How to Make Venison Burgers

How to Make Venison Burgers

They say extra lean ground beef is healthy for you. This recipe cooks up even leaner meat, venison. Venison burgers will leave ya feeling satisfied, not stuffed and ready for a nap. You’ll feel lighter than you would eating a beef burger.

Now, because venison’s such a lean meat, it requires more attention while cooking. It’s easy to overcook venison since there’s minimal to no fat in deer meat. Leave some red color to the meat so it’s juicy. If you want leftovers, leave more red to the meat so you won’t overcook it while microwaving tomorrow’s dinner.

how to make venison burgers

Venison burgers are a quick way to enjoy a great meal. Great thing is that condiments/sides that go well with beef burgers also go well with venison.

 

What you’ll need to make venison burger meal pictured:

  • 1lb or less of ground venison or enough to feed however many you’re feeding
  • Charcoal grill or George Foreman grill preferred
  • Pickles, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard any seasoning desired. – I chose not to use seasoning.

What you do:

  • Make patties with hands
  • Lay on grill
  • Watch them closely, 5-10 minutes
  • Toast bread if desired, enjoy a quick way to enjoy a wild game meal!

This post is long overdue and is part of the series of venison dinners I made from my first deer. Two other recipes will be posted in the coming weeks. One’s for making venison chili and the final one’ll be for a venison roast.

Here’s other venison recipes worth a shot:

Venison Fajitas Using Deer Chops

Venison Fajitas Using Deer Chops

venison fajitas using deer chops

Fresh off the stove, the blurriness is actually steam. Thinly sliced deer chops are the best cuts of venison for fajitas. Very tender meat that cook fast for a quick meal

 

What you’ll need

  • About a pound of venison chops
  • One green pepper
  • One medium sized onion
  • Olive Oil (just pour till you think you’ve got enough in the pan)
  • 1 Fajita seasoning packet (do not follow cooking time instructions as they’ll be for chicken of beef) – or make your own
  • Chili powder
  • Cayenne pepper if ya want a kick

 

sliced deer chops - venison fijitas

Slice deer chops thin.

What you do:

  •  Rinse deer chops under cold running water
  • Cut away silver skin and clean up deer chops as needed
  • Slice-up venison chops for fajitas.
  • Slice green peppers and onions into strips

Once sliced, fry in a pan with olive oil for 2-4 minutes, flipping once. Do not over cook, in fact leave some purple color to the chops. Then, add in your favorite seasoning and veggies.

venison fijitas ingredients

Here’s what I chose to use when making venison fajita’s.

 

Other venison recipes:

Appreciating Nature While Outdoors

Appreciating Nature – God’s Creation 

snow on trees

Each time you’re afield, take time to appreciate nature; things that you can only observe from being outdoors. Sounds simple, though, do we always do this?

While out hunting during this past year, this thought came to mind, “enjoy the simple and come back for more.”

Slow… down… and enjoy the world around you; observe what’s around you. What’s the weather doing? How do the trees look? What’s above you? What are you walking on, dirt, sand, gravel, is there a marsh coming up?

Feel the sense of freedom of the great outdoors. Exploration makes up hunting as well as the shot itself. It’s just another reason why “smacking some birds” or “smoking a deer” are not the only things that make up hunting.

appreciating nature

Reached out to catch the snowflakes as they fell during Wisconsin’s late bowhunting season.

 

Take snowflakes for example. We have learned that snowflakes are geometric patterns either from articles, science class or pictures of them.  However, to actually hold a snowflake in your hand and make out their geometric design is awesome and in real time. It’s one of the mysteries of God’s creation. God created this world for us, you and I to enjoy.

A random thought here, It’s always amazing to me how the trees can grow upright, against gravity.

 

 

appreciate nature

Saw a fallen tree from a distance and pictured myself making a fort of it if I were stranded.

This post been in my head for a while so decided to take a break from the venison recipes to share. Next post will continue the venison recipe series.

Venison Meatballs

Venison Meatballs

 

venison meatballs and pasta

This was the first spaghetti meal with venison meatballs.

In the previous post, “the hunt continues,” I mentioned doing a series of posts on venison meals from my first deer. So, let’s start making venison meatballs!

Venison meatballs turned out to be a favorite way to use ground venison.

There’s two ways I prepared venison meatballs and I’ll share with ya the recipes below. First, we’ll go over the part that’ll make or break your venison meatballs: cooking time.

 

Cooking Time
For venison meatballs, 10-12 minutes in an oven preheated to 350 degrees will get ‘er done. Anything over 12 and you start losing flavor, drastically. Less is more when it comes to cooking time, especially if you plan to reheat wild game meals for leftovers. This leads me to the next point: cook venison meatballs closer to 10 minutes so microwaving won’t over cook leftover venison meatballs.

venison meatballs

Prepare a 9×13 pan with butter or extra-virgin olive oil. Then place rolled venison meatballs, with ingredients added, in the pan. Place in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

You always need to be attentive and near the grill, oven or stove that you’re using to make a wild game or fish meal. Stand by the cooking source, do not leave it.

Two Venison Meatball Recipes To Try

Recipe 1) Using seasoning:.

  • Italian Seasoning
  • Garlic Powder
  • 1 lb ground venison

What you do:

Roll up ground venison with your hands. While rolling, shake on Italian seasoning and garlic powder. (*No measuring of spices required. This way, you’ll find some meatballs  will have more garlic, some more Italian season. Each one will have it’s own flavor, a surprise in every bite!) Place meatballs in a 9×13 pan pre-treated with either butter or extra-virgin olive oil (extra-virgin olive oil is meant for baking at high temps). Put pan in an oven preheated to 350 degrees.

Recipe 2) Using fresh onion and garlic:

  • 2 minced garlic cloves
  • 1 minced small onion
  • 1 lb ground venison

What you do:

Mince garlic cloves and small onion. Mix together the minced garlic and onion on cutting board. Roll venison meatballs into a ball with your hands. While rolling, sprinkle in minced garlic and onion mixture. Add as desired. Place meatballs in a 9×13 pan pre-treated with either butter or extra-virgin olive oil. Put in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Venison Meatballs-garlic and onion

Note: a butcher knife is the recommended knife for mincing. A sharp knife is a must.
I do not have a butcher knife, the knife pictured did the job becuase it was sharp!

(Before cooking my first deer, I had no desire to mince anything. Yet, when seeing minced garlic was an ingredient to making venison chili, I learned by watching “how to mince garlic” YouTube video. To me, hunting and fishing create a willingness to learn more about cooking.)

 

Next Venison Meal: Grilled Deer Heart 

 
 

The Hunt Continues

The Hunt Continues After The Shot.

(Second blog post on my first deer.)

Remember, the hunt continues after the shot. After the shot, the deer will need to be gutted. After gutting, the deer will need to be skinned and processed. It’s why hunters say, “the shot is just one part of hunting.”

My dad, grandpa and I worked to skin and quarter my first deer. (The quartering process was another part of the hunt that made memories.) After skinning, I took the meat to be processed. Taking the meat to be processed took priority to getting the head and hide to the taxidermist.

Cooking Your Trophy Is the Greatest Trophy

In my book, the meat was the trophy. I say this because when fishing and hunting, obtaining a meal is my main objective. The goal of my previous deer hunts was to obtain deer meat. Going 13 years without shooting a deer, made each meal of my first deer it’s own trophy. With my first deer, I’m able to cook meals with meat from a deer I shot myself. (Achieving the goal set when obtaining my hunter’s safety license.) At each meal, memories of those who have helped me come to life again.

grilled deer heart

Grilling the heart of my first deer. Eating the heart brought the hunt full circle that much more.

When eating wild game from your hunts, the hunt is prolonged. Each time I sink my teeth into venison, I relive the shot, as well as, gutting and skinning the deer.

First deer mount

The European mount of my first deer was a bonus. Trophy from the hunt: venison and sharing time with family

Gain Responsibility 

It’s a fact that hunting also teaches how to be responsible with the game you kill. Hunters should remember this; anti-hunters must learn to understand this. Therefore, as a sportsman, I want to respect the animal by making sure the meat does not go to waste. This is why hunting teaches responsibility. Hunters learn the value of life and what it means to be a steward of the land.

Learn Cooking Skills

Just as fishing helps me cook, hunting teaches me about cooking as well. In the next series of blog posts I will be sharing meals and recipes made with the venison from my first deer taken during the 2013 Wisconsin bowhunting season.

Here’s a few venison meals – more meals to be added to this list:

The Hunt Continues

Above all, I’ll continue to look forward to future hunts and meals with wild game and fish, and, yearn for the next hunting season. It’s why “the hunt continues.” And if I don’t get anything, that’s alright too. My passion for the adventure and the thrill of even finding sign is what drives me. Read more on the following posts:

Blessings: A First Deer

God blessed me with my first deer on September 21, 2013.

This day, and the preparation for this day, was filled with teamwork. Each venison meal brings back memories of the hunt I shot my first deer. It’s a great taste. There’s only one “first deer” for a hunter.

first deer

A trail camera about 30 yards from the tree I was sitting in captured me and my first deer. We found the deer the morning of September, 22. I dragged it from the brush to the clearing.

It was a calm September evening. I was sitting 20 feet up a tree listening to a Tom turkey calling, while anticipating any kind a movement from a deer. All of a sudden tall grass was moving in the distance. Then, lower branches of a tree on the edge of a cornfield began to shake. (If I was sleeping, I would have missed the subtle movement, and possibly, my first deer.)

Deer were walking through the woods towards the cornfield.

My heart began pumping quicker as the deer kept walking. I couldn’t make out if the two deer were bucks or does at this point because they were in the brush.

At first it seemed they were heading into the cornfield. Next minute, it seemed as if they were heading towards me. A few seconds passed and, sure enough, the deer were heading my way!

Instantly, my heart started to pound and my breathing increased. They were closer and out of the heavy brush, one was a buck, the other a doe.

Both deer stopped at a clearing about 40 yards away. Suddenly, the buck started walking towards me. He then stopped abruptly, shook his head violently and jogged back towards the clearing’s edge where the doe was standing still. I asked myself, “Did he get wind of me or hear me breathing hard?” (I jokingly wondered if they could hear my heart because it was still pounding.)

To my surprise, the doe he was with began walking in, hugging the treeline beside the clearing. Closer and closer she game. She then stopped and began feeding. She was 20 yards from me.

whitetail doe

The buck followed this doe. The trail camera captured the doe that was with the buck I took.

The buck, still at the clearing’s opening, started towards the doe following her path. As the buck walked closer, I could tell it was a young buck. As he continued to walk into a comfortable shooting range, about 20 yards, his walking slowed. Aiming for the rib cage I released my arrow. Thunk! I heard and saw the arrow hit.

Upon impact, the buck dashed towards the West through the treeline and into tall grass. Turning away from the cornfield ahead of him, he stayed in the tall grass and made a half circle back towards the woods. I took mental pictures of that path and continued to look where I heard him last.

Man, was I shaken-up and full of adrenaline. I took several deep breaths while thinking, “I just arrowed my first deer! I get to eat venison! Now I must wait 30 minutes before I start after him.” It was 6:30 when I shot him. (Rule of thumb is to wait 30 minutes before looking for a deer, especially in bowhunting.)

 Patience In A Tree
That was a long 30 minutes. I spent it thanking God for this hunt, praying my hit was as solid as it looked and observing nature. My heart rate gradually fell as I looked towards the sky. Also figured this was a good time to pull out my phone to remember how high I was. It was clear and the sun was shining on the cornfield enhancing its golden color. Most leaves were still green with a few turning color this second weekend of bow season.

When my pocket watch f i n a l l y reached 7 o’clock, I slowly climbed down the the ladder-stand. Walking towards where I shot the buck, I heard movement behind my treestand. I paused and questioned myself, “Am I starting too soon?” Silence shortly followed, so I continued to where I remembered the deer take-off after the shot. I found tracks, blood and a few feet further, my arrow. The arrow provided proof it was a good hit. There was red blood and it didn’t have a foul smell.

I found blood and started tracking until I came across a small creek and lost the blood trail. It was now 7:20 and getting dark. I took out my flashlight but could not pick up a blood trail again. Because of the movement I heard early on, I turned back and headed to camp to get advice of more experienced hunters.

Sunset while deer hunting

Walking back to camp that evening, I turned to admire the sunset.

 Around 8PM
Back at camp, I told my hunting party I had hit a deer, felt confident of my shot, lost the blood trail and asked for advice. After seeing my arrow, they also said it was a good hit. We headed back out after the deer.

Arriving at my stand, I picked up the initial blood trail and we all continued to follow it. Finding more of the trail than I did, we found an area of heavy blood and it seemed as if this was the end of the blood trail. We decided to head back and return in the morning.

 Is It Morning Yet?
The night was long. Prayer and anxiety made it tough to fall asleep. I was still replaying the shot in my mind.  Although I was confident of my shot, I was questioning the hit since we were going back out in the morning to look for the deer.

Morning came. We headed out to begin the search. Not long after searching, we found my first deer! The deer was about 50 yards behind the tree I was sitting in. It was found beside a tree in thick brush.

Holding my first deer.

Fulfillment is the best word to describe how I felt walking up to the deer and laying hands on it. Though hunting is a solo sport, it took teamwork for my first deer and I appreciate everyone that helped.

I have been gun deer hunting since 13 and started bowhunting in 2012. Although I didn’t get a deer in 2012, I learned hunting skills and bowhunting preparation that was crucial in getting my first deer on September 21, 2013. The friends and family who helped out are as much a part of this as myself.

Feeling The Passion

feeling the passion

A journey out during late bow season in WI, December 2012.

One Saturday morning, before the bank opened, I threw in the Dropped: Project Alaska season 1 DVD to kill some time.

Thoughts flooded my mind on my passion for hunting. I began to clearly think how much I enjoy hunting and I began to feel the yearning to get outside.

Watching, I related to Chris and Casey Keefer’s frustration of not seeing game.

I mainly hunt public land. It’s got heavy hunting pressure. Therefore, when hunting, my goal changes from shooting a deer to just finding sign, to just seeing deer. You see, finding fresh sign feels like success. It provides a lift to keep hunting.

Hunting is sometimes about working backwards, coming back to the drawing board and always adapting to conditions and finding ways to remain positive.

About The Pursuit
To me hunting is seeking, seeking to be successful at finding, shooting and eating game.

And that means hunting is a journey to find game. I’ve determined this is what makes hunting addicting. It’s still a journey whether you fill your tag or go home to prepare tag soup.

In the journey you’ll witness aspects of yourself and make memories with those you hunt with. You’ll experience the elements of nature. Rain and wetness. Sun and heat. Wind and cold. Fear and respect. You’re taking in knowledge and teaching by giving knowledge.

The challenge of hunting is part of the journey that’s addicting. Now, this is something I wonder: Is this how you feel? Is this how hunter’s who have taken slams still feel?

This is a second post on thoughts about hunting.

Exploring Hunting

Hunting. It’s been around for decades.

Hunting’s a way to survive, a hobby, a lifestyle, a way to spend leisure time, to be with people, to eat organic meat.

It’s the pursuing of game and so much more than the previous sentence lays out. I desire to eat what I pursue, and am anxious to cook game meat. After all, my ultimate goal of my hunting adventures to to bring food home. Remember, because it’s called hunting, bringing home game is not always the case.

Hunting’s intriguing to me because it allows me to go into the natural world and gives me a choice of how much technology I want to bring with me. Being in the woods reminds me of a time when the technological advances of today were yet to be discovered.

exploring hunting

Yet, it’s intriguing for another reason; the responsibility of a gun or bow, to load and unload, nock and un-nock, to know I have the chance to take a shot, and what shot is worth taking, or not worth taking.

I hope that when I do have that big buck hanging at my place, my focus on hunting will still be in this raw state and not tied up with bragging over the points it has.

As a sportsman most of my experiences is with fishing, in memories with family, and personal discoveries. I catch more fish than shooting animals. Over the years I have spent more time by the water than in the woods. So, hunting is another way to enjoy the sportsman within me. It provides learning about new gear, and going after critters moving on the land.

There’s so much more to explore, like the responsibility to wisely use an animal. Animals have been given to us and why stewardship and conservation ought to be found in hunting and the sportsman, and why hunting is more than just killing.

It’s good to explore what hunting means to you and how you can talk about it, and how you relate to hunting.

Simple Or Techy, It’s Hunting

Let’s talk technology and hunting. It’s always been a part of hunting. Sometimes, I get an attitude where I don’t need or desire the new technological advances we have to hunt with today. This is not always the best attitude because man always will look to improve hunting techniques and often times looks at new technology to use in the field with him to make him more successful at bringing home his query.

However, knowing the fundamental skills are crucial. Playing the wind is an excellent example of how fundamental skills are necessary even with the advent of the 21st century hunting technology.

Though new technology can make a hunter more effective, the latest technology is not needed to be successful. You still need the basic skills of hunting to go with the latest technology.  And this, my friends, is often what I put my time and energy doing. For if I master the basic skills of hunting, I can do without the latest technology until I can afford the latest technology. The price tags can be ridiculous.

This may put me at a disadvantage at first, but over time I will have honed my skills and sharpened my senses of the woods, and knowing the basic skills of hunting will allow me to appreciate what the technology can add to my arsenal and learn how it improves basic skills.

In a way you do need both. You need the basic fundamental skills so if your techy gear fails, you can still be successful. And gadgets can fail, so I feel it’s harmful to become dependent on technology. Therefore, technology should maximize the fundamental skills you have learned, not replace them.

Thoughts? Jot ’em in the comments…

Tagging Out On Determination

Determination is part of hunting. You’re reading about my hunting experience for the the 2012 WI gun deer season. The season opened November 17 and closed November 25. Although I didn’t get a deer yet this season… I had fun hunting and gained one more year of hunting experience.

Furthermore, each year I hunt, I come to conclusions for my love of hunting and being outdoors. I realize just how deep my passion for hunting resides.

My plan each day was this:

  • get in the woods before light
  • sit until midmorning
  • scout around and still-hunt the afternoon
  • return to a separate spot to sit until dark

 

 

As I walked out of the public deer woods and back to my car each day during the 2012 gun deer season, I asked myself, “Will I get a deer?” Thoughts of frustration entered my mind as I was walking out of the woods without a deer.

Yet, each day I was anxious for the next time I would come back to the deer woods.

And sure enough, the next morning, I’d be just as excited and optimistic of my chances seeing deer as I was the morning of the season opener.

Morning of Day 4 of the 2012 gun deer opener was a foggy one.

It’s exhilarating when you find a prospective spot and see deer sign such as droppings, rubs, trails, and beddings.

During one of my hunts, I confirmed that I enjoy deer hunting for the challenge and that’s what keeps me coming back.

The challenge may be going through thick brush and heavy cover in order to explore a new area. I went through thick cattails because I felt deer were in there, and I found sign leading to this marsh that I had not explored yet.  Always be scouting around, even in season.

Followed this deer trail through the cattails, doing so also led me to a prospective spot I’ll try late season.

When scouting, pay attention to the ground in order to find good deer sign. This may sound obvious, yet it’s worth mentioning ‘cus it’s easy to overlook deer droppings, and finding deer droppings allows you to learn how to age them.

Most importantly, finding good deer sign rejuvenates yourself by giving you a positive feeling that deer are indeed in the area.  Much of hunting is about a positive attitude. This will keep you going no matter how frustrating the hunt seems.

Because I wasn’t seeing deer, I was reminding myself each day that “just being out in the woods gives me a significant chance at tagging a deer”. It’s this attitude that kept me coming back to the woods and scouting around.

For me, it was frustrating to not see any deer even though I found great deer sign. Not seeing deer teaches me a cool cool thing about hunting: you don’t need to get the animal you’re after to have fun. You can take away other things about yourself, and the memories you make with friends and family.

Found a good size deer bed after kicking up deer in a marsh.

You also prove to yourself qualities you may not have thought you had, and even build on the qualities you know you do have. You are improving your hunting skills, and are able to utilize the gear you’ve spent money on.

One of the things I found was a new way to carry my deer seat in the woods that lets me travel lighter, stealthier, and, if a deer presented a shot opportunity while walking to my spot, this newfound way would give me a more comfortable shot.

In the end, I’m able to look ahead to remind myself I still have an archery tag through January 6 and there is a second WI gun deer season in the CWD Units over Christmas. I was able to look for additional spots to sit during these two seasons and there’s still hope to get a deer. It will happen by taking a positive attitude.

Because I work for Sportsman Channel I feel I should be tagging out every year on deer, limiting out on fish each adventure out there. It’s when I start feeling this pressure I remind myself of this simple thought: if I am able to get out in the woods, breathe the fresh air, and enjoy walking in public land, than I am experiencing being an American Sportsman. And this alone is a blessing.