Venison Grill Wet Rub

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Saul

Cook
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Messages
59
Location
San Antonio and Chicago
This is just a quick recipe that I sometimes use for venison when grilling. It is a wet rub and I find it easiest to coat the venison with it first before throwing it on the grill. This recipe is not too formal because it really depends on the size of meat you have and how strong you want the flavor of the venison vs the rub to be. I usually use this recipe for backstrap.

I guess that this recipe could be adapted to be a marinade for the venison, although I have not tried it that way. Once I do, I will let you know how it works.

A side note: I am a vegan hunter. This means that I believe in humanely killing all animals that I eat myself. I do not buy meat from stores. I will only share meat recipes from animals that are free and wild and that I have hunted and killed myself.

To eliminate the gamey flavor of venison, it is best if it is chilled around 35 degrees for over a week. If you really really really hate the gamey flavor of venison, you can marinate it sprite for a few days which will completely eliminate the gamey flavor, but I highly advise against this because it robs the meat of most of its natural flavor.

Recipe:
-1 to 2 sticks of soft butter
-1/2 cup of olive oil
-1/2 to 1 can of Virgil's Ginger Ale
-2 shots of Jack Daniels
-2 tbsp of paprika (you can do one spicy and one sweet paprika if you do not want it too hot)
-1 tbsp of ground oregano
-1 tsp of ginger powder
-1 tbsp of garlic powder
-1 o 2 tsp of cayenne pepper powder
-season with coarse Kosher salt and ground pepper

These measurements are extremely rough as I normally just season by hand for this but I think that they give a general idea of what the ratios should be like.

Coat the venison on both sides with the rub before putting the meat on the grill.

Let me know what you guys think of this recipe. Once again, this is nothing fancy and it is certainly not perfect and not perfectly measured, but it is a quick and tasty way to cook venison.
 
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Try adding Smoked Paprika in with your paprika choices. Available at Penzey's and hopefully the herbs and spices section at your grocer's. I think it is a terrific flavor booster and is great in many kinds of dishes.
 
Did you invent the term "vegan hunter?"
Maybe? but I highly doubt it. All I mean when I call myself a "vegan hunter" (yes, I know it sounds like a silly and contrived contradiction) is that I am a vegan for ethical reasons relating to the treatment of animals by the food industry but I do hunt. I will only eat meat from animals that are wild and free range that I have hunted and killed myself. This way I know that they were killed humanely and lived a real and natural life.
 
Vegans don't eat meat or any kind of animal-produced food, regardless of how it's sourced. What you are describing is better termed as ethical eating.
 
Maybe? but I highly doubt it. All I mean when I call myself a "vegan hunter" (yes, I know it sounds like a silly and contrived contradiction) is that I am a vegan for ethical reasons relating to the treatment of animals by the food industry but I do hunt. I will only eat meat from animals that are wild and free range that I have hunted and killed myself. This way I know that they were killed humanely and lived a real and natural life.

Curious, if you don't get a kill shot (doesn't matter the tool), do you consider it running until it drops or you need a second shot as humane?
 
Vegans don't eat meat or any kind of animal-produced food, regardless of how it's sourced. What you are describing is better termed as ethical eating.

You are probably right but I just like to use the phrase because it is easy to explain to people why I am eating vegan when I go out or over to their house but still hunt.

Curious, if you don't get a kill shot (doesn't matter the tool), do you consider it running until it drops or you need a second shot as humane?

This is a really interesting question. If I am understanding you right (and please correct me if I am wrong), you are asking if I am satisfied with tracking an animal vs trying to shoot them a second time if possible to guarantee a quicker kill.

I have hunted Africa before and the practice there is to make sure that the animal is an instant drop so that it does not run away and you risk losing a trophy. For this type of hunting, you have the choice between trying to shoot the heart/lungs or (since they are hunting for trophies and not the meat) shoot the shoulder instead, which will hopefully break both shoulders and guarantee that the animal drops right there. Shooting the shoulders is not the typical practice in North America and I personally do not do it in North America. I prefer to go for the heart and lungs, which I feel is more humane, even if the animal runs for a bit. However, I do have some rather big rifles capable of cleanly harvesting game through shoulder shot if you do not mind a grapefruit sized hole and ruining all of the meat in the shoulders. I would do this type of shot if I deemed it necessary to anchor the animal at all costs.

I do a lot of bow hunting and so I am used to seeing the game run for a bit before dying. It is not as pretty as a DRT you can get sometimes from a rifle shot but most drop within 50 yards and I think that this is very humane. It also does not destroy anywhere near as much meat.

I prefer to take shots on game that destroy the least amount of meat possible while also trying to make sure that the animal does not suffer and does not run a long distance. I am not opposed to firing an anchoring shot through the shoulders if necessary but I certainly do not do that regularly. As far as firing a second shot, I rarely do this mainly because it is too difficult to get a second shot on target in a kill zone and also because if the animal is running and you are forced to take a quartering away shot, you are probably going to waste a good amount of meat. I will obviously shoot a second time if the animal is wounded but not down and I can make a clean and ethical shot, or if I hit the spine or something I will definitely finish it with another shot.
 
You are probably right but I just like to use the phrase because it is easy to explain to people why I am eating vegan when I go out or over to their house but still hunt.



This is a really interesting question. If I am understanding you right (and please correct me if I am wrong), you are asking if I am satisfied with tracking an animal vs trying to shoot them a second time if possible to guarantee a quicker kill.

I have hunted Africa before and the practice there is to make sure that the animal is an instant drop so that it does not run away and you risk losing a trophy. For this type of hunting, you have the choice between trying to shoot the heart/lungs or (since they are hunting for trophies and not the meat) shoot the shoulder instead, which will hopefully break both shoulders and guarantee that the animal drops right there. Shooting the shoulders is not the typical practice in North America and I personally do not do it in North America. I prefer to go for the heart and lungs, which I feel is more humane, even if the animal runs for a bit. However, I do have some rather big rifles capable of cleanly harvesting game through shoulder shot if you do not mind a grapefruit sized hole and ruining all of the meat in the shoulders. I would do this type of shot if I deemed it necessary to anchor the animal at all costs.

I do a lot of bow hunting and so I am used to seeing the game run for a bit before dying. It is not as pretty as a DRT you can get sometimes from a rifle shot but most drop within 50 yards and I think that this is very humane. It also does not destroy anywhere near as much meat.

I prefer to take shots on game that destroy the least amount of meat possible while also trying to make sure that the animal does not suffer and does not run a long distance. I am not opposed to firing an anchoring shot through the shoulders if necessary but I certainly do not do that regularly. As far as firing a second shot, I rarely do this mainly because it is too difficult to get a second shot on target in a kill zone and also because if the animal is running and you are forced to take a quartering away shot, you are probably going to waste a good amount of meat. I will obviously shoot a second time if the animal is wounded but not down and I can make a clean and ethical shot, or if I hit the spine or something I will definitely finish it with another shot.

You are not understanding me right. I am asking if you consider tracking a wounded animal until it drops, whether still alive or not, as humane? Bow hunting almost always results in having to track the animal down. Dropping the animal on site is very rare in bow hunting. How do you compare that being humane to a quick shot to the head in a controlled environment. I agree that cutting the throat insures a slow, painful death and disdain that cruelty as inhumane.

I hate trophy hunters, but understand the necessity of managing wildlife and the money from these types of hunts goes to help insure species survival.
 
You are not understanding me right. I am asking if you consider tracking a wounded animal until it drops, whether still alive or not, as humane? Bow hunting almost always results in having to track the animal down. Dropping the animal on site is very rare in bow hunting. How do you compare that being humane to a quick shot to the head in a controlled environment. I agree that cutting the throat insures a slow, painful death and disdain that cruelty as inhumane.

I hate trophy hunters, but understand the necessity of managing wildlife and the money from these types of hunts goes to help insure species survival.

In all honesty, it is very hard for me to say that any method is perfectly humane, or as humane as I would want it to be. However, if I am going to kill an animal, I will try my very best to ensure that it is done in the quickest and most painless way possible. In addition, I personally consider the life of the animal p
rior to being killed as a part of whether or not the hunt was humane. What I mean by this is that if you kill a wild animal exactly the same way as an animal in a slaughterhouse, the wild animal was killed more humanely because it got to live its life in the wild.

I really do not like having to track animals, but you are right that bow hunting almost always results in tracking. In fact, a DRT shot with a bow usually means that you hit the spine. I consider the animal running 100 yards or less to be humane as far as bow hunting goes. I am very pleased when I can get an animal down in 50 yards. With my current bow setup and if I can get a shot on the animal when it is not spooked, this usually happens.

If I could make it so that the animals died instantly and also it did not waste a ton of meat, then I would do it. I have a friend who shoots an insane magnum rifle that puts down deer like nothing I have ever seen. Always DRT like they were hit with the hammer of thor. However, it destroys an excessive amount of meat so I do not consider it necessarily ethical for my hunting purposes because wasting all of the meat defeats the point of hunting.

In my opinion, no matter how controlled or efficient the slaughterhouse process is, it is not humane. Even in the best slaughterhouse operations, the animals are robbed of their dignity by being killed in a captive environment, not knowing what it is like to be free. Unfortunately, these best slaughterhouses where all of the animals die instantly and without stress are mostly a fantasy. The reality is that most slaughterhouses are incredibly cruel and stressful for the animals. If I had the choice of living free in the wild and then one day getting shot running a few yards and then bleeding out or living my life in captivity, being abused and then forced into a slaughterhouse where I painfully died, I can tell you which option I would choose. I do not like killing animals but if I am going to do it and eat meat, then I will try to give the animal the most respect and dignity in the most humane death that I can give them.

Saul, calling yourself a vegan is quite unethical in my opinion, especially since it's just for your convenience. It's perverse.

I am sorry if my use of the term vegan to describe myself offends you. I joke with my friends that I am 98% vegan.

If you are a vegan and find the thought of a person hunting and calling themselves a vegan to really be perverse and unethical, then I apologize. I hope you understand that I mean no offense by the term. I just mean to explain that I find the farm and slaughterhouse industry to be inhumane and I choose to not take part in it.

I used to be a big game hunter and I also hunted many African trophy animals. Then, I became a full vegan and gave up hunting entirely. Recently, I have decided to begin hunting again, but only break from veganism to eat meat of animals that I have killed myself. I am considering raising my own chickens and possibly working with a local organic farm to get milk and cheese, although I have not yet made that transition away from veganism.

I am vegan (or at least 98% vegan not because I consider the actual consumption of animal products to be wrong (I used to hold this view) but because I consider the way in which we get these animal products to be wrong. This difference in view explains my somewhat loose use of the vegan label. Sorry again if that offends you.
 
If it ain't no skin off my nose, a guy can call his self whatever he wants.

Edit:
Was going to leave it there but reminded me of a TV show, four seasons, I recently watched on Netflix. Called "Life Below Zero" from the BBC about a few people living in various parts of the Alaskan wilderness. Most were more or less subsistence hunters and gatherers but not exclusively so and they weren't ideologues, they just preferred that lifestyle. Would have appealed to me when I was a lot younger. Anyway, I recommend it to someone interested in a life dedicated to the ideas Saul is talking about.
 
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I am sorry if my use of the term vegan to describe myself offends you. I joke with my friends that I am 98% vegan.

If you are a vegan and find the thought of a person hunting and calling themselves a vegan to really be perverse and unethical, then I apologize. I hope you understand that I mean no offense by the term. I just mean to explain that I find the farm and slaughterhouse industry to be inhumane and I choose to not take part in it.

I'm not offended, exactly, and I'm not vegan. I'm a writer and editor. Words have meaning and the purpose of language is to communicate with each other. By definition, vegans don't use or consume animal products, so the idea of a vegan hunter who eats the catch is an oxymoron and in my opinion, a perversion of the language.
 
I think it would be interesting to see the reaction if Saul posted his self-named lifestyle and philosophy on a vegan or even vegetarian forum...
 
Saul, calling yourself a vegan is quite unethical in my opinion, especially since it's just for your convenience. It's perverse.
I question the propriety of your language. Seems to me you are just calling a new forum member names. I guess to make yourself look smarter?
 
I question the propriety of your language. Seems to me you are just calling a new forum member names. I guess to make yourself look smarter?
I'm expressing my opinion. Trying to shame me for it is wrong. I'm pretty sure he chose that phrase to be provocative.

If you don't like what I say, complain to the mods.
 
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