Deer Meat

A Mount Airy man was charged with the illegal sale of deer meat by the Maryland Natural Resources Police after a 14-month investigation.David Wayne Knott, 53, who operated a sales business with the name "Why Not Call Knott," was charged and issued a criminal summons Friday after 350 pounds of deer meat was discovered in three freezers at his business, a police spokeswoman said. He faces a fine of up to $4,500.Police officers have been investigating Mr. Knott's alleged illegal deer meat sales since January 1993.

Ashley Bates nearly missed the first day of this year's Junior Deer Hunt. The 12-year-old from Catonsville, who took a safety class last spring in order to hunt, was supposed to be practicing with her club field hockey team Nov. 12. But when Ken Bates got word the night before that his daughter's practice had been canceled, he packed up the truck, picked up his father, Ken Sr., and took his daughter to a Worchester County property the family has...

Except for some misunderstanding about who was supposed to pay for the butchering costs, a program that put the hunters' bounty into the kitchens of the needy worked well, said those involved in it.Hunters are starting a drive now to raise $40,000 by next year to pay for processing deer they will donate.This was the first year for the statewide Hunters Harvestshare, a program in which hunters organized a distribution of their extra rTC deer meat to the Maryland Food Committee and its satellite agencies such as Carroll County Food Sunday.

Charles Samuel "Sam" Poole Sr., a Carroll County butcher whose Sam's Deer Processing in Finksburg has been a destination for lucky hunters for decades, died Saturday from complications after heart surgery at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. The longtime Louisville, Carroll County, resident was 65. The son of a butcher and a homemaker, Mr. Poole was born in Gaithersburg and raised in Sykesville. He attended Sykesville High School. Mr. Poole began his butchering career when he was 16, working at small grocery stores and butcher shops.

Venison stew, venison loaf and ground venison may soon beef up the menu at Maryland shelters and soup kitchens.The state's two-week firearms season for deer starts Nov. 28, and at least two sportsmen's organizations say they will urge hunters to donate all or part of their kill to benefit the Maryland Food Bank and the Salvation Army.The Maryland Deer Hunters Association, with support from the state Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Division, is preparing to launch "Hunters Harvest-share."

More than 33,000 whitetail deer were bagged by Maryland hunters during 1993's regular firearms season, the third highest total on record. In Harford County, hunters harvested 1,024 deer, most of which were taken during the season's first few days.Although a substantial number of hunters claim they enjoy the taste of venison, you'll often hear a different story from their spouses."Sure we eat venison at our house, but it's always tough and has a gamey taste," said a woman attending the Mid-Atlantic Hunting & Fishing Show at the Maryland State Fair Grounds.

Store part-owner arrested, accused of selling venisonThe part-owner of a Gambrills food store was arrested yesterday and charged with selling deer meat from his food store.Maryland Natural Resources Police charged Raymond M. Jermin Jr., 52, with two counts of selling deer meat from the Jermin Foodliner on Route 175 in Gambrills.It is against the law in Maryland to sell meat from any game mammal.Mr. Jermin was released on his own recognizance.Selling deer meet carries maximum fines of up to $1,500 per count.

I AM NOT A HUNTER; I'm more of a gatherer. Yet recently I found myself stretched out on the Barcalounger watching a video of a guy carving up a deer carcass. The guy was Milos Cihelka, a chef and a bow hunter. A guy who knows his top sirloin from his shoulder meat.Top sirloin makes good deer steaks, which should be cooked quickly and served rare or medium rare. Shoulder meat is tough and should be used for slow-cooking dishes, like stew. And when you are carving up your deer, you should trim off your "silver skin," the filament that clings to some chunks of meat.

The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night." I agree and disagree with that remark, which is attributed to Otto von Bismarck, founder and chancellor of the German Empire in the 19th century. While I accept that watching the legislative process can be unsettling, I have to say that after seeing Sam Poole make deer sausage, I had an untroubled night. Poole operates Sam's Deer Processing, a spare, health department-approved operation set up in buildings behind Poole's Carroll County home.

A black Labrador retriever that sniffs out bear and deer meat is the state's newest weapon against poachers in Western Maryland.Apache, who at 49 pounds is slightly smaller than most Labradors, sniffs out concealed bear and deer meat much like a narcotics detection dog noses out cocaine and other illegal substances, said John Milbourne, a Maryland Natural Resources Police officer.The wildlife detection dog, trained by Rudy Drexler's School for Dogs in Elkhart, Ind., will be used in poaching investigations and highway check points -- in searches for concealed meat from illegal kills -- in Garrett, Allegany, Washington and Frederick counties.

The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night." I agree and disagree with that remark, which is attributed to Otto von Bismarck, founder and chancellor of the German Empire in the 19th century. While I accept that watching the legislative process can be unsettling, I have to say that after seeing Sam Poole make deer sausage, I had an untroubled night. Poole operates Sam's Deer Processing, a spare, health department-approved operation set up in buildings behind Poole's Carroll County home.

The Rev. Edward G. Robinson's flock was reluctant to try the unusual new offering suddenly filling the freezers at his West Baltimore food pantry, so one Sunday the pastor decided to use his burgeoning culinary skills to whip up a meal with it. "Most of them thought it was roast beef and they enjoyed it and sampled it and even asked for the gravy," he recalled. What they were eating at Agape House was something perhaps out of place at an inner-city soup kitchen but regularly found on the menus of top-tier restaurants: venison.

THE EPIPHANY for Rick Wilson came on a Virginia highway when he saw a bedraggled woman waving for help. She had found a road-kill buck deer in the brush and wanted to get it in her auto. "My kids and me are hungry," she tersely explained, as Mr. Wilson loaded the carcass into the trunk.That connection between desperate human hunger and the abundance of wild deer led to the Hagerstown man's involvement with a statewide group called Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry. The group aims to provide 250,000 pounds of venison a year to Maryland food banks and soup kitchens.

I AM NOT A HUNTER; I'm more of a gatherer. Yet recently I found myself stretched out on the Barcalounger watching a video of a guy carving up a deer carcass. The guy was Milos Cihelka, a chef and a bow hunter. A guy who knows his top sirloin from his shoulder meat.Top sirloin makes good deer steaks, which should be cooked quickly and served rare or medium rare. Shoulder meat is tough and should be used for slow-cooking dishes, like stew. And when you are carving up your deer, you should trim off your "silver skin," the filament that clings to some chunks of meat.

Maryland hunters are expecting one of the most bountiful deer harvests in history this year, with a near-record kill reported for the first day of the modern firearms season, traditionally the key indicator of the season's total take. Unofficial predictions are that 1994 will surpass the 1992 state record of 35,100 wild deer harvested.This year, the deer hunt will also help the hungry through a statewide effort to donate venison to Maryland food banks and soup kitchens. A ton of deer meat was collected in the early archery and muzzle-loading rifle seasons and the expectation is that some 30,000 pounds will be donated to 12 large central food banks for distribution throughout the state this month.

A Mount Airy man was charged with the illegal sale of deer meat by the Maryland Natural Resources Police after a 14-month investigation.David Wayne Knott, 53, who operated a sales business with the name "Why Not Call Knott," was charged and issued a criminal summons Friday after 350 pounds of deer meat was discovered in three freezers at his business, a police spokeswoman said. He faces a fine of up to $4,500.Police officers have been investigating Mr. Knott's alleged illegal deer meat sales since January 1993.

Maryland hunters are expecting one of the most bountiful deer harvests in history this year, with a near-record kill reported for the first day of the modern firearms season, traditionally the key indicator of the season's total take. Unofficial predictions are that 1994 will surpass the 1992 state record of 35,100 wild deer harvested.This year, the deer hunt will also help the hungry through a statewide effort to donate venison to Maryland food banks and soup kitchens. A ton of deer meat was collected in the early archery and muzzle-loading rifle seasons and the expectation is that some 30,000 pounds will be donated to 12 large central food banks for distribution throughout the state this month.

More than 33,000 whitetail deer were bagged by Maryland hunters during 1993's regular firearms season, the third highest total on record. In Harford County, hunters harvested 1,024 deer, most of which were taken during the season's first few days.Although a substantial number of hunters claim they enjoy the taste of venison, you'll often hear a different story from their spouses."Sure we eat venison at our house, but it's always tough and has a gamey taste," said a woman attending the Mid-Atlantic Hunting & Fishing Show at the Maryland State Fair Grounds.