VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

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Carnivorous
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VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by Carnivorous »

VENISON REFRESHER ALERT
By: Ted Nugent

“Ooohhh…. It’s gamey!”

“I tried venison once but didn’t like the gamey taste”.

In my lifetime of never-ending worldly travels, the subject of hunting and wildlife always comes up.

Everybody knows I’m a gungho lifetime hunter and they always remark that I appear pretty healthy for a 70-year-old gonzo rock-n-roll explorer.

Remaining clean and sober my entire life certainly has an awful lot to do with my overall good health, spirit and attitude, but so does my wild game diet.

I consider wild game meat to be rocketfuel for the soul.

Quite remarkably, I really don’t do anything differently at the age of 70 that I didn’t do in my 20s and 30s.

Say HALLELUJAH!

We have awakened many people to the benefits and joys of a wild game diet, and even old sage backstrappers have remarked how delicious our game dishes are.

Regular readers of Deer and Deer Hunting are fortunate to have access to constant updates and upgrades on critter handling, venison recipes and the unlimited benefits from the plethora of information in these pages written by real deal venison aficionados.

As I prepare to wrap up what can only be described as the best deer season of my life and the best deerhunting campfires of my life, I have been reminded time and time again how many deerhunters take, shall we say, less than ideal due diligence when handling the sacred flesh.

I am writing this little ditty here in the afterglow of the 2018-2019 deerseason so that we all have a good solid year to think about what I and so many other sporters believe to be the most important responsibility we have as hunters; the reverential utility, wise use conservation of these precious wildlife resources for the dinner table.

This will all sound tediously redundant to most of us hardcore backstrappers, but based on hundreds of conversations around hundreds of campfires this past season alone and many more over the years prior, sometimes people get lackadaisical when it comes to the critical steps determining quality venison.

A refresher course a year in advance will be real good for us to review all the important steps, but mostly for Step Number One; Shot placement.

Where we hit our deer can make all the difference in the world for quality venison, so now is the time to commit to serious practice throughout the year so we kill our critters quick and clean.

The quicker the kill the tastier the meat.

After the kill a quick recovery is just as critical in order to begin the thorough cleaning process.

This step too can be practiced throughout the year by spending as much time as we possibly can in the deerwoods and or outback, becoming the best woodsman we can be. Attentive field time will make us better trackers for a quicker recovery.

Then one of my favorite things in life is the celebration at the side of the beast where we gut and clean our prize, which will also make or break the quality of our tablefare.

Step Three is getting that gutted and cleaned carcass cooled off as quickly as possible, whether in a walk -in cooler, a commercial portable cooler or straight to the professional butcher where the meat can age adequately for tenderizing and flavor enhancing enzyme breakdown.

Step Four is simply making certain that if a professional butcher is hired, we know damn sure he or she has the same love affair with our hard-earned prize that we do, for if our properly handled deer is batched up with a bunch of mishandled carcasses, there is no way you will get the delicious game flavor that we deserve.

Make certain your butcher butchers your deer and returns the meat to you from your deer, or all that extra effort will be for naught.

Now for the proper appreciation for the original meaning of the word gamey.

Every world-class chef will agree whole heartedly that the ultimate meal begins with and is based on wild game.

The word gamey has always been the ultimate compliment, a defining positive.

Somewhere along the line, the disconnected from nature amongst us got a mouthful of mishandled game meat and attributed its gaminess to their unfortunate experience with bad tasting meat.

I am convinced that those who winced and found game to be distasteful actually bit into a chunk of venison that was exposed to guts, bile, urine, lingering blood or just plain irresponsible handling.

Gamey is good!

When all those proper steps are followed attentively and with sincere care, I believe pretty much any spam procedure or recipe will be just wonderful.

Sticking to traditional beef, pork and lamb recipes will always work good with venison, as long as cooked on the rare side, and the sky is the limit where creative chefs and spam wenches can get adventurous with cooking methods, seasonings, oils, herbs and spices.

I am of the humble opinion that the simpler venison is handled the better.

My favorite recipe is sacred flesh, salt, pepper, good oil and butter and hot coals.

Can’t go wrong.

We have plenty of months now to get ready for next season, and if you are like all the crazy hunters I know, every week leading up to opening day is genuine preparation time to be well spent with killin’ and grillin’ on our minds.

You may even want to pick up a copy of my wife Shemane’s and my killer cookbook, Kill it & Grill It from Regnery Publishing.

We take our hunting seriously and we take our consumption of our hard-earned sacred flesh even more so.

Aim small miss small, and kill ‘em and grill ‘em like you mean it.
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SEW
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by SEW »

I think your post is excellent. Clean living has its rewards. Clean gutting and after care has its rewards also.
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by [email protected] »

I would agree with everything you said except about using a butcher. My concerns with butcher's are threefold.
First and foremost is cleanliness. No matter how good a job we do, shot placement, recovery, field dressing and cooling; unless your deer is the first one butchered that day, your meat can be contaminated by dirty equipment used to process the deer before yours. Butcher's do not clean and sanitize knives, cutting boards, grinders and saws between animals. I've seen horrid deer at butcher shops in line to be butchered, and they are run through the assembly (disassembly) line.
Second is who's meat are you actually getting back? I the case of ground meat, you are certainly getting some from the deer processed before yours, and the person next in line is getting some of yours. You are likely (hopefully) to get back your own roasts.
Lastly is how much meat are you getting back? I'm in a large urban archery group, and this subject has come up a lot, it seems that hunters using a butcher seem to get 20%-30% less meat back than those of us that butcher our own game. I'm sure this varies from butcher to butcher, and is certainly dependant on bloodshot meat. Speed and volume is where butcher's make their money.
I'm speaking in generalities here, I'm sure that many have a local butcher who does a deer here and there, and they do an awsome job. While intimidating, butchering a deer isn't difficult, just a learned process. I learned how to do it from a book, these days there are great videos to learn from. Other than a meat grinder, no special tools are required; I debone my deer with just a sharp knife. I feel that every hunter would benefit from butchering their own game.
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by Normous »

I might add the the OP Carnivorous is the cleanest most meticulous self taught butcher that I know and trust.
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by W.Miguire »

We do all of our own deer from dressing to grinding . We know where it was taken when and how . make our own sausage and smoken it all, from brats to snack sticks . We processed about 200 # or so and it all turned out good.
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janesy
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by janesy »

[email protected] wrote:
Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:20 pm
I would agree with everything you said except about using a butcher. My concerns with butcher's are threefold.
First and foremost is cleanliness. No matter how good a job we do, shot placement, recovery, field dressing and cooling; unless your deer is the first one butchered that day, your meat can be contaminated by dirty equipment used to process the deer before yours. Butcher's do not clean and sanitize knives, cutting boards, grinders and saws between animals. I've seen horrid deer at butcher shops in line to be butchered, and they are run through the assembly (disassembly) line.
Second is who's meat are you actually getting back? I the case of ground meat, you are certainly getting some from the deer processed before yours, and the person next in line is getting some of yours. You are likely (hopefully) to get back your own roasts.
Lastly is how much meat are you getting back? I'm in a large urban archery group, and this subject has come up a lot, it seems that hunters using a butcher seem to get 20%-30% less meat back than those of us that butcher our own game. I'm sure this varies from butcher to butcher, and is certainly dependant on bloodshot meat. Speed and volume is where butcher's make their money.
I'm speaking in generalities here, I'm sure that many have a local butcher who does a deer here and there, and they do an awsome job. While intimidating, butchering a deer isn't difficult, just a learned process. I learned how to do it from a book, these days there are great videos to learn from. Other than a meat grinder, no special tools are required; I debone my deer with just a sharp knife. I feel that every hunter would benefit from butchering their own game.
I had a great conversation with my meat cutter this past year. He charges $1 a pound cut and wrapped ,has charged me that for as long as I have been going to him. And I get a documented list of cuts provided. As well as a list of added materials if I go with sausage.
Recently an new full scale butcher has opened somewhat local. They charge $70 flat rate for any deer any size. They weight it and subtract a formula for bone and that's what you get back. But it's not your deer. Sad thing, my guy has lost a ton of business to the new company.
Just goes to show you, most people aren't invested %100 percent. Frankly they don't care. It's shameful really
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Carnivorous
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by Carnivorous »

I just butchered a 250lbs hog. YouTube is an amazing teacher! Lol

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Last edited by Carnivorous on Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Timbrhuntr
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by Timbrhuntr »

Normous wrote:
Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:03 pm
I might add the the OP Carnivorous is the cleanest most meticulous self taught butcher that I know and trust.
How many others do you know ? :P
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nchunter
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by nchunter »

Butchering deer is so easy once you know how. I can’t imagine paying someone $70 to do it for me. Heck, it’s more trouble carting the carcass to a butcher than it is doing it yourself!

I’d rather butcher a deer than a squirrel. Squirrels hang onto their hide worse than any other animal I know! Hellacious amount of work for not a lot of meat—and squirrel meat doesn’t even taste all that good.
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by grouse »

Thank you Carnivorous for posting this. I too recently turned 70 and have eaten wild game all of my life (though I also enjoy moderate consumption of beer, good scotch and wine). My wife is a city girl who had a preconceived opinion about deer meat, though she had never tasted it. The first deer I brought home was a delicious young buck that she didn't like. Between friends and family who like venison,n and myself, none of that deer went to waste.

I told my wife she was right about the buck, that bucks taste much worse than does (complete nonsense) and that I would shoot a nice doe next time and it would be much better. Opening morning came and I shot a fat doe, then had it butchered at a good shop. I asked my wife if she would make a meatloaf using ground venison and she did. She pronounced it to be good and we have been eating venison (both bucks and does) regularly ever since. We even host a venison dinner\Christmas party every year which my wife is very enthusiastic about (My wife is a college educated intelligent woman who just had to overcome an idea others had instilled in her based on ignorance).

Finally, a word about the difference in taste of bucks and does: there is little or none. I've killed some big bucks (low level trophies) that were delicious. Maybe a really old buck is tougher and less tasty, but for the most part, the meat from a buck harvested and cared for (as Carnivorous described it), is undistinguishable from doe meat.

Good hunting!
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janesy
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by janesy »

I find their location and subsequently their diet has a far greater influence on their taste than sex does. I'll take a burger made from a corn feed old buck before I opt for a fat plump northern Doe who's been enjoying hemlock her whole life.
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by grouse »

janesy wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:43 am
I find their location and subsequently their diet has a far greater influence on their taste than sex does. I'll take a burger made from a corn feed old buck before I opt for a fat plump northern Doe who's been enjoying hemlock her whole life.
I only hunt in an area where agriculture is the primary industry, so our deer eat lots of corn, soybeans, milo and wheat as well as more natural food they find in the scattered forests. That may be why they all taste good to me.
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Re: VENISON REFRESHER ALERT

Post by longbow joe »

I too agree that a farm deer tastes way better than than a swamp deer. Them big bucks l like to shoot dont taste as good as a doe surely not as tender either. I am not a huge fan of deer meat other than my jerky and home made sausage etc. I like the ground meat . I give 70 % of my meat to friends who really appreciate it. I'm glad to give it to people who value it more than l.
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