A Dinner Worth the Work

For anyone who has ever went elk hunting knows how much work it can be. First of all, the elk are usually located on or near the top of mountains. So you have to be in good shape to get to where they are. For me, the in shape part comes, about a month before hunting season starts. This, as I'm getting older, I'm learning is not the best way to get into shape for hunting. It's becoming for me a year long process to stay in shape. Although it is a lot of work to get to the elk, the work starts when you're lucky enough to kill an elk. These animals, depending on the sex, can weigh 600 pounds. Usually the elk have to be quartered up and backpacked out. Then they either have to be cut up by yourself or taken to a meat market to be cut up. I was raised cutting up our own elk because we couldn't afford to have it processed for us. This is no doubt a lot of work for about two months worth of meat, but it is all worth it for me. Not only does it bring friends and family together for a couple of weeks in October, it also provides us with a meat that has less calories, less fat, less cholesterol, and more protien than chicken, turkey, beef, pork, veal, and duck.

So for all these years that I've been hunting I thought it was for the free meat. But as I've gotten older I now know that not just for the free meat it provides but that it brings my brother, my dad, and myself together every year. With our lives being busy and my brother and myself having kids and the fact that not one of us live in the same city makes this time together one we all cherish. Up until three years ago my favorite thing about hunting was how excited my grandmother would get. She passed away three years ago, but this women loved the heart and liver of the elk. I remember my dad telling us to shoot the elk in the head if possible so that we didn't ruin Grandmas heart and liver. She would fry it up right then and there. I never liked eating either the heart or liver but I miss bringing them back to her. One of my favorite things she did with elk meat was making jerky. I can remember going into her house and seeing little pieces of raw elk hanging on string that was attached from one side of the room to the other. After about a week it would be ready to eat. It sounds so primitive but this is the way my grandmother liked it. She didn't believe in dehydrators. Another way she would prepare an elk dinner that is still one of my favorites is to just fry the elk with potatos. It is simple to make and delicious to eat.

Not everyone wants to get this involved with hunting and I understand that. So there are other ways to be able to get elk. There are elk farms all over the country that you can oreder elk from. This is nice because now elk meat can be on your dinner table year round not just for the couple months after hunting season. Elk meat is at or near the top of the price list, but elk meat is by far the best for you. So wether you are a hunter or just a healthy eater, elk should be a meat you should highly consider having more of in your diet. For me there is a lot I love about hunting, the outdoors, the exercise, the bringing together of family, and of course the free elk meat that I get to enjoy. But unknown to me all of this time, until recently, is the fact that the elk that I hunt to get free meat happens to be the healthiest meat. So now that I know this, I wish there were more hunting seasons in a year. If you have never been lucky enough to eat elk meat then I want to be the first to urge you to go out and try some. Once you go elk you never go back. You will not be dissapointed in the taste of elk meat, I guarantee it! So if you haven't already done so, I suggest going and getting some elk meat today. Enjoy!