Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Virtues of Venison
How to kill,
prepare and cook
deer meat or
venison properly.
Contents
COPYRIGHT
Book 1
Shooting Game
Carrying out a caped stag during the rut or mating season.
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 Australia, 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 unaware 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 season 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 people 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.
Most people try venison taken during the rut and roar and are
turned o by its gamey taste.
4
Shooting a Deer
Unless you are an excellent shot with a flat-shooting and highpowered 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 calibre for the amateur shooting red deer is a .270, 7mm or .308.
The best times to shoot red deer for venison is during the group
and solitary seasons, rather than the rut or mating season.
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