“This workshop was also a great opportunity to highlight how the Hunters Feeding Michigan program processors are willing to give back to the community through venison donations and by teaching others the art of deer processing,” Joe Presgrove, Hunters Feeding Michigan program specialist, said.

The idea for the workshop grew out of a meeting between Outdoor Adventure Center and Hunters Feeding Michigan staff last summer. HFM staff hosted part of its multi-day regional meeting with deer donation programs from other states at the OAC.

“I have had the goal of hosting hunting workshops here since 2022,” said Patrick Endres, OAC educational programmer. “The biggest hurdle that stopped us from hosting a workshop at the OAC was the logistics of getting a deer to process.”

HFM staff provided a donated deer for the workshop. They were also able to recruit one of their volunteer processors to demonstrate butchering techniques.

The remaining topic for the workshop was a venison cooking demonstration.

Erin Hamilton, owner and founder of The Mushroom Conservatory, had previously attended a special event at the OAC. At that event, she shared with staff that she was a certified chef and enjoyed cooking wild game for the public.

With the support of all these groups the workshop was scheduled.

Advancing hunting skills

Why are DNR hunting workshops important? They are helping to meet the growing requests from Michigan residents for intermediate and advanced hunting courses.

That was the overwhelming motivation for most of the participants attending the deer processing workshop. All the participants that attended the workshop were adults, and they were just starting to become hunters.

“Seeing participants challenge themselves to learn more hunting skills and becoming new hunters later in life is so rewarding because this was my story too,” Endres said. “Next-step hunting classes are a common request I get on my post-hunter education field day surveys, and they are willing to travel pretty far to learn these skills too.”

One participant traveled from Grand Rapids to attend this workshop.

In addition to providing the deer for the workshop, Presgrove was able to recruit Randy Davis, a volunteer deer processor from St. Johns, Michigan to help teach the class.

Davis has been processing wild game and agricultural animals since he was a teenager, helping his father with his butchering business.

Davis went through skinning, quartering and deboning meat. One of the goals of this section of the workshop was to make the process less intimidating and for participants to walk away thinking they could use tools and utensils in their own kitchens.

Participants gobbled up the information and asked Davis great questions.

“Randy was great! I’ve been hunting for years, and I learned new techniques for removing meat from the bone I will use in the future,” said William Knafl, a workshop participant.   

The workshop also attracted nonhunters.

Workshop participant Jackie Hoskins said she was interested in taking the class to “learn new outdoor skills she wouldn’t normally use.”

Hoskins, a promotional agent for the DNR, and the other participants were also excited to try venison.

Hamilton, like Davis, wanted to make her section easy for participants to replicate in their own kitchens. She used simple ingredients like thyme, garlic, salt and coconut oil to highlight the amazing taste of venison.

“We chose popular cuts of venison that a lot of hunters prefer so we could highlight how good it tastes,” Endres said. “All the participants left with a satisfied belly and a brain full of tips and tricks for processing deer.”

One deer can provide 160 servings of high-quality protein.

What’s next?

The team that put this workshop together is already planning the 2026 schedule.

“Leading up to this workshop, I was asked if we could do this this workshop for scouts and other new hunter groups,” Endres said.

Read another Showcasing the DNR story about Hunters Feeding Michigan.

To learn when next year’s hunting workshops are taking place, keep an eye on the Outdoor Adventure Center activity schedule or email Patrick Endres at EndresP3@Michigan.gov.

Other great DNR resources for hunting workshops and clinics are the Outdoor Skills Academy and Becoming an Outdoors Woman.

Classes are updated on a regular basis and have included survival, first aid, food plot planting and even deer processing.

To learn about upcoming cooking demonstrations with Erin Hamilton, visit The Mushroom Conservatory Facebook page.

To learn more about how you can donate financially or with a deer, visit Michigan.gov/HuntersFeedingMichigan. HFM deer donation events are scheduled at multiple locations in Michigan over the weekend of Nov. 21-23.