Oh deer, oh deer, oh deer!

The boys were out today to meet the local forester and pick up some bait for our traps. As part of their duties, the foresters cull deer in the forests to keep their numbers down. In the absence of natural predators to control their numbers, a deer population left unchecked would destory any regenaration within the forest, making it a poor habitat for all other species.

Anyway, Raymond had lots of goodies for our martens, but also a particularly fine looking Sika roe deer. Now Sika are a non-native species (infact they are Japanese), but they are able to hybridise with our native Reds, causing a problem in itself. But apparently, of all the deer, they make the best eating.


Mmmmmm! Tasty!

On hearing that we can, through work privileges, get deer at £1 per kilo, the boys couldn't resist and bought the entire carcass there and then. The beast needs to be skinned and then hung a while, so we won't get her til next week. Then, as she won't have been butchered, we will have to do it ourselves. Just clear the kitchen table, get sharpening a good couple of knives, and learn on the spot how to cut up a carcass with the aid of Daniel's "Complete Book Of Self-Sufficiency". Its not something I've ever done before, but I have to say, I'm quite excited at the prospect. Is that wrong?

But with 17kg of venison to get rid of, I think we could be eating venison stew, venison curry, venison chops, venison steaks, venison kebabs, venison pie, venison suasages, venison burgers and etc etc for the next few weeks.

Any recipes gladly received on a postcard please!