Wild Game

Despite interference and unreasonable restrictions from the trolls beneath the bridge, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan remains a hunter's paradise, with white-tailed deer aplenty, bear, rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons. Venison was a staple in the diet of my family while I was growing up in the Upper Peninsula's Menominee County in the 1950s and 60s. I didn’t know too many people who hunted bear, or ate squirrels or raccoons, but it wasn't unheard of. Rabbit was a commonly hunted animal, although I never much cared for the taste of them.

But in frontier days, when people weren't able to pull food out of the freezer or buy it fresh in the local market, they were largely dependent upon what they could grow, raise, or hunt. Wild game formed a significant part of the settler's diet, and was a welcome respite from endless meals of salt pork.

As urban life supplanted rural living in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, game there became scarce. As early as the 1890s, the sighting of a deer in the southern Lower Peninsula was fodder for the news. Hunters established a tradition, much hated by residents of the state's Upper Peninsula, of traveling to the U.P. for their hunting experiences.

Recipes for wild fowl can be found in the “Fowl” section.

I’ve included several recipes for cooking wild game here, but there were several more that I’ve come across at camp but didn’t write down. I’d very much appreciate any special camp recipes you might be willing to send me.