Wild Food
You’re 1,200 Miles From the Nearest Icebox. Now Keep the Meat From Rotting.
You wake up because a mosquito is drinking from the corner of your mouth. Late June, 1843. The canvas glows gray before dawn. Somewhere…
Read the story
Field guide
36 published stories
Wild Food
Honest field-to-table guidance on game and fish handling, cooling, butchery, cooking, food safety, and the mistakes worth avoiding.
Latest in the field
Stories worth your time
Wild Food
Great-Grandfather’s Leather Folder, Recipe No. 2: Skunk (Read This Twice)
I almost skipped this one. The leather folder fell open to a page with “READ…
Wild Food
How to Tell If Deer Meat Is Spoiled: A Hunter’s No-BS Guide
Every hunting season, someone opens their freezer, pulls out a package of venison, and hesitates.…
Continue exploring
More from this section
Wild Food
Great-Grandfather’s Leather Folder, Recipe No. 1: Squirrel Stew
A few winters ago I was cleaning out my grandmother’s attic — the kind of job you put off for…
Wild Food
Four YouTube Videos Won’t Save Your First Field Dressing
I watched four YouTube videos the night before my first solo field dressing. Four. I sat on the couch with…
Wild Food
How to Ruin Your First Deer and Serve It to Your Parents Anyway
I was twenty-three when I killed my first whitetail. It was a small six-point, nothing special to anyone but me.…
Wild Food
Cooking Venison Like a Pioneer Is Harder Than It Looks. Pizza Delivery Saved the Night.
There’s a picture of me somewhere on my cousin Dave’s phone. I’m standing next to a campfire, holding a blackened…
Wild Food
Too Proud to Ask for Help: The Fastest Way to Ruin Your First Deer
The first deer I ever shot, I lost maybe thirty percent of the meat. Not to bad shot placement —…
Wild Food
Squirrel Stew Tastes Better When Your Wife Thinks It’s Chicken
There’s a particular look people give you when you tell them you ate a squirrel. It’s somewhere between “are you…
Wild Food
Venison Doesn’t Taste Gamey. You Just Handled It Wrong.
Venison has a reputation. “Gamey.” “Tough.” “Tastes like the woods.” I’ve heard it all. And I’ve also served venison to…
Wild Food
Forty Dollars of Knives, a YouTube Video, and a First Deer
My first time butchering a deer I watched two YouTube videos, bought a $40 knife set from Amazon, and told…
Wild Food
From Field to Freezer: How I Learned to Butcher My Own Deer (Badly, Then Better)
The first deer I butchered myself was a disaster. I had YouTube pulled up on my phone, a dull knife…