What starts as a conversation about being a Vermont game warden quickly evolves into a fascinating deep dive into venison donation programs, wildlife necropsies, butchering skills, bear fat, roadkill recovery, and the detective work behind wildlife law enforcement. Vermont Game Warden Abigail Serra shares how she turns roadkill and illegally taken wildlife into meals for families in need while also using her butchering expertise to solve wildlife crimes.
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International Wildlife Crimestoppers
North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association
Here’s what we discuss:
- Life on a small Vermont farm
- Never realizing game warden was a career option
- A college focus on ticks and Lyme disease
- The rabbit hunter encounter that changed Abigail’s career path
- Farms for City Kids and outdoor education
- Professional butcher shops as an unexpected training ground
- The origins of Venison for Vermonters
- Roadkill and seized wildlife becoming meals for families
- Thousands of pounds of donated venison distributed across Vermont
- Making wild game accessible to people who cannot process whole deer
- The logistics of wildlife donation programs
- Venison for Vermonters and other Hunt for the Hungry initiatives
- Seniors reconnecting with venison through donated food
- “A lot of times when I hear back from those food shelves, it’s the older people… they’re coming in and just so grateful to have venison again.”
- Losing touch with food sources in the modern world
- Passing along traditional butchering skills
- Community workshops and hands-on demonstrations
- Why wild game dominates her family’s menu
- Keeping venison burgers together without added fat
- How diet influences the flavor of wild game
- Chokecherry-fed bears and surprisingly sweet meat
- Bear fat as one of the most useful resources in the woods
- Cooking oil, leather treatments, salves, and even candles
- “It literally burns exactly like a beeswax candle.”
- Preventing waste through full utilization of harvested animals
- Why bears require quick processing and cooling
- Deer fat vs. bear fat
- Moose hides, dull knives, and favorite butchering tools
- Why affordable Victorinox knives are hard to beat
- Wildlife necropsies as an investigative tool
- Bullets, shooting angles, and crime-scene reconstruction
- Hair, blood trails, and hidden evidence
- Cases where the evidence changed the entire investigation
- “The evidence really never lies.”
- Building expertise through repetition and hands-on experience
- Training the next generation of game wardens
- Archery wounds versus gunshot wounds
- Vermont’s first documented EHD case
- A game warden’s role as a conservation Swiss Army knife
- Moose recoveries and the realities of roadside wildlife work
- Why moose have a smell unlike any other animal
- Comparing moose, deer, bear, and other wild game meats
- Tick research and changing Lyme disease concerns
- Deer ticks versus winter ticks
- The truth about opossums and tick control
- Why bird feeders become bear feeders
- Vermont Wild Kitchen and public outreach
- Helping people reconnect with their food
- Hunting, food, and conservation working together
- Affordable grinders for processing wild game at home
- Westin and LEM equipment recommendations
- The underrated value of deer shanks
- “My favorite cut on the deer was the shank.”
- Slow-cooking techniques for tougher cuts of meat
- Stewardship through full use of wildlife resources
- “People care about what’s close to them.”
- Connecting communities to conservation through food
Credits
Hosts: Wayne Saunders and John Nores
Producer: Jay Ammann
Warden’s Watch logo & Design: Ashley Hannett
Research / Content Coordinator: Stacey DesRoches
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