Venison Roast Dutch Oven Recipe Plus Late October Buck Hunting Tactics

With the arrival of the cool autumn days, it's the ideal time to gather around the fire and relish the rich, hearty flavors of a perfectly cooked venison roast made in a Dutch oven. Venison's tender and lean qualities make it an excellent choice for slow cooking, resulting in a savory dish that melts in your mouth. In this edition, we are thrilled to share our favorite recipe for preparing venison in a Dutch oven.

Before we continue, I'd like to encourage anyone interested in booking a consultation for 2024 to fill out a CONTACT FORM. My schedule is quickly filling, and I would like to schedule as many of you as possible! There is still room for a few consultations before the holidays!

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb venison roast (.5lb/person)

• Two tablespoons of olive oil

• One large onion, chopped

• Three cloves garlic, minced

• Two carrots, peeled and chopped

• Two tablespoons of tomato paste

• Two bay leaves

• Two sprigs of fresh rosemary

• 1 cup red wine

• 2-3 cups beef or chicken stock

• salt and pepper to taste

• (I always add some powdered Hatch Green Chili Powder because I am a desert rat at heart.)

Instructions:

Preheat and Prepare: Start by preheating your Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and let it heat up.

Season and Sear the Venison: Season the venison roast with salt and pepper. Place it in the hot Dutch oven and sear on all sides until nicely browned. This step helps seal the juices and flavor.

Sauté the Vegetables: Remove the venison and set it aside. Add the chopped onion, garlic, carrots, and celery in the same Dutch oven. Sauté until they soften and become fragrant, usually for about 5 minutes.

Deglaze the Pot: If you'd like to add some depth of flavor, pour in the red wine and tomato paste and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven. Let it simmer for a few minutes to reduce.

Return the Venison: Place the seared venison back into the Dutch oven. Add the bay leaves and rosemary sprigs. Pour in the beef broth until it covers about halfway up the roast. If needed, add a bit more water or broth.

Simmer and Cook: Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place into a preheated oven at 315°F for even, gentle cooking. Cook for 3-5 hours, checking periodically to add water or stock if needed. The venison is ready when it easily shreds with a fork!

Let it Rest, Serve, and Enjoy: Once the venison roast is tender and flavorful, please remove it from the Dutch oven and let it rest for a few minutes. Slice it into thin pieces and serve with the delicious vegetables and cooking juices. It pairs wonderfully with mashed potatoes or a hearty wild rice pilaf.

It's the perfect time to enjoy the fall foliage in Middle TN. The maples, sumac, and sassafras trees are peaking this week, with many of the oaks to follow over the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for new deer scrapes and rubs popping up everywhere. White oak acorns are already on the ground or have already been consumed, while the red oak acorns will be falling soon. To learn more about hunting the acorn drop, check out last week's newsletter, "Navigate the October Lull Like a Pro."

Around half of the crop fields nearby have already been harvested; the last hay-cutting of the year has probably happened recently. The bucks are sparing on camera while the first flocks of sandhill cranes are migrating southward. We can expect the first hard frost of the year soon. In short, times are changing, and if you want to succeed, you must either get lucky or adapt. I can only help you with the latter. Here are some ponderings before you head afield:

- If the deer are still on white oak acorns, no food plot, corn feeder, or mineral lick will ever compete. Find fresh sign, and hang a stand. Don’t overthink it.

- If the deer transitioned to red oak acorns, repeat step one except in a red oak stand.

- If you find a community scrape, don’t be afraid to sit over it. The same can be said for an obvious rub line. The caveat here: it NEEDS to be fresh. Not “kinda” fresh.

- It is supposed to be warm this week (into the 80’s for some of yinz). Water. Water. Water. Find the closest water to his bedroom and wait. The middle of the day isn’t a terrible time to be near water.

- The best thing you can do to improve the daylight activity of bucks on your property during the rut is to harvest antlerless deer BEFORE the rut. Do it. I dare you. I double-dog dare you.

- If you are feeling extra frisky, consider utilizing a doe decoy the closer we get to November.

Good luck to everyone fortunate enough to enter the woods this week. Please have fun, be safe, and send in or tag me your hunting photos!

Again, I'd like to encourage anyone interested in booking a consultation for 2024 to fill out a CONTACT FORM. My schedule is quickly filling, and I would like to schedule as many of you as possible! There is still room for a few consultations before the holidays!