i have a deer in the cooler, im thinking about smoking one of the shoulders. anybody try this? the only thing im worried about is it drying out because, unlike pork, its very lean...any thoughts? i know it was "free" but i hate to ruin 10 pounds of good meat...

Usually shoulders I debone and grind.
To smoke (slow cook) any deer roast i like to wet down with oil, rub with seasons to get it "dirty", then wrap in bacon. Place a pan of water on the smoker closest to the fire, then slow cook.

Deer is so lean, it is easy to over cook. A shoulder is hard to get a good cut into to inspect the meat. Just keep an eye on it. The outer layer will remain pinkish red from the smoke ring. If you cut into the center and it is dry, or you don't see pinkish fluid, then it is overcooked for my taste.

It is just a shoulder, throw it on, watch it, and enjoy. The more you smoke, the better you will get at knowing when it is done, but not over cooked.

The only deer meat I put in the smokehouse is jerky.

I cover it with lard wrap in cheese cloth and smoke away.

even if its not done all the way through, its very lean deer meat and it is very tasty when its a little rare. but if you over cook it, you might as well keep smoking it until it becomes jerky because its gonna want to dry out fast.

Good luck and happy cooking!

I actually did a whole bunch of deer a month or two ago. I used hickory, I used TB's dry rub and let the meat smoke for about 5 hours. It was very very juicy