Kerry Swendsen is evangelistic in his message to deer hunters: You can butcher your own deer.
And save money in the process.
And be assured the venison you and your family eat came from the deer you shot.
Swendsen, who has decades of meat-cutting experience, eight years ago started a company called Deer Dummy (website: deerdummy.com), with the intent of teaching hunters how to properly field-dress and butcher downed deer.
"We started out with classes taught at schools through continuing education,'' Swendsen said. "We held our first class at Monticello High School in July 2006. Nine people showed up.''
Since then, the word has spread about Swendsen's educational efforts, and routinely his classes fill to capacity. Also, each year he holds seminars at Game Fair in Ramsey.
"Some people come to the class because they're tired of paying someone to butcher their deer,'' Swendsen said. "Others come because they want to have more control over their meat.
"I remember one woman came with her husband, who had been butchering his own deer but doing it incorrectly, and at the end of the class the woman said, 'Now we can finally have dinners featuring something other than my husband's mystery cuts of venison.' "