Venison Ambassador

One Buck, Complete Disruption

This morning, I was calmly fixing Jeff's lunch when the shouting started.  "Get in here, QUICK! There's a buck, a buck!!" Sure enough, right out the bedroom window in the brushy woods was a 9-point buck. He had a really nice, white rack. Jeff, who has seen enough bucks to know assured me it was definitely a Pope & Young deer. The buck swaggered up the hill toward a doe. She gave him very little consideration and laid down. He made a rub while we watched. The little sapling he was rubbing didn't make it - it broke under his beautiful, aggressive rack.

The buck finally disappeared, hidden by thick shrubs. The doe lay quietly as though she hadn't been what all the fuss was about. Jeff announced in a firm voice that "it's on & I've got to hunt this weekend!" Yes, its "that" time of year!

We looked down the yard and the deer shaped target (complete with antlers, of course) was headless in the yard! I wonder who might have done that....hmmm

Deer In The Front Yard This Past Weekend!

A Successful Hunt

I had a great opportunity Saturday night to go hunting with Hubby! There were all manner of squirrels causing commotion and fighting and scrambling for nuts. Then, as the squirrel activity decreased with the setting sun, came the real show. I saw a deer walk out of the woods into the field edge, followed by a second deer. Next, a bunch of scratching noise. Then, the clatter of what sounded like antlers????

Thank goodness Jeff had a better view. The first deer was a doe. The second deer was a buck who was "ready for action". Unfortunately for the buck the doe wasn't "ready" yet and she ran into the corn to escape his unwanted attention. The buck took his frustrations out by making a scrape to show his dominance.(scratching noise). Apparently, another small buck had come up out of the woods and he and the first buck tried their hand at fighting. Not the go after you till someone wins fighting that the big bucks engage in, but the practice for later fighting that small bucks do.

Later, out of our stands and back in the cabin Jeff has been building, we sat and compared notes. It is so fun to talk with your hunting partner and clarify what you heard and explain what was seen by each. It is a fun type of camaraderie that you can only get by going.

Money Talks - What Do Your Dollars Say?

Do you vote with your dollars? The other day I was on a site to purchase makeup. I had my order ready and the price was good. (I'm frugal & hubby would've liked the price.) Then something caught my eye - they support PETA. PETA sounds good - I want animals treated well. I would never abuse or tolerate others abusing or hurting animals. However, in the back of my mind I thought I remembered that they were against hunting. Talk about an understatement!! I went directly to their website to get the real scoop and be sure. Right on the front page was a fresh bit of info (blog or article, I'm not sure which it was now) about how terrible hunting is. That sealed it. No way was I going to buy something from a seller who will give funding to wipe out (if they are allowed to) my lifestyle!

PETA's site even had info about someone giving deer birth control! Someone please stop and THINK! When we hunt responsibly - hunting in season, accurately tagging our harvest, only taking shots that make sense, eating our harvest with thanks at each meal - this is controlling the deer herd. It is simultaneously keeping deer from running into vehicles on the road, or, that's right - requiring birth control. (I know, if I hadn't read it I wouldn't have believed it either.) Then too, instead of someone having to raise cattle in conditions I disagree with and injecting them (& consequently my dinner) with things I would NEVER condone - we've provided clean, free-range red meat in its purest form.

To be fair, before I met my husband I didn't have any idea that responsible hunters had so much to do with different species having survived and grown in number. I didn't know that many hunters actively work to improve their own hunting ground for the good of the population all year. I had no clue that there is a selective method to the harvest. For now, I will make sure that my dollars go to those who either support what I believe in or who at least don't support getting rid of my lifestyle. My hope is that as we come into contact with folks who erroneously believe that hunting is without merit, that by our words and actions we can influence them to see the benefits of hunting.

Easy Loin One Dish Dinner

We had the yummiest venison dinner the other night! Jeff craves meat and potatoes meals seven nights a week.

For him I made loin with potatoes. Its super easy!

 

Loin with Potatoes

1 outer loin, cut into steaks

8-10 Green onions, chopped

2 medium red potatoes, skin on, diced

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

3 Red Carmen Peppers (or 1-2 medium bells)

3 Green Carmen Peppers (or 1-2 medium bells)

1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce (according to your taste)

½ teaspoon Kosher salt (according to your taste)

½  teaspoon black and red pepper mix

Garlic pepper & regular salt

Olive oil

1-2 Tablespoons butter

 

Heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat with the olive oil covering the bottom & the butter mixed in. Add the chopped green onions, both kinds of peppers and the diced potatoes. Toss the veggies in the oil/butter mixture and then add the garlic, salt and pepper. Cook till potatoes are about ½ way done. Sprinkle one side of the loin steaks with salt, flip over and sprinkle the other side with garlic pepper and add to the pan. When adding the loin to the pan, I moved all the veggies to one side, laid half the loin down against the cast iron & moved the veggies on top of the loin and repeated on the other side. Cover with lid for about 5 minutes. Remove lid, add Worcestershire Sauce and turn loin over to cook on the other side, keeping it against the cast iron and the veggies on top of it. After another 5 minutes, check potatoes and meat for doneness.

Serve immediately with butter bread. This is a delicious one dish meal.

 

 

A Deerhunter's Dream!!!

I just heard a noise and looked out my front door - here's what I saw!!!!!!

This one isn't as clear, but I love that she's looking right at me!

 

With a every swipe.....

Check with your bank or credit union. I am with Bank of America and they have a keep the change program. When you choose a bankcard (I'm not talking about a credit card, but rather, a debit card) that has a tie to the cause of your choice Bank of America will donate to that cause annually. The Wild Turkey Federation (hope I got the name right) was a choice and so was Ducks Unlimited. I picked Whitetails Unlimited. Now, every time I use that card, I am building up a little something extra for a good cause!

Successful Hunt

My husband harvested a wonderful doe this morning! We are assured many clean, red meat meals because of his dedication to bow hunting.

Warmed from the Inside Out

Last night we tried a new venison recipe. We had a Goulash and homemade dumplings. WOW! We make a lot of dishes that have onions, peppers and tomatoes with venison - but this one still stood out as having its own taste. A go-to book with lots of yummy recipes is really a necessity if you want variety and lots of venison on the table.

This recipe warms you right up from the inside out. Today is the first time this bow-season that Jeff will get to hunt & you guessed it - a portion of last night's dinner was reserved for his lunch. Can't wait to hear what he sees in the stand!

By the way, thanks to the outdoor garden, my contribution to last night's dinner was a California Wonder Bell Pepper. (other than cooking it, of course)

Seasonal Delight

Last night we tried out the recipe in the new Field & Stream magazine. OMG!!! So delicious! Venison & Pumpkin Curry, served over Jasmine rice with Sweet Cornbread. We WILL be making that again!

This dish gets lots of spices, so I mixed them into the meat in the morning & it sat all day just getting yummy. It calls for pumpkin so I used the one I bought last Saturday at the Farmer's Market. For a bit of heat I got to use 2 cayenne peppers from my indoor garden.

As my hubby said, "This dish warms you up from the inside!"