To Butcher or Not To Butcher, That Is the Question.

When I first met my husband, their family was accustomed to eating and hunting wild game. My family was not. In a effort to fit in, I would cook wild venison for my hubby, but I have to admit I didn’t care for it very much.

After a couple years, we came to depend a lot on the meat we hunted. I was still trying to ‘disguise’ the wild taste of it. I started asking my hubby about why it tastes so wild, and why some tastes better than others. That year, the butcher closest to where we hunt closed its doors. What to do now?

My hubby’s solution – get the gear and butcher it ourselves. At first I thought he was crazy! All that gear was expensive! And we were already strapped for cash. But we did it anyways. My hubby researched how to butcher properly, with using the most of the animal we could, least amount of any waste.

Was it worth the investment, time and effort?

Well, I’m heading out to freeze my booty off in a shed that’s kept at about 3* celsius, for what will likely be 7 to 8 hours, and this is on-top of the probably 10 or so hours in the last few days, but it’s worth it!

Why? Well, now that we have total control over the meat we eat, we trim off as much fat (where the gamey taste hides) and now I absolutely love venison & elk! It’s totally delicious!! Free range, totally processed by us (including sausage, ground burger and any jerky we do).

In the long run, it will most certainly be cheaper, which is awesome! I wouldn’t change how we do it now. Field to plate, 80% or so, of our family’s red meat is from our effort, done the way we want. Now there is something pretty satisfying about being self-sufficient in that way!