Survival Meat Preservation Drying Meat the Old Way

[@aaronwhitefoot]

This was an inspiring video. It takes a lot of time and effort but at the end it's always worthy. Keep it up brotha!

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Thanks Aaron! It gave me a good idea of how much work you do on a regular basis.

[@StevenMMan]

Iffin you don't mind a little non iodized salt goes a long way in self life and dehydration. And 2. If ya can time when you have newly tanned buckskin, then it a wind break for less fire while getting the benefit of smoking the hides Mountain man

[@Daag]

Really enjoyed this! You never know when you're in a position when this could be life-saving. Greeting from Sweden

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Thanks! Hello TO Sweden! I agree, learning to dry different foods with different techniques has been a confidence builder.

[@sturvinmurvin9408]

Thank you for this, it might save our lives in the near future...

[@WillPeterson]

What kind of meat, and where did ya get it?!

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

This came from a friend. He had an animal he had to put down.

[@brianengland8948]

The only thing that's missing is a horse (gotta love Texas). Ha ha ha ha lol. Edit: Dang, horses are shown @5:03 (wrote this comment before this time mark)

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Haha! Well I’m glad it worked out

[@phillipbremer7715]

Yep type tags as following along back in day tribe had dedicated people who were making meals buckeners did same thing so much history and historical knowledge of drying or smoking like local butcher shops lots time in family farms etc hogs chickens etc myself it’s venison wildlife etc some parts like fish boiled etc makes easy packing but day to day things are lots with dogs people Truthfully lot animals are canibal animals eat thier own kind one thing about animals different viruses different species

[@mr.h3134]

Thanks for doing this. You are ahead of the curve by going back to (or staying with) the old ways.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Going back for me, sadly I lived a modern life for many years.

[@WageSlave_13]

Good to see how it was done once. Personally, I believe if electric dryers are used that it's not real jerky/dried meat. Appreciate the demo.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Yeah I like drying with electric too. I should say, I didn’t quite do it the way they used to but it was a success and parts of it were certainly historical.

[@rowmagnvs]

This. I’m only just learning about drying meats but seems like using modern day appliances and kitchens is cheating and doesn’t catch the same flavour

[@cthonisprincess4011]

Out of curiosity, how much meat did you start with, and how long did it take to dry that meat? 😊

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I had about 6 full buckets or so and it only took about 20 hours.

[@Raezuvlite]

This made me wanna play Red Dead Redemption 2 again. Lol

[@tbrew8222]

I dress the same way. don't know about your under flannel but all my layers are wool. Wool undershirt, thinner pendleton, and a filson mackinaw vest. I love the M-51 army shirts. Some are pure wool, some are 80 (tags will say anywhevabove 80) Its a gamble, but a minimum 80% is not bad. Also cant go wrong with a mackinaw cruiser jacket like the pendelton.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Unfortunately I’m allergic to wool so I’ve always got a base layer that isn’t wool. I’d like to find an army shirt that’s 100%. Your setup sounds really good.

[@sayorinya5435]

I'm your 1k veiw for this video, and also I were to do this, I can sorta use any types of animals right? (Mostly the ones we eat) and we would normally get the same result of it being dried out?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

well....... I prefer to say “don’t try this at home”. But if you’re interested there are a lot of videos on dry aging meat and I’ve had good luck googling how to know if meat is safe to eat or not.

[@sayorinya5435]

@@OverOnTheWildSide I see well either way, even the little bits of knowledge are very useful so thank you for the knowledge ^^

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@sayorinya5435 that meat worked because it was colder weather and I blocked the sun from it. There was no mold and the interior looked fresh so I felt safe to try it. I recently experimented with some pork in salt and some of it got moldy because I didn’t get it fully coated. I threw that stuff out.

[@sayorinya5435]

@@OverOnTheWildSide I see, well maybe try soaking the pork into some salted brine? And smoke it out? Since the salt brine is also kinda curing it well maybe curing it but! Hope your other experiments do well! Failure is the steps for success!

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@sayorinya5435 yes that’s a good idea. Have you done some of that yourself?

[@billybreuer3224]

You should try and grind it fine mix it with dried berry's and tallow make some pemmican .

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

You’re right, I should. I still have some of it and I have plenty of tallow now. I hadn’t thought of that...

[@downeastprimitiveskills7688]

I had a go a smoking some local fish this spring, caught my whole smoking rig on fire and it all burnt to the ground. bugger. I hope to get a proper smoking shed up this winter and ready for spring.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Dang! I imagine there will be some design modifications...?

[@cagebeast]

You're the man

[@jakebest9286]

How long, roughly, did this take to cook the meat? What type of meat?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

It’s horse meat. It varied depending on how close to the fire it was. Slower is better, but I think some of it dried in eight hours or so. It lasted for two years and was still fine.

[@Wafflethyme]

That is a very literal cutting board

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Quite literal

[@bobbiesbits9028]

Would humans be able to eat meat prepped this way, too?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Yes but it needs to be done cautiously.

[@jackpetty4148]

What kind of jacket is that?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

It’s an army surplus. It’s supposed to be wool but it’s only 85%. I like it though, I found it on eBay.

[@Lermer07]

Great channel. Subbed

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Thank you

[@madtabletopgamer3204]

This was educational...

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Cool, that’s good to hear. I’ve done more videos on drying meat since this one. I’ve learned quite a bit since I started.

[@zlo333]

so u spend 12 hours to dry about 1 or 2 kilos of meat, and if u live in the wild it's a lot of time , u need to build shelter, find water, and other stuff, u won't have that much time

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

If I only had two kilos of meat I’d cut it thin and have it done much faster. Or I’d just start smoking it instead. Depends on the weather too and how many flies there are.

[@zlo333]

@@OverOnTheWildSide thanks mate

[@ronwright2777]

Do you even eat some of the dry meat 🍖

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Yeah I ate the rest of that this past winter and shared a lot of it with my dogs.

[@Earthious]

That’s really cool, I never knew that that’s how meat was dried. Thank you for all the content! :D

[@Justin-op8gg]

Use an ulu and make saddles.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Eh?

[@BIanka0200]

So we dont need salt at all?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I didn’t use any and it’s held up fine. I also dry it bone dry as opposed to jerky dry which is still soft enough to chew.

[@calasketricok2042]

If we dry our meat how long will they last? I want to make a emergency kit.. so i was trying to learn how to dry meat

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I dry it bone dry, it’s rock hard, and I have dried meat that’s three years old now. I’m still eating it.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Also I live in a really dry climate, if there’s humidity in your area you’d need to seal it real well. Watch for things like discoloration and bad smells.

[@Jay-hq4dy]

@@OverOnTheWildSide wow, as long as its dried properly it can last upto 3 years? Also do you add salt or does drying properly make it last 3 years.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@Jay-hq4dy I don’t add salt. I also live in a very dry climate so that makes a difference. A lot of the time I could just leave it laying on the counter and it’d dry out. So since I go home dry/remove all moisture, it doesn’t need salt from what I’ve seen so far.

[@daan9094]

Ur really cool

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Thanks

[@nevertoopoortotour.3033]

Never too poor to tour

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Are you advertising?

[@wilddog73]

I'm starting to see why big knives are considered more real than others.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Oh?

[@wilddog73]

@@OverOnTheWildSide I mean, I couldn't imagine trying to cut all that meat with a swiss army knife.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@wilddog73 oh! Yeah that’d get old REALLY quick haha

[@wilddog73]

@@OverOnTheWildSide So with the fire centered to the middle of the rack, how does the meat on the sides get smoked? Do they just take longer? What's the minimum time you'd recommend? Does dried/smoked meat taste good on its own?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@wilddog73 the fire I had wasn’t ideal. It was my first attempt at this method and I didn’t do a great job. Fear of meat rotting, gathering firewood, keeping wood on the fire, cutting meat, building the rack... I did all of that at once and it was stressful. Ideally the rack would be built ahead of time, the wood gathered and cut properly. Also I have a better understanding of meat and didn’t need to feel like I had to rush so much. The meat doesn’t taste good on its own, the way I dry meat is drying it bone dry to the point it breaks to be rehydrated in a soup or stew later. The dry time is also variable. Since I make it so dry I often just leave it out longer than it needs but this stuff in the video dried pretty quickly. I think it could be done in 12 hours but I’m not certain. I usually dry in the sun or over my wood stove and it takes a day or two.

[@glorybound7599]

I haven’t seen a military wool O.D. Field Shirt like that since I wore one in the Army in the late 1970’s.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

They’re harder to find these days. When I was young I’d find them at yard sales all the time.

[@gobigrey9352]

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of hat is your brown western? Looks like maybe an old Resistol Stagecoach maybe? The felt looks similar to some of my old stagecoaches.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

If I remember right it’s a different brand. Very similar though to my Resistol. I’ll check again though to make sure.

[@rowmagnvs]

Great video! What got me into learning about jerking meat was the line from the show 1883 where the dude is eating some fresh cooked meat and says “I think I’ll jerk the rest.” lol

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

That’s awesome, I’m glad that show is having some positive effect! I have since learned that when making jerky people use a temp of 160 for a long amount of time. Vs what I did of just drying it until it’s bone dry.

[@JayyJay92]

How can you tell if it smoked or cooked ?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I go until it doesn’t bend. I want it so dry it snaps.

[@JayyJay92]

@@OverOnTheWildSide I’m just not sure how you can determine the extent of the flames, if you’ve never done it before.? Or what if it takes you longer than expected would the meat go bad while trying to smoke ??

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@JayyJay92 it’s pretty forgiving. I have meat out right now that’s not near any flames at all. Also in this video the meat was for dogs so it’s also less risky. You can put your hand by the meat to see if it’s too hot or not. But also I’m in a dry area so meat almost always dries out easily. Especially if there’s air all around it.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Also, by “the extent of the flames” are you saying whether they’re too hot or not hot enough? That’s how I understood it. I think it’s pretty easy. Mine were too hot often times and on the ends not hot enough. It was a good experience and I learned a lot from it but I now know it wasn’t even necessary. I have two animal carcasses laying around now that have only been skinned and gutted and they’re not going bad. Today I’m getting another.

[@stonek9464]

Imagine a cat eating everything

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

That’d be great, I’d like to lure them in, but cougars have their preferences and dried meat isn’t one of them. They’d much rather grab a young goat.

[@stonek9464]

@@OverOnTheWildSide Yes but for people who dont want to give their dried meat to Animals they would be angry

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

No I’m saying cougars aren’t after dried meat, they prefer fresh kills that they can leave and come back to.

[@AngryCanadian1971]

Not sure what you did here. Saw you adding wood here, there, doing this, doing that. Wasn't sure how much wood, when or why you were doing it. It's kinda like watching a guy type on a keyboard and then he says "And there you go." You look like you know what you're doing, but I didn't learn anything.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

It’s not a how-to.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I had never done it before and it was very challenging for multiple reasons. Most of my videos are me trying things and failing but rarely if ever do I do how-to demos.

[@joelmcmahan7386]

Hey bud is that a backstrap. Enjoying watching someone else try this things. Unless you have did this, you don’t know how much work it takes. Going big Places Over On The Wild Side. Hope your channel continues to grow 👍👍smash it guys and gals. 👍🧑‍🌾🙏🏻

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

It’s actually off the hind leg, really tender. Thanks man! I hope you’re right.

[@vegasrider2246]

I enjoy watching your videos. Do you have a garden to grow your own veggies? If not, are you planning on doing one to be more self reliant? That would make some good watching.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I have so many greens growing wild in my pasture that I don’t have much need to devote time to a garden. I like the idea of it though. I may plant a few things eventually.

[@TDK67DK]

Good stuff Enjoyed the scene and the video Greetings from Germany

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Thank you

[@Sandy.Squirrel]

Do you have any recipes using your dried meat?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I don’t, I just put it in water for as long as I can (8 hours?) before cooking it and then I just make soup. It’s even easier to rehydrate if it’s pounded into smaller pieces.

[@tonycortez8556]

It doesn’t get manlier than this

[@blackblursliver]

Do you season it and if not what does it taste like after dried

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I don’t season it. It’s actually too hard to eat when it’s dried. I rehydrate it first and usually use some pepper and rosemary.

[@fictionaddiction4706]

How long before it goes bad?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

If it’s kept dry it lasts a long time. I have some near me now that’s still good.

[@fictionaddiction4706]

@@OverOnTheWildSide How long is a long time?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Unknown, I’m still learning. I also have some sheep meat that I dried in spring 2018. It’s still usable.

[@fictionaddiction4706]

@@OverOnTheWildSide 2018 wow

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Completely removing moisture makes all the difference. Also I’m in a dry climate so I don’t have much humidity to worry about.

[@siorghlas4616]

Awesome! Keep it up boss 👍

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

Thanks!

[@Rosesraspberries72]

If this was in Australia the meat would be fly blown in minutes..not near the fire, but the stuff on the bench.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

What’s fly blown?

[@Rosesraspberries72]

@@OverOnTheWildSide The blow flies would of gone to town on that meat and laid all their maggots over it.. we call it fly blown..like how sheep get fly blown around their back ends if not treated will kill them. Or if a horse injured itself and had a wound the flys could blow it.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@Rosesraspberries72 oh ok, it was too cold for that.

[@Rosesraspberries72]

@@OverOnTheWildSide yeah, we could get away with it in winter..it’s spring the buggers come out, then by summer there everywhere.

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@Rosesraspberries72 I lost some meat this last summer that way. It doesn’t help that whenever I butcher an animal the temperatures jump up.

[@AutodidactEngineer]

How long is the shelf life after this procedure?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

I have some sheep that I dried three years ago and it’s still good. However I live in a very dry climate and I think that makes a big difference. The meat in this video is still good after more than a year.

[@Rosesraspberries72]

@@OverOnTheWildSide so he says he did this for dog food, but it’s still edible for humans hey?

[@OverOnTheWildSide]

@@Rosesraspberries72 correct

[@bridgettebilliot4268]

I was thinking about this for my dogs also.