Betsy and I have a second home in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, what might be seen as a Madison suburb. This home enables us to spend more time with family and grandchildren, and it also enables me to spend some time on the water when I’m away from home. The political climate around Madison differs from that of our South Dakota home, and all I’ll say is that today’s liberal Democrat is not the Democrat I was when I voted for JFK.

I don’t know that it’s a part of the liberal platform, but I have been told that the production and consumption of red meat is harmful to the environment. This is a hard pill for this South Dakota boy to swallow. First of all, I love to sit down to a choice cut of prime rib. But this is not important. What these environmentalists would like to do to our world is of paramount importance.

I’m told that the energy consumed in getting livestock to market and the actual meat processing itself, which consumes a great deal of water, is wasting energy and causing harmful emissions. Never mind that the meat industry creates millions of well-paying jobs in trucking, railroading, processing, marketing, and overseas shipping…..not to mention our farmers and ranchers.

I’m told that 80% of our corn goes to feeding livestock. I ask, “If we drastically cut our corn production, what becomes of our corn fields?” I’m told that the cornfields can go back to forests and habitat. Once again I’ll ask, “What becomes of our farmers?”

Because of better paying technology jobs, I’m guessing that the Chinese people have moved upward in income and relish the consumption of meat, much of which might be produced in our USA. As we consume everything from vehicles to sophisticated electronics manufactured in the East, we must offer something in trade. Our agricultural products answer that question, and I see the day when we will be feeding much of the world. Throw out the production of red meat, and our economy crashes.

Mealtime is an enjoyable time of the day for me, and I don’t want to even think about a world without red meat no more than I want to think about having to eat a meatless Burger King Whopper. Oher than food, I haven’t even mentioned the cowhide leather industry that upholsters our nicer vehicles as well as our living room furniture. My arguments are my own. I’m not scholarly, and I have not consulted economists. No doubt I’ve overlooked key arguments. I only hope that my rationale makes some sense.

Speaking of meat, I ran across an interesting tidbit in the 8/2/19 Section C of the USA TODAY newspaper. It was written by Andrew Donnal, a Detroit Lion offensive lineman. In speaking of his deer hunting, Andrew had this to say.

“It’s delicious. You save the heart, thinly slice it and pan sear it – real hot – for 30 seconds each side. I like to do fajitas. It looks like skirt steak. It’s like butter. It’s very soft. The texture of it is awesome. There’s tons of flavor.”

Andrew is on to something I’ve failed to discuss in my 48 years of column writing. Too many times I’ve left a pile of offal to the crows and coyotes after field-dressing a deer. Perhaps I should be keeping the heart and liver.

What Andrew is suggesting about the heart is reasonable and worth consideration, but I believe that he is over-simplifying the preparation a wee bit. The heart is interlaced with fibrous tissue that must be trimmed away. There is also hard, white fat on the outer surface that must be trimmed away. When I sit down at the kitchen counter next fall with a heart, cutting board, and fillet knife, I don’t believe that Betsy will be on the same page as she has never relished wild meat other than the elk that now fills our freezer…..and even with that she prefers the beef I discussed in the first section of this column. But I’ll follow Andrew’s recipe and give it a try.

Readers continuously ask me, “Roger, what’s next?” Other than Canadian fishing next month and my coming South Dakota pursuits including East and West River deer, there are currently no booked hunts on my agenda. If and when I make that next trip to faraway places, it might be about fishing rather than hunting.

See you next week.