Wild Bites #13: a 3.5-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on our website, podcast, YouTube, or To The Bone.

 -Hank and Holly (Team Hunter Angler Gardener Cook)

1. What's Hot Now

Smoked venison backstrap

2. Smart Take: the Star of Hank's Kitchen Tools

It's hard to beat a good knife, but everyone talks about knives. Hardly anyone talks about strainers, and Hank uses them pretty much every day. Read why, and how, he uses them here. This is straight-up advice - he's not selling strainers and doesn't make commission on them.

3. Black Friday All Week: Books for $20 Each!

From today through Black Friday (Nov. 25), you can get each of our newest three books for just $20 apiece, plus shipping. That's at least 1/3 off cover price! No limits on the number of copies you buy, or the number times you can use the coupon. That's a thrifty gift opportunity!

COUPON CODE: WILDFRIDAY

4. A Little Help? (And a Peek Behind the Curtain)

We are incredibly lucky to make a living running Hunter Angler Gardener Cook and publishing cookbooks. Here's how the website pays: Search engines drive traffic to the site, and advertisers pay us based on how many people visit the site.

A key thing that helps people decide whether to click on a recipe is the number of star ratings. Just like on Yelp or Amazon, having many good ratings signals enduring quality.

Some website operators pay bot farms for star rankings, but we think that's cheating. However, because you're already a fan, we don't mind asking you this favor: If you enjoy a recipe, could you please rate it? Your ratings make it possible for us to do this full-time, and doing it full-time is how we ensure all recipes are top quality, thoroughly researched, and tested.

You can give a recipe a 4- or 5-star rating with a single click. If you rate anything three stars or less, you'll be asked to explain your review with a comment, and we absolutely value your comments, so say what you've got to say. It helps us make the recipes better. 

Thank you!

5. What We're Up To

Hank is Oklahoma for Deer School with partner Larry Robinson, where HAGC readers go for a few days of deer hunting, hands-on processing instruction and incredible meals cooked by Hank and his chef assistants for the week: Josh Valentine, Rachel Rinas and Lodge Chef Sheryl Woods.

Hunters feast at a Snow Goose School Hank did with Larry in 2020.

Holly ran a Black Heritage Pheasant Hunt with partner Rue Mapp at the Hastings Island Hunting Preserve on Nov. 6. The Black Heritage Hunt aims to celebrate and grow America's Black hunting community. If you're interested in helping new hunters, too, you can do it without organizing a big event - read how here.

Holly also shared her duck ID tips this week with Audubon readers.

Clockwise from upper left: Juan Rosero on the flush, Dan Castilow with his pup Eugene, Mario Ellis reliving the hunt over lunch, co-organizer Rue Mapp at the end of the hunt (photos by Holly).

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