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When I butcher my deer, I have a roaster that I use for rendering the deer fat I save handy. All of the body and internal fat goes into this pot as meat free as possible. When I finish with the lopping and chopping, I put the roaster in the oven at 325 degrees for 4 hours. The roaster then comes out and the solids get stuffed into plastic 1 pound coffee jugs and topped off with some of the liquified fat and allowed to cool completely then the cover goes on until I am ready to use it. I have a wire cage suet feeder that is round and a perfect size for the block of suet in the coffee jugs. Woodpeckers and Chickadees love pecking at these blocks and one will last about two months.
The roaster full of the liquid fat gets two jars of cheap chunky peanut butter stirred into it. It takes a while for the fat to cool enough to keep the peanut pieces in the peanut butter suspended in the fat but I have it fairly well timed now and will actually add a pound of sunflower hearts to the mixture to give the birds a little extra. As the fat begins to thicken and the solids suspend, I pour some of it into suet cake trays saved from store bought cakes and whatever is left is poured into cool-whip containers and gets used for stuffing 2" holes drilled in a 4" diameter birch log that hangs by a screw eye. The log is another woodpecker and Chickadee magnet, the cakes attract everything.
Where the collection of suet feeder is in the yard, I also have three feeder that are filled with sunflower hearts and sunflower seed mixed 50/50. Chickadees, 2 kinds of nuthatches, gold and house finches and of course woodpeckers all swarm to these seed feeders.
Along our driveway on the other side of the house I have a couple feeders that get generic seed and helps to keep the sparrows out of the good stuff.
I've tried hanging the suet as it comes off the carcass of the deer but the birds seem to be iffy on it. Render it, add some seeds and flavor and wow, do they ever like it. Anybody here do anything similar with their deer fat?
The roaster full of the liquid fat gets two jars of cheap chunky peanut butter stirred into it. It takes a while for the fat to cool enough to keep the peanut pieces in the peanut butter suspended in the fat but I have it fairly well timed now and will actually add a pound of sunflower hearts to the mixture to give the birds a little extra. As the fat begins to thicken and the solids suspend, I pour some of it into suet cake trays saved from store bought cakes and whatever is left is poured into cool-whip containers and gets used for stuffing 2" holes drilled in a 4" diameter birch log that hangs by a screw eye. The log is another woodpecker and Chickadee magnet, the cakes attract everything.
Where the collection of suet feeder is in the yard, I also have three feeder that are filled with sunflower hearts and sunflower seed mixed 50/50. Chickadees, 2 kinds of nuthatches, gold and house finches and of course woodpeckers all swarm to these seed feeders.
Along our driveway on the other side of the house I have a couple feeders that get generic seed and helps to keep the sparrows out of the good stuff.
I've tried hanging the suet as it comes off the carcass of the deer but the birds seem to be iffy on it. Render it, add some seeds and flavor and wow, do they ever like it. Anybody here do anything similar with their deer fat?