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Each deer season when I process my animals I trim the fat off and chop it into 1" pieces and save it in an old roaster. I'm careful to not leave any meat on it. When I'm finished with the deer I pop the roaster in a 265-270 degree oven for about 6 hours. I don't check it or anything just leave it there. After 6 hours the fat has rendered about as much of the clean suet out it as can be gotten. I skim the cracklings that are in the liquid fat and stuff them in 1 pound plastic coffee containers and add back a little of the liquid to just cover the chunks. I got two of the coffee containers full this year. When they have chilled well, I cut the plastic coffee wrapper off and use these in a cylinder feeder. Woodpeckers go bonkers over this stuff.
To the liquid fat I will add maybe 4 pounds of sunflower hearts and pieces and set the roaster in a snow pile and stir and stir and stir and......until the fat has gotten cool and thick enough to support the seed particles. Since the old roaster has a cover I leave this right in there covered to keep critters out. I have a couple 18" lengths of 3" birch logs with eye screws turned into one end of each. I have three 2 1/2" holes spaced along the length of the logs into which I press this tallow/seed mixture and the logs then get hung in my woodpecker station outside of the computer room window. Woodpeckers and chickadees love these logs too.
The furthest two feeders are only 15 feet from the window so I am treated to watching Downy and Hairy and Red Breasted Woodpeckers along with Chickadees and Standard and Red Breasted Nuthatches all day long. I've got several Thistle seed feeders spread out between the Woodpecker feeders which see a lot of Gold Finches, Juncos and, believe it or not, Mourning Doves. When we're in the -20 or colder weather the doves never leave the White Pine that has most of the feeders hanging in it.
We have city park land immediately out of our back yard where we see lots of wildlife but its the birds we enjoy the most. A few years ago I decided to hang a carcass off the clothes line pole....cinched it up lengthwise along the cross bar so it wasn't down where coons or skunks or cats could get to it and for a few days the birds just covered the bonerack. Then the calls from the city started and I had to take it down. That's when I started to render the deer fat and started to get the birds up close and personal. Just gotta love the birds.
To the liquid fat I will add maybe 4 pounds of sunflower hearts and pieces and set the roaster in a snow pile and stir and stir and stir and......until the fat has gotten cool and thick enough to support the seed particles. Since the old roaster has a cover I leave this right in there covered to keep critters out. I have a couple 18" lengths of 3" birch logs with eye screws turned into one end of each. I have three 2 1/2" holes spaced along the length of the logs into which I press this tallow/seed mixture and the logs then get hung in my woodpecker station outside of the computer room window. Woodpeckers and chickadees love these logs too.
The furthest two feeders are only 15 feet from the window so I am treated to watching Downy and Hairy and Red Breasted Woodpeckers along with Chickadees and Standard and Red Breasted Nuthatches all day long. I've got several Thistle seed feeders spread out between the Woodpecker feeders which see a lot of Gold Finches, Juncos and, believe it or not, Mourning Doves. When we're in the -20 or colder weather the doves never leave the White Pine that has most of the feeders hanging in it.
We have city park land immediately out of our back yard where we see lots of wildlife but its the birds we enjoy the most. A few years ago I decided to hang a carcass off the clothes line pole....cinched it up lengthwise along the cross bar so it wasn't down where coons or skunks or cats could get to it and for a few days the birds just covered the bonerack. Then the calls from the city started and I had to take it down. That's when I started to render the deer fat and started to get the birds up close and personal. Just gotta love the birds.
