Immanuel United Church of Christ is normally well known for its delicious pancake suppers.
But the church has decided to shake things up a bit and add some new dishes to their fund-raising menu.
Red stag stroganoff. Wild boar smoked ham. Buffalo meat balls. Venison stir-fry.
These are just some of the more exotic dishes Immanuel will be serving Saturday, May 13 as the church hosts its first ever wild game dinner from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Tickets are $10 per person or $30 for a family of four. All proceeds will benefit the church which is currently renovating its historic 1879 sanctuary.
‘The meat is so darn good,? said Liz Wilson, the church member organizing the event and preparing the food. ‘There are no preservatives, no hormones, no artificial nothing.?
All the wild game was donated by Jim Wilson (Liz? husband), owner of the Oxford-based architectural firm Wilson & Associates and building inspector for Oxford Township.
Wilson has been big game hunting for 50 years, bagging his first whitetail deer at age 14 while hunting with his father. Over the years, he’s hunted in Michigan, Wyoming, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and Canada.
With gun and bow, Wilson’s bagged elk, mule deer, blacktail deer, American buffalo (bison), water buffalo, rams, wild boar, Axis deer (native to India), antelope, black bear, red stags, black bucks (native to Africa), Fallow deer, Sika deer, Pere David deer, caribou and Scimitar-horned oryx.
He currently has an estimated 1,000 pounds of wild game stored in three freezers.
For Wilson, hunting is a way to ‘get in touch with a portion of our human ancestry that we normally don’t deal with? anymore as we’ve become more urbanized and separated from where our food comes from.
Hunting involves tapping into a common ‘heritage? and ‘utilizing a skill that we all have,? but ‘don’t need anymore in our society,? he said.
Pointing to his eyes, Wilson said, ‘These things are in the front of our face because we’re hunters.?
‘If we were prey, they would be out here (on the sides) so we could see the hunter coming.?
For Wilson, ‘the hunt itself is the thrill,? not the actual killing, which he does with the utmost precision and respect for the animal.
‘If it isn’t a good killing shot, I won’t do it,? he said. ‘It’s got to be clean and fair.?
‘There’s a bit of sadness with each animal you take,? Wilson noted. ‘I find I like a moment of quiet after I’ve killed an animal. It’s a significant thing.?
Wilson said hunting has afforded him the opportunity to meet different people and experience new things he might not have otherwise.
‘It’s opened my mind to a lot of situations I wouldn’t have encountered (and) didn’t know about,? he said. ‘It’s been a very eye-opening thing to know how other people live and why certain traditions exist.?
For example, a friendship he developed with a Cherokee Indian living in Montana allowed Wilson the opportunity to hunt on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, home to the Sioux and Assiniboine Indians.
The Indians? land in northeast Montana is ‘very, very barren? with only 5-7 inches of precipitation annually, said Wilson calling it ‘high desert.?
‘We as European immigrants to this country weren’t too charitable with those Indians when we forced them onto a reservation,? he said. ‘They got zero valuable land.?
The land, however, was good at supporting a lot of wild game, which has become a ‘very good cash crop? in the form of ‘selling hunts to the white man,? according to Wilson. ‘It doesn’t take a lot of intense management to grow good animals.?
Wilson admits the reservation hunt ‘is not terribly challenging? because you’re driven to the location where the animals are known to be and you’re guaranteed to bag one because you’re only charged if you leave the reservation with an animal.
‘It’s just a matter of deciding which one to harvest,? he said. Using a bow, he bagged a 1,400-pound cow buffalo in November 2005, the meat of which will be served at Immanuel UCC’s upcoming dinner.
Although the hunt is lacking in challenge, Wilson said, ‘I find it personally fairly rewarding to feel like you’re doing something for a whole segment of society we treated pretty unfairly. I find it easy to leave a few bucks there.?
Hunting on the reservation gave Wilson the chance to witness and photograph ‘the oldest, continuous running powwow in the United States? in Fraser, Montana.
‘It was originally started because the Indian chief had a very ill son and he promised the shaman that if he could save his son he would put on a feast for the tribe members. The son was saved and the feast has been going on ever since,? he said.
Hunting has also given Wilson the opportunity to help others. Locally, he and his wife often give wild game to friends, neighbors, church members and strangers in need.
As a member of the Safari Club International’s Flint Chapter, he regularly donates game to the Sportsmen Against Hunger Program.
Last year, members of the Flint chapter and other local hunters donated 4,360 pounds of venison to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.
Wilson said he would be happy to continue donating wild game for future Immanuel UCC fund-raising dinners.
‘If it produces a few minutes of joy (for the diners) at the level going out and getting it does for me, it’s well worth it.?
To make reservations for the Friday, May 13 wild game dinner call the church as (248) 628-1610 or Liz Wilson at (248) 628-8918.
Immanuel UCC is located on the corner of Hovey and Dennison streets in the Village of Oxford.