Deer Jerky Recipe

First of all, your jerky will only be as good as the cut of meat you start with. So if you use the junkiest meat off your deer that you would normally make burger out of, then that's exactly what your jerky is going to be, tough, stringy, and chewy as old shoe leather.
I would suggest using some of the steaks and cut them into strips about 1/4" to 3/8" wide, then marinade in a bowl over night in the fridge.
I like to use a dehydrator for my jerky cause mine has stackable trays and will hold an entire roast.
12-14hrs is usually long enough, and when it gets close say within 10 hrs or so, you need to start checking it and rotating it around as it dries. If you let it go until it's as hard as a board it will be tough to chew, but not long enough and it's still too raw. I take a piece and try to break it in half between my finger and thumbs and if it's no longer pink in the center, but kinda pulls apart........I take it out. If it's pink in the center and still rubbery and the meat won't pull apart......it needs more time. How much time depends on the size of the chunks or strips of meat.

Marinade

Equal parts of:
Dales Steak Marinade/Seasoning comes in a large clear bottle and the liquid inside is dark brown/black
And Liquid Hickory Smoke Flavoring

Brown sugar to add a little sweetness and it mellows out the Dales marinade just a bit. Add about a tablespoon to every 1/2 cup of liquid seasoning that's used in the batch.
Portions of each ingredient can be adjusted up or down to fit the size of the batch of jerky you intend to marinade.


One other fast easy marinade that also makes a great glaze for chicken, pork, or beef and makes a great tasting jerky is Worchestershire sauce and Honey.
1 whole bottle of Worchestershire sauce to one small bottle of real Honey and that's it! Use it like you would any marinade and save what's left over for brushing on meat while grilling.

I will have to try this marinade sounds good..... I usually use the meat off the front legs for jerky.... the meat is usually too small to feed my family anyway....

It is a shame that I did not get me a deer this season. I would have def. given this a try...

Daywalker wrote:It is a shame that I did not get me a deer this season. I would have def. given this a try...

I'm still bowhunting Tommy, and if I get another deer.......I'll make up a batch and mail you some.
How's that?

I believe I still have some steaks left over from last season? If I do......I'll go ahead and thaw them out and make another batch of jerky. I had my buck all ground up into burger and sausage, so I didn't keep any steaks off of him.
Let me dig around and see what I got.

my jerky marinade is an old one. that probably most of you have already but here goes.
1 cup of soy sauce
1 cup Worcestershire
1 table spoon onion powder
1 table spoon garlic powder
optional if you like pepper jerky 2 table spoons coarse ground black pepper
1 cup brown sugar
2 table spoons of liquid smoke

I personally don't like Worcestershire sauce so I just use an additional cup of soy sauce

combine all the ingredients in a tupper ware bowl and when all the ingredience are disolved and blended the best you can get them to do
put in thinly sliced lean meat such as Mo has suggested Beef deer elk or cooked turkey let it sit in marinade over night then put in dehydrator and rotate stacks just like MO has stated.
or you can do the same thing if you don't have a dehydrator put the meat in your oven on the rack (probably while your wife is out of town) turn your oven on to its lowest heat setting and leave the door cracked open just a bit its more expensive than a dehydrator but it works.

Mohunter wrote:

Daywalker wrote:It is a shame that I did not get me a deer this season. I would have def. given this a try...

I'm still bowhunting Tommy, and if I get another deer.......I'll make up a batch and mail you some.
How's that?

I believe I still have some steaks left over from last season? If I do......I'll go ahead and thaw them out and make another batch of jerky. I had my buck all ground up into burger and sausage, so I didn't keep any steaks off of him.
Let me dig around and see what I got.

That is very thoughtful of you and well apprecitated. I would hate for you to have to go through so much trouble.

Daywalker wrote:

Mohunter wrote:

Daywalker wrote:It is a shame that I did not get me a deer this season. I would have def. given this a try...

I'm still bowhunting Tommy, and if I get another deer.......I'll make up a batch and mail you some.
How's that?

I believe I still have some steaks left over from last season? If I do......I'll go ahead and thaw them out and make another batch of jerky. I had my buck all ground up into burger and sausage, so I didn't keep any steaks off of him.
Let me dig around and see what I got.

That is very thoughtful of you and well apprecitated. I would hate for you to have to go through so much trouble.

Don't thank me just yet, but I'll see what's still in the freezer and maybe you will get an early Christmas present?

@Reload- I love soy sauce.......especially in deer jerky. That's the way I used to make my jerky before I came up with the Dale's steak marinade recipe, but the ingredients list soy sauce as one of the main ingredients so that's probably why it taste so good to me.

I used a recipe like yours almost to the "T" years ago when I first started making my own.........and I also don't like Worchestershire sauce by itself.......soy sauce is so much better.