Oliver, That venison with all the fixin's looks delicious. It brings out another story from my past. I still remember because I am only 39. It was during the WWII years when i was living on my Uncle's farm. There was rationing of just about everything. Meat was one of the items that we had to account for very morsel. However, we always had "Beef" on the table. i did not know it at the time, but there was an underground traffic of "beef" thru out our neighbor hood. We always had our supply of "beef" from animals that were slaughtered from our small herd. Of course, i never figured out at the time of the mystery of no animals have turned up missing. The animals I learned at the time of my first questioning were "Government Sheep"
One day, a neighbor stopped by with a whole hind quarter of venison. He had shot the deer during hunting season, so it was legal. At least legal as it was shot during hunting season. A few months later, i was considered old enough to keep my mouth shut and was allowed to join in with butchering a few "Government Sheep". Some even had antlers on their heads. Eventually, I was even allowed to accompany my uncle as he delivered cuts of the meat to other neighbors who were owed chunks of meat. At the time our neighbor dropped off the quarter of venison, I did not know of the bartering system thru out the neighborhood. I was just as excited to finally get a taste of venison as all the other children in the household.
When the venison was cooking, it smelled strongly the same as another meat we were used to. I was the oldest child in the house so I was probably less fooled when I took my first taste of the delicacy. I chewed a little for the taste to really penetrate my senses. Finally, i commented, "Shucks, this tastes just like beef."
Tinker
