Wild Game Dinner on Sunday, February 26th, 2012

Harvard Sportsman's Club,
21226 U.S. 14, Harvard, IL 60033-8768

Get there early! Try for 10:30 AM, dress warm in case there is a line out the door and BYOB!

The purpose of the Harvard Sportsman’s Club is to encourage its members to practice game and fish conservation, to raise or acquire birds, such as but not limited to Pheasants, for the purpose of distributing same in areas of Harvard, IL. To cooperate with the IDNR in its programs as far as it pertains to hunting and fishing, to rent or acquire lands for the purpose of hunting and fishing. To conduct trap, skeet shooting and archery programs for the benefit of its members. The Harvard Sportsman’s Club is a not for profit corporation.

Do you know how much this will be?

Never mind, there it is on their site:
http://hscillinois.org/

Only $12!

"It's meat heaven"

I will be there.

Cathy and I went last year. It was a friendly community event with an astonishing array of meats. Go hungry!

jygach wrote:Cathy and I went last year. It was a friendly community event with an astonishing array of meats. Go hungry!

And don't expect much in the way of vegetables. This is a very meat oriented program.

Regards,

very excited for this! thanks for sharing.

Wow, this was fun.

We got there around 11. Things were about the same as Rene G. pointed out in the discussion on the 2011 dinner.

While we were standing in line (out in the wind and the cold) club members were passing out burgers and soup. They had set up an outdoor area next to the building where they had grills and huge pots of chili and stew.

The burgers antelope stuffed with blue cheese and cooked on the Weber. The chili was buffalo and the stew was venison heart. I thought the burgers were tasty, but overcooked. The chili was very nice given the weather. I thought the stew was terrific. The venison heart pieces were tender with an earthy and mineral-e flavor.

It took another 20 minutes before we got to the porch. This was closed on three sides and out of the wind it was pleasant. Another 40 minutes before we hit the first table.

This was an appetizer table. It had 2 kinds of pickled fish, salmon spread, goose pate, and 3 – 4 other things that weren’t identified. I tried one of the fish, the salmon, goose, and one other spread. All were very good. We finished these off before the line hit the entrée table.

Luckily everything on this table was labeled. I can’t remember everything, but I sampled:

Salisbury venison steak in mushroom gravy,
Antelope mild meat balls
Mule deer in tomato sauce,
Wild boar ribs in sauerkraut
BBQ raccoon,
Venison filet wrapped in bacon,
Pheasant,
Grilled goose breast,
Wild turkey burgers,
Fried blue gill,
Smoked salmon,
and some venison meat (forgot anything else about this)

Then they had things I just figured I didn’t have room for:

Elk lasagna
Venison or elk Italian beef
Mule deer in country gravy
Antelope spicy meat balls (still in the kitchen for some reason)
Two or three other things I don’t remember.

My favorites were the venison bacon wrapped filet, smoked salmon, fried blue gill, and gilled goose breast. What I didn’t like was the mule deer and the boar ribs, both dry and tough. The sauerkraut was good.

My friend and I assumed that they tended to overcook items to minimize food borne illnesses. They were really busy, but there was plenty of room. I did go back for a little extra of the blue gill and the filet.

Oh, they also had a big dessert table set up. We got out of there about 12:45 and they still had plenty of food.

D

dodger wrote:My friend and I assumed that they tended to overcook items to minimize food borne illnesses. They were really busy, but there was plenty of room. I did go back for a little extra of the blue gill and the filet.

I had to edit my comments to relieve the moderators of the need to.

In McHenry Co., the health department shows up at ANY EVENT that charges an admission (like the above event). They generally like to harass churches and non-profits to the point that many congregations no longer do fund raisers in the county.

I wish that they would spend as much time scrutinizing permit holders (will not mention specific ones) in the county as I see any number of operations which have major violations. (For the record, I was in the industry for fifteen years and faced inspectors from various municipalities and federal agencies,)

Yes, if I were at the event, I would certainly overcook the meat to make sure that the inspectors are satisfied with it.

One church will be serving Campbell's soup instead of homemade as the soup prepared at home cannot be served..

The almost complete menu, though there was really few more things out there. Especially on the appetizer table with various wild game sausages.

Wild Game Dinner Menu 2012

Wild turkey gumbo

Wild turkey sliders

Hunter stew

Venison Italian Beef

Venison heart stew

Venison Salisbury steak in mushroom gravy

Spicy antelope meatballs

Mild antelope meatballs

Mule deer cube steak in tomato sauce

Mule deer cube steak in mushroom sauce

Goose pâté

Goose stir fry

Salmon spread

Smoked salmon

Elk Stroganoff

Elk lasagna

Grilled venison tenderloin wrapped in bacon

Grilled goose breast

Antelope, blue cheese, and spinach burgers

BBQ wild boar ribs and sauerkraut

Smoked pheasant legs in Asian sauce

Pheasant egg rolls

Pheasant in peach BBQ sauce

Pheasant fajitas

Pickled northern pike

Pickled bluegill

Fried bluegill

Buffalo chili

BBQ raccoon

BBQ beaver

(Smoked trout)

The 2013 dinner is this Sunday.

D.

I will try to make it there on Sunday AM.

Hi,

I will be there with a few friends.

Regards,

Wild Game Feast!
Sunday, February 23rd, 2014
11am - 2pm


Come out and enjoy some of the best cooked wild game and fish in the county!

Price: $15, $10 take out

Location

21226 Route 14
P.O. Box 201
Harvard, IL. 60033
815-943-9847

http://www.hscillinois.org/

GPS coordinates:
42d 23'52" N
88d 36'39" W

Any news on the 2015 date?

D.

dodger wrote:Any news on the 2015 date?

D.

Nothing on the website, but there is this:

69th Annual Smelt Fry!
When: Fri, April 24, 5pm – 9pm
Where: Harvard Sportsman's Club, 21226 U.S. 14, Harvard, IL 60033

HI,

I have sent an e-mail to them. Crossing my fingers this event still has life.

Regards,

Cathy2

So nothing yet?

D.

"The Wild Game Feast is 100% dependent on members donating wild game for the event. Unfortunately, donations have dwindled to a point that we can no longer feasibly continue with the event.
However, our Annual Smelt Fry is will continue for many years to come!"
https://www.facebook.com/HarvardSportsm ... 3739984397

HI,

When I went last time two years ago, there was no sense of a lack of food or even stretching what they had.

I will hope it may come back someday.

Regards,

I agree. I went last year. There was a lot of food. I can't believe it has fallen. I thought it was terrific. Well I've been to the smelt fry too. It's pretty good, but you have to like smelt.

I'll probably go this year.

D.

Louisa Chu wrote:"The Wild Game Feast is 100% dependent on members donating wild game for the event. Unfortunately, donations have dwindled to a point that we can no longer feasibly continue with the event.
However, our Annual Smelt Fry is will continue for many years to come!"
https://www.facebook.com/HarvardSportsm ... 3739984397

When we were there a couple of years ago, I got the sense that the size of the crowds was a lot more than the organizers expected.

I asked Harvard Sportsman's Club Secretary Ron Lino why donations dwindled. He said, "We think there are actually two reasons for the decline. Most of the donated game came from a handful of members that are now deceased. With the economy the way it’s been since 2008, members are keeping their game for themselves in the event of a catastrophic loss of revenue. It has happened to some members or their spouses."

Ron gave me permission to post his reply here. He contacted me a couple of years ago after I wrote about the dinner here:
http://www.wbez.org/blogs/louisa-chu/20 ... eat-105757

If people are looking for an alternative event, the St. Hubertus Club is hosting a venison dinner on 3/7/2015 in Chicago. IIRC, the menu last year included venison roast and venison goulash.

https://www.facebook.com/hubertuschicago
sthubertusclub@gmail.com

Louisa Chu wrote:I asked Harvard Sportsman's Club Secretary Ron Lino why donations dwindled. He said, "We think there are actually two reasons for the decline. Most of the donated game came from a handful of members that are now deceased. With the economy the way it’s been since 2008, members are keeping their game for themselves in the event of a catastrophic loss of revenue. It has happened to some members or their spouses."

Ron gave me permission to post his reply here. He contacted me a couple of years ago after I wrote about the dinner here:
http://www.wbez.org/blogs/louisa-chu/20 ... eat-105757

Louisa,

Thanks for learning why this will not continue presently, though I can hope for the future.

Taking care of your family is everyone's first obligation, so their reasons are sound.

I will make a point of attending the smelt fry this year.

Regards,