My neighbor hit a deer on the way to work last monday. A beautiful little doe. No damage to the truck. Thanks to Colorado's Division of Wildlife policies, a quick phone call gets a roadkill permit....they have 24 hours or some such for an officer to come up and examine it hanging if they wish to. We're an hour from town, so they didn't, and mailed the permit.

SO -- what's cooking for all y'all today? Here it's venison chili from the stew meat, 3 hours on the woodstove and 3 more to go. The garnish is smoked venison backstrap and tenderloin, with a cajun spice rub. Side dishes brought by neighbors, not sure what they are yet. I'm doing portabello mushrooms saute'd in white wine, stuffed with stilton cheese.

I really appreciate a government agency (the Colorado DOW) that makes such things easy--too bad for the little doe, but at least the meat isn't wasted. I've never had even the slightest harsh word with our state's DOW -- every single officer I've met in the last 20 years was courteous, polite, and non-officious. I've even heard them apologize for issuing a ticket to other folks (never got a ticket myself from them). "Sorry sir, but this really is flies and lures only water, and you have a worm on. I have to give you a ticket. Sorry about that. Use a Mepps next time please here."

Gotta go, time to stir the chili and check the smoker!
DANBOB