Wild venison and the contribution it makes to the economy is to be celebrated later this year.
September 4 has been designated National Eat Venison Day in a promotional effort, supported by industry groups, that aims to boost sales of the healthy meat.
It is the first time the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG), the Deer Commission for Scotland, Forestry Commission Scotland, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and Scottish Quality Wild Venison (SQWV) have worked together to promote a meat that is low in cholesterol and which is being increasingly stocked by supermarkets.
All accept that wild venison can, at certain times of the year, be in short supply. They, however, insist there are considerable merits in the promotion to raise awareness and boost demand, particu larly as supplies in September are at their peak.
Scottish venison working group chairman Stephen Gibbs, of the Dougarie Estate on Arran, said: “There has not been any significant promotional effort behind the marketing and sale of fresh venison. The feeling was that it was high time we did something about this.
“There are only a small number of game dealers and it was largely left to them to get on with selling wild venison. What we feel, as producers, is that it is time we put in our tuppence worth, too.”
The ADMG and SQWV are funding the UK-wide promotion that Mr Gibbs said had already seen considerable interest from restaurateurs and butchers. “What I think is important in this is that we are aware that we just cannot leave things to happen, like promotion, to good fortune,” he added. “We have got to make an effort ourselves to put something behind venison. We will kick this off this year. It will not be a one-off, rather a long-term programme. The general desire is to raise our game and really compete in the marketplace.”
Scotland has more than 600 small and large estates producing 3,000 tonnes of wild venison annually. The sector contributes about £70.4million to the economy annually. There are 966 jobs directly associated with deer and a further 1,554 full-time equivalents employed elsewhere.
The venison day will also mark the launch of Scottish venison’s website as well as a new marque for Scottish Venison. The label is being designed by Edinburgh-based Harvey Design.
Mr Gibbs added: “What we’re hoping for, and expecting, is that there will be an increased interest in what is going on and in venison generally. We also hope there will be a better uptake through chefs in Scotland as catering is an important area too.
“We believe that we have a distinct edge in promoting the venison that we produce as Scottish, whether from red, roe, sika or fallow deer, and that is at the heart of this awareness campaign.”