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Like most, as my deer hunting experience developed, so too did my enjoyment of the warmth of deer camp. A big part of that was the evening meal and the shared experiences of the day's hunt.

The venison pot roast recipe that follows, I wolfed down the first time in the late 1960s while hunting out of a tent camp in southeastern Ohio near Athens. No electric availabe there, just an old friend who owned a resturant in Columbus. He was a wonderful cook.

We sat around a camp fire that evening, and dug into a delicious venison meal that had slow cooked in a dutch oven. The pot had been nestled in coals at the edge of the fire since just before we headed out to our stands for the afternoon hunt. It's been a standard at my camps (and it's been a lot easier since the camps have become a little more modern).

Ingredients:
1 Package of Dry Onion Soup Mix
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 Cups of Hot Water
1-4 Frozen Loaves of Bread
Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic Pepper, Red Potatoes,
Small Yellow Onions, Baby Carrots, Corn Starch, Cold Water

Cooking Supplies:
Large 5 quart or large slow cooker or big Dutch oven, Iron Skillet, Measuring Cup

Directions:
1. Mix together one package of dry onion soup mix, one can of cream of mushroom soup and two cups of hot water until the dry content and mushroom soup are blended well.
2. Coat the venison roast with virgin olive oil. Then, coat with a healthy sprinkling of garlic pepper.
3. Place the roast in a cast iron skillet and put under a broiler on high, browning each side.
4. Remove venison roast from skillet and place in the large slow cooker.
5. Pour soup mix over venison roast, cover and put cooker on the low setting for eight hours prior to dinner.
6. Peel small yellow onions and keep whole.
7. Three hours before dinner, add red potatoes, baby carrots and small yellow onions to slow cooker and recover.
8. Few minutes prior to serving time, thicken gravy a little using a mixture of corn starch and cold water. Pour into the slow cooker slowly, stirring as you pour.
9. Remove venison roast and place on platter to set up for 15 minutes.
10. Slice the entire roast and place back into slow cooker until serving.
11. Add baked frozen loaves of bread to complete the camp meal.

Note: It takes 1 half day to thaw frozen loaves of bread.

About the author: Ottie Snyder entered print communications with the United States Marine Corps in early 1962, and has remained in communications since. He was the editor of three popular fishing and hunting magazines for years, an award winning freelance outdoor writer, and has headed up Horton's crossbow education/hunting opportunity expansion program since early 1990. Snyder scripted, edited and produced Horton's three Crossbow Chronicles DVDs, and continues to serve as Director of Communications for Horton.