Whether you’re experienced or just starting out, there’s sure to be a spot where you can test your skills and have a successful hunt. Here are the top five places to bowhunt that are guaranteed to give you an incredible experience
Continue reading
Are you considering taking up hunting but you’re unsure if you should bow hunt or riffle hunt? We’ll do a quick dive-in…and we’ll try to remain unbiased! Here are 4 reasons why bowhunting is better than riffle hunting.
Continue readingBy Steven A Segal – January, 2016
In normal times I would say the U.S. could suffer through another mediocre republican presidency, and I site George H. W. and George W. Bushs’ republican presidencies as examples of poor to mediocre presidencies. In my opinion the United States has been so damaged internationally, militarily, and financially; and so destructively divided internally over the past 7 years that we desperately need an atypical leader at this point in time.
President Harry Truman was not well liked. The only reason he got reelected is because Thomas Dewey was so arrogant and self-centered he blew the election. Truman was feisty, opinionated, foul mouthed about congress and others who did not agree with him, and arrogant to the press. His well-known comment, “If it’s too hot in the kitchen for you, get the hell out”, would be up dated to present language to say, “If you haven’t got the balls to stand up to tough situations you are not the right son-of-a-bitch to do the job”. In my opinion Truman was exactly the right personality we needed at the time to immediately bring Japan to its knees, and to confront the pugnacious Joseph Stalin. He had the fortitude needed at the moment and he, quite frankly didn’t care about what people thought of his decisions if he thought it was right for the United States’ immediate interests.
I do not believe America can recover its place as the world power by electing a nice comfortable candidate who hesitates to sharply address the world’s rogue leaders as they push the limits of their aggressiveness. In years past we’ve been very polite and diplomatically patient with Hitler, Stalin, Tojo, Mussolini, Mayo, Kim Jong-Il the Saudis and numerous other scoundrel countries and leaders of evil intent. It has cost hundreds of millions of human lives and untold misery worldwide.
Do I think Donald Trump’s manner is praiseworthy? No, but I am not looking for a leader that makes me feel all warm and cuddly. I am rather looking for a leader that can say no to the special interests, who might be able to pull compromises together, who leaves no doubt in the minds of our enemies that to push us will result in their demise, who leaves no doubt in the minds of our friends that we have their back-sides against demagogues, and can gather real experts to advise. I am looking for a leader that does not have to depend on the established political machine for approval, who doesn’t have to capitulate to special interests of the moment and who isn’t concerned about having a sweet reading legacy. Is Trump that leader? I don’t know until he gets into office and spends a year tromping around in the roll. Will he upset me? Definitely! But I cannot think of a president who hasn’t upset me ever since I was old enough to understand what was going on.
At this time Donald Trump is the only candidate that iterates the deep problems facing America, and seems to be the only candidate willing to face those problems head on.
As hunters there is nothing we love more than wild game. The satisfaction that you have used blood, sweat, and occasional tears to fill your families table gives you a sense of pride that is nigh unmatched. Every time you bag a buck, you give yourself a rousing pat on the back, clean it, and load it up to be taken home anticipating all of the delicious meals it will make along the way. For any type of game, there are given rules for prepping these delicacies that have been passed from parent to child for generations: double check to make sure you got all of the feathers, don’t overcook your game etc. Yet it seems sometimes those rules are made to be broken. For as long as we can recall, we were informed that you should always trim deer fat. We were under the assumption that deer fat had a bad flavor and went rancid quickly, therefore fat should be either left for wild animals to claim or used in some other manner. However, after stumbling across an article by David Draper on the Field & Stream blog, we began to wonder: Does deer fat make the meat taste gamey?
In order to help us answer this question, we sought out the blog post by Hank Shaw that inspired Draper’s post. In Shaw’s article he explains that, as with all game animals, there will always be a variation of flavor based on both the region and that specific animal’s dietary preferences. That being said, Shaw goes on to explain that since deer are ruminants they have a much narrower diet than many game animals; causing their flavor range to be narrower as well. While the flavor range will be narrower, however, a deer that eats more acorns or lives in an area with a larger variety of grains will taste better than one in an environment with a sparser food supply (Shaw, 2014).
In Shaw’s post, he explains that while he will use the caul (the fat surrounding the intestines) in certain recipes, he does not use the suet (the fat surrounding the kidneys). He explains that the fat in areas where there are little working muscles is much harder than the fat over top the working muscle groups. Luckily for us, birds love suet and it also makes amazing candles and soaps. Shaw does use the fat in muscular areas (like the hind quarters) to cook with. He explains that deer fats are very high in Omega 3’s, thanks to their diet, and are also thought to have the highest level of stearic acid in any food animal. Deer fat has a higher amount of saturated fat than you would find in deer, pork, or lamb, which initially may worry people. Yet, there are different types of saturated fats, and the saturated fat found in deer is the healthy type. Plus, the stearic acid decreases bad cholesterol levels and might even increase good cholesterol levels; though the latter has yet to be proven (Shaw, 2014).
Shaw does go into detail about how the deer must be treated in order for the fat to taste good and to prevent it from going rancid (essentially, it has to be below freezing; otherwise the Omega 3s cause the fat to oxidize, which makes it go rancid quickly). He also has a check list to follow to ensure your deer fat is tasty. The one drawback Shaw mentioned was the fact that the stearic acid causes the fat to coat your mouth; which can be off-putting (Shaw, 2014).
Using Shaw’s guidelines, we decided to test out whether or not leaving deer fat on worked for us. In order to try this, we enlisted the help of one of our staff members who loves to cook. She opted to make a venison roast as “it’s chilly out and that’s some darned good comfort food,” and here is what she decided.
So in conclusion, we have decided cooking with deer fat does have a huge impact on the flavor. Overall the flavor is fantastic if the deer comes from an area where there are good, flavorful things for it to eat. However, our staff member did say that while her husband had no issue with the feel the fat left in his mouth, she really was not a fan and would likely trim the fat for that reason. What are your thoughts on this? Are you guys pro deer fat or con deer fat?
Literature Cited:
1. Draper, David. “Do You Eat Deer Fat.” October 31. 2014. The Wild Chef. Field and Stream Blog. Website: http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/the-wild-chef/do-you-eat-deer-fat
2. Shaw, Hank. “Demystifying Deer Fat.” October 13. 2014. Honest Food Blog. Website: http://honest-food.net/2014/10/13/cooking-deer-fat/
