Feeding Venison On Raw Diet

[Guest bobber]

We are going to start feeding Bobber a raw diet this week. We will start with Chicken but we love to hunt and want to use venison. Right now we just have meat but will probably get a deer in the next month or two and I want to know what all to save! Any advice?

 

Wendy

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I don't feed raw, but I was able to save loads of meat and bones (those I'll feed raw) for my dog from the fall.

 

The animals were gutted before I got them, so I didn't have any internal organs and so can't advise on that. The meat that went into the dog pile was everything that was too much work to bother with for people. The scraps and bits that came off when trimming away the silver skin. Much of the fat, which isn't a lot, but as it tastes bad to people, I saved it for the dog. I cut out all the rib meat, in retrospect, I probably should have just cut the ribs into sections and fed them raw with the bones, but alas, I didn't know as much then. The bones I saved were all scapulas because they're small. Next time, I'll save more because I now have a second freezer that I can dedicate to dog food.

 

I mainly avoided anything that looked or smelled bad and cut generously around the kill wounds. Technically, I could eat all that I saved back, but I just wouldn't want to.

 

Don't forget to cut out the trachea, dry it in either an dehydrator or the oven, good chewing those!

[Guest greybookends]

My gang LOVES venison when I can get it.

[Guest Cris_M]

Other than the bowels, gall bladder, and brain, you can feed all the organs. If you're saving the testicles, just leave them in the scrotum and feed the whole thing.

 

I believe the brain carries some parasite that can be killed with several weeks freezing. That's a bit too much trouble for me. Of course, if you are tanning the hide, you won't have brains to feed anyway.

 

Stay away from the large, weight bearing bones. We ended up giving those parts to my son's Lab.

 

The spine can be fed but we found disarticulating it to be very difficult.

 

Just about anything else can be fed -- including weird things like eyes and tongue. Along with the obvious, save the wound site. Your dog won't care that blood has seeped into the tissues. And save all the trim and silver stuff. We end up with several meals from scrap.

 

Now that I have grossed out anyone who doesn't hunt.....

 

Have fun and send any extras to Duncan!