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ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The hunt doesn’t end when you bag the deer. Now it’s time to take advantage of the healthy and delicious venison that makes Missouri such a great place to hunt deer.
To help hunters learn techniques and tips for field dressing their deer and preparing the venison, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is offering Field to Freezer classes at both its August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area and the Jay Henges Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center. Openings for both classes are still available.
The Busch Area class will be held this Saturday, Oct. 1, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Henges Range class will be this Monday, Oct. 3, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Classes are free of charge and provide all items needed.
This program will teach hunters what to do with the deer after the harvest. Participants will learn all the steps necessary to skin and butcher deer meat themselves. The class will demonstrate how to process a deer in simple steps with minimal equipment.
Topics addressed will include field dressing, safe knife handling, plus other tools hunters needed to correctly prepare venison for the freezer. The class will also demonstrate how to process the venison into steaks, roasts, and ground meat. It will also cover proper packaging techniques. Participants should plan on dressing for the weather.
For more information, call the Busch Area at 636-441-4554, or Jay Henges Range at 636-938-9548.
The August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area class is located at 2360 Highway D, 2 miles west of Highway 94 in St. Charles. The Jay Henges Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center is at 1100 Antire Road, just off the I-44 Antire Beaumont Road exit in High Ridge.
