I just returned from a four day hunt in northern Minnesota for whitetail deer. I have some friends that live in Warren ,MN and have around two thousand acres they farm and own. I have been hunting this area since I was 12 years old and have had some great success there. In recent years the deer population has exploded and it is one of Minnesota's intensive harvest areas. Meaning that you could, if you wanted to, shoot up to five antlerless deer. The area is mostly farmed for sugar beets and soybeans so the deer are very well fed. In the years that I have been going there I have seen some gigantic bucks and plenty of does for the freezer.
This year I took a few of my normal hunting buddies, minus one, due to a deployment to Iraq. So to fill the spot I brought my brother and my brother in law. My brother hasn't hunted deer in 15 years or so and this was my brother in-laws first deer hunting experience. Because of the high deer population it is almost a can't miss opportunity to get a deer. By the weekends end everyone in my hunting party had gotten a deer or two. My brother in-law shot a doe and a nice eight point buck and my brother shot a six pointer. In the end we brought home 7 deer and had a nice time on Sunday reliving the hunt as we spent the day butchering deer. 
My brother plans on eating a lot of venison over the next year and was asking about recipes he could use, especially for the ground venison he has. I have played around with a few different meatloaf recipes and finally perfected my own. It is easy to prepare and very flavorful. One of the problems I found with venison meatloaf is that is dries out very quickly but I found a way to prevent that from happening. So here it is,
Jamie's Can't Miss Meatloaf
Preheat the oven to 375*
2 Lbs ground venison
2 eggs
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 medium onion, Diced
1 Green or Red pepper
1 Tbls Kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce or any other type of sauce, Barbecue, Hoisin, teriyaki, A1 it doesn't matter they are all great.
1 Lbs. Bacon
Mix together the first 8 ingredients and set aside. Line a meatloaf pan with bacon so that the bacon is hanging over all sides but still covering all the pan. Press the meat mixture into the pan and cover with the bacon that is overlapping the pan. place in the over for 60-90 minutes or until the interior temperature reaches 165 degrees. Remove from pan and serve with whatever you would like. For my brother I would suggest putting it between 2 pieces of bread and having some sandwiches.
I am going to be trying a bacon wrapped venison roast this week and if it turns out I will put the recipe and some pictures up here. if you try this recipe I would love to hear some feedback and if you try a different sauce I am always willing to try something new.Labels: Venison recipe
