Disagrees with columnist

Published 11:22 pm Saturday, February 16, 2008

This is in response to Robert St. John’s “Deer Sausage” column (Wednesday, Feb. 13). I would have to disagree fully with Mr. St. John. I, along with my entire family, eat deer meat almost at every meal. My freezer is full of tenderized deer steak, ground deer meat, ground deer sausage, smoked sausage links, deer summer sausage and deer tamales. I, as well as my husband and one of my children, are avid hunters. We enjoy hunting as well as fishing, not just for sport. We do enjoy “killing the BIG BUCK” but we do not waste the meat. It all goes in the freezer and eventually on the dinner table. Not just my dinner table either, my friends and family often enjoy it as well in chili, meatloaf, hamburgers, etc. As a matter of fact, some of my family members have sworn “I DO NOT EAT DEER MEAT” and were shoving it in their mouth while they were saying it.

Deer meat is very lean and high in protein and when properly prepared, is very delicious. Yes, there are people out there that only hunt for sport and do not utilize the animal after it has been slain; this I do not agree with. But yet there are some people who do not hunt, but do ask others “if you happen to kill an extra deer, I will pay for the processing if I can have the meat.” Mr. St. John, I would have to say that whomever you are getting your deer meat from is not processing it properly or either you are not cooking it properly. Deer meat can be substituted into any recipe that calls for ground hamburger, sausage, etc.

My family lives off of the deer that we kill each year during deer season much like many farmers’ families live off the cattle that they raise or vegetables that they grow each year. I don’t buy any meat at the grocery store other than chicken and that isn’t very often. So, I would have to disagree with your statement that deer meat isn’t good. When processed and prepared properly, you wouldn’t know if you were eating deer meat or beef. Give deer meat a chance, you may enjoy it after all.



Candy Miles

Meridian