Keeping busy, NDR!!!!

[tod osier]

I have been making snack sticks the past couple weeks with Gus and Jen and they have been turning out really well. I have never made snack sticks, but have made a lot of fresh sausages and fermented sausages like Landjaeger, Soppressata, Pepperoni, etc.

Gus wanted to make snack sticks from his deer. The donor:

First batches just out of the smoker, 15 pounds of Jagerwurst and 15 pounds of Hot Sticks:

Batch we did these this weekend, 15 pounds of basically Summer Sausage as a Snack Stick:

Cutting for packaging:

Ready for packaging:

New toys. We had been using an entry level chamber vac (VP 112) and upgraded to the VP 215, what an improvement in speed, ease, quality and noise reduction. Also upgraded the stuffer from a 5 pound vertical to a 15 pound horizontal.

I got these reloaded for him on Friday for next year, so hopefully they will be put to good use:

 

[Huntindave McCann]

Tod,

That looks like a lifetime supply on the cartridges, not so long a supply on the snack sticks. Wish I had some venison. You are making me think about spending some tome in the woods next year. []

 

[tod osier]

Tod,

That looks like a lifetime supply on the cartridges, not so long a supply on the snack sticks. Wish I had some venison. You are making me think about spending some tome in the woods next year. []

I hear that there are deer in Iowa, so you might be able to luck into one if you went lookin! .

It is hard to keep a kid in ammo and I hate dealing with leftover dribs and drabs, so I went all in on a big batch. Should keep in him in ammo for a couple years!

 

[Will M]

Looks good, wish I had some deer to work with. What cartridge is he shooting?

 

[tod osier]

Looks good, wish I had some deer to work with. What cartridge is he shooting?

THANKS! He is shooting a .308 Win. I'm loading a reduced recoil load for him.

 

[Dani]

Nice bunch of snack sticks you have. What's with the strings on the ends though?

 

[tod osier]

Nice bunch of snack sticks you have. What's with the strings on the ends though?

Just so that the stuff doesn't squeeze out and you start if a nice taut stuffed casing. You could totally do it without tying them, but they look nicer that way and are easier to manage for me until they are done. They are all exactly the same length, which checks some important boxes for me. .

 

[TimJ]

Good stuff. Are you a little OCD about your sticks?
I'm sure Gus will be happy to use those loads up and provide some more donors.

Tim

 

[tod osier]

Good stuff. Are you a little OCD about your sticks?
I'm sure Gus will be happy to use those loads up and provide some more donors.

Tim

I starting out back in the day sausage making dried fermented sausages with natural casings and month long drying times that are hard to control the look, I really got into controlling the process for the snack sticks (collagen casings and smoked in a day). Full on OCD on those for sure. A lot of fun for sure.

Really fun getting out to the range with Gus and burning through ammo. I'm sure it falls into the category of spoiling him, but when I was a kid ammo was always challenge to scrounge up enough to shoot. Ammo and clay birds, always in short supply. I'm always setting goals for him to shoot more, not less. I'm sure I ruined him.

 

[TimJ]

Really fun getting out to the range with Gus and burning through ammo. I'm sure it falls into the category of spoiling him, but when I was a kid ammo was always challenge to scrounge up enough to shoot. Ammo and clay birds, always in short supply. I'm always setting goals for him to shoot more, not less. I'm sure I ruined him.

Shooting more is never a bad thing and it isn't just good for kids. Since I recently turned 50 I'm thinking I need to do more of it. I believe a Ruger single action is in my future.

With all the stuff you have Gus doing I don't think its spoiling him. As long as you have him out pulling weeds in the garden he wills stay grounded.