Hunting widow's

[gja1000]

My hubby and sil went hunting this weekend, but didn't shoot anything. I go some also, but not as much as them. Our season goes from Nov. 1 to the end of January - so they have plenty of opportunities.

Janet, venison is GREAT - the key to good venison is how you handle it just after it is shot. My husband's father working in a meat packing plant all his life and my hubby knows how to properly field dress and process venison meat. Our venison tastes fantastic. And believe me, I have had the stinky awful tasting venison my brother in law used to have - NASTY!

We grind some up for hamburger - we have tenderloin, we cut some up for chicken fried steaks and then we have some made into summer sausage. Our freezer is always stocked with venison and I never have to buy beef - although I do buy a beef roast from time to time.

My mom was just like you -said she didn't like venison because all she had was my brother in law's nasty stuff - so I had to really coax her to try my hubby's. She's now a convert and cannot wait for the first meal of tenderloin or chicken fry!

Oh, I do hunt occasionally, but I really prefer to watch the deer from the stand! My 12 year old granddaughter got her first deer when she was 9.

[2tiredmom]

Gayle thanks for that. We have a freezer full of deer and it's like you said it's the way it's done. And the way you cook it. We also buy other meat pork and some beef like steaks but other than that we eat what we kill. It does help with the food bill.

[DianaB]

We have a lot of hunters around here and a few of the men in our family hunt but deer hunting is something that my husband doesn't do. He likes to go pheasant hunting but his favorite things to hunt are ducks and geese.

I've had deer meat too. Some I've liked and some I haven't. I have heard that it's all in how it's dressed.

[judy]

I was in and out of local stores yesterday. There were so many men dressed in their camouflage outfits! I bet that even if a man doesn't hunt, he still wears the outfit so he looks macho, and fits in.

Some of them are army camo and some are the newer ones with leaves and so on on them.

[Marilyn]

Camo is the fashion of choice around here this time of year. I even attended a camo wedding a couple of weeks ago, no joke. The bridesmaids were in brown and olivine satin dresses and the men wore camo ties with their tuxes. The centerpieces on the tables were an oak log split in half with grass and cat-tails sticking out of a hole drilled in the top of the log. There was camo sheer fabric draped around the bride and groom's tables at the reception.

My hubby is not a hunter, so we're really not into the hunting season thing. Our new son-in-law is a hunter, but don't know if he's gone this year or not. Our daughter, his wife, is not into venison at all, so don't know how they will handle it. Will have to ask them when they are here in a couple of weeks.

I've never tasted good venison. All I've ever tried tasted very gamey. The only way I will eat it is mixed with pork or beef in heavily seasoned sausage.

[Tink]

I enjoy venison bologna, summer sausage, and steaks if cooked right. I can usually manage to eat ground venison in spaghetti sauce, or something else heavily seasoned.

Greg's not a hunter, but many around us are, so we usually get gifted some. This year I've requested that the scraps be brought here as a treat for my dogs, so right now it looks like a deer slaughter house outside. lol The dogs are really enjoying it though! I went hunting 2 years, but don't enjoy shooting animals, so quit.

We have a huge deer population here, so if they're not hunted they end up being hit by cars of starving over winter, so I don't oppose hunting as it's a quick merciful death compared to the other 2 and it does help feed a lot of families who otherwise struggle to put meat on the table.

[judy]

"We have a huge deer population here, so if they're not hunted they end up being hit by cars of starving over winter, so I don't oppose hunting as it's a quick merciful death compared to the other 2 and it does help feed a lot of families who otherwise struggle to put meat on the table."

That's exactly why I feel that I my views on hunting are not reality based up here.
I've only seen one deer that had been hit by a car, and it was a very sad thing to look at. I see lots of deer around dusk, and they are throwing off the balance of the food chain. It's all good, I'm just looking at it with a city girl's point of view.