3 venison ham 8-10 lbs

[Florida cracker]

My buddy just got back from harvesting 3 deer. He loved my Turkey soooo much that he wanted to smoke all 3 venison hams ( Rear quarter) all are trimmed up. I have never done this and it isn't mentioned on any previous threads. I have the Amazing Ribs food Temp guide but it doesn't address big pieces of game food. First should I smoke it or just use indirect heat ? If smoking what wood would be nice...need all the help you brain-trusts can offer...Thank you

[Huskee]

My buddy just got back from harvesting 3 deer. He loved my Turkey soooo much that he wanted to smoke all 3 venison hams ( Rear quarter) all are trimmed up. I have never done this and it isn't mentioned on any previous threads. I have the Amazing Ribs food Temp guide but it doesn't address big pieces of game food. First should I smoke it or just use indirect heat ? If smoking what wood would be nice...need all the help you brain-trusts can offer...Thank you

I can say this, treat venison like beef, not pork. So, a good wood for beef IMO is oak, pecan, or apple. Smoke it indirectly, but keep the smoke subtle, beef & venison do better (IMO) with subtle smoke, as opposed to pork which can take all you can throw at it since it's inherently more neutral flavored. If you want a medium rare & juicy venison quarter, shoot for an IT of 135. If you want pulled venison, pulled pork style, take it slowly up to 203ish and then hold wrapped in foil for an hour or two, then shred it.

[Jerod Broussard]

Hard to say. We always had ours cut into steaks for grilling to medium-rare. Although some get well-done with bacon wrapped around them.

Venison is very lean and very dry. Like Huskee said, indirect and low and slow.

Don't be shy about wrapping bacon around them dudes.

[Beefchop]

Yeah, it's lean so I find that low and slow is really nice for the backstraps but everything else gets cooked medium rare. The worse thing you can do is overcook it because it gets tough and gamey tasting. I like indirect heat. YMMV.

[Florida cracker]

Should I go with a rub or just the bacon wrap

[Chillin' n Negrillin']

Venison doesn't have near the fat content of pork or beef so be careful about over cooking. Personally, I wouldn't cook it past medium but would aim for medium rare (135). I would not cook it like a pork butt and pull it because there's very little internal fat marbling so there's nothing internal to break down and make it juicy so beware about it drying out unless you gob the sause on it. I would cook it more like a roast and use bacon over the top as Jerod suggests. We cut our hams into steaks about 1" or a little more. We roast the front shoulders, not the hams. Good luck!

[4 Aces]

All these comments have good info, I just started dabbling in wild game and I'm not a Hunter, All I had ever made from venison was great jerky. I found this great site for info on most all game meat. http://www.brokenarrowranch.com/ I ordered some from them and just made my first stew today and it's awesome, My next project is to do a wild boar leg. Check them out for great tips and recipes for wild game.

[JBart]

Would you use coke a cola to brine or it?

[HorseDoctor]

Above caveats about smoking big venison roasts are dead on!!! Research some of comments on the difficulties in trying to do beef rounds and they all apply to venison rounds... IN SPADES!!! Lots of really good stuff to do with the meat from a venison leg from cutlets to pot roast but not that much of it involves smoking... If you have to grill/smoke it do it like Baltimore pit beef, slice thin for sandwiches. Medium rare at the most!!! Check out https://honest-food.net/wild-game/venison-recipes/ Enjoy!

[JBart]

Thank you. I did just that and it turned out excellent.