Battle-Scarred Buck with an Extra Antler

Last week Jonathan got a buck on the first night of deer season.

This was not a good night for me to have to process venison when I was already beat. But venison waits for no man--or should I say, no woman. Life with its venison marches on in the garage and kitchen whether Mom feels like it or not. 

Here came the happy hunters home with their prize. This was an unusual one, though. It had one antler mostly intact, one antler almost completely broken, and--you won't believe this--the appearance of the stub of a third antler right in the middle of its forehead (if that's what you call the front of a deer's head)!

No wonder it looked better to hang onto the deer this way! 

We only did what had to be processed that night, calling it off well after ten o'clock, but a couple days later, we gals cut the scrap meat into chunks for Jonathan to help us grind with our trusty meat grinder that Carrie got one year in Denver for just $50 bucks (pun may or may not be intended). 

Crystal washed the meat while Hannah and I cut it up for grinding--all that meat from the buck deer with the extra antler. That buck must have been in a lot of battles. Perhaps, with that extra antler stub, it had been created especially for battle. Now, like it or not, it had fought its last battle.

What would the meat taste like? I was not at all sure.

But we added sausage spices into one batch of ground meat and fried a few little sausages to taste. 

Let's just say--that meat was scrumptious! 

For venison, and a buck at that, it deserved five stars!

If we feel at times that we have been created with an ugly old extra antler just for battle,

or with an extra chromosome,

or an extra heavy weight of baggage or bondage,

let's just determine that, however our battles turn out with our poor antlers,

our meat shall be tender and delicious!