Venison & deer stalking – your views please

Dealers / butchers are paying anywhere between 80p to £2 per kilo for in the fur venison at the minute – anything over about £1/kg is the exception to be honest. Prices a year or so ago were £2.20-£2.90ish, so if you can find the primary producer and can deal with larger quantities then venison can be very cheap.

I just sold a couple of whole roe (15-20kg larder weight) – one was whole, in the fur and the other was skinned and butchered into prime cuts (haunches, loins, shanks and a bunch of stewing). £30 in the skin, £40 butchered.

Giving Up the Game FB page is a good place to start.

I like it, although don’t tend to eat it at home, partly as I just don’t eat that much meat at home. There also isn’t a local butcher anywhere near me and I find supermarket meat, esp game, expensive and a bit meh!

Would like to see it more regularly, same with things like Pheasant – Pheasant mince is a great beef substitute and much better than burying the poor shot beasties!

We are getting home delivery.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140397021@N03/shares/37srs4

Cracking buck. And your garden is looking amazing for this time of year – ours is a total mess 😉

Haven’t eaten it in a while but do like it. If it was more readily available in my local area then I would buy it more. Suspect it actually is but I’m not in the right shops.

Not me.

.22 250 and hundreds of foxes. I am very experienced and knowledgeable.

And yet !

How many deer included in those fox numbers ?

Giving Up the Game FB page is a good place to start.

Cheers!

so in the last couple of months we have had a few delivered. the last one was a big old doe, and the latest one is a muntjac. so much easier to lug about. Anyway, we started with some really cheap plastic handled knives which are fine, but they do not remain sharp for very long – you need to have a steel with you, and we have a whetstone so we sharpen them regularly. Is it worth buying some posher knives that might remain sharper for longer? Any recommendations?

Eat it a lot in preference to beef. need to be careful cooking it as it can be a bit dry.

Local buffalo farm (Fife) sells it and we buy from there. if you can set up some form of refrigerated/cooled delivery like the cheese companies, I’d buy direct from the gamekeeper!

@porter_jamie – in short, nope! Victorinox plastic handled are all you need and used by lots of professionals. They’re constantly flicking them over a steel though. I’ve got a 5″ flexible boning knife and a larger steak knife. That’s all you need to break down a carcass but a bone saw does make things easier for cutting ribs / french rack etc, and also for going through the neck / spine, although that can be done with a knife if you find a joint.

@Smudger666 – check out Dartmoor Deer Services – mail order direct from source, but a fair chance the venison in your local farm shop will have fewer food miles than sending it all the way from Devon 🙂

How many deer included in those fox numbers ?

Bit of a loaded question there (excuse the pun)
Seeing as there’s a muzzle energy limit and from memory a bullet weight range too for smaller rounds.
Think it’s regional too so 22-250 is legal in England (with constraints) but not legal in Scotland? Might be the other way round as it’s a while since I knew about this stuff.

Id prefer to see deer populations trimmed right back.

It would raise the value of venison.

It would lower the amount of ticks, thus minimising the possibility of contracting Lyme disease and/ or tick-borne encephalitis.

With less deer, there would be a chance for trees to reclaim the highland landscape.

In the meantime, that land could also be used to grow hemp/ bamboo, thus providing a habitat for birds.

Personally, I’d be wary of handling a deer carcass. With the whole Lyme disease issue, that’s a clear health and safety snafu. What would your union rep say?

I’m sure the venison tastes amazing🤩

To answer the OP, love eating venison in most forms. Costco still selling it, I bought some yesterday. If I had a local supplier I’d buy more & could easily use venison instead of beef most of the time.

As for deer population in the Highlands, would I be correct in stating that there are far too many & voluntary control of the numbers is’nt working? The landscape has been altered by the number of deer & this has a knock-on effect on other species & the number of trees. There must be a joined up solution to bring the numbers down & get the carcases into the food chain.

Lots of good points coming up here; I’m a fan of eating wild venison and do regularly, certainly more often than the rare occasions that we have beef.
I’ve a pal who runs a hill shoot in the west and butchers at home; I’ll also buy it regularly from a village butchers near home and sometimes elsewhere too.
There’s clearly room for the market to grow, just like the specialist seafood suppliers and restaurants arranging home deliveries. See ‘The Oyster Shed’. They do venison now as well.

Davesport, you’re right; voluntary control doesn’t work, many of the old school (by attitude) estate owners are not interested in reducing deer and sheep numbers to sustainable levels on our hills.
Red deer are undersized and borderline starving in many areas; they and the roe, sika & fallow are all eating young trees and underbrush, preventing regrowth of natural forests. Internationally, red deer do better when they have access to shelter and better still when they have to watch out for predators too.
What would help, in a few areas, is a wild population of lynx but that’s a long way off yet.
Perhaps have a look at the Scotland, The Big Picture campaign for another perspective on this.

@Davesport not just the highlands, you cant move for them where i am in essex – probably because so much of the land where they hang around is near to housing so its not safe to shoot them there.

Personally, I’d be wary of handling a deer carcass. With the whole Lyme disease issue, that’s a clear health and safety snafu.

Nah, it’s not an issue. Lyme is a tick issue (More folk get ticks from walking and from pets) so as long as you check yourself for ticks yer fine.

Thanks for the heads up on the Giving up the Game FB page, I’ve just joined it.

To the OP, I love it, in my top 3 of favourite meats. Years ago I was told to treat it like you would lamb when it came to cooking it and I’ve never been disappointed with the outcomes following that advice.

Sadly, I’m unlikely to be in a position to try sourcing my own, as that means going through the FAC application which is getting tougher and stalking is no longer a reason by itself reading my application for a shotgun. I do have bows, which would do the job, but is highly illegal.

What would help, in a few areas, is a wild population of lynx but that’s a long way off yet.

There was talk of doing exactly this at Kielder forest a couple of years ago, pretty sure it got a fair bit of support, obvs the local sheep farmers were not keen but not sure whether it’s still under consideration. Venison is probably my favourite meat at the minute and most of the major supermarkets sell it these days, most of it from New Zealand ffs, surely it can’t be cheaper and easier to source meat from the other side of the planet when the UK is overrun with deer

stalking is no longer a reason by itself

Stalking absolutely is a reason on it’s own.

You don’t even need a permission to shoot on as paid days out is enough to obtain an FAC (you need to show proof of booking in some instances.

FAC application which is getting tougher and stalking is no longer a reason by itself reading my application for a shotgun

Stalking is a reason for an FAC. You cannot shoot a deer with a shotgun, at all, apart from humane despatch of course. Getting permission on some ground is the hardest thing of all.

FAC?

Fire arms certificate?

Doh, of course. As you were.

FAC is short for Firearm certificate, the license to own rifle

Brads, Porter-Jamie, just reread the notes, and yes you both are correct, I misread.

You could push the leaness factor, always some group claiming fat is bad, and venison has none. The healthier choice.

I personally find it a little ‘Gamey’ for my tastes, I know the older generation and others dont like a plate full of blood(yes I know its not really blood)I always seem to need to overcook it though i prefer beef to be rarish. In sausage and meatball format, due to its lack of fat it can tend to be a bit on the dry side.
Im not sure how people would take the management of slaughter for venison. Its understood for all that the main 3 are dispatched in a slaughterhouse, but venison is a free roaming animal and nobody is really aware of how it gets from hill to plate, certainly not the usual routes, and that lack of knowledge lends rise to animal charity groups setting forth myths about that side of the industry.

In your average general city butchers, venison isnt high on the supply list. The customer knows its there but theres never been a great call for it outside of xmas or new year. I suppose now, with less butchers shops, many are pushing the specialist outlet for their shop, priced to match, but I dont think without having the meat federation behind it its ever going to get into the publics shopping lists as a staple over lamb,beef or pork.

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A favourite use of mine for venison burgers is to fold them around something like a frozen chunk of garlic butter or some other sauce(cheese is nice), as its stickiness(from the lack of fat) kind of waterproofs it a bit and it sauce doesnt leak out all over the baking tray.

I make up filled burgers, wrapped in smoked streaky bacon, wrapped in foil for the oven, off for the last 10 mins to crisp the bacon.

Seemed too miss this when first posted.

But we love eating venison at home, we go through phases of it being our most consumed meat. To the point it is our toddlers favourite meat!
Over the last few years I’ve bought them whole from a local estate (Scottish borders) then butchered them myself at home and stored in the freezer. As stated above this way works out rather cheap (£30 for a whole carcass – which equated to about 8-10kg of meat).
Easy to end up with a mix of steaks, roasts, mince and dice and shanks. Then just substitute mince/dice into things that may have used beef or lamb (bolognaise, chilli).
For steaks or roasts cooking is a little different to beef, but there are plenty of great recipes online or books around about it.

Reminds me its time to get one again…

Regarding it being dry – yep, agreed it can be if you roast something like a haunch whole. There’s little fat in it to keep the meat moist. What I’ve found works best:
– Steaks / loin – cooked like beef steaks, seared and pink in the middle etc.
– Mince – chilli, bolognaise, lasagne etc are all great
– Haunch – I usually split down into the main muscle groups and cut steaks, but best way to cook whole is to butterfly, marinade and barbie (keeping it pink in the middle)
– Shanks – slow cooked in stews – meat falls off the bone. There are some great recipes for moroccan lamb shanks that work equally well with venison. Lovely!
– Burgers – with a bit of pork shoulder to add fat, or some spicy chorizo (adds fat and you can still leave the burgers a bit pink).
– Sausages – been making some great venison meguez. 2/3 venison, 1/3 belly pork / back fat and using a mix from Weshenfelder. Huge hit with anyone who’s tried them
– Stews – diced is great in stews. Favourite is spiced venison with chocolate https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-braised-venison-chilli-chocolate

Bumpity bump.

In the interests of reducing overgrazing, does anyone know of a butcher who can get wild venison in Rochdale/Bury?

Sounds from above like slow cooker/ninja is the answer?

I love venison.
If hunting with bow was allowed i would like to hunt my own.

In the interests of reducing overgrazing

This doesn’t make sense.

Venison sourced from wild herds sustains the degraded an unnatural uplands we have in the UK….?

You’ve lost me a bit – surely the point as per the Guardian a while back is that reducing wild deer numbers reduces overgrazing, and seeing as we haven’t got any wolves…

You’ve lost me a bit – surely the point as per the Guardian a while back is that reducing wild deer numbers reduces overgrazing

In the highlands several estates deliberately keep the population higher than would be naturally sustainable in order to ensure the best hunting experience aka being able to basically guarantee a kill rather than spending a couple of days seeing nothing but midges.

Several estates?  IIRC the deer population is Scotland is 10x the sustainable level hence a lot of them are malnourished and are regressing to smaller animals.

a lot of them are malnourished and are regressing to smaller animals.

So getting stuck into the venison burgers is good for the general deer population then?

Venison sourced from wild herds sustains the degraded an unnatural uplands we have in the UK….?

Haven’t we now decided (and designated accordingly) that the barren upland landscapes that sheep and deer cause are what we expect and want to see in tbe countryside? So the argument now is a welfare one, keeping deer populations controlled so we don’t see starving ones?

@dashed i thought about this thread after someone posted about a cull on the Hebrides on my holiday thread. whats the going rate £/kg at the dealers these days? Since posting 2 years ago we went on a butchery course locally. it was quite good, and we were taught a much better way of skinning. Had a 52kg in the fur buck the other day which was hard work. Trying to get the freezer full before the end of the season.
As an aside I’m thinking of doing dsc1 to educate myself more about the whole thing. Trying some of the online training and the hard bit for me is trying to identify gender and species from a crappy photo with no context! I’m not sure i want to actually do the stalking part, its a lot of work dragging them off the field and you need lots of equipment and so on. I’m certainly not into trophy hunting or paying 1000s to bag a stag and then let someone else gralloch it. Probably stick with the amateur butchering for now.

God I’m hungry now. Already had this week’s meat… got to find venison for next week, for sure. Maybe game pie…

Venison sourced from wild herds sustains the degraded an unnatural uplands we have in the UK….?

Not if the deer are culled back low enough. Glen Feshie has regenerated without fencing because of a big cut in deer numbers.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/feb/14/cairngorms-valley-scotland-rewilding-holiday

Glenfeshie: How zero tolerance brought back the trees