Advice needed for venison shoulder

[nomnomnom]

I read you can cook deer shoulder as you would a boston butt. A buddy dropped off 2 of them and wants me to smoke them. I just dont want to mess them up. I see some say cook it up to 200 and a bit higher and it will fall off the bone and others stay DO NOT go over 150 IT.

 

[pineywoods]

If you try to take a venison shoulder to 200 degrees internal more than likely it will be very very dry. Think about the fat in and on a pork butt now compare that to a venison shoulder see the problem?

 

[HalfSmoked]

I would not even consider cooking to be like pulled pork if that's what you have in mind. I have done them to med rare and they remained moist. Low and slow as with everything in smoking however I did do mind at 225 for about 6 hours keep water pan full. If you want to go longer I would consider wrapping in foil after getting the amount of smoke you want I usually smoke about and hour to hour and half. As said in previous reply deer meat be very dry if not care full.  Enjoy go for it. cook one and see how to correct if you need to on second one.

 

[cedar eater]

Venison fat is tallow and is nothing like pork fat, which is lard. The reason boston butts work so well at high temps is the lard. If you can cut all the venison fat off and roast the shoulder in bacon fat, you might be able to take it up to 200 to get the connective tissue to dissolve, but I think the muscles will dry out too much unless you braise the shoulder after the smoke. I would stop the smoke at 140 and braise from there. The problem is that there isn't any fat in the meat. It's more like a pork loin than a pork shoulder.

 

[sb59]

I think a shoulder is much better for a braise. The only venison I smoke are roasts cured & smoked like Canadian bacon or dried beef. See Bear's step by steps !