Deer Hunting is for the Birds...

In 2014 our goals are to become even more self sufficient living more from the land... Deer hunting is one way we do... There are those who scoff at the idea of hunting... Deer are beautiful creatures, but just like any population they need to be managed, and if you've seen what they can do to a car or a soybean field I think you'd agree we could use a few less...  

As we think about becoming more self reliant deer hunting is a way for our family to bring home natural food that was grown here on our land, it is lean and healthy and never steps foot in any kind of processing plant. Regardless of your views on hunting there is something neat about being able to go out into nature and provide for your family. 

Nate has become quite the hunter and already this year on Crop Damage Permits and during regular season has put 5 deer in our freezer. This is his 8 point from last season and to be honest we don't even know where the rack went.. we put it out for the foxes.. Let's face it... when you are harvesting deer for food for your family a rack is not something that matters. In fact if you had our choice we'd prefer a young yearling because of the meat quality...

Nate and I cut the deer up ourselves and use Leslie Wright's

100 year old knives and meat grinder and meat saws to get the job done.

In an effort to honor what we killed and make the most of every piece of the animal I decided to give making homemade suet a try. If you know my Nate he is a total Bird Nerd and we go through POUNDS of bird seed each winter. Because of this we enjoy Indigo Buntings, Blue Birds, and even a rare albino Sparrow as guests to our yard.  

 I began by taking the tallow/ back fat from the deer. If you wanted to try this at home you can use tallow bought from the butcher.

Then ground it into a meat fat paste... less gross than it sounds in real life I promise!

I then rendered it in my trusting canning pot from the Goodwill... turning it into the consistency of bacon fat. 

While it was still warm I added a jar of Natural Peanut Butter and a heaping helping of birdseed.

Then I re purposed some old coffee mugs and filled them with the mixture and popped them into the freezer mainly to keep the critters out of them.

I hung them on our usual spot and on this snowy day I got to enjoy the show.

You don't have to agree with hunting, but I'm sure we can all agree that nature is a pretty amazing thing and being able to enjoy it is one of the greatest blessings we have here at 2950.

Until next time... happy bird nerding... 

~AVR~