All-American Hunter’s Life: Recipes Straight from the Field

Guns and grilling — two favorite American past times. (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

It’s summertime and the living is easy, at least if you’re a patriotic American hunter. We’ve just celebrated Independence Day and with patriotism running high, seldom have there been more top-quality, all-American made guns and gear for hunters. Whether you hooked a lunker or bagged a big game animal with that long range rifle there is no better way to enjoy it than cooking it yourself. What better way for like-minded folks to spend an evening than sitting around the grill with some of our favorite guns and prime cuts of wild game on the Camp Chef?

Because we’re all family here at Guns.com, Stan Pate and I bring some of our favorite tips for wild game grilling to you, our readers.

Stuffed Venison Tenderloin

Stuffed Venison Tenderloin (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

We seasoned and lightly low-smoked a nice half of Whitetail tenderloin before slicing it nearly through in half. We then stuffed it with a mix of onions, mushrooms, and smoked bacon all lightly sautéed ahead of time on the SideKick grill and added a few slices of smoked cheddar cheese. The whole thing was then trussed with cooking twine and returned to the Woodwind grill for a finish cooking. The temp probes let us know when the internal temperature reached a nice medium-rare 145-degrees.

Smoked Lake Michigan Salmon

Smoked Lake Michigan Salmon (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

Hunters aren’t limited to red meat, as many of us love to fish and partake of all nature’s bounty. The Camp Chef is a perfect smoker, and even novice smokers like me can easily find success in smoking both meat and fish. In this case, the salmon was marinated with brown sugar, maple syrup, and a blend of seasonings before spending some hours at the “low smoke” setting. The results, as evidenced by the taste testing, were delectable.

Hank Shaw’s Marinated Venison Kabobs

Hank Shaw’s Marinated Venison Kabobs. (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

One of the masters of wild game cookery, Hank Shaw’s recipes run the gamut from incredibly fancy to downright basic but always delicious. We opted to slightly alter his harissa marinade to our own taste on the hind quarter cuts of venison. His tips for kabobs are fantastic, like freezing your metal skewers prior to cooking so you’re able to reach a perfect medium rare meat finish, to always keeping the grill open to avoid the baking-effect. Following his advice, we came out with some fantastic venison skewers using locally sourced veggies—a full hunter’s meal on each stick. The concise controls of the Woodwind pellet grill allowed us to hold a nice steady temperature even with the lid of the grill open, leaving perfectly grilled kabobs for the plate.

Hank Shaw’s Grilled Deer Heart with Peppers

Hank Shaw’s Grilled Deer Heart with Peppers (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

Avid hunters like us love to use the “wobbly bits” as Shaw calls meat like the heart. This recipe makes great use of a hot grill, largely chunked onions and peppers, and a nicely cleaned venison heart. Shaw’s tip of grilling with the lid open on our Woodwind and finishing the heart to 130-degrees in the center, easily measured with the Camp Chef’s temp probes. After a quick rest, thinly slice the heart and serve up with the delightfully charred marinated peppers and onions.

If all that is not enough, we cooked up our side dishes on the Woodwind as well. A pan of cheesy hashbrown potatoes baked to perfection while the meats cooked. Freshly picked asparagus grilled lightly in under ten minutes, all a testament to the large capacity of the Woodwind.

Cheers!

Good friends and good food with Stan Pate, left, and Kristin Alberts. (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

Once the guns are tucked away after our day on the range, it was time to toast with a local brew and dig into to some of the finest dining around. Not only did we harvest, clean, and cook our own wild game, we did so with quality guns and gear made by Americans. Whether spending time on the range, in the hunting woods, or around the grill, talking about guns and eating wild game is just about as good as life gets. Let us know how you enjoy celebrating your freedoms, enjoying the summer weather, and showing off the patriotism that defines our American lives.

The author plinks with the Savage Arms 110 high Country before heading to the cookout. (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

Stan Pate takes aim with the Savage 110 High Country. (Photo: Kristin Alberts/Guns.com)

If you’re in the market for any of these guns, be sure to check out the Guns.com Vault, packed with new and used firearms, with many fine made-in-America options among them.