The American Beagler Forum

I was thinking about cooking up ,bagging and freezing ground venison and feeding this winter.to save on the feed bill.does anyone else do anything like this?

I don't feed deer to my hounds but you need to consider that it is very high in protien with very little fat seems to me you would have to supplement fat if feeding venison.

I havent ever fed venison in any amount or regularity but I am a fan of an all natural diet I use mostly beef and a little chicken, that is all fed raw. I say go for it a meat diet is far and away the best. Kurt Robinson

i heard if you feed raw game not beef or chicken it can give your dogs worms not positive but might want to check it out

You guy's should try this. It's called a "Taste of the wild " . a buddy of mine told me he fed this to his bird goods. so i tried it on my youngs pups. they look great. I give them one cup a day mixed with 2-3 cups of the regular food and it works great. It's on the high side but worth it. I think i will feed it to my running hounds this winter. Heres the link. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... %26hl%3Den

tractor suppy has it .

We have plenty of timber wolves that live on a steady diet of venison and they are doing just fine.

Riverbottom, Comparing a beagle to a timberwolf is like comparing modern man to cave men. Not trying to stir up anything with you, I just think with the facts in hand that to much protien and not enough fat in a domestic hounds diet is known to cause liver problems over a period of time I would do a little more research on the subject before feeding it to my hounds on a regular basis. Wolves are conditioned to eat that kind of stuff where as beagles have been domesticated over a few hundred years and I'm sure are different than a wolf.
I am NOT speaking from any expertise on the subject just trying to use a little good wisdom and give my opinion which is what was asked for from all of us, me as well as you.
Upperlimits if I were you I would consult a vet or something before feeding all venison for an extended period of time because it is a well known fact that it is very lean (little or no fat) and very high in iron and I would hate to see you have any health problems with your hounds later down the road. Not trying to tell you what to do or sound like a know it all just giving you my honest opinion.
Good luck with it and let us know what you find out so we can all know the facts instead of just our opinion.

upperlimits wrote:I was thinking about cooking up ,bagging and freezing ground venison and feeding this winter.to save on the feed bill.does anyone else do anything like this?

I have been thinking the very same thing. I was thinking maybe 50\50 with kibble.

I feed venison or deer meat to my hounds every hunting season. The way I see it, you not only use the parts of the deer that are usually not comsumed or thrown by the way side by us and save on dog food at the same time. I've been doing this for several years now and I've haven't noticed any more worms then feeding store bought dog food. They seem to hold their weight well, along with plenty of energy. Look at the waste that most hunter discard! Liver, hearts, bones(good for their teeth) meat scraps that are all very good for your hounds. Just makes $ and common sense to me.
BWT I've never seen a hound that would turn down the chance to clean a fresh carcass unlike some store bought dog food.


hounddog
Jim Umbarger

I`ve feed my dogs every deer season the scraps of the deer we get and had no problems with worms. I cut deer up for friends and freeze what i don`t feed that day and feed it all threw the winter with there dog food as a treat. The only thing i found is its hard to clean there sleeping boxs out with all the bone pices they don`t eat so now i don`t feed them the bones i cut the meat of the bone and feed it all except the rib cage i ty it to there runs and let them take the meat of half the cage at a time and then throw it out. I have 4 dogs and it helps out on the feed bill.

I'm surprised how many feed deer I'm sure it good for them ...me I don't want even the smell of deer around my beagles cooked or raw .....i do feed table scraps beef ,chicken, wild turkey ................

beagletrainer wrote:I`ve feed my dogs every deer season the scraps of the deer we get and had no problems with worms. I cut deer up for friends and freeze what i don`t feed that day and feed it all threw the winter with there dog food as a treat. The only thing i found is its hard to clean there sleeping boxs out with all the bone pices they don`t eat so now i don`t feed them the bones i cut the meat of the bone and feed it all except the rib cage i ty it to there runs and let them take the meat of half the cage at a time and then throw it out. I have 4 dogs and it helps out on the feed bill.

I feed mine venison fairly regularly.
During season, when I am butchering deer for myself and others, they get quite a bit of raw venison and raw bones.
They get meat scraps from our meal all year long.

As far as worms, all dogs get worms anyway. I treat them with safeguard 4 to 6 times a year just assuming that they do have worms. My dogs are slick and shiny.

Anderson Upland Beagles wrote:I'm surprised how many feed deer I'm sure it good for them ...me I don't want even the smell of deer around my beagles cooked or raw .....i do feed table scraps beef ,chicken, wild turkey ................

As someone on another board posted years ago.
"I feed my dogs beef, you don't see them running cows do you".
Feeding them deer has nothing to do with running deer.

Where are you guys that you can kill enough deer in a season to feed both your family and your hounds?? We process our own deer and about the only thing left is the hide & bones: everything is used. If it isn't a roast or a steak, it gets turned into burger-even the rib meat. It's a lot of work, but it saves on OUR food bill--then we can buy more dog food And besides, aren't you worried your hounds will get a taste for deer and chase one down on their own?

BriarCreek, your kidding right? Here's some facts. I fed 6 road killed deer to my beagles last winter, plus several pickup loads of meat scraps from a locker. These were venison, beef and even some pork. In winter I feed my dogs as much meat as I can get. Been doing it for about 30 years and haven't had any liver probelms yet.

Over in the UK (where our beagles came from) hounds are fed mainly meat from fallen stock. Much of that is horse meat. I asked a vet about feeding meat one time and he said meat is a dogs natural diet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb-Rx4-e7EQ