What would the people who'd take far more deer do with them? Given the much commented upon lack of market for venison? You can't eat that many per year.
Daily Mail - Too many wild deer are roaming England's forests. Can promoting venison to consumers help?
- Thread starter Conor O'Gorman
- Start date
I think it has.
If someone has a poor eating experience they won't buy the product again, and they will influence others not to buy the product.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of people out there who've had a poor eating experience with venison, or have been influenced by someone who's had such an experience.
Proper carcass handling and preparation will significantly reduce the chances of someone eating venison and not liking it.
The people I have spoken to who have been put off eating it again, were put off by the tainted taste, (those smelly stags).
I also think that it would help if the venison was sold by species not just as venison. We would all (generally) recognise the difference between red or roe and would choose our preference. The general public don't have our experience, and pay dearly for theirs.
Taint of one sort or another can be caused by poor carcass handling, not just rutting stags.
A gut shot deer for example, that's been hosed out (the worst thing you could possibly do with a gut shot beast) will be pretty well tainted enough to put most people off their dinner.
Or a deer that's lain on its side in a warm vehicle for a few hours. That might taste a bit poor, too.
Yet game dealers are expected to take these beasts, and pay for them.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
To play the devils advocate - a beast with some green washed out quickly, how does that taint the meat? It’s on the inside of the rib cage and virtually little of the consumable meat is exposed to the rumen interior- the haunches would unlikely be affected, the backstraps definitely not, the shoulders definitely not
To add, when I’ve had a beast with a touch of green, I’ve never sold it, but I have also never tasted any difference when consumed for personal purposes
Washing carcasses is a big no-no.
It just spreads the contamination out into a thin layer all over, and drives it into cut surfaces. A musty taint quickly develops as a result, and mildew growth is far more likely.
nun_hunter
Well-Known Member
I agree to some extent but everyone I know who has bought venison has no idea what species it was or where it came from. Most of them bought it in a supermarket so likely farmed UK or NZ venison rather than wild UK stalked.
Everyone who I have given venison to have enjoyed it but I only shoot fallow and choose deer that look tasty
I've had red deer (farmed) that was from young stock and found it much stronger and gamey compared to fallow. One problem is that the Western world has been conditioned to eat tender soft meat that's is relatively bland so anything different is directly compared to chicken, beef, lamb and often in a negative way. Rather than being enjoyed for what it is.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Good?
Exactly! Deer are like pheasants, worth more alive than they are dead.
In my own experience I have never noticed any difference in the taste of deer wherever it is shot, myself and the wife eat a lot of mostly Sika probably 3 times a week from the odd accidental gut shot to head shot and I have never noticed any difference and my wife is the fussiest eater out there and she's never complained yet.
If I do accidentally gut shot one it is cleaned out with minimum water at the earliest opportunity which is normally within an hour or two of shooting and I have never been bad after eating, also If there is any signs of green I cut this away along with any surrounding meat damage.
If I do accidentally gut shot one it is cleaned out with minimum water at the earliest opportunity which is normally within an hour or two of shooting and I have never been bad after eating, also If there is any signs of green I cut this away along with any surrounding meat damage.
Mainstream food retail values consistency above all else which is impossible to provide from wild animals. Manual handling and intervention costs money and wild deer cannot be processed without this. As a result, wild venison will never be a mainstream food product. If venison grew in popularity to the point where large retailers were reacting to the demand, I suspect they would choose farmed deer over wild in order to maintain the consistency in product and supply that they desire.
If stalkers want to market wild venison without losing money then it must be as a premium product at a high price to cover the high cost of production. This in turn requires very high standards in processing and presentation and significant effort expended in telling the story of the product's origin. Several folks on here do well at this.
If stalkers want to market wild venison without losing money then it must be as a premium product at a high price to cover the high cost of production. This in turn requires very high standards in processing and presentation and significant effort expended in telling the story of the product's origin. Several folks on here do well at this.
devon deer stalker
Well-Known Member
My game dealer has got a lot stricter, and too be honest seeing what I have in the past hanging in the chiller has been a disgrace.
So, he requested no suspended gralloch (although some still do, as do I on occasion
) legs and head off back at the larder, and also the 'back end', no backside out and they get rejected, and no payment.
He was having his FSA inspection last year, I rocked up with 3 reds, the inspector watched me as I did the above, all good, although I was a little nervous.
But, he is still only paying £1/kg
More is coming in than he can push on, his freezers are almost full, and he has dropped his price to the retailers, and supplies tons to the country food trust.
Sorry to say, at the end of the day venison is an acquired taste, zero to do with how the public perceive us 'hunters'
The farmers still want them culled, some are telling me to drag them into the woods to rot.
It will never happen, but if the government want them reduced, they need to start paying a bounty for it.
By the way, as a I guide I can assure anyone that thinks I keep them for the clients is total tosh, apart from weekends I'm out every day, Friday I have organised a cull day, speaking for myself if it's brown its down. Without paying clients I couldn't make a modest, very modest profit.
But don't worry. the British Quality Wild Venison assurance scheme will rectify all of this
So, he requested no suspended gralloch (although some still do, as do I on occasion
) legs and head off back at the larder, and also the 'back end', no backside out and they get rejected, and no payment.He was having his FSA inspection last year, I rocked up with 3 reds, the inspector watched me as I did the above, all good, although I was a little nervous.
But, he is still only paying £1/kg
More is coming in than he can push on, his freezers are almost full, and he has dropped his price to the retailers, and supplies tons to the country food trust.
Sorry to say, at the end of the day venison is an acquired taste, zero to do with how the public perceive us 'hunters'
The farmers still want them culled, some are telling me to drag them into the woods to rot.
It will never happen, but if the government want them reduced, they need to start paying a bounty for it.
By the way, as a I guide I can assure anyone that thinks I keep them for the clients is total tosh, apart from weekends I'm out every day, Friday I have organised a cull day, speaking for myself if it's brown its down. Without paying clients I couldn't make a modest, very modest profit.
But don't worry. the British Quality Wild Venison assurance scheme will rectify all of this
