Just wondering about some opinions.... Do you guys Consider...

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Chucklej1

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Do you guys consider deer a delicacy or sometimes a subsitute for beef? I absolutley love beef. I also really love deer. However, if you are in a deer rich area, do all the butchering yourself, and have the room and means to store it, would you pretty much just rely on deer as a meat source? I guess is what I'm saying is I know I've fallin' on some tough times. It's getting harder and harder to pay for everything I need. (Food, Water, Guns and Ammo, Shelter) so if I have access to a lot of inexpensive meat ie., deer than would I just grind some up and use it in my soups, stews, and chilis(never had a deer burger, no fat?). Nice roasts or backstraps for Sunday meals w/ the family. I know beef isn't that expensive but if you look at the long haul you could save some serious cash by not buying beef(more money for ammo:D). Are there huge nutrition factors to weigh? I'm the first one to admit that there's nothing like a huge o' slab of dead cow, wedged in between two buns and slathered w/ all the fixins:rolleyes:! For money saving opportunites I could just eat my burgers every now and then. I'm not talking a total beef replacement just as a subsitute for a lot of meals. Hope I didn't leave anything out. Just wanted to see what other people thought out there in Deer Country.
 
we very rarely buy beef anymore. maybe once or twice a year. same goes with chicken, pork, etc.

we get our meat from deer, elk, moose, antelope, pheasant, etc.

this all started because i didn't like all the chemicals and stuff in store-bought. i also firmly believe game meat is far healthier than store bought.

living off game meat exclusively isn't for everyone, but its the way my house does it...
 
Ground venison chili and spagetti is the way to go. My wife rarely lets us eat store bought red meat. Every now and then have to have a steak though. One my kids favorite meals is bambi burritos. I am all for substituting farmed raised meat for wild game where ever/ when ever possible. In my mind it has to be healthier without all the added hormones and steriods. Plus cheaper sometimes.
 
If you're honestly that bad off, then stop buying guns, ammo, cable TV, internet, etc.

If it's because you actually want to, like dakotasin, then by all means, have at it. Just realize that for most folks, it ain't really much cheaper, if any.
I'd love to myself, but can't afford it. Don't have land of my own to hunt or fish, so transportation costs are an issue. Getting a license, tags, gear etc for said activities isn't cheap. All of it takes time, of course. Finding places to hunt things year round, storage of surplus meat(i.e., need a bigger freezer, no room for that). It ain't as easy as just saying you're going to do it.
 
About the only part of beef that venison can't replace is a good fatty steak - all right, shoot me, I love a good ribeye! Other than that - roasts, ground, straps, medallions, sausage, stew meat, etc. can all be venison for me!
 
Matt-J2 I never said I was bad off I said it was tough times. If you're not having them then that's great and I'm happy far ya. The whole guns and ammo and things was a poor attempt at humor apparently and sorry my point got lost on your part. I was wanting to get some feedback on what people were thinking about Venison vs. Beef. I did say "if you are in a deer rich area, do all the butchering yourself, and have the room and means to store it would you pretty much just rely on deer as a meat source?" That being said it sucks that ya don't have to many places to go hunt. So it's a good thing we have Cable and the internet. You do bring up a good point about the cost thing. Here in KY it's $30 for a Hunt/Fish Combo. The deer permit statewide is another $30 and you can buy an additional tag for 2 antlerless for $15. Turkey for fall and spring are $30 each and migratory bird is ten. Not including Duck stamp. So for about $115 not including ammo and of course petro to get where you're going you can get quite a lot of meat. Plus, if you add the fact that some people can hunt there land w/o a permit that's even less. I can't say how much $115 can get you in beef I'm sure it's a lot. Jst1mr I wouldn't even if I could ever give up the ribeye. That's a good idea about the sausage too. I'm getting hungry. It's about lunch time.
 
If I could get by without ever buying beef, I would, except for maybe a nice steak dinner out once in a while. Lately I've bought very little beef, but now I'm out of deer, and the bear is going fast.
 
Justice never killed a bear but eaten my fair share and I tell ya what man that stuff is good. I guess the Indians really had something going with this whole live off the land thing ya think? Salthouse couldn't be said any finer. I know the 2 rabbits and 4 squirrel I got last year lasted one sunday!!!
 
Sure, supplementing your diet with wild game meat is a good thing. Just make sure you also consume enough good fats and cholesterol elsewhere also, so that you stay healthy. I’m no doctor, but I have heard that if you just eat wild game all the time it could really mess with how your body processes the nutrients from that food supply.

It would be really nice to see more TRUE hunters in the fields hunting for food and not just hinting for racks. One good side effect if more people hunted would be that meat (beef, pork, chicken) prices would come down to where they should be.

We, the party I hunt with, usually take 6-8 deer per season. We process all of the meat ourselves, steaks, burger, smoked sausage, roast. It usually lasts till about mid summer, depending on how often we dip into the venison. It sure is nice to change up the flavors and texture every once and a while.
 
I'm like some of the other posters. My wife and I eat primarily deer, elk, antelope,etc. My wife even claims she does not like beef hamburger anymore. I mix in a little beef with my burger to add a little fat so the hamburgers stay together. about a pound to 5 lbs venison. If you like more, than add a little more. Pretty much the only cow meat we buy anymore is an occasional steak for a special occasion. We go through 2 full deer in just hamburger and sausage each year. We don't HAVE to do this, but we choose to. This is how I was raised. If you have the means to kill as many as you can eat, GO FOR IT!
 
Sure, supplementing your diet with wild game meat is a good thing. Just make sure you also consume enough good fats and cholesterol elsewhere also, so that you stay healthy. I’m no doctor, but I have heard that if you just eat wild game all the time it could really mess with how your body processes the nutrients from that food supply.
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Actually, wild venison has more cholesterol than lean beef......the difference is that the venison usually doesn't have the fat to carry the cholesterol through the bloodstream. As far as 'screwing up your system', I think that's a lot of hogwash. Protein is protein; the body processes it all the same way.

It would be really nice to see more TRUE hunters in the fields hunting for food and not just hinting for racks.
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I'll give that a hearty "AMEN"! Saw two guys spend a ton of money to go out west on a mule deer hunt......only interested in coming back with the racks. The meat from one was left for the yotes; the SOB who shot it gut shot it late in the evening, and by the time they found it the next morning, it was worthless!:mad:
 
All the money I spend hunting makes deer much more expensive then beef for me. I could probably eat at Ruth's Chris alot more and just not hunt, but what fun would that be. I do love venison and enjoy it as much or more than beef steaks. I just dont live close enough or have the time to devote to making it a primary protein source for me.
 
hobby with a benefit

I always looked at the meat as a very good side benefit of the hobby. Go golfing and spend as much or mor ethan i do in a day of hunting, and come home with nothing?

As for health, i would say 95% of my daughters red meat consumption since birth has been game, elk, deer, lion, bear, antelope, its all good stuff. She specifically asks for elk when she has a cjoice on whats for dinner, doesn't matter if its tacos or kabobs on the grill, its her favorite, take it over beef every time.

But considering the hard times people are having, game meat is an attractive option. last year the wife and I put an elk and some deer in the freezer. All butchered by us, so inexpensive enough. Meat was all gone by July. Really helped out the family that is on social security/fixed income, and was all we used for red meat until gone. Notice i said red meat, not beef substitute, all meats are different and should be treated as such. No one cooks chicken like they do beef, so why treat a deer like it?

I guess its a pretty good return on the license cost here with elk factored in, alot more pound per dollar considering the size. Have my hunt fish combo with 2 elk tags and 3 deer tags now, think i am into that about 150 bucks or so. say i kill 2 younger cow elk, thats 400 lbs of boneless meat roughly, then say 120 lbs of deer meat for the other 3 tags, so 33 cents a lb over all for licensing. figure i will spend 200 in gas through the season, so 40 cents a lb there. So with misc. stuff tossed in, a buck a lb is the cost to do a pretty generic meat hunt around here.

Now if we factor in horses, trucks, all of the guns, etc, its about 150 bucks a lb, but i prefer to tell the wife its a buck a lb :)
 
Decker and Prem. Sauces you guys rock. I'm glad to see so many other people do this. NRA4 the beef with the venison for burgers is a great idea.I hear Rookie Rancher about the price of beef needing to be down. Wife went to the grocery and found a pretty sweet deal on a variety of cuts (beef) still cost $85.
 
I never buy Beef.

Ever.
I hunt/fish/gather to feed my family, and beef is 6$ a pound here

As a teen , I spent a couplea years in NorthWest Montana, and worked at a Dairy farm/Beef ranch.

3.00$ an hour.
I Milked 'em, Inoculated them, Inseminated them, Fed them, Birthed them, herd'dthem, chased them off the Highway, killed a few, opend lot gates and sorted them in pens, and cleaned the milk machines and their mess in the pen EVERYDAY, 6 days a week.


:fire: I Eat beef because I Hate Cows.:fire:
 
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this all started because i didn't like all the chemicals and stuff in store-bought. i also firmly believe game meat is far healthier than store bought.
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agreed

i love beef and i love venison and it just depends

my deer is normally frozen so if i dont have time to thaw it before dinner we eat beef but if i can i got for teh bambi
 
One of my favorite hunting areas turned out to be a superfund site a few years later. I'm not so sure the deer on that land were not just as polluted as the soil they walked on. Does explain the odd behavior of the deer there though. Point is some "natural" meat is not really all that good for you. (ever see the mercury content in some tuna, striped bass, etc...?) We get organic grass feed beef here for about $5/pound, probably just as "clean" as most game.
 
in my opinion, venison is way better than beef. unfortuneatly, my wife deos not agree. my kids havent had enough to really make up their mind. they are both quite young. i am hoping to influence them this year. i have a lot of things going for me that i didnt last year. which was the first year since my surgery. hopefully, we will have venison in the freezer this year, and hopefully, my kids will help me eat it.
 
Big key on preparing wild game is to get the critter field dressed and cooled down QUICK! I've had venison that was just this side of spoiled. Guy who got the deer let it sit for awhile. Bad move. Mine get field dressed on the spot and cooled down fast - makes for much better meat.
 
Paintball. I myself have never hung it but from reading these forums and various others I hear that's the way to do it. Age it 3 days some have said. It gives the blood more time to get out of the tissue and things which just sounds like a good idea to me.
 
If you Reeeallly want to save money on protein, then use a pellet gun or .22 on squirrels and rabbits. Very cheap and easy to do. I can pay $5.00 for a pack of pellets and have meat for a year, if need be. But i luv them steaks.
 
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