Deer tallow

[doc623]

Has anyone rendered deer fat for talow?
How do you go about this?

[MELOC]

i couple years ago, i was blessed with a big, fat doe. the tallow was so thick, i decided to render it and make soap. i cut it up as small as i could, in chunks, and i rendered it in the oven at @ 200 F - 225 F. i then filtered it through old t-shirt material.

[diamondtim]

Meloc,

Two questions:

Did it stink up the house?

Was the soap good ,bad or nuthin' special?

[MELOC]

i don't think it stunk up the house. the idea is only to melt to fat and not fry it. the soap was awesome. by itself, the venison tallow would make a "conditioning" soap. i added coconut oil, castor oil, olive oil and beef or lard (or both...i forget) to make a very nice and balanced soap. i used one of many soap calculators online to test possible recipes before i decided on the oil blend and made the soap.

[Micheal]

Asked couple of local hunters about what they do....
Answer: any fat the deer "may" have goes into the ground meat. Most times beef suet is added cause the deer just don't have enough fat on it's own.

[MELOC]

deer tallow is a bit "waxy" for my taste. if i needed to add fat, it would definately be beef.

i don't usually see very much tallow on deer, at least not like on the hog from the pictures. someone must have had a pile of corn handy all year long. she was taken in the woods of PA, but there are a few cabins nearby. the closest corn field was probably at least a mile away and the corn would only have been ready for a couple months. i can't see a doe getting that fat that fast.