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- Three Things I Learned Hunting With a Master Chef
Three Things I Learned Hunting With a Master Chef
The pursuit of wild game and motivation for doing so differs widely across the world. Sportsmen in the US primarily pursue wildlife for sport, and to fill our personal freezers with delicious fair for family and friends. Of course, many are always on the lookout for a great trophy for the wall. Regardless of the reason, we spend weeks or months planning, applying, training, and days in the field, for what might be one chance at an animal. In the spring of 2022, I was fortunate to spend a few days with Farming the Wild host, Mike Robinson, at his home in the Cotswolds of England. Hunting in the UK proved itself to be very different than here at home. Here are three things I learned hunting with a master chef.
YES, THESE DEER ACTUALLY EXIST
In just a few days I had left behind the traditional mountains, farm fields, and forests, where most game is pursued in the US, in exchange for the grounds of the Bathurst Estate. Fallow deer, roe deer, muntjac, and the Chinese water deer all call this place home. We pursued all four species at once, with the roe deer being the only one with an official season. They alternate buck and doe season for that species. Our quarry all exists together in Eastern England. The Chinese water deer are now known as an invasive species. It did not take me long to understand why, because, they are prolific breeders, and all the females we harvested were pregnant. They are the equivalent of our wild boar problem in the US. I truly understood that this hunting was not for sport, but for sustainability. Sustainability of the land, for the health of the deer population, and for the people this wild game feeds.
Mike hunts to supply meat to his four restaurants and a burgeoning venison supply/delivery service. This necessitates the need to preserve as much meat on the animals he harvests as possible Therefore, these animals are harvested with an accurate shot to the neck. This is not an easy task with any animal, let alone ones as small as the species that call England home. This was new for me because I had always been taught to aim for the vitals when hunting. On the first evening of our hunt, I was able to harvest a Chinese water deer and a muntjac, five minutes apart. Each deer was taken with a neck shot, and it dropped them where they stood each time.
MARKET HUNTING = CONSERVATION
Hunting has a singular purpose of managing game populations and the land they live on. There are no licenses, no tags, no lotteries or draws. Landowners either manage the wildlife populations on their properties or bring in people like Mike Robinson to manage the land for them. In fact, penalties exist for landowners who do not have a management plan for their property. This requires Mike and his team hunt multiple times per week in order to manage over 46,000 acres for landowners. They even have a quota of deer they need to harvest in addition to harvesting enough game to meet the consumer demand for venison. Their team may harvest as many as 1,200 deer per year as they manage their land, but the team processes over 3,500 for restaurant and consumer consumption. Strict guidelines must also be followed regarding the documentation and handling of meat. The deer are tagged, logged into a harvest book, hung in the cooler, and eventually processed. The continued conservation of the land Mike manages depends on the continued demand for venison.
HARVESTED GAME SERVES A GREAT AND TASTY ROLE
Mike is an award-winning chef, known for his wild game restaurants across England. He harvests wild game to supply meat to not only his restaurants, but many others across the country. When Mike’s restaurants closed during the pandemic there was nowhere to distribute the game meat, and the management of game species was in jeopardy. With a stroke of ingenuity, Mike and his team created Deer Box. This online service allowed consumers to order venison straight to their doors. Not only could consumers continue to receive a great source of protein from wild game, but Mike and his team could continue the important management of the land.
One great thing about hunting with an award-winning chef is the post-hunt meal! I was amazed at what Mike whipped together with my freshly harvested Chinese water deer, in the back of his Land Rover. The amazing Chinese water deer stir-fry can be found in the Wild Table section of the blog.
A truly remarkable experience. Hunting in a new place, for new species, for a new purpose.
Learn more about Mike Robinson here:
