Are you sure they had a casing? When I've made snack sticks, it was just a matter of putting the meat thru the 'gun' to shape, then baking dry. Have done both strips and sticks with no casing.

Not sure actually! I did a quick Google search for High Mountain Snack Sticks to see what they recommend, and they sell collagen casings with the seasonings/cure in their snack stick kit. I don't have a kit, so I wondered if you needed them or not, or what some of you all typically do. I put the cure and seasoning on yesterday and started drying process today.I tried one tray without casings in round shape, and two trays of flat jerky strips. I am doing all ground meat right now, and using my new jerky shooter for the first time. WOW! Sure makes the process a lot easier and faster. I shouldn't have waited so long to buy one. :)

KSprairie, I'm not positive about this but I think if you are using a recipe with a cure in it, you don't need a casing unless you just want to. The product will firm up and hold it's shape. Without a cure, you may need a casing which should be available like sometimes you may see in a slim jim type product. Our local Bass Pro Shop has the small casings in stock if you have a store like that in your area. Let us know how it all turns out. Those snacks are sooooo good to have around.

My family says the snacks turned out great! I ground my own venison and used High Mountain Original & Hickory jerky seasonings. The first 3# batch I split in thirds using the 3 different tips that came with my jerky shooter so I could test them all out; round tip, wide flat tip, and double slotted flat tip (makes 2 narrow strips at a time). The round snacks win hands down as my family's favorite. The round ones held their shape just fine.
I don't think I care fore the texture you get when a cure is used. The next several batches I make I may try recipes w/o cure, but then the round sticks may not hold together as well, as you mentioned, dirtguy50..
I would like to try the NCHFP recipe for ground jerky, but I've made a similar one in the past and do not care for the worcestershire. Does anyone know if that is necessary, or is it just there for flavor?

I honestly don't know about the necessity of the Worcestershire, as I do like the flavor and would not omit it for that reason. I'm guessing it's a flavor thing, since I can't think of a safety issue requiring it. It has a lot of background flavors that it would contribute to the overall recipe flavor and balance. Have you tried different brands? I can only use the Annie's natural kind now that I started--the others taste artificial to me. The same for soy sauce--now that I've found one that's actually made with soy, and not wheat as the popular commercial brand is.

I have tried several brands over the years, never Annie's natural though. I will look for it. I think in general, the Worcestershire made the jerky much too sweet tasting, but we do not like sweet jerky as some people do.