Another Free Meat Day

Well, it's that time of year again, bow season is now is full swing here in Illinois. Plenty of deer around, there were 9 in the barn lot this morning. I consider deer to be the ultimate free meat. Here in southern Illinois you can't hardly throw a rock without hitting at least 2 deer and hunting is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. For the cost of a little time, one can put a nice chunk of meat on the dinner table.

I'm a picky deer eater. I will spend all the time it takes to process my own deer. I meticulously remove every bit of fat and every sliver of sliver skin from my meat. By doing that I eliminate the need to soak my meat in cider or vinegar to remove the "gamey" taste from it. People that don't like the taste of deer meat will eat a meal I prepare and never know that they were eating deer. Commercial processors just can not afford to take that kind of time during their butchering and the resulting meat is such a lower quality than you get if you do it yourself. Plus, doing it yourself eliminates the bill. As usual, I refuse to pay money to have something done I can do for myself.

If you don't own a bow or have no experience hunting with a bow, that's okay. Shotgun season will soon come along and hunting that way is just as good.

So, don't pass up the chance for a little free meat for your table and freezer, go out and get yourself a deer or 2! After all, if you have a garden, you probably fed those same deer all summer and doesn't it make sense to get just a little bit back from that?