Smoke a whitetail deer hind quarter

[xcutter]

I'm looking for some ideas and recipes for smoking a hind quarter or ham of a Whitetail deer.

Rubs, marinates, brine?

Cook temps, times, process?

Thanks in advance for everyone's comments.

 

[Poser]

Here's my experience if you are going for BBQ. You're going to need to remove the meat from the smoke before it hits an internal temp of 160F. I'd say pull it at 152 or so. I'd take it low and slow to get there with a smoker temp no higher than 225F. Simple salt rub.

From here, I suggest chopping the meat rather than pulling or slicing. Chopping, besides being a wrist workout, will further tenderize the meat. Mix up some good BBQ sauce.

A brine definitely won't hurt as far as maintaining moisture.

If you're looking for more of a ham, I'd suggest a "city ham" which you'll brine for about 24 hours or so.

 

[Eagle]

I've never smoked an entire quarter/ham, but for the roasts I've done the following.

Dry brine for 24-36 hours, smoke at 225 to internal temp of 130 for bloody rare in the middle or 140 for medium. My wife and daughter love it, we generally slice it then and use it as sandwich meat or eat it by itself.

 

[charvey9]

I smoked a whole bone in venison hind quarter for Christmas in 2014. Turned out great, and everybody loved it.





I used this recipe I found in a google search. Plan wisely, as it takes 7-10 days of brining for best results. I smoked for about 18 hours on the smoke setting (about 155) on my Traeger, then refrigerated overnight. The next day I put it in a roaster at 170 for about 4 hours to finish it off and server warm. You can vary cooking time/temp greatly for different results. I wanted a total smoked ham, not a roast so I slow smoked it all day.
I threw the leftovers on the dehydrator for a few hours, and had awesome jerky too.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/129141/cured-and-smoked-deer-ham

This year I did a boneless rear quarter mountain goat ham. Followed the recipe in Steve Rinella's recent book for venison/pig/bear hams. Basic brown sugar and salt brine for 3 days. Remove, pat dry, cover with olive oil and thouroughly with black pepper. I smoked for about 12 hours, refrigerate overnight, then put in the roaster for about 4 hours before dinner to serve hot. This was the best roast/ham I've ever eaten. Could definately go another day or two on the brine.

 

[littlebrotherC]

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[Merc]

I'm bringing this back up because I've got an antelope in a cooler I just got back to Texas I'm trying to decide what to do with.

Anybody have thoughts about trying this on an antelope quarter?

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[Whisky]

Give it a whirl. I'm sure it'll be good.

I did an bone in venison quarter once. It was pretty good but next time I will remove the bone and tie it into a big roast (like boneless leg o lamb). It'll cook a lot more even I think.

 

[jspradley]

I've done it before and it was godlike... just covered it in a dry rub and hot smoked it until the internal temp was around 130 (I like mine medium rare) then let it rest. Delicious.

I'd cut the gland and all that fat out from in between the muscles just to keep from accidentally biting into that... yuck.