The Gourmet Huntress

How an impromptu elk hunt inspired a dental hygienist to set out on another adventure to turn wild game meat into a gourmet meal.

In June 2018 my husband and I were on vacation with our two girls in southern Colorado. This was a repeat destination from last year. We decided to come back to the same location because a.) we didn't get to see/ do as much as we would have liked with an infant in tow and b.) it was doubling as a scouting trip for my husband's upcoming archery elk hunt.

My husband was planning to come back to the same area for the opening of archery season and the two buddies he had invited along had just pulled out. He was not canceling his own trip though, he was planning to come back alone. I hated the thought of this because it's a dangerous sport, with no cell phone service, should he have an emergency. In the middle of one of my protests my husband lovingly suggested " Why don't you come with me? You're good with your bow."

EEK! There was no way I could go elk hunting. While I started listing all the reasons why I couldn't go: no one to watch the kids, not in good enough shape, hadn't hunted since the baby was born, etc; my husband was quickly firing back with answers to all my concerns. Well, it's settled then. I guess I'm going elk hunting.

The next 7 weeks were filled with extra lifting, extra cardio, extra target practice as I prepared myself for my greatest hunting challenge yet and one of the most physical challenges I've ever undertaken. But more about that later. I want to jump right in to how this blog came to be. During our 11 hour car ride to our campsite, I started brainstorming all the ways I wanted to try to prepare the elk meat I was sure I'd bring home. The most anticipated of these would be the coarse sea salt and crushed peppercorn crusted tenderloin with a rosemary butter rub and roasted low and slow in the oven. As I was describing what I thought this would taste like (mouth watering and tongue hanging out) my husband informed me it was in poor taste to plan for meat we didn't have. He didn't want me to jinx it. And while in the end he was right, as we did not harvest an elk this trip, I disagree with this premise. Of course you should plan for the meat you are hunting. If you don't plan on eating it, then why bother hunting it? And so an idea was born! I wanted to come up with tantalizing new recipes to utilize the game meat I already had stocked in my freezer and readily available to me.

I believe that feeding my family healthy, organic wild game while teaching my children where food comes from is a way of life to be proud of. I'm looking forward developing, perfecting and sharing these recipes with the world as well as my family's adventures in the great outdoors!