Focus is often placed on a bow’s poundage, draw length, overall design and an arrows length, weight, the broadhead used, and components of the spine. With all this information there seems to be very little attention given to where the actual arrow needs to rest on the bow.

Not only is an arrow rest an integral part of a bow setup, but it can also directly affect the flight and accuracy of the arrow.

Let’s analyze two of the more unique arrow rests, the whisker biscuit and the drop-away rest.

Whisker Biscuit

The introduction of the whisker biscuit in 2003 sent shock waves through the bow hunting industry as it was viewed as a revolutionary piece of equipment that was so simple, so obvious, and yet entirely unique when compared to other arrow rests.

A whisker biscuit’s design is made for simple insertion of the arrow for nocking while providing it with complete stability, there is almost no movement in the arrow’s position.

The “whiskers” that hold the arrow in place are synthetic bristles that form a complete perimeter holding the arrow firmly.

Having the arrow completely encased means the archer can shoot from almost any angle or position. It was this benefit alone that catapulted the whisker biscuit to becoming a firm favorite amongst many tree stand hunters.

Another simple, yet masterful, piece of engineering, was the V-shaped cut into the biscuit called the quick shot – an entry slot that allows the arrow to be loaded with efficiency and ease.

Drop Away Rest

There are many varieties and adaptions when it comes to drop-away rests, but essentially, they all operate in a similar fashion and have a unique feature that distinguishes them from the static rests, such as the whisker biscuit.

The drop-away rest holds your arrow in an upright position through the draw cycle and then falls out of the way as the arrow leaves the bow.

The falling away action of the rest means there is nothing impacting the arrow’s flight. The idea is that there is no external influence on the arrow once it receives the bow’s energy.

With the very nature of hunting being unpredictable, most of the drop-away rests geared for hunters have a full-containment system which holds the arrow firmly in place during full draw.

There are three types of drop-away rests:

1. Cable-driven rests: These use a cord that connects to the down cable of a compound bow. Once the bow is drawn, the cable pulls down on the cord, which raises the rest into position. When the arrow is released, the cord flies up and the rest falls.

1. Limb-driven rests: With this type of rest the cord attaches to the top or bottom limb. The cord holds the rest in the down position. When the bow is drawn, the cord relaxes, and the rest rises into position. At the release of the trigger, the limb goes back to its normal position, pulling the cord tight and the rest down.

1. Inertia rests: Here the cord is attached to the don cable or limb, but they can be cocked in the upright position which will help if the bow is drawn and then let down without shooting, the arrow will stay in the shooting position. Only once the string is released will the inertia fall away.

Pros and Cons of the Whisker Biscuit

Pros:

• Simplicity
• No moving parts, means zero chance of mechanical failure and repetitive maintenance
• The arrow is firmly held regardless of how the bow is angled
• Comes in three different sizes to accommodate small to large arrow spines
• Not affected by varying weather conditions

Cons:

• Although very slight, the whisker biscuit does reduce speed and accuracy of the arrow. The difference is minuscule which should not affect hunters, but it is something to consider for competition shooters
• Whiskers will put stress on the arrow vanes, and they will need to be re-fletched after a while
• Adds a noise to the bow. Again, a minor issue but many bow hunters want their setup to be as quiet as possible

Pros and cons of the Drop Away Rest

Pros:

• Allows for better accuracy and tighter groupings for those hunters who want to be specific in their target shooting
• Minimal friction on the arrow which turns out a higher arrow velocity
• Quieter as the arrow does not have to pass through any bristles

Cons:

• Prone to failure with moveable parts, constant maintenance must be done
• Pricing of a drop away rest on average can be higher than a whisker biscuit
• The arrow may fall off from the rest while moving or crawling to get closer to an animal
• Moveable parts tend to be affected by extreme weather conditions
• Attaching the cords to the limbs or strings may take time or be forgotten by the hunter

Which is Faster?

Speed is on every bowhunter’s mind, and many have questioned whether an arrow rest affects the speed of an arrow? The short answer is yes, but which arrow rest is faster and by how much?

Various chronograph tests on arrows fired from a whisker biscuit versus one fired from a drop-away rest have consistently shown that the arrow from a whisker biscuit is on average 3 – 6 feet per second slower than a drop-away rest.

It is simple physics that the more drag created on a moving object, the slower its speed and momentum will be.

What is interesting however, was the variation in speed of arrows with different vanes when fired from a whisker biscuit.

• 4” Vanes slower by 1 – 2 feet per second
• 5” Vanes slower by 5 – 7 feet per second
• 5” Vanes with a 6-degree helical slower by 12 – 15 feet per second

How to Choose the Right Rest?

In order to choose the correct arrow rest, it is best to match the rest with the type of archer you are.

A hunter that prefers to put a stalk on through wooded areas or has no problem crawling over rocky ground to close in the distance on an animal would want their arrow to be held firmly in place and not have to fiddle with cables or drop plates just before letting an arrow fly.

Hence, they would be inclined to choose the whisker biscuit.

Then you have a competition shooter that needs every part of their bow to be perfectly in tune and adapted to pinpoint accuracy.

Competitive shooters will scrutinize every inch of their equipment and wouldn’t settle for bristles that may influence the accuracy of the arrow by as little 1/16th of an inch. This accuracy comes from the drop-away rests.

Some questions that may help with decision making:

1. Are you happy to sacrifice a small amount of speed for arrow stability?
2. Is the risk of mechanical failure a concern?
3. Are you ok with replacing vanes on a regular basis?

Conclusion

Although these points can be seen as minor or easily managed through the correct maintenance of your equipment, they are none the less still issues which many archers would need to consider when deciding on a whisker biscuit vs drop-away rest.

As soon as the sun goes down, you’re faced with an unfortunate reality.

For safety’s sake — or simply to remain on the right side of the law, depending on what you’re use case is — you have to stop shooting.

At least, you did, until night vision optics became a practical reality for recreational consumer-level shooters. These systems are cheaper, better, and easier to use than ever before, and they can make a ton of sense under the right circumstances.

The night vision marketplace can be confusing, but with our guide, you’ll be able to wade through the jargon and figure out what purchases make sense for you. Keep in mind, this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive survey of the night vision optic marketplace.

That would take many thousands of words and is probably beyond the need of most shooters. Instead, we’ll look at a few practical setups you might want to run, either for hunting or tactical applications.

Why Night Vision?

This is a question every shooter has to answer for him or herself.

Are you interested in night vision optics for a theoretical tactical advantage? Are you just a shooting enthusiast who wants to experiment with different situations and use cases?

Maybe you’re a hunter who can legally take certain types of game at night. In some places, deprivation permits allow hog hunting after dark — which is an excellent time to catch wild pigs out in the open … see our guide to pig hunting here.

Or perhaps you have a rat infestation and an air gun waiting for some target opportunities in a safe setting — (you have read our 5 Best Air Guns, right?).

Whatever the case, your intended application should determine what kind of night vision optic setup you purchase, and what you’re likely going to need to spend for effective results.

There are too many possible applications to cover optics for every scenario, so we’ll look at different types of night vision technology and specific optics, along with their range of suitable applications, to help you figure out what you’ll need in the field.

What is NVD?

What are people talking about when they discuss night vision optics? There’s a long history that it’s helpful to understand as you go about making a purchasing decision.

Night vision devices, or NVDs, were developed and deployed for military applications as early as World War II. The Germans put a portable unit in the field called the ZG 1229 Vampir, an active infrared device that was mounted on Sturmgewehr 44 rifles and powered by a backpack battery.

Of course, this type of technology was set to completely change warfare, as night fighting is normally a highly risky proposition without adequate intel and illumination. The U.S. developed “zero generation” active infrared devices in parallel with the Germans, and Sniperscope infrared devices also appeared on WWII battlefields on the Allied side.

Development continued through the Korean War and Vietnam, where first generation passive devices, which rely on ambient light instead of an infrared light source, were put into use for the first time. These offered around 1,000 times light amplification levels and had an effective range out to about 100 yards.

Second generation devices used an image intensifier tube with a microchannel plate, which greatly improved night vision performance to about 10,000 times ambient light levels, or out to about 200 yards.

The third generation saw even more technological improvements, resulting in higher image resolution and greater light magnification, anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 times greater than ambient levels, offering an effective range of about 300 yards and beyond.

There’s a fourth generation of NVDs out there, sort of, though the U.S. Army went back on this classification after issues arose with the technology. But we don’t need to talk too much about this, except in terms of marketing, as the term does pop up around some devices. Suffice it to say, they aren’t necessarily superior.

I could go into the technical aspects of the technology, but for the average shooter, the result is the same: night vision optics were getting better, and were able to perform in much lower light, such as during a moonless night.

White phosphor technology, which produces a white-and-black, high-contrast image based on amplifying ambient light, is also becoming very popular.

However, for many hunters especially, infrared-sensitive optics are the best bet for hunting at night – where their use is legal, of course. Non-scope-mounted monocular units are also popular for finding game at night.

Why Thermal?

Generally, thermal imaging offers far superior capabilities in terms of detecting animals when compared to light amplification devices. Though the resolution isn’t generally as good, IR units are more than adequate for most applications, and when viewing game through an IR unit, they really stand out versus a light amplifying system.

Additionally, thermal imaging technology can be used in complete darkness, and can also be used during daylight for sighting in, whereas light amplification devices aren’t usable during the day and can be damaged if light sources are too bright.

Gen 2 and Gen 3 night vision devices are excellent, however, and can absolutely surpass thermal imaging devices in some applications, especially in terms of target identification and resolution. This is why you need to be very clear about your goals and intended use cases.

Because light amplification devices are highly versatile and offer greater resolution, they excel for navigational applications and in some tactical situations where higher resolution is paramount.

Keep in mind, however, that gen 2 and gen 3 devices will likely be extremely expensive. Most entry-level equipment is going to be gen 1. So we really can’t compare apples-to-apples in terms of image clarity unless we ignore price.

I know I keep saying this, but it’s really important: It really all comes down to your intended application. Instead of dwelling on all of the technical differences, let’s focus on what the average shooter needs to know.

Best Night Vision Scopes

Let’s start by examining a couple of mainstream night vision and infrared units and what you can get out of them to better understand the market.

You’ll likely not be running a goggle-based night vision system for hunting — though some hog hunters trying to clear overwhelmed farmland will run goggles with IR lasers for quick shots, to eradicate pest populations — and you probably won’t need multiple accessories you’d otherwise find useful for tactical applications.

There are a ton of options available in the marketplace, so let’s look at two to get a better idea of what you might want.

1. Firefield NVRS 3×42 Night Vision Riflescope

This gen-1 night vision scope is more of a budget option, but it gets the job done. It’s a little bulky, and it features 3 times magnification, but for less than $300 in most cases, this scope is a good bet for those looking to enter the world of night vision-assisted shooting.

The unit features a titanium body and is thus lightweight, and the unit also includes an IR illuminator built in (as an aside, be sure to check local laws when making purchasing decisions, because, in some states, infrared illumination isn’t allowed for taking game. In some cases, however, passive units that don’t feature IR illumination are allowed).

The Firefield has red crosshairs with adjustable brightness settings and features 20 hours of battery life when the IR is active, reaching 50 hours if IR mode is off. Otherwise, this is a simple unit that is reasonably easy to use but is very careful not to use this scope in daylight. The front lens cover has a pinhole sight you can use to zero your rifle in daylight, but it isn’t especially easy to use.

2. ATN Thor 4 384 2-8x Thermal Scope

While anything in the Thor line-up from ATN is going to be quality, the 2-8x magnification is a common sweet spot for hunting. However, you can get ATN thermal scopes ranging from 1.15x all the way to 40x.

Hunting at night has never been easier than with modern thermal scopes. The ability to clearly see and target game in near zero light is a powerful tool, but it doesn’t come cheap.

ATN has packed in a lot of goodies though, from computer-assisted one-shot-zero to a self-correcting BDC, plus being able to record in 60-fps!

You’ll also have lots of options in terms of sensor model and lenses.

3. ATN X-Sight II HD 3-14x

While the Firefield is a great way to get your toe wet in night vision, sometimes it really helps to get the next rung up from the budget option. In this case that means the ATN X-Sight II HD – and the extra cash really makes a difference.

Sporting a ballistic calculator, recoil activated video, night and day vision, E-barometer, gyroscope, and E-compass – this is the scope that coyotes should fear.

And it comes in at a very reasonable price point.

Best Tactical Night Vision

Tactical setups for night shooting run the gamut, and covering every possible setup for every use case is outside the scope of this article (pun intended).

That said, most shooters will either run a full night vision scope on their rifle, or use some sort of head-mounted goggle NVD system, along with a specialized setup on their rails, with a red dot sight, iron sights, an IR laser, and some combination of illumination options, either for redundancy’s sake, or just out of personal preference.

There are far too many potential options and combinations of equipment, but be aware that as you get deeper into setting up a gun for shooting at night, more advanced IR laser systems and sights can become expensive.

4. Sightmark Ghost Hunter 2×24 Night Vision Monocular

The Ghost is a gen 1 monocular night vision optic with a built-in IR illuminator. It features 2x magnification, automatic shut-off when ambient light is too intense, and polymer construction to keep it lightweight.

This is a small unit, and you can use it as a hand-held, mount it directly on a rifle (with a separate mounting bracket), or integrate it into a goggle system (sold separately, obviously). All are reasonable options, depending on your setup, but from a tactical perspective, I’d guess most would opt for a goggle mount. The Ghost Hunter absolutely would serve on a rifle, though.

At around $240, this isn’t the cheapest monocular night vision setup you can get, but it’s definitely within the ballpark for those seeking entry-level equipment, and it’s versatile to boot. You can spend much more on a gen 2 or 3 unit, but for shooting within closer ranges, the Ghost should suffice.

5. Primary Arms Advanced Micro Dot

This night vision-compatible red dot setup allows for versatility with an IR or night vision scope mounted inline. While this sort of system really isn’t optimal as the primary aiming system for a goggle-mounted night vision setup.

Because of the issues, you’ll have to try to navigate around and focus your optics at distance, all while trying to line up your red dot. In a tactical scenario, this is far from ideal.

That’s why most goggle-mounted night vision setups rely on IR lasers as their primary aiming system, with red dots and iron sights as backups. With that said, the Primary Arms’ red dot system absolutely can serve for various configurations.

It allows for precise zeroing and features over 50,000 hours of battery life on the medium intensity setting. Great for set-ups that you want to leave turned on even when they are stored away in your safe!

This red dot can provide accurate sighting in line with a night vision or IR scope, or act as a redundancy aiming system in conjunction with an IR laser aiming system. It’s built to be rugged, features a long battery life, and has most of the features for a variety of night shooting and tactical applications.

6. Steiner Offset Tactical Aiming Lasers-IR

Most goggle-mounted night vision systems are going to rely on IR lasers to reliably hit targets in the dark. It’s just not practical to try to line up red dots or iron sights down the length of a barrel with goggles strapped to your head.

Again, there are tons of IR laser units available, but the civilian market is generally restricted, both in the U.S. and abroad (so be sure you can legally acquire what you’re looking to purchase), and the units tend to be on the expensive side.

On the cheaper side of high-quality, low-power, civilian-legal IR lasers designed for use with rifles. This unit offers a low profile, light weight construction, and easy functionality for use with a night vision shooting system.

Note that a lot of users report preferring to run this laser with a remote switch to temporarily activate it when ready to shoot. Additionally, some prefer to run it alongside an IR illuminator to help reduce the blooming effect the laser gives off when it hits a target.

This blooming is unavoidable, as the laser light reflects back toward your optic when it hits something, but an IR illumination can help reduce the effect.

Daytime Optic Compatibility

Use caution when paring red dot systems with night vision scopes. Make sure you’re red dot system is compatible with night vision applications because if the red dot is too bright, it’s possible for it to damage your night vision optic.

Lower power settings are available for many red dot systems, but be sure to check with the manufacturer and know how to use your equipment before you make a costly mistake.

Night Vision Enthusiasm

There are a ton of reasons to be excited about night vision shooting setups. For anyone who hunts, the opportunity to track game at night, such as predators and pest species, is a game changer — where it’s legal to use these systems, of course.

For tactical enthusiasts or those interested in self-defense, the ability to safely engage targets at night is revolutionary. It takes some knowledge and understanding, but if you have the funds and the drive to learn, a night vision setup is within your reach!

Hunt with night vision or thermals? Run tactical ops with them? Let us know in the comments! And if you’re looking for some NVGs, take a look at our best Night Vision Googles article!

The most eye-opening learning experiences that I had in my early years were when I started branching out from my home state of Wisconsin. Falling on my face a few times while trying to improve and manage new deer hunting properties taught me very swiftly that few things work everywhere. Deer all have their own personalities, the habitat changes from fence line to fence line and the specifics of each area are quite different. Combine that all and I’ve found it a bit risky to make blanket statements about whitetails, habitat and even the best habitat improvements. Too often, what’s best for one is an utter disaster for another.

That applies to food plot plantings to a great extent, as well. Go to the northwoods of Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or any other large, exclusively wooded area. The same plantings that are ignored in the farm belt can be true deer magnets in the big woods, simply due to a lack of better options.

Go to the dry, sand country of the Southwest and try growing clover in the desert-like conditions without irrigation. It really doesn’t matter that the deer would love it — if it simply won’t grow.

There are a whole bunch of factors that play into these types of things. Still, the longer that I focus on habitat improvements, I keep coming back to the same five crops that find their way into my various food plots. No, I don’t have any great solutions for the desert, but these will do well for almost everyone else, as they are easily my top five deer plantings.

1. Cereal Rye

Cereal rye is such a backbone of my food-plotting methods that I recently wrote an entire article on it. If you’re not well versed on the benefits of cereal rye, I strongly recommend reading that piece carefully. Cereal rye truly is a food plot and deer-feeding workhorse.

The highlights are that it does extremely well at building the health of the soils, while being very easy to grow, offering superior weed control properties and it merely goes dormant during freezing temperatures. The dormancy is important since not only is cereal rye a powerful draw during deer season, it also is during any portion of winter that snow depths allow deer to paw through the snow to the feed. At the same time, any temperature thaws result in a near instant snap back to growth mode. This 15% protein source that’s highly digestible two to four weeks before spring green up can be a tremendous aid to whitetail survival and health, as well as a big antler builder.

Rather than go any deeper on the subject, please read the entire article. Basically, cereal rye is a tremendously productive planting for both deer and soil health.

2. Clover

My second choice really depends on one’s latitude and the severity of the region’s winters. If it’s in Wisconsin and points north, clover would actually drop to my third choice. With that being said, for Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and states experiencing similar winters, clover is a solid No. 2. Due to their comparatively mild winters, clover is a year-round food source in such states.

A really nice thing about clover is that it’s easy and low maintenance to grow. You’ll notice that in all but two of these seed types, I am not mentioning product names. With that being said, in both the clover and brassica sections, I feel that I have to. While working as a sunflower breeder’s research assistant for a large seed company for three years while in college, I learned fast that there are all sorts of different types of sunflowers. There are the general varieties, such as dwarfs, multi-headed and the standard, tall sunflower, but you can breed strains of each for virtually any trait imaginable.

I explain this because many food plotters realize that deer tend to prefer white clover. The catch is that every white clover available has been bred for varying traits. Some are more desirable to deer than others and their hardiness will vary wildly.

For that reason, I feel the need to point out that when I’m talking about clover, I’m specifically referring to Antler King’s Trophy Clover. I have conducted many field trials with this seed, as closely as I could to those that I conducted for the seed company in college. Antler King’s Trophy Clover, as well as their Honey Hole brassica mix, consistently come out on top for the criteria that I value the most. So, when discussing clover and brassicas, those are the specific seed blends that I’m referring to. This is important to note, as results with others may vary.

With that in mind, here is how I consistently get more than seven years of production out of my clover plots.

It all begins with soil testing and properly amending the soil for clover. I usually plant cereal rye the fall before in the selected plot. Doing so enables me to return in late February or March to frost seed clover into last year’s annual crop. When doing so, I seed at 125% the suggested rate and the cereal rye serves as its cover crop. Its ability to allelopathically control weed competition helps combat grasses and broadleaf weeds, but doesn’t impact the clover.

I let that grow until late summer, when I mow the crop for the first time. After that, I merely frost seed each late winter, now at 50% of the suggested rate, spray a grass-only killer once in late spring/early summer, then mow several weeks later and once again in late summer, and apply fertilizer every second year. I continue repeating that cycle until I swap the plot out for something else or when too many weeds start taking over.

When one considers its highly digestible protein levels, the raw tonnage of forage it produces, its comparatively low cost and maintenance, as well as its year-round ability as a food source, and even its eight to nine month production in the harsh winter regions, clover is a heck of a good choice.

3. Brassicas

The differences in varieties are significant in the brassica family of plants, as well. This large family of plants has the reputation as being a great late-season option, as frosts bring the sugars up from the roots of many of its members. When that occurs, the deer can go from ignoring them, to wiping out brassicas in the time that it takes for a hard frost to hit.

But, for as good as brassicas can be as a late-season option, the right mix of strains can result in season-long drawing power for a brassica plot.

This was made painfully obvious to me than when managing ground in southeast Minnesota. Within a half-mile of a 2-acre food plot location, deer could find corn, beans, alfalfa, clover, acorns and a surplus of apples, just to name the bigger draws. Still, the 2 acres of Antler King’s Honey Hole that I planted was completely wiped out by before the first week in October. With the germination and growth rates being optimal, I was shocked.

When troubleshooting the situation with the owner, he suggested the brand that he’d always used, as the deer didn’t touch them until after a couple of frosts. When I planted 1/2 acre in that same location the following year, the plot wasn’t touched before November and lasted beyond the end of the season.

The reason for that stark difference was merely the specific brassica strains used. Most brassica mixes contain varieties that peak in desirability after frosts, whereas Antler King’s Honey hole was specifically designed to offer highly attractive early-, mid- and late-season varieties.

Honey Hole also tests extremely well all winter long. As Todd Stittleburg, founder and developer of Antler King Products for the last 30 years recently told me, “I sent random samples of Honey Hole that I collected from a farm in Wisconsin in February to be tested. If you can offer added energy and protein in January it is important, but it is critical in February. If we can turn deer on to a food source with energy close to and with protein three times higher than corn, that’s a really big and helpful deal! That can make a big difference in animal health, survival, reproduction and rack sizes — and we have just that with Honey Hole.”

In fact, it tested at 25.4% protein, in February, well after the plants fully matured.

To get added production in brassica plots, once they reach 4 to 8 inches high, I top seed about 100 pounds per acre with a mix of three parts cereal rye and one part oats into the brassica plot. Since those seeds will just be spread on top of the dirt, timing this before an all-day soaking rain is best.

By letting the brassicas germinate first, they have a head start on growth, allowing them to stay ahead of the mix. That is, until the deer start hammering the brassicas. Then, as the brassicas are browsed down, the mix of rye and oats continues feeding the deer.

Finally, although I’ll go higher than the suggested seed rate on most all other plantings, I won’t on brassicas. The brassica family has a high tendency for preferring elbow room. If you want to grow big brassicas they need space. It’s the one seed blend that I’d rather plant light than heavy, as production really suffers when planted too thick.

4 and 5. Corn and Soybeans

Frankly, I use as little corn and soybeans as I can get away with each year. As often as not, I’m buying corn and beans back from farm renters at their input costs. Depending on the quality of the crop produced, the input costs per acre of corn range from $300 to $450 an acre. For soybeans they run from $150 to $300 per acre.

That right there is why I plant and/or buy back as little corn and beans as needed to reach the property owners’ goals. They are expensive crops to plant for deer food plots, considering that I can plant any of the other crops listed in this article at a small fraction of those costs.

With that being said, soybeans are good at feeding deer from a few weeks after emergence until the pods are finally wiped out by deer, hopefully in the middle of, or later in winter. Beans and their greenery offer good nutrition that entire time.

Corn is high in energy, which can be very important to prep for the rut and then survive winter, but otherwise it’s rather low in nutritional benefits. At the same time, corn isn’t nearly as consistent of a deer food source. They’ll feed on the young stalks, but lay off as they mature. Then, they hit the dried corn again.

The biggest reason that I plant corn and soybeans is to allow the deer to feed on both, without the need to leave the property. When a property has a lot of acres of food plots to use, that’s when I’m adding corn and beans.

When planting the beans or corn specifically for deer, my first step is to try to score free seeds. Various wildlife organizations often give them away. Another option is to become friends with the local seed co-ops. They can’t or won’t sell seed produced the year before. Get to be good enough friends with them and one can get lucky and have them save those seeds for you.

When the seeds are free or cost very little, it becomes much easier to do what I’m about to suggest. That’s to double plant corn and beans that will be left for the deer. After doing the north/south rows like normal, go back over the same plot with east/west rows. If you put that in a good location for deer, you can pretty much bank on them thinning out your crop. Double planting allows for smaller acreages to survive heavy deer browsing and still often produce an acceptable crop.

Then, as the cherry on top, top seed the same 3:1 ratio mix of cereal rye and oats right into the standing crops in late summer or early fall. Do that and you just greatly extended the life of and tonnages produced by the plot, while also building soils and offering more of a smorgasbord feeding option.

Conclusion

Just as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, next to nothing in the habitat improvement or hunting worlds will work best for everyone, in every situation. After having personally broken dirt for food plots all over the Midwest and points north, these are the five plantings that I’ve found to work best for me, in my specific situations in accomplishing my specific goals. I sure can’t promise that you will be as thrilled with all of these plantings as I have been. But, if you aren’t happy with your plots’ production rates, these are good places to start your search for something that will produce the results you are looking for.

— Steve Bartylla has been a Deer & Deer Hunting contributor for more than 25 years. He is cohost of Deer & Deer Hunting-TV on Pursuit Channel, and host of DeerTopia and two top-rated online shows: Grow ’em Big and Hunt ’em Big at www.deeranddeerhunting.com.

Season’s eatings! The weather may be getting colder, but Dining Month on OnMilwaukee is just cooking up, dishing out your winning picks in this year’s Best of Dining poll. Dining Month is brought to you by Fein Brothers, your premier food service equipment and supply dealer in Wisconsin since 1929. Congratulations to all of the winners, and happy eating for all those who voted! See all the winners for the month so far here.

It was a gorgeous day for a hunt – to go out into nature, surround myself with the autumnal beauty of the Midwestern woods before taking my place as an apex predator on the top of the animal kingdom, using careful skill and prowess to find and shoot a deer, and then feast on the butchered fruits of my labor, filling myself with sustenance, a sense of accomplishment and a primal connection with the wild and humanity’s early ancestors.

But instead, I stopped by an Arby’s drive-thru and ordered one of their venison sandwiches with a large Dr. Pepper. Truly I felt dominion over God’s great creation.

Last fall, in its quest to live up to Ving Rhames’ beefy boast that WE HAVE THE MEATS, the fast food restaurant introduced a venison sandwich – a slab of deer steak topped with crispy onions and a juniper berry sauce – to a test-sample 17 locations in five particularly hunt-happy states. The meal (somehow not called the Bambi Burger) was a hit, reportedly selling out at several locations within hours, so a year later, Arby’s brought the deer dish back – this time at all of its restaurants. The only catch? It’s only available today, Saturday, Oct. 21.

So, around noon, I wheeled into a fairly quiet Arby’s drive-thru and ordered a venison sandwich meal, complete with a large drink and that all-important garnish for any respectable deer dish: curly fries.

After scarfing down a few of those salty spirals, I popped open the box for the main event and found myself face-to-face with an image somehow sadder than Bambi’s mom dying. The venison meat itself was a pallid grey burger – a distant far cry from the perfectly pink deer steak in the press photos. But whatever; if I cared that much about food presentation, I wouldn’t be eating a venison burger from the drive-thru home of the Meat Mountain.

However, the venison sandwich’s texture unfortunately tastes about as good as it looks. My first bite into the misshapen meat lump was mushy and mealy – chewy and moist not in a good way but in a “did somebody already gnaw on this and then put it between two buns?” way. And that’s not even including the unappealing vein of translucent gummy fat that treated me inside that initial bite.

Things got a little better for the venison when noshed with the rest of the toppings. The crispy onions were a little soggy, but still gave the sandwich at least a semblance of a textured crunch to fend off the meat’s mushiness, while the juniper berry sauce brought a nice tartness to the table. Sure, it was probably just tangy barbecue sauce, but the flavor was pleasant and played well with the mild, slightly garlicy gaminess of the meat. They all teamed up to make a sandwich I was technically able to finish – though I wasn’t happy about the experience at all.

So, naturally, I tried a second one.

I had originally bought a second sandwich for my girlfriend – more of a venison aficionado than yours truly – to try for herself. After one unimpressed bite, however, her sandwich quickly became my sandwich. Perfect, I thought; I could try another one to make sure my burger wasn’t just one fluky go-around. After one big bite into the heart of the sandwich resulted in a grossly fatty, chewy and sinewy chunk of gristly venison my teeth had to tug and tear away with a gag like Leonardo DiCaprio eating raw bison liver in “The Revenant,” however, my sandwich quickly became the garbage’s sandwich.

Here’s to Arby’s new elk sandwich – currently testing the waters with its own limited-time, one-day-only rollout in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana – faring better.

And if not, well, the curly fries are always good.

What are chicken and ducks’ favorite garden plants? Find out what treats you can grow in your garden to share with your feathered family members!

Do you have chickens or ducks? If so and you love your flock as much as we do, your birds are likely spoiled rotten. And completely ungrateful…

It’s important for your flock’s health, longevity, and egg production to make sure they have optimal nutrition. In addition to their primary food, we like to give our ducks plenty of fresh garden goodies throughout the year, which is one of many reasons we maintain a large organic garden/edible landscape.

Over the years, we’ve learned what garden treats our ducks do and don’t like. Now, we’re always sure to grow their favorite varieties to keep them spoiled with fresh organic produce every season of the year.

The fruits and veggies on this list are also some of our favorites to eat as well. So when our ducks aren’t looking, we’ll steal food from “their” garden. (Shh, don’t tell them.)

Top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks

If you’re a gardener (or aspiring gardener) with spoiled fowl, you might want to grow the plant varieties we mention below. Depending on where you live, the dates/months that you’ll grow and harvest these plants will vary, but you can just follow the instructions on your seed packets to get great results.

Based on the preferences of our Welsh Harlequin ducks combined with feedback from other gardeners we know who raise ducks and chickens, here are the top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks (in no particular order):

*note: growing info below is based on our temperate climate region, Zone 7B

1. MILD Asian Greens

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Napa cabbage, vitamin greens, mibuna, bok choy, and similar MILD Asian greens all offer a similar, delicious flavor. Our ducks love them, and we do too.

Our ducks do not like spicy greens such as mustard greens or arugula.

2. Chicory

Season: spring and fall

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: There are tons of varieties of chicory, and they come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and flavors. Our ducks like it all.

Our favorite chicory varieties for ducks are “leaf chicories” which feature tall upright leaves. You can cut all the leaves at once about 5″ above the ground and they’ll grow back within weeks, making them a highly productive cut-and-come-again veggie.

Leaf chicory is often sold as “dandelion greens” in high end grocery stores even though they’re totally different plant species. In addition to their productivity, one of the best things about them is they’ll produce continuously from fall through spring. We use row cover/low tunnels to keep it happy in the winter.

3. Lettuce

Season: spring and fall

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Did you know that in poultry heaven, the clouds are made of lettuce? At least that’s what our ducks tell us…

They seriously love the stuff, and it’s hard to pick their favorite lettuce variety. Our recommendation: get the ‘Wild Garden Lettuce Mix‘ from organic plant breeding genius Frank Morton’s farm. It offers a dazzling array of colors, sizes, and shapes.

4. Kale

Season: fall, winter spring for us (our hot humid summers are tough here for kale)

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Our girls aren’t too picky about which kale they’ll eat, but for some reason they seem to prefer extra frilly-leafed varieties. Perhaps it’s fun for them to grab and rip the frilly leaves versus the flat leaves (like Lacinato).

One thing we’ve noticed is that the flavor of kale takes on a more intense, almost spicy flavor as the plants get stressed in late spring-summer in our climate zone. Our ducks stop eating it then but absolutely love it every other season.

5. Mâche

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Another incredibly cold-hardy green. We’ve had mâche survive uncovered down into the single digits.

The plants stay small throughout the winter, then doubles in size nearly every week in the late winter/early spring until it starts producing tiny flowers and seed pods.

Mâche greens are delicious – they taste almost nutty. Some of our ducks also love eating the tiny seeds off the plants, which are probably loaded with good omegas which then go into their eggs.

6. Austrian Winter Peas (the greens/leaves, not the pods)

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Peas aren’t just a spring plant if you know the right varieties. ‘Austrian winter’ peas are the cold-hardiest variety we grow, surviving uncovered to around 10°F.

The peas from the mature spring pods make a killer dried pea for soup, but they’re not as good as snap peas for eating raw. The real magic of ‘Austrian winter’ peas is in the delicious edible shoots/leaves, which taste every bit as good – if not better – than sugar snap peas.

They’re very high in protein, and as you might have guessed, our ducks LOVE them. These also make a great nitrogen-fixing cover crop. Learn more about how to grow & harvest Austrian winter peas.

7. Snap Peas (for the peas in the pods)

Season: fall, winter, spring depending on your agricultural zone

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Pretty much every duck parent we know (and we know lots of them) say their ducks go absolutely bonkers for peas in the snap pea category. Thus they grow snap peas and/or buy bags of frozen peas from the grocery store.

However, our flock of Welsh Harlequin ducks must be broken as we’ve never managed to get them to eat a single pea. Don’t take our ducks’ word for it. Peas will likely be very popular with your ducks — if not, you can enjoy them!

8a. Small Tomatoes (currants & cherry)

Season: summer

Light: full sun (smaller-fruited currant and cherry tomatoes can actually grow in part shade, although they won’t produce as much fruit.

Description & growing notes: We have no idea why, but tomatoes are probably our ducks’ absolute favorite food. If we were the only thing standing between our ducks and a tomato, we’d be seriously worried for our health.

We love and recommend ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ tomatoes (in the small tomato category) for a few reasons:

• the plants are incredibly robust and need no care;
• the small tomatoes are the perfect size for a greedy duck bill to gulp down whole;
• they readily reseed and come back in the same spot year after year; and
• they’re an absolutely delicious tomato for duck slaves (aka humans) to enjoy by the handful as well.

8b. Large tomatoes (beefsteaks)

Season: summer

Light: full sun (with the larger sized fruits, tomatoes require a full sun spot – minimum 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).

Description & growing notes: One of our favorite things to do on a summer evening is to score a large beefsteak tomato with a knife, put it on the ground, do our “duuuuuckliiiiing” treat call which sends our flock flap-running across the yard, then watch as our flock viciously rips the innocent tomato to shreds within seconds.

It’s like Shark Week, but with tomato juice instead of blood and ducks playing the role of Great White sharks. We’re not sure who gets more pleasure from this activity, us or the ducks. We hope you and your feathered family takes as much pleasure from tomato-sharking as we do.

9. Sunberries

Season: summer

Light: produce most fruit in full sun, but tolerate part shade

Description & growing notes: A relatively unknown fruit attributed to the famous plant breeder, Luther Burbank, sunberries (aka wonderberries) are related to tomatoes and other nightshade fruit, but taste more like a mild blueberry.

The 2-3′ tall plants form prolific clusters of berries that ripen black. Ducks, chickens, and humans are all happier when sunberries are ripe.

Do note that some of our ducks absolutely LOVE sunberries and some are meh on them. Who’s to know the mind of a duck.

10. Ground Cherries

Season: summer

Light: full sun for best fruit production and flavor

Description & growing notes: This strange little husked fruit blew our minds when we first ate it many years ago. It tastes like a cross between a pineapple and a tomato.

Ground cherries are a staple in our summer garden every year. As it turns out, our ducks love them to, especially Svetlana the flock matriarch who could eat her body weight in ground cherries if we let her. Find out how to grow, harvest and use ground cherries.

11. Chickweed

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: grows well but will go to seed earlier in full sun; thrives in part shade

Description & growing notes:

Chickweed is a delightful “weed” that grows abundantly in the winter and spring throughout the US. The flavor is sweet and mild and most similar to corn silk (yes, the frills that stick up out of the top of a corn husk).

It was brought over by early European settlers since it’s one of the earliest greens to produce, and has since naturalized all over North America. It’s one of the most cold-hardy greens you can grow – we’ve had it live uncovered through 10°F.

It grows crazy fast in the spring and our ducks will absolutely gorge themselves on it. Yes, the reason it’s called “chickweed” is that chickens do indeed love it too. Once you know what chickweed looks like, you’ll probably see it everywhere during its growing season.

Update: What plants our ducks do NOT like

Just as in humans, there seems to be wide variability in what one duck or chicken (or flock) likes versus another. We talk to lots of poultry parents whose birds like things our flock won’t touch, despite repeated exposure.

For example, our ducks do NOT like: watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, beautyberries, grapes, or many other fruits. Other people report that their ducks love these treats.

Since our ducks won’t touch them, these plants are not included in the favorites list above. If you find that your flock does like them, grow away!

KIGI,

Other helpful duck articles that’ll quack you up:

• What to feed ducks to maximize their health & longevity
• 5 tips to keep your ducks from destroying your yard
• Do duck have teeth? Learn all about ducks’ amazing digestive system…
• Duck winter care tips
• Duck summer care tips
• How to build a DIY self-cleaning duck pond

and more duck articles from Tyrant Farms!

Virtually everything you need to know about game meat from securing it, to how long the supply will last, to preserving it and turning it into delicious meals for your family.

It’s estimated that over 40 million hunters and anglers in the United States and Canada harvest protein from rivers, lakes, streams, fields, and forests every year. These game meats are not only an integral part of self-reliance but also a sustainable and economical way to harvest healthy meats for you and your family.

The first year my husband went deer hunting, I was beside myself when he brought the meat home. I wasn’t sure how to prepare it and my resources were very limited over a decade ago. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out what to do with it.

I was kind of hesitant to even try it. I find that when I’m unfamiliar with something, I tend to shy away from it. But, it was a lot of meat to just let sit in the freezer for a rainy day, and well… we weren’t made of money. So, I found an old recipe book that was my grandfather’s and tried it.

And, I was instantly impressed. Nothing, I mean nothing, compares to the flavor of venison. I much prefer it to beef. My oldest won’t even eat beef, only venison. And then we started expanding into other game meats and I was equally impressed.

While it takes a lot of hard work, you can acquire all of your meat from wild game and never buy meat again. But, if you’re like me and unsure, I’m here to help guide you through everything from defining game meat, going through flavor palates, preparing and preserving meat, figuring out how much your meat will make recipes, and more.

What is considered game meat?

Game meat is traditionally the flesh harvested from any non-domesticated land mammal, bird, or aquatic mammal that is legally hunted for personal consumption. However, many traditional game species are reared on ranches and harvested for commercial sale or even reared on backyard farms and homesteads around the world.

In short, animals that are typically farmed such as bovine, domestic swine, goats, sheep, and domestic fowl are excluded but most others can be considered game, even if they were reared by humans. In some specialized markets, game meats can be found for sale. This is becoming more and more common as people start to shy away from traditional, domesticated animals for food.

Why is it called game meat?

As I mentioned, game is traditionally hunted. Hunting is considered a sport because it tests the skill and ability of the hunter.

The word game is derived from the Old English word “gamen” which means joy, amusement, sport, or merriment. And since, traditionally, game is hunted it falls under the category of sport.

Common game meat in North America

Types of game meat vary based on your geographic location and there are thousands of animals worldwide that can be harvested for meat. In North America, some of the most common game species are:

Venison

Derived from the Latin word “to hunt” the term venison used to be used to describe any type of game meat including deer, rabbits, wild boar, and more. But, today, this term is used to describe the muscles and organs of any type of deer or antelope including, but not limited to, whitetail, elk, moose, and caribou.

Venison is delicious and flavorful. Nothing like bovine, it has a more earthy and rich flavor. It is also much leaner than domestic red meat and can be dry, especially if it is not cooked properly.

Rabbit

Rabbit meat is often described as being chicken-like in flavor, but it isn’t. While the flavor is mild, it’s also richer. This meat, like many game meats, can dry out quickly as well due to its leanness.

Duck

Duck is probably one of my favorite meats, coming in a close second to venison. It tastes absolutely nothing like chicken. In fact, by culinary standards, it’s often considered red meat despite the fact that scientifically speaking, it’s white.

Duck meat is very rich in flavor and duck breasts are actually fantastic cooked to rare.

Bear

If you’re lucky enough to live in an area where bear, especially black bear, is abundant enough to have a legal hunting season, you may enjoy this meat.

Bear meat is red meat, albeit slightly lighter than venison or beef. Bear meat has been compared to the flavor of venison, though chewier and slightly sweeter. It is typically slow-cooked because it can be quite tough.

Bison

Another favorite of mine is bison. Very lean, much like venison, but very delicious. The flavor of bison is much milder, while still being earthy than that of venison with very little “gamey” flavor going on at all.

Bison meat is a little more coarse than beef, and a. little sweeter, but the flavors are similar.

Squirrel

Some folks are taken aback at the idea of eating squirrels, much like rabbits. But it’s estimated over 1.8 million Americans hunt and cook this chicken of the woods. You do have to harvest several to make a decent meal if you have many people that you’re serving, but it can be worth your while.

Like rabbit, squirrel is often described as tasting like chicken, and that’s marginally true. Milder than rabbit, but not quite like chicken. However, due to diet, squirrels actually have a slightly nutty, sweet flavor and the texture is fine.

Beaver

Yep, people eat beaver. Who knew?

Beaver meat is not something I’ve personally tried, but it is described as being quite tough and stringy and very “gamey” in flavor. It’s not something a lot of people seem to like, but others swear by it and say it tastes similar to pork.

Wild Boar

Wild boar is nothing like its domestic cousin. It’s much leaner, higher in protein, and lower in cholesterol.

It has a flavor that can’t really be compared to other meats. The flavor is quite strong, rich, and nutty. The meat is juicy and is often described as a cross between beef and pork, but make no mistake, it doesn’t taste anything like domesticated swine meat.

Goose

Like duck, goose is considered a red meat by culinary terms, but scientifically is a white meat.

The flavor of goose is incredibly rich, comparable to a rare roast beef… but better. Also like duck meat, it is quite fatty, so there are a lot of natural flavors to it and it doesn’t need a lot added to it, unlike chicken.

Alligator

Known in the bayou as the chicken of the swamp, alligator is mild, white meat with a firm texture. It has a flavor similar to that of chicken, but more flavorful with a slightly fishy flavor.

Quail

Quail are quite small, but they have a good meat-to-bone ratio. In fact, the bones are so small, that they’re not typically removed but actually consumed along with the meat.

Quail has a similar flavor to chicken, but is better than most commercially raised chicken as it is richer and more flavorful.

Pheasant

The texture of the pheasant is like most poultry and the flavor is similar to chicken. However, it has a slightly “gamey” undertone with a mild smokey flavor.

Why eat game meat?

Game meat is an excellent choice for so many reasons. It’s healthier, it’s more sustainable, it’s more challenging to procure, it reduces your dependency on failing food systems, and so much more. So… what are the benefits of eating wild game?

It’s Healthy

Wild game is incredibly healthy. It’s much leaner than traditional, domesticated meats. If you put a meatloaf made from ground beef and another made from venison or bison in the oven… you’ll see all the fat at the bottom of the beef pan while the game meatloaf will not have much at all. A surefire way to tell, it’s virtually fat-free (in comparison).

Game meats are also very high in omega-3 fatty acids, an essential component of a healthy diet. According to a study done by Purdue University, their omega 3 to omega 6 ratio is also lower than grain-fed domesticated animals. This is beneficial because if that ratio is too high, it can increase inflammatory responses linked to chronic disease.

These meats were traditionally consumed by hunter-gatherer populations and this study shows that it’s not how much fat you consume, but rather the overall ratio of fats.

Wild game also has high amounts of essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, selenium, zinc, beta carotene, B6, and niacin.

It’s Natural- Antibiotic and Hormone Free

Game meat is harvested from its natural habitats, which means its diet is natural as well.

The meat isn’t farmed to grow fast and beefy, so no hormones are used.

Studies have shown that antibiotic treatment of animals can negatively affect the natural flora in the human gut. Wild game isn’t in need of antibiotics to avoid or treat infections, which means that you don’t have the concern.

It grew in its natural environment, eating its natural diet without human intervention, which, to most of us is a good thing.

It Tastes Better

I’ve known a lot of people to say game meat tastes, well, “gamey” but that’s simply because we’ve spent so long eating grain-fed meats that we don’t know to appreciate the flavor of natural meats.

Game meats have a unique and distinct flavor that is solely from their diet. Ruminants of any kind were never meant to consume grain, but since most domesticated animals are fed grain, it changes the flavor and we’ve gotten used to it instead of the flavor of an animal with a natural diet.

And for most folks, expanding your palette and enjoying the flavor of wild game just takes a little knowledge on how to properly prepare the meat. Most meats are fantastic, tastier, alternatives to more widely known and consumed meats.

It Is Environmentally Friendly

By eating wild game you reduce your carbon footprint. Most animals are harvested locally making the food miles from field to fork very few.

Hunting wild game is conservation and not enough people talk about how beneficial it is. Hunting has a positive effect on the ecology of our natural landscapes. Without hunting, populations would increase out of control to unsustainable levels.

And hunting helps keep natural woodlands and wetlands from being destroyed and conserves natural flora and gives wild bird populations more food allowing their populations to increase.

It’s Sustainable and Self Sufficient

We’ve all, unfortunately, seen the effects of a broken link in our food systems. Grocery store shelves can quickly become barren if even one element in that precarious system is broken down in some form.

However, hunting is a sustainable way to provide protein for you and your family. As I mentioned, it helps conserve natural resources but it also is something that you can do for you and your family to provide at least part of your protein without the detrimental effects of modern, commercial farm practices.

It’s Affordable

While hunting licenses and a bit of gear can cost money, it’s relatively inexpensive and gear doesn’t have to be fancy. Even if you do spend a good amount on the gear, it’s going to pay for itself in no time and you can use that gear for years.

Think about the cost of beef per pound from your local farmer’s market. Then consider the cost of a license and a bow and some arrows, and possibly a tree stand or hunting blind (and maybe some training and targets). You’ll spend less than you would to purchase a whole cow.

Low Risk of Food-Borne Illness

Commercially produced meats are often fed unnatural diets and crammed into spaces putting them at high risk for disease. Then, the meat is taken to the processing plant and the germs are spread all around the plant only to be packaged and brought home to put in your refrigerator.

In fact, a study done by consumer reports found that 97% of chicken contained bacteria that could make you sick. And another study by the center for science in the public interest found that beef is one of the riskiest meats to put in your fridge.

But you don’t have those worries so much with wild game since it lived a natural life, it’s probably healthy. Handling it properly should always be the first and foremost priority and knowing how to properly process it yourself or finding a reputable, small processing plant essential. But the risk is far less than with grocery store meats.

No Additives

Remember pink slime? It’s a filler that, for a short time, wasn’t used due to public pressure. But it didn’t last long.

This product is full of ammonia and is used as a filler in poultry and beef products to help reduce the risk of e. coli in these meats. And then that toxic chemical can slowly build up in the consumer’s system… Think about it.

No worries for pink slime or “saline solution” to increase weight, appearance, and safety in wild game, though.

What is the healthiest game meat?

Game meat of any type is very healthy, especially when compared to common commercial meats like beef. Wild game meat has more omega-3 fatty acids, it is leaner, lower fat, and has lower calories per 100 grams than most commercial meats.

How long will my game meat supply last?

Believe it or not, you can subsist on game meats year-round and never purchase meat again. In fact, it’s a goal of ours to transition to 100% wild game at some point in the future save some sausage casings and pork fat.

That being said, it will take a lot of work and dedication to keep your freezer and pantry full of meat. You can use game meats to help decrease your grocery bill, or you can slowly, but completely, transition to game meats and not have to purchase commercial meat again.

It’s certainly healthier and more sustainable than purchasing commercial meats, even if you’re purchasing those meats from a local, small farm. Which, you definitely should be doing, regardless.

When thinking about the possibility of supplementing or completely switching over to game the question of how much meat you need arises. And, of course, that answer can vary wildly. It’s highly dependent on how much meat you and your family consume each day, how often you feed guests, how often you won’t be eating meat from your harvest due to travel or eating elsewhere, and lastly whether you utilize nose-to-tail eating or only consume the cuts you enjoy.

The table provided below will give you a few ballpark estimates. This table is based off of the average serving size per person, with large game serving sizes being smaller than small game. These are the average weights of meat harvested off of each animal, which will always vary slightly. You can increase the weight yielded if you choose to utilize the entire animal, organ meats, less desirable cuts, etc. But, this can give you an idea:

How do I obtain game meat?

Traditionally, you would, of course, hunt for it. But, times have changed, and as consumer demand increases for more sustainable, natural, and environmentally friendly meats so have production processes.

While selling wild game is illegal, selling game meats that are farmed and processed at a USDA processing plant is not.

Game meats are becoming more and more common on supermarket shelves. While these meats aren’t wild, they are typically ethically grown and allowed natural diets on large ranches. They’re not fattened up with grains and are not given all types of hormones and antibiotics.

You can also oftentimes put your name on a list for a local processor. Many times hunters don’t pick up their meat for one reason or another. You can often get wild harvested game from a local processor for the cost of processing the meat.

Another option, if you’re comfortable and your local laws allow it, is to harvest road kill. While the process of doing this is very time sensitive and dependent on how much of the animal was struck, we’ve personally harvested several bucks off of the highway. If you’re in the area when the accident occurs, you know the meat is fresh and if the entire animal wasn’t side-struck much of the meat may be salvageable. This all depends on your comfort level and local laws, though.

Hunting game meat

Hunting game meat is the traditional method but rules and regulations vary by state. Sometimes, these rules even vary by county or even by hunting zones. I strongly suggest you look up your local rules, regulations, and seasons for your particular area.

Poaching isn’t cool, nor is it necessary. Seasons and bag limits are implemented for numerous reasons. One is to avoid nesting and mating seasons so that the population can reproduce, keeping levels where they need to be. Another is to avoid over-harvesting a particular population conserving it for future hunters and maintaining ecology.

Hunting licenses aren’t very expensive and they help pay to conserve natural wildlife habitats. In fact, without these dollars, it wouldn’t be easy to pay for the maintenance and purchase of wildlife habitats. These licenses also help local fish and wildlife districts know how many hunters and anglers there are which helps them set bag limits accordingly to conserve populations.

So make sure to contact your local Department of Natural Resources of Fish and Wildlife Division to be sure you know what’s legal and what isn’t.

Some states require hunter’s education courses, some allow some weapons and not others, some areas the bag limit will be higher than in others. How many antlered vs antlerless deer you can harvest can vary and more. It’s really dependent on your area.

Hunting is rewarding, though, and a skill I believe everyone should have at least a basic knowledge of. It allows you to provide protein for yourself and your family for just a little bit of money… but it can, and often does, take a lot of time.

Depending on the game you plan to hunt will determine the equipment you need. It’s often helpful to find a more experienced hunter to show you the ropes and help you safely and successfully harvest game until you get a little more experience under your belt.

Purchasing commercially available game meat

Some folks don’t have the desire or ability to hunt game, and that’s ok. Today’s consumer demand for healthy, sustainable, natural meats has grown immensely so the availability of these meats commercially has come a long way.

Most local groceries have at least some wild game meats available, some more than others. And a lot of farmer’s markets have game meats available, making them an excellent stop to see what you can find.

Even if you can’t find these meats locally, many ranches and farms sell USDA-processed meats online and ship them country-wide. So, there are options available to you if you’d like to try these healthier protein alternatives.

How do I preserve game meat?

There are many, many ways to preserve game meat from freezing to canning, to curing. It really depends on your comfort level, your knowledge level, and what equipment you have.

Freezing Wild Game

Freezing meat is, understandably, the easiest and most widely used method for preserving game meats. Many people invest in a vacuum sealer which can help preserve frozen meats for a longer period of time.

I recommend you package meats in individual packages that reflect the amount you and your family typically eat per serving. So, you may package a pound of ground meat, four steaks, or for smaller game, the entire animal.

Canning Wild Game

You can also game meat. While this does require a pressure canner, it’s a straightforward process. I love canning meat, though because it not only frees up freezer space, it makes meals so easy. Since the meat is already cooked during the canning process, it just needs to be warmed a little and you’ve got a meal.

Canned venison is one of my favorite, shelf-stable ways to preserve it.

Curing Wild Game

Another way is to cure meats. Now, this can be things like venison summer sausage, smoked jerky, venison jerky, or smoked hams and bacon. This method requires a bit more time, a larger comfort level, some equipment, and a little more knowledge, but these foods are so tasty, that you’ll be glad you jumped into it.

How do I cook game meat?

Game meat is easy to cook, but it’s not quite the same as cooking domesticated meats. It’s leaner which means it will dry out more quickly and the flavor is slightly different, making the seasonings you use, perhaps, a bit different as well.

These things are true of almost all wild game, with a few exceptions. Cooking venison is an easy enough process, though. You’ll just want to follow a few tips.

• Allow the meat to come to room temperature before cooking, this is true of any game meat, not just red meat. By doing this, you won’t “shock” the meat which can cause it to overcook. This process will take at least an hour, depending on what you’re cooking.

• Wild game should never be overcooked. Overcooking game will produce a metallic flavor and create a very tough texture.
• Keep wild game pink and on the rare side for the best flavor. The exception being goose meat which should be cooked to a temperature of 155°F for the best flavor and texture. Bear and wild boar should also be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 155°F to avoid potential food borne pathogens.
• Brown the surface after cooking if you’re roasting it in the oven for the best flavor.
• Allow game meat to rest about 15 minutes after cooking before serving.
• Game meat is best after cooked and not warmed up later.

What can I do with game meat? (recipes)

A lot of game meats can be swapped for more widely utilized meats like poultry, beef, and pork. As long as you follow the tips to cook it properly, you’ll be well on your way.

Instead of Chicken Use

Rabbit

Rabbit is very similar to chicken and a lot of traditional French recipes use rabbit and have more modern chicken versions of the same dish.

Rabbit can be cooked whole or separated into pieces and even deep-fried like chicken. However, it is best roasted, slow-cooked, or braised. Like this Braised Rabbit in Cream Sauce. The meat is a little tougher than chicken, especially if it’s wild-harvested meat, so slow and low is a great way to prepare it.

Quail

Quail are very small, typically serving an individual, not an entire family. But, they’re packed full of flavor that is similar, though richer, to chicken.

Most often people roast the whole bird, sometimes stuffing it. They are very lean, like most game and they cook quickly so be mindful of that when preparing. A whole bird will take about 20 minutes to cook through, which is when the meat is firm and juices run clear.

Duck

Duck is one of my favorite chicken substitutes. While it doesn’t taste a lot like chicken, it’s similar just richer.

The meat is also a little fattier, which means it doesn’t dry out as easily, making it great for beginners because it’s so much harder to dry out. I love making roasted duck, but the legs smoked and dipped in bbq are to die for as well.

Pheasant

A whole pheasant is very similar in size to a chicken, usually weighing approximate 2-3 pounds. As mentioned above, it’s very flavorful and most people like the flavor of it and don’t find it overly “gamey”.

Pheasant is best prepared by cooking it low and slow since it is much leaner than chicken. As I said, you don’t want to overcook game meats. You’ll also want to add fat to the bird or it will dry out. You’ll want to cook it at a low oven temperature or plan to frequently baste it. Cook to a temperature of 180°F.

Instead of Beef Use

Bison

Bison is an excellent choice for folks trying game meat for the first time. The flavor is unique and earthy, but mild and similar in both texture and flavor to beef.

Bison can be used in place of any dish calling for beef and the cooking method is the same except you’ll want to ensure you don’t overcook it, as it is very lean. Cooking bison to a rare to medium-rare temperature is best, you want a little pink in it.

Venison

Venison… I can’t say enough good things about it. It is by far my favorite and I’ll take a serving of venison over beef any day of the week, and so will my kids.

This meat is perfect in place of beef, prepared correctly and not overcooked it’s bursting with flavor. It’s perfect for making dishes like venison stroganoff, chili, sous vide roast or even a marinated venison steak.

In Place of Pork Use

Wild Boar

Wild boar isn’t the same as its domestic cousins, but it is very similar and the perfect substitute for domestic pork recipes.

Like most game, wild boar is best being cooked low and slow. Making pulled pork is one of my favorite ways, but you can also use the hams, make bacon, and more.

If you’re looking for ideas on how to reconnect with your food, nature, and the heritage way of life, you’ve come to the right place.

Join over 40,000 like-minded folks in my Facebook group, The Self Sufficient Life. You can join by clicking here.

Bald eagles are incredibly strong birds and highly-skilled flyers. They are often reported as picking up cats and dogs before swooping off with them, but is it true?

An eagle would struggle to pick up and fly away with a cat, but they may attack small cats and kittens.

Eagles primarily feed on fish, and experts estimate that they can carry fish weighing approximately 4-5 pounds. An average domesticated cat weighs between 8 and 10 pounds, which puts it way beyond the carrying capacity of an eagle. In fact, by the time a kitten reaches approximately 4 months old, it will weigh about 4 or 5 pounds, so by the time your kitten leaves the house, it is likely to be too big for an eagle to carry off.

If you are concerned, you can keep your cat indoors, where it is safe from any natural predator, and you can take steps to try and scare away eagles and other birds of prey.

About the Bald Eagle

The bald eagle is a formidable bird. An adult has a wing of approximately 7 feet and one can weigh up to 14 pounds. The bird can fly at speeds of nearly 100 mph when diving, and its size and its white head and tail mean that it is difficult to miss when one of these birds swoops.

You are most likely to see a bald eagle swoop around water because its preferred food is fish. They also eat geese, gulls, and other smaller birds. Very rarely, they will dine on rabbits and small mammals, and more rarely, if at all, they may pick up and fly away with a kitten.

Because of the weight of an adult cat, an eagle will not be able to pick up an adult cat and fly away with it. Most experts agree that the maximum amount of weight that even the strongest bald eagle could lift would be 4 to 5 pounds, and an average adult cat weighs twice this, while some giant breeds can weigh three times as much.

How to Protect Your Cat From Eagles

There are some anecdotal reports of eagles attempting to attack small cats. If you are concerned about this happening, there are some ways that you can help protect your cat.

The simplest method is to keep your cat indoors. Eagles are diurnal, which means that they hunt during the day, so keeping your cat in at night will not keep them free from this winged threat.

Consider installing a pen or exercise run. These prevent your cat from getting out and predators from getting in, while still offering your cat some outdoor space. They can be built onto the back of your property and connected to your home using a standard cat door so that your feline can get in and out whenever they want.

Other Pets at Risk

Rabbits can be at risk of eagle attacks. Wild rabbits are considered tricky prey for an eagle, but they do occasionally get taken. So, if you do have domestic rabbits, ensure that they are kept in a hutch or cage at night, to prevent them from being picked up and carried away.

Summary

The bald eagle is a formidable bird that is capable of flying at great speeds. It has excellent eyesight and is strong. However, the bird usually eats fish and will very rarely eat anything larger than a rodent or very occasionally a small rabbit. Cats, especially adult cats, are considered too large to be under threat from eagles, except in very rare circumstances.

Related Reads:

• Do Bears Attack and Eat Cats?
• Do Snakes Attack and Eat Cats?
• How To Protect Your Cat from Coyotes

Featured Image Credit: MICHOFF from Pixabay