I'll be making two 5 lb batches of deer sticks tomorrow using commercial mixes and natural lamb casing. Who here has smoked deer sticks? How hit and how long? One flavor is pepperoni - should I smoke these or just use the electric element to provide the heat? I'm thinking 200-225 for about 4 hours. What do you think?

The temp sounds a little high.When I made some I used the thermal processing for Polish sausage found on this link.I also use this method for regular link sausage and it has never failed me yet.I usually keep smoke going for the first two hours,then just heat after that until the product is finished.

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications...rt-and-practice-of-sausage-making-fn-176

Too high of a heat totally ruins it.Low and slow works best.Anymore when I make sticks,I just se my jerky gun and dehydrator.It has a snack stick tube and you don't have to stuff it in sheep casing,which is really delicate work

to high ..all the fat will be out of it ...and "sticks" is what u will have

170 max temp, as said fat melts and runs out, left with sawdust. I run to an internal temp of 145.

Yep, I made 25lbs. Of elk sticks a month ago and ran it to 150 internal after smoking for 2-3 hours.

I've never smoked a deer stick but I'll give you this tip. If you're wondering about how much smoke flavor has been infused taste test it ... even if it hasn't been fully cooked. Pull a piece and pop it in the microwave, cook it (30 seconds or so for small piece), and then taste test.

This is what I used to do with salmon. Once the smoke flavor is right then cook til it's done.

I figured you to be the one with the wise guy response...aren't they hard to light and harsh?

They're not as hard to light as the wet turds you'll be smoking in hell.

Thanks guys. We stuffed them late this afternoon - what a pain in the butt! Lots of pressure sending the meat down the 3/8" tube, but the lamb casings held up well. In the fridge now. I've got a very tall "bullet" smoker - I stack three Brinkmann Smoke 'n' Grill smokers with an electric Smoke 'n' grill on bottom. With the triple stack I can run the heat down to around 150 without too much trouble, but I'll have to watch these closer than I do bacon. I started this morning at 7:30 a.m. by slicing 38 pounds of bacon, packing that up, then packaging roasts and loins from our two deer, then grinding all of the burger and packaging that, then finished up with deer sticks. I'm dead tired, but thankful that my 9 and 11 y/o daughters are eager and good helpers.

They're running perfect at 169 degrees in my triple stacked smoker. They'll be fine in time for jerky to go in yet today...

How are they?

They turned out absolutely perfect. Thanks for the temp suggestion. My 11 y/o daughter is very, very proud of the deer sticks that she shot, helped butcher, and helped stuff them and load the smoker. Natural casings beat collagen all to heck.