Americans are disconnected from their food. We live in a country where food is in abundance. Restaurants line the streets in every city and grocery store aisles are filled with multiple options for almost any product. For example, we designate an entire aisle to cereal! The average person knows where they get their food, however they do not know where their food comes from. They just walk into McDonalds, order some Chicken McNuggets, pay with their credit card, and go on about their day. Completely oblivious to the fact that their order resulted in another chicken being put into the butcher line to be cut up and pressed into a nugget.
I hunt for several reasons. One of which is to provide food for myself. This has been a long journey with the ultimate goal of knowing where my food comes from. Growing up in household that always hunted, we didn’t eat much wild game. The deer my family harvested was made into jerky and snack sticks. After all, growing up on the farm we had plenty of beef in the freezer, so why eat “gamey” venison? It wasn’t until my twenties when I decided to use wild game as my primary protein source. This revelation coincided with the start of me archery hunting. I believe that the intimate relationship of hunter and prey comes full circle with processing and consuming the meat from a successful hunt.
This journey has been a series of stepping stones. I try to learn a little more about butchering and cooking wild game with every animal I harvest. I buy wild game cookbooks and recently attended a wild game seminar given by Hank Shaw. At this seminar, I was compelled to start eating the heart and liver of the deer I harvest. These wobbly bits are often discarded in the gut pile, as they are not required to be consumed in the states I hunt. However, I felt that if I wanted to continue to evolve as a hunter this was the next logical step. I made a commitment to myself to eat the heart of the next deer I shot.
Opportunity knocked shortly after. Perched in a tree stand I watched 4 or 5 does pass under my watch. I held an anterless tag in my pocket, but on this particular afternoon I just didn’t feel like “messing” with a deer. When you process your own wild game it can be a time consuming affair. However, as I sat and waited I started to question my logic. My ancestors didn’t have a choice. Harvesting a deer was required for survival and the work involved was welcomed because it meant their family would continue to survive. Butchering a deer shouldn’t be seen as work, but as an opportunity to connect with one’s food.
As I developed clarity around my thoughts, a doe stepped out from the trees. Standing broadside at twenty yards I drew my bow, settled, my pin, and let my arrow fly. I knew my arrow hit the mark when she ran less than 10 yards before expiring. She perished before she even knew what happened in what I consider the most humane method to acquire meat.
I remained in my stand until the sun set then approached the downed animal. As I field dressed the deer in the moon light I reached into her chest cavity to remove the heart. My hands made quick work and I placed the heart in a game bag and dragged the deer to an edge of the field to load in my truck. As I walked back to my vehicle, bow in one hand, the heart in the other, I truly felt connected to my food. Words can’t explain the feeling, I just know that it felt right.
Preparing the heart was relatively easy. I used a recipe from Hank Shaw’s book: Buck, Buck, Moose. Grilled Venison Heart was the name of the recipe and is the most appropriate method to cook heart in my opinion…over fire. The taste was amazing and I knew I took the right step in being more connected with my food.
How Does This Apply to Business
Often in business, we accept the status quo. We think to ourselves, this is how things have always been done, so it must be right. We create opinions on different matters without ever experiencing or investigating for ourselves. Don’t let this happen. Be curious.
The decision of eating the heart of my deer was due to curiosity. I asked myself “why hadn’t I ate the heart in the past?” I didn’t have a good answer, so I tried to learn as much about prepping and cleaning the deer heart as possible. As a result, I was turned onto the most interesting piece from a deer in both taste and texture. A delicacy that very few people will ever experience. The only thing that was preventing me from this experience was my preconceived opinion.
What are you currently excepting at your business? I challenge you to be curious. Ask questions. Try new things and continue to develop as an individual and business. Doing the same thing is boring. If you are excepting the status quo, you are not reaching full potential. All successful inventors, entrepreneurs, and human beings are successful because they did not except the way things are. Instead, they found a better way.
Until next time remember…you’re going to have to earn it.