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 THIS TWICE BEFORE YOU START” scrawled across the top…
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Wild Food
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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.…
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…
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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…
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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…