, leaves and berries. I've eaten his deer and it's gamey. Told him about the buttermilk soak, and he agrees it helps. The deer we get on our property are corn and soybean fed. Farmland. Huge difference. Never had to soak any of ours. Just my two cents, of course.

What do you inject it with?

I use the Cajuninjector marinades.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v682/KeithLeiter/100_0766.jpg

I've heard and read all about that as well. I know all the science, it's true.

Often at slaughterhouses, if a pig or cow is unduly spooked or agitated, they will put off the slaughter till the animal is calmer, sometime a day later. Quite possibly, the adrenaline/etc. was gone from the deer you picked up the next day, exhaused from and metabolized out of the system by then.

And I do agree on the diet...hence my mention of a big ole swamp buck. Some of that stuff can be downright rank.

I agree with diet being a big factor. The landowner that lets me hunt his land had taken a deer that was hit by a car in a late hard winter. Apparently the only food available was bark and needles from pine/evergreen trees. He said he couldnt even eat the deer becuase it tasted like pine. So I have to ask myself....what if we feed our deer things like garlic, basil, rosemary, chives, thyme and other herbs? We wouldnt have to marinade or flavor the meat! Just cook it! :)

IT's not just flavour that is effected by stress in animals.
The muscle tissues in fleeing animals will often be subjected to lactic acid. As the muscles are working hard with less blood/oxygen than they need - lactic acid is formed by anerobic respiration. This will result in shorter, tougher muscle fibres in the carcase.

Don't think I've smoked any venison yet - but I use oak for everything anyway and really tbs so wood type not a big deal. I'm not keen on that thick black coating most of you seem to go for.

I think thats all about 90 percent hogwash. I avoid like the plague these threads usually because they tend to dwarf into how long you soak your venison in milk or vinegar to get rid of the gamy taste. Hogwash I tell you. I do a lot of venison. Young, old, bucks,does, ran after shot whatever. If your venison is gamy, you either did not trim off all the white stuff, or it was contaminated with hair and/or guts.