Thread: Kaipara Hunting and Fishing Camp - Success!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by phillipgr

Big thanks to mucko, Rushy and everyone else on this forum for the help you've all given me. Its been great having that advice and teaching and I think that deer would have taken me a lot longer to get if it weren't for all the help. Thanks again, I'm stoked.

I think I will do the camp next year too and I'll give you a buzz if they're short on helpers, cheers guys.

Venison tasted pretty damn good tonight at the party. The rest of the family seemed to like it too. I think I may not have hung it long enough though, as it could have been a little bit more tender. It was a really hot day, I shot it at 5.30am and butchered it at 1.30pm, is that a bit short for a deer that size on a hot day? I tried to make sure I didn't over cook it, but I think some pieces I could have taken off the BBQ a little earlier - maybe that was it. But still very tasty. Look forward to making a nice casserole and I think I might try my hand at making some jerky too. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Phillipgr last night I just had the first of the Fallow that I shot a 9 days back. It had spent all that time in the chill of an old fridge. The back steaks were "melt in your mouth" tender. The secret to cooking venison is to never take it past medium rare and as VC says know that it does continue to cook some as you rest it after cooking. You can get a good judgement of how cooked a piece of steak is by pressing your finger into it and comparing it to the muscle that is on the palm of your hand just under your thumb. Holding your thumb to your first finger = rare, thumb to middle finger = medium rare, thumb to third finger = medium and thumb to little finger = well done.