gonzalezeb
5 year old buck +
Unfortunately, my two kids will be at their mom's house this year for Thanksgiving...but that didn't stop us from celebrating Thanksgiving a little earlier. I know it is traditional that you eat a Turkey at Thanksgiving - but as one who has a rare poultry allergy turkey is something we never do. The family and I talked about doing a ham - but that kinda fizzled out. We discussed doing a Prime Rib - and again, it quickly lost interest (especially with the kids). But as Junior Hunt Day came around on 14 November my son (13 yrs old) shot a beautiful looking sika stag. Shortly after the sika stag fell, I mentioned to my son...looks like we got Thanksgiving dinner figured out. I contemplated doing the backstraps and/or tenderloins for a bit, but looking at the stag while he was hanging there, it came to me...Neck Roast. I've never done a neck roast. I've known a few to talk about neck roasts - and remembered they mention how awesome it tastes...so that sealed the deal for me. Now all I have left is to convince my wife. I pitched the idea to my wife and she thought it was a great idea (after all, we are using my son's deer to provide for our family - and this will serve as a great lifetime memory for him). She googled a few recipes...came up with her idea after looking at several and then roasted the neck roast in a dutch oven for about 8 hrs. Now my kids eat deer pretty much exclusively - though my daughter has always been a bit reserved about deer and did not seem to be very keen on the idea of eating a neck roast. But, my wife cooked this amazing neck roast last night...and everyone of us, including my daughter...had seconds, thirds, and maybe forths. I suppose for your first neck roast a small sika stag is the way to go...not a lot of meat to begin with...but I never would have expected to run out of the main course. About the only comment made was the awkwardness of seeing vertibrae on the serving platter. But overall this was a hit!
