Venison is good-tasting meat and good for humans, most nutritionists agree. It's a high-quality protein, having low fat and more lean meat.

Wisconsin's venison has become popular with many local food pantries because it's one of the few forms of animal protein that is available to those in need of food.

Deer spend more time running through the woods and fields than beef cattle do, which is one reason venison is lean. Wisconsin's deer get plenty of exercise.

Just how tasty venison is when it arrives on a person's plate depends a great deal on the way it has been prepared, according to Sue Schultz, who spent many of her working years with UW-Extension in the Hunger Task Force and Nutrition Education Program in La Crosse County.

Because venison is lean meat, cooking must be done carefully to avoid ending up with a tough steak, she advises.

Schultz has been cooking wild game meals for her husband Marc and their family for many years. She suggests cooking a tenderloin or chop just until it's pink on the inside, no more.

Cooks may want to add a little beef hamburger to the ground venison to add some fat, if the butcher hasn't already taken that into consideration. Other ingredients can be used to add fat, too.

Hamburgers will dry out, just as the tenderloins do, if they are overcooked.

Casseroles are another great way to use venison hamburger because this method adds some moisture to the meat.

Venison steak can be cubed and used in stroganoff, over noodles, too.

Could educating people how to prepare venison be a method of helping to cut down on Wisconsin's overpopulation of deer?

Would people, hunters and non hunters, eat more venison if they didn't spoil it in the kitchen?

Schultz says low-income people have a great network and talk to others, so they exchange recipes and actually know more than most of us about how things like venison can best be prepared.

Marc Schultz prepares a special Christmas Eve venison tenderloin meal, starting by making sure everyone knows that when he says it's ready to eat they are at the table.

He has a saying about food, which is, people should wait for food; food should not wait for people. When it's done, it's done and should be eaten right now.

In addition to venison tenderloin steaks, seared on each side and then cooked to perfection, Marc and Sue make a wild rice soup, buttered noodles and fresh bread.

For dessert, Marc's pride and joy, his garden raspberries, fresh from the freezer, go over orange or rainbow sherbet.

Backtag is column by outdoors writer Jerry Davis of Barneveld chronicling the gun deer season. It will appear daily through the season in the News Republic.