Howdy, folks. New user here from Houston, TX.

My experience in meat processing is mostly with wild game. My family has been processing down our own deer for decades. I also grew up on a cattle ranch and we run a small flock of sheep as well, so we butcher a sheep or two a year. We use a local processor for all of our beefs.

TBD determined on my favorite seasoning. Ordered quite a few different ones already to stock up for hunting season. Can’t wait to try them and report back.

The smoker I use is the Camp Chef XXL Vertical Pellet.

With teal season opening tomorrow on the Texas coast, wanted to bring up a topic for what I plan on turning most of my waterfowl into.

A majority of my birds will go into snack sticks. My group killed around 500 birds last year so I am going to have an ample amount of meat to experiment with the different seasoning on the Walton’s site.

Last year for the sticks, I went 50/50 pork butt to lean and I was not quite happy with the end result. I actually prefer the wild taste and do not want to try and cover it up, just add enough fat to have a good end product.

My plan this year is to cut in around 20% pork fat.

My main question is should I use a binder, and if yes, then what binder?

I think I recall hearing on one of the podcasts that for the best results when working with the lean wild game, a binder is a good idea.

Also, any seasoning recommendations for wild duck sausages/cured sausages?

Jonathon will do, I will order the sure gel. Glad I asked!

craigrice I do not mind going in full 25 lb. batches because even if it is not a hit with everyone, we will still eat it all. The benefit of snack stick is that they are a great, portable blind snack.

We also benefit from having a lot of duck meat to play with. Teal are not very big birds and we already put 7 lbs. of meat in the freezer from 2 days of hunting. When the big duck season opens up in November, we really start putting away some pounds of meat.

So far, I have already purchased a pack of Willie’s, Habanero BBQ, Fajita, and Jalapeno.

I have high hopes for Habanero BBQ.