Ate dinner....deer tacos and then finished the processing. I ended up with 12 1-2 lb bags of ground meat and 4 beautiful bags of tenderloins (hers were big enough we cut them in half)
I keep a black fleece blanket in my pack at all times....lots of times I have used it to keep my legs warm or folded it to sit on....well, this time I threw it over my shoulders, over my head, and draped the ends over both ends of my scope to keep the sleet off of it and keep it from freezing up so I couldn't see to shoot. That and to keep the sleet from going down the back of my neck and into my shirt...next time I wear a dang turtleneck.
The deer are always moving in weather like this. Hubby just went a few days ago in the snow and saw 5 but nothing would come out close enough for a shot.
I knew if I just stuck it out I was bound to see something.
I wish I had taken a picture of the meat. She wasn't huge, but she wasn't a doberman either. She was right in the middle...probably a 1-2 yr old deer. The meat was almost a liver color. It was so pretty and deep red, not like the red dye no. 5 beef you find in the stores. It was beautiful. The kids kept asking if we could eat her for dinner.
I have to admit we don't hunt the (plentiful) deer here because we have not enjoyed eating it in the past. Y'all make it sound so yummy.
What is your favorite way of cooking it? I've only eaten deer twice and elk once. All three times it was real gamey. The deer was done like pepperoni once and like steak a second time. The elk was jerky and of the three it was the only one I would say I even liked a little bit, and I really enjoy meat (although not salty, yech!).
Do you grind much of it up? What do you use the ground meat in as far as a recipe?
I think I should ask someone who really knows what to do with a deer, and if your children are asking you to cook it, it must be yummy because kids don't fib and say it "tastes great" just to make you feel nice like adults will.
Last night we had deer tacos with the ground meat....kids loved it.
If you are worried about the gamey taste then use a recipe with lots of spices.
I just found a really good wild game site with TONS of recipes for EVERYTHING. www.backwoodsbound.com
If you can't find something you like on there honey, then there's no hope for ya!
I usually cook my roasts and such, bigger pieces, in the pressure cooker with an onion, garlic, a stick of butter and some salt and pepper. I do it with chicken too.
My husband likes to shred it up and eat it on bread for lunch. My dad does the same thing. White bread with mayo and some pepper. I don't do bread.
I don't usually have a problem with a gamey flavor...it matters how it is killed and processed too. If the deer runs a while before dying, the meat might be tougher and taste different...lactic acid builds up in the muscles and makes it taste off sometimes. That's just science. If you shoot one and have to leave it overnight in the woods and find it the next day, it may taste gamier. It happens that way sometimes. If you field dress it and get it processed as soon as possible then you'll probably have better luck with it. The more stress an animal is under when it dies the more the meat will be affected.
If we are going to grind it (we have a grinder-$99 from TSC last yr) we don't let the meat rest, really no need to. The bigger pieces we will put in a cooler full of water and let it soak overnight and then freeze it after drying it off real well the next day.
I know people that soak a whole wild turkey in a 5 gallon bucket of water and white vinegar to "take out the gaminess". It will work with any wild game but I don't like to fool with that.