# Making Venison Snack sticks



## Rancid Crabtree

Next to jerky, snack sticks are the family favorite. Here I will show how I make a 30 pound batch of snack sticks or hot sticks. I start with 80%lean venison and 20% pork trim.










I ground the venison first as the fat has a tendency to clog up the grinder










I mixed the two together by hand and then added the water and spices. I use LEM brand seasonings packets



















After mixing the seasonings with the meat I ground it again using a finer hole plate and then packed it away in the cooler overnight to cure. This morning Josh and I stuffed the casings with the cured meat.










Each smoke stick holds around 15 or 16 links that are a total of 52 inches long each. (I should have smiled for this picture) ;D










I preheated the smoker to 125F and hung the sticks at 11:00 am. I spread the sticks in the middle so I get good air flow.










Adding that much cold meat to the smoke brings the temp down to about 115F which is a good starting temp. I will keep them at this temp for about 2 hours. After the 2 hour drying time, I add hickory chips to make a heavy smoke.










After 5 ½ hours the temp is at 150F and I keep them there until the internal meat temp reaches 165F. I then take them from the smoker and let them cool at room temps. When cool, I put them in the fridg.

After a night in the cooler, I cut them to size I saved a bunch for the family to eat and sealed the rest in about 1/2 pound packs or 12 sticks per pack. This is the point when the scavengers start to show up.










It really does not look like much for all the hard work.


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## jbaxter99

Your post was absolutely awesome for someone like me who grinds and extrudes ALL his vension into basic jerky strips but want to get into making the "snack sticks".

I noticed from the pictures it looks like your smoke may be homemade? And is powered by just two hotplates?

I would treasure any info and especially pictures of your smoker so I can build one myself and begin making snake sticks. 

Thanks in advance.


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## Spanky

After 5 ½ hours the temp is at 150F and I keep them there until the internal meat temp reaches 165F. I then take them from the smoker and let them cool at room temps. When cool, I put them in the fridg.Quote:



How do you get them to 165? what is the actual temp in the smoker at this point?

Good lookin batch. Nice to have a helper too!


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## Rancid Crabtree

I close the damper to retain the heat, I suppose, I am getting up to the 180F range.


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## glnmiller

Great job RC, I bet those taste great.


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## jbaxter99

Can you please post some pictures of your smoker to give us an idea of what looks to be ideal for smoking snack sticks? Thanks.


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## WILDCATWICK

That was a great tutorial! They looked absolutely awesome. Thanks for sharing


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