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No doubt thousands of recreational hunters throughout the country think Callum Hughes is living their dream. As a full-time professional supplier of wild game products, he roams the remote high country of Fiordland and Southland procuring animals for customers throughout New Zealand and overseas.
Like many outdoorsmen, Callum has a dry sense of humor and he chuckles at the idea his lifestyle might be considered idyllic. The former policeman does concede however that he has managed to turn his longtime love of hunting into a living, and the natural settings in which he works are stunning.
But he also points out that the requirements of the modern world mean his livelihood is not quite the romantic “Good Keen Man” scenario it might be perceived as.
“Before I got going in May 2006 I spent 12 months researching the possibilities,” he says. “I found that there was a raft of approvals and certification I had to obtain from official agencies. They’re all for the good of course, but for the processing side of the business alone I had to not only meet all of the usual standards you expect for handling food but draw up a Risk Management Programme to be approved by the Food Safety Authority. And then there are agencies such as Asure NZ which have their own separate standards. Performance-based audits are a regular fact of life.
The game is the thing though and the superb quality of the red and fallow deer, wild pigs, goats, hares and rabbits that Callum supplies has seen his business grow steadily. Venison hunting is the mainstay of his business and is usually done with a helicopter.
He started out supplying venison to the Mediterranean Markets in Queenstown and Wanaka and has since expanded to around 70 clients throughout the country. These include luxury lodges, top restaurants such as the Postmaster’s House in Arrowtown, deli dealers, butchers, chefs and private customers as far away as Auckland. Through his involvement with Bowmont Wholesale Meats in Invercargill, which processes his game, he even does some exporting and recently added small goods to his range.
Callum isn’t surprised by the growing popularity of wild game meat among consumers.
“It’s good, wholesale meat, produced the old-fashioned way, and aged,” he says. “But more than that, the taste is extremely good because it comes from animals living in pristine wilds. They don’t experience any of the stresses that domestically-raised animals do”.
He says he “lives on” his products and cites his favorite cuts of venison as tenderloin, strip loins and loin chops, which he usually seasons only with salt and pepper because the meat is full of natural flavor. He is also partial to hare (the back legs are especially good eating, he says) and likes to cook osso bucco-style dishes that involve slow braising. He finds venison to be a good substitute for beef, especially when it comes to taste. “And taste is what it is all about in the end”.
Source:
Dish Magazine, April-May 2009
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