Over the last few years we have watched the deer population in our area increase steadily. Most of our neighbors hunt deer and eat the meat. Even with hunting, the deer are abundant. This deer season hubby decided that he would try hunting not only to help with the deer population but for free meat.
Our neighbor and his father have graciously taken hubby under their wings showing him the ropes! On Friday night we joined our neighbor friends in processing 7 deer. It took us about 4 hours to process the meat into the different cuts and Foodsaver everything. From the deer we processed Friday and from earlier in the season, we now have a freezer full of venison. In all we have meat from three deer which resulted in about 20 pounds of deer burger, 15 pounds of deer sausage, 4 pounds of jerky and numerous packages of cube steak and tenderloin.
Venison can be a bit gamy. However, we found that you can’t tell the difference between ground beef or venison in dishes like chili or spaghetti. Since we are getting to the end of the beef we bought last year, we will be using a lot more venison this year. Plus it is nice having a freezer full of free meat!
Deer season has ended here in Virginia. However, if you have not hunted before, you might consider it for next year. Start researching now and find a friend that is knowledgeable. We are so blessed to have neighbors willing to share!
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That is a lot of meat – it must have been a pretty good size deer. I know a lot of people that are new to game meat find venison gamey, but there are a lot of things you can do to make it better. I know you mentioned that you were grinding a lot of it – that really helps. Putting some of the tougher cuts into stews, chili’s and soups really help break down and tenderize the meat – and give it great flavor. I hunt deer a lot where I live, and I’ve found a great recipe website that has a ton of deer recipes. check it out – bestvenisonrecipes.com
Wes Levy recently posted..Best Rangefinder for Archery
Hi Wes,
Thanks for the link to the venison recipes! This was actually meat from a couple of different deer. Interestingly the venison is not as gamey this year since there were no acorns this year! No tanins from the acorns! Have a good weekend!
Renae
I like it very much