Yeah, that's how it's done in Alaska! The gills are cut to bleed the fish. Salmon is great that way. I'm hoping to try this method in 2010 in Q.

Yo Jimmar,

How happy I am to see your message, because as much as I rave to my friends about fresh Quetico fillets (or chunks or shreds, i.e. sometimes we make fish stew and gumbo, for variety), I was tempted to post a venison-related message.

What's better: Walleys or smallies cooked over a fire of pine coals on the edge of a lake in the north woods, while watching the northern lights and listening to the loons?

Or peppered venison loin seared over a fire of black locust coals on the edge of the dark Kentucky woods, while watching the Leonids and listening to the coyotes and an owl?

At this moment, I cannot say.

And sorry for digressing from the thread, but after a week of sleeping out and savoring deer cooked a dozen different ways, with my hands curled around a rifle and a field-dressing knife, the paddle and fillet knife seem distant memories.

Oh, and quickly:

Re: "properly aging" the venison. More sins have been committed against a vension carcass than are in the Bible. How many non-hunters have been turned off venison because the animal wasn't shot properly and the meat properly afterward?

Re: how we cook fish. Another in the group, he the fish-maestro, has assumed all fish-cooking responsibilities over the years. The rest of us would not presume to get in his way. But we typically pan fry (often for a sandwich lunch) tho sometimes we poach (the fillets not the game animals). And yes, sometimes a stew with rice. And baked once or twice in foil.

-- kypaddler

kypaddler wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2009 at 2:32pm:


They both sound pretty darn good to me!!! As deer season winds down I start daydreaming about camping and fishing again.

On aging...ok if you can control the time at temp(keep it from freezing/thawing/freezing or keep it cool enough, 40F to 50F) I do all my own processing, lots of debate on this topic but back to fish..

I was on a walleye charter on the Detroit River, and the captain (who has thousands of walleye go into his live well each year and spend a few years in the pro tournaments) did cut just below the gills to bleed the fish. Then pumped in fresh water before returning to the slip.

[quote author=db link=1258519214/20#22 date=1258960086]How, exactly, do you cut the gills? Angle? Where? Pretty quick death I assume? [quote]

Yes exactly as OS described. Not sure if hitting them on top of the head always kills them, but it does seem to knock them out. I don't enjoy doing it, but it seems like the quick and humane thing to do. I also thank the fish for providing me with its life.

BrownTrout01 wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2009 at 5:54pm:


You thank the fish?