The Elk Thread

[GARY]

Back to Alberta for Gary this year!! I lived in Alberta in 2009-2013 hunting as a resident. Hunter hosted (an American be hosted every 3 years and effectively hunt as a resident - no draws and limited to 2 big game animals) in 2015 and 2018. I returned on assignment and hunted as a resident in 2019.

My plan (hope) is to archery hunt elk in September during the rut an return again in November to hunt whitetails in Northern Alberta (Athabasca) to chase the big boys during the rut. While Alberta (at least area we hunt) isn't know for huge elk (300 is big), I love the country, know it well and will be joining good buddies.

[Michael]

The Elk Thread

I think they are more quartered in the bag but break up as you are mixing to bite sized chunks

Thanks! First test batch of biscuits and venison sawmill gravy is prepped in the freezer, waiting for room in the freeze dryer!



PM me your addy and I’ll send you a sampler to taste test!

[Patton]

Biscuits and Gravy is one of the only non-homemade meals we bring each year; interested to see how yours turns out.

Some of our go-to DIY meals include chicken fried rice, chili, red beans and rice, spaghetti, and beef stroganoff. (Dehydrated, don't have a freeze-dryer yet).

In regards to the commercial made meals- they usually have too much salt.

[Heath]

Thanks! First test batch of biscuits and venison sawmill gravy is prepped in the freezer, waiting for room in the freeze dryer!



PM me your addy and I’ll send you a sampler to taste test!

Oh wow!

[Texans42]

Thanks! First test batch of biscuits and venison sawmill gravy is prepped in the freezer, waiting for room in the freeze dryer!



PM me your addy and I’ll send you a sampler to taste test!

If that’s not Ambrosia I don’t know what is!!!!!!!

[ladrones]

We like to make trays of enchiladas for camp meals I wonder if you can dry em and have them up on the trails away from camp. Some hot chile on a cool fall hunt gives you a little boost.

[Michael]

We like to make trays of enchiladas for camp meals I wonder if you can dry em and have them up on the trails away from camp. Some hot chile on a cool fall hunt gives you a little boost.

I'm not sure how well the tortillas will rehydrate, but that may be worth a test.

I'm making a HUGE batch of chicken pot pie for dinner tonight, and will freeze dry the leftover filling and pie crust separately. I think if you rehydrate the filling and then crumble the crust in just before eating it will give a nice crunch to it.

[Michael]

I made two batches of biscuits and gravy; one with venison pan sausage that Casey, Devin, Les and I made in March, and the other venison poblano sausage that we made at Stolle’s annual weekend.

I crumbled it up before packaging in heat safe Mylar meal pouches.






I ended up with 6 pouches that are 95g sausage gravy plus about 40g biscuit. (The Peak Refuel packages are 192g for two servings, but I’m not sure how much of that is biscuit. )


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[Texans42]

How long does the freeze dryer take? That was quick

[Michael]

How long does the freeze dryer take? That was quick

There's quite a few variables. I prefroze the gravy and the blocks were pretty thick. This batch took 30+ hours in the FD. Next time, I'll probably break up the frozen "bricks" into smaller chunks before putting in the FD to allow better evacuation of moisture. I finally did that (see photo above) for the final 6 hours.

[ladrones]

There's quite a few variables. I prefroze the gravy and the blocks were pretty thick. This batch took 30+ hours in the FD. Next time, I'll probably break up the frozen "bricks" into smaller chunks before putting in the FD to allow better evacuation of moisture. I finally did that (see photo above) for the final 6 hours.

I was wanting to ask if you are gonna be through here in Bernalillo on any of your Durango trips? Lots of work kicking off in the SJ basin. If seen a few hiring fair advertisements up there for hands.

[Michael]

I was wanting to ask if you are gonna be through here in Bernalillo on any of your Durango trips? Lots of work kicking off in the SJ basin. If seen a few hiring fair advertisements up there for hands.

My wife and I are heading that way in two weeks to take some bits to a customer drilling in SJB.


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[Texans42]

There's quite a few variables. I prefroze the gravy and the blocks were pretty thick. This batch took 30+ hours in the FD. Next time, I'll probably break up the frozen "bricks" into smaller chunks before putting in the FD to allow better evacuation of moisture. I finally did that (see photo above) for the final 6 hours.

Gotcha. My buddy does velvet antlers and it takes I think weeks,

I spend so much money on freeze fry food, even on pro/insider discounts it’s still a ton. But it varies every year. Last year was close to 50 days out west, but this year I’m only looking at maybe 10. But it would give me a reason to expand the garden..

I need to read up more on it, i really like the idea and the jars of vegetables you have really has my mind thinking, about how much freezer space I could save

[Michael]

We just did a taste test and WOW! I haven’t had the Peak Refuel version, but this was fantastic!




I used one Grand biscuit in each pouch, split in half before FD. I removed one half and broke the other half into pieces before adding about a cup of boiling water.



I sealed the pouch and let it sit for about 8 minutes (insulated with a couple of pot holders.) It looked a little thin, so I added about 1/3 cup additional water and mixed to desired consistency.




Hannah, Jeanette and I tasted and were very pleasantly surprised! (I expected the biscuits to be soggy.)



The sausage/gravy was perfect. The biscuit was soft on the outside and a little firmer in the middle (which is essentially opposite of what you get with a normal biscuit.)

I had saved the top half of the biscuit in case the part that was in from the beginning was too soft or soggy. It wasn’t, but I decided to test it with a piece of “unrehydrated” biscuit, and actually preferred the texture difference of the crunchy biscuit!

The portion was more than enough for one meal, IMO.

I’m going to see if I can find a Peak Refuel meal and do a comparison video on the mountain when we go to Durango later this month.


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[ladrones]

My wife and I are heading that way in two weeks to take some bits to a customer drilling in SJB.


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It’s almost chile season. I wantto get you some fresh local chile. The flavor profiles are a bit different then from down south. You can freeze dry it. We should start seeing some toward the end of July.

How is the wife’s knee doing? My wife got hers done about 14 weeks ago. She is ready to get back on the trails already.