Look who I just met in my parking lot at work :)

[ET Awful]

Unfortunately, I didn't have all my settings on the camera set up right, so the pictures are kind of blurry. This was the best of a bad set of shots :(

[Theres-a]

Awwwwwww

[ewagner]

1. Hmmm...."John Deer"

mowing the grass?

[bertha katzenengel]

2. Hello, you sweety little critter, you!

You've got long pointy ears!

[davidinalameda]

3. bambi burgers!

[texas1928]

4. That is a young buck.

He is just starting to grow his antlers for the year.

[ET Awful]

8. He's so young he's still kind of unsteady on his feet :)

When he ran off he was a bit wobbly :)

His mom was off on the other side of the building too, but she wouldn't come out where I could see her.

[Roland99]

5. Dinner!

[patrice]

6. She's giving you the eye. I hope you tried to talk to her. n/t

[jswordy]

7. Deer are overpopulating the nation. The total population...

....is now greater than it was when Columbus landed. Since we have removed all of their natural predators, and since our activities have opened up lots more edge habitat, there are more deer now than the ecosystem can carry in good health. They are suffering, too, from chronic wasting disease and other diseases a healthy predator population would have kept down. We need to shoot more of them. And BTW, the venison we smoked on the grill Sunday is super-tasty! The key is to make a clean kill, so they drop instantly. Then the adrenaline does not get into the meat, and it stays sweet and tender.

Sigh...now that is TASTY! And low fat, to boot!

[ET Awful]

9. I've never liked vennison in the slightest. I just hate the taste.

I'm not so much anti-hunting as I am . . . just not liking the taste :)

[jswordy]

10. You have not had it killed nor cooked properly then.

To taste sweet and nice, the deer must be dropped quickly. Then it must be carefully field dressed. Then it must be marinated, either in a brine solution or in a special marinade made for the purpose by the cook or bought for the purpose. When cooked, large hunks are best slow smoked at about 250-300 degrees for 4 to 6 hours. Baste with a brown sugar solution and some marinade, by preference.

Sigh. But today, many "hunters" only go out on their ATV a couple weekends a year. If they get a deer, they will likely be poor aims and shoot it badly and then have to track it as it dies. Adrenaline gets in the meat that way, giving a gamey taste. The taste can be toned down in the marinade, but the meat loses a lot of flavor.

Also, field dressing is an art that is often not taught, or poorly taught, to hunters today. The head is the key to many hunters today...they want a mount, is all. So then field dressing (if it occurs at all) comes as an after-thought, and mistakes made here can ruin meat and also make it unsafe for consumption. These kinds of hunters usually give away the meat, so they don't care. Sadly, the first taste of deer most city folks get is from "some meat my friend got from a guy."

Lastly, many cooks are not used to what it takes to prepare low-fat muscle meat. They are used to cornfed beef, a much quicker proposition.

Find a dedicated hunter who knows how to cook (or has a partner who does), and you will have some fine eating.

[ET Awful]

15. I grew up in a small town in the mountains, I'm hardly "city folks".

My grandfather was an avid hunter his entire life and gave me almost verbatim the same spiel you just did, I disagreed with him too :).

I just don't like vennison.

[jswordy]

18. I never said you were city folks...reread the post. And...

...it is difficult on any subject to open the closed mind. If yours is made up, let's move on then.

Myself, I have eaten some fine, sweet, non-gamey venison. There is some in my freezer now, smoked, and also in my fridge. It just needs to be done a certain way, is all.

[ET Awful]

19. The only venison I've ever had that I actually enjoyed was some

sausage that a friend of my uncles used to make. That was some tasty stuff.

The rest, I've never much cared for.

[jswordy]

21. OK. Good deal.

[jus_the_facts]

13. grilled wasting disease.......

:wtf:

:puke:

[jswordy]

16. It's pretty easy to identify wasting disease. And when you get the deer...

...tagged, the game warden will also be looking for it.

LOL

[pscot]

17. Lions, man

We need to bring the lions back. Helps to keep the dogs and joggers in check too.

[ET Awful]

20. Yeah, those damn joggers are really screwin' up the place.

A jogger pooped in my garden the other day :) n/t

[jandrok]

22. Well said.

The exploding deer population has really been devastating to some neighborhoods here in Central Texas.

Interestingly enough, the coyote problem has increased along with the deer. Coyotes are one of the natural predators of the deer, but as they have moved into urban areas, they have discovered that they really don't need to work for their food. Plenty of trash cans to knock over and such.

I've got some good venison recipes. I got a stew recipe that would knock yer socks off.

[arwalden]

11. I Have FOUR Of Those That Are Pissing On My Lawn...

... and pooping on my driveway and eating my azaleas.

[ET Awful]

12. We've gone from complaining about cats pooping in gardens to deer

pooping on driveways :evilgrin:

We're really in trouble when the elephants start showing up.

[MissB]

14. I have three that wander through my yard nearly every day

They seem to be partial to my rose leaves, my blueberry leaves, and my plum leaves.

[jswordy]

23. I had a piebald who used to come with 8-10 others, but...

...a hunter got her. She was so beautiful. I had heard it was illegal to shoot piebalds in TN, but have since found out it is not. A shame. With their white coats, they are easy marks. But they are stunning creatures.

Third pic down here is of a piebald...

http://home.att.net/~giffk/cf1.htm

Hunters consider them a prized trophy. But I think they ought to be off-limits, they are so breathtaking to see.

UNDER EDIT: I wanted to add that albino deer ARE protected in TN...but a piebald deer is NOT an albino.