While planning our stops in between Dallas and New Orleans, we stumbled upon a Harvest Host farm raising white-tailed deer. We had never heard of a deer farm, so we thought it would be an interesting stop. We headed from Lake Tawakoni the day before and stayed at a rest stop right at the Texas/Louisiana border. We wanted to go into Shreveport and so with only a one-night stay, arriving early allowed us to do so.
When we arrived, it was everything you would expect: Like a cattle farm or anything else, they had fields full of deer! We parked and talked to the owner for a while. He explained that this property had been his grandfathers and it was passed down through the generations. His grandfather raised cattle, and that is how it was passed on to him. He didn’t much care to raise cows, so he chose deer instead. I asked him if they are just raised for meat, or if there is any other purposes for them. He said they are “just raised for hunting”. I found this to be an interesting choice of words. I think of hunting as going out into the wilderness and seeing if you can find a deer. I asked him if people are stocking their property with deer so they can go hunting, but this didn’t seem to be the case. Just raise them and butcher them just like any other animal raised for meat. Though if I understood correctly, a person still needs to wait until hunting season and go through the regular steps (tags, etc) of hunting. A funny mixing of worlds, I thought.
Anyways, the kids liked watching the deer roam around the fields. The young ones (around a year old) were in one area, where the adult does and a single buck were in another. The young ones were skittish as soon as you got close, but the does would let you pet them. Unfortunately, however, the buck was not very friendly and was very protective, so you had to make sure your hands were away from the fence if he was around. I wouldn’t want to stand that close out in the wild, but it was a bit entertaining to watch him dig up the ground with his hoof, and swipe his horns down the fence to make sound while we backed away to give him his space.
After we set up in the morning, we went to into Shreveport to explore, fill our propane tanks, and grab some lunch. The farm owner suggested one of his favourite restaurants, which we decided to try. And I’m glad we did! Kirsten and I ordered an open-faced gravy-smothered burger, a couple flavours of boneless wings, and onion rings to share. Mason had a grilled cheese sandwich with mac-and-cheese on the side, and Niko had a cheeseburger with fries. Everything we ate was super tasty! I also tried a flight beer from local microbreweries, which were also excellent!
After lunch, we needed to rush home because Mason had a special online class… making ice cream in a bag! The waitress was kind enough to give us a couple styrofoam cups full of ice, and we all ran across the parking lot in the torrential downpour and jumped in the truck. Mason started the call in his carseat to get the ingredient list and as soon as we arrived back at the trialer we put everything in the bag and caught up with the class. Mason shook and mashed his icecream up in his ice bath, and it turned out great! The kids devoured it and enjoyed their handy-work.
