Christmas venison

Only a raw feeder would be excited about roadkill for Christmas...

A couple days, ago, I got a text from my sister's boyfriend, who had access to a deer that had just been hit by a car.  An hour and a half later, he arrived at my house with four huge deer legs and a heart for Mona!  I have no idea how much the legs weigh, but I'm guessing they must be at least 8 or 10 pounds each.  And the heart was probably a couple pounds too. All in all, a LOT of food.  Wahoo!

Then, for Christmas yesterday, my sister's boyfriend showed up with even MORE venison for me!  There are at least a dozen (probably more like two dozen) packages of deer steaks and several ziploc bags of deer burger.  And... a WHOLE squirrel!  I haven't sorted through everything yet, but with all the deer I've gotten this week, Mona has at least two months worth of food.  Needless to say, I'm THRILLED!

I took out a package of doe steak, maybe 6 ounces, and decided Christmas day would be the perfect time to introduce deer to Mona.  She loved it!  She didn't eat as much of it as I would have expected, but I think that is only because we were at my parents' house, and Mona was preoccupied with trying to play with their yorkie.  However, it looks like venison will be a hit!

(Side note:  Venison is unlike any other meat I've dealt with.  Not only does it have a completely different smell--a much stronger smell than the chicken, pork, or beef I'm used to--but it was much bloodier too.  I'm not sure if this is due to the way it was processed/packaged, or if this is typical of venison in general... Has anyone else noticed this?)