Virtues of Venison

How to kill, prepare and cook deer meat or venison properly.

Paul Rattray

Contents

1. Book 1 - Shooting Game

1.1 Best Times to Kill

1.2 Game Meat

1.3 Tools of the Trade

1.4 Field Dressing Deer

1.5 Cutting and Carrying Gear

1.6 Venison Cuts

2. Book 2 - Cooking Venison

2.1 Marinades and Sauces

2.2 Satay and Kebabs

2.3 Curries and Casseroles

2.4 Smoked and Salted Meats

2.5 Rissoles and Roasts

2.6 Stir Fry and Steak

2.7 Salads and Sides

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Venison marinated overnight in a salty or sweet soy sauce cooks up dry yet remains moist minus a strong taste.

Dark Marinated Venison in soya sauce, Cassava Leaves in Peanut Sauce, Mango and Chili Sambal, with White Rice.

COPYRIGHT

© Paul Rattray, 2015

Virtues of Venison: How to kill, prepare and cook deer meat or venison properly

This book may not be copied, reprinted or distributed in any shape or form, except with the expressed permission of the author, other than for quotations for research purposes.

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In many kingdoms killing red deer and eating their venison could bring a death sentence to the hunter unless he or she was a royal. Thankfully we no longer live in those times! In fact, with the ranges of deer, especially red deer increasing ever year, particularly in Aus-tralia, red deer and their venison has never been more accessible to the hunter and householder.

However, one of the problems with venison, like all game (wild) meat is that it is gamey. It naturally has a stronger smell and taste than domestic meat. Unless you grew up in the jungles of Borneo and have lived in the Australian bush like me, hunting, catching, cooking and eating game meat most of your life, you are probably un-aware of when to kill red deer for meat and how to prepare and cook venison properly.

Most red deer are, unfortunately, shot during the rut or mating sea-son that, in southeast Queensland, Australia occurs during March to May. During mating season is when stags (mature male red deer) and hinds (mature female red deer) are at their gamiest. Many peo-ple have tried this gamey red deer meat and decided that venison is not for them.

Virtues of Venison challenges these stereotypes about venison by showing you how and when to kill, prepare and cook red deer meat to get the best flavours out of this incredible meat.

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Book 1

Shooting GameCarrying out a caped stag during the rut or mating season.

Most people try venison taken during the rut and roar and are turned off by its gamey taste.

Best Times to KillTo understand red deer seasons in detail, especially for skilled hunting, refer to my red deer hunting and management book, Se-crets of the Reds. Secrets of the Reds is a complete step-by-step guide to skilled hunting and shooting techniques, so in this book these factors only focus on meat hunting.

Because red deer are supercharged with hormones during the rut, it is best not to take their meat during the mating season un-less you are shooting a spiker (a male less than two years old) or a yearling hind.

For venison, animals of less than two years of age are the best tar-gets. If you are going to take more mature animals it is advisable to shoot hinds during group season, before they are heavily preg-nant and stags during solitary season when they are in velvet.

Shooting a DeerUnless you are an excellent shot with a flat-shooting and high-powered rifle do not to try and head shoot red deer. They have proportionately small heads to body size and normally move their heads around a lot, especially when disturbed.

A shot placed slightly behind the lower part of the shoulder is much more likely to destroy vital organs, like the heart and lungs, leading to a humane kill. The minimum recommended rifle cali-bre for the amateur shooting red deer is a .270, 7mm or .308.

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The best times to shoot red deer for venison is during the group and solitary seasons, rather than the rut or mating season.

Red Deer Calendar