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Going stag: Elk rancher is bullish on big game

Susan Troller  —  9/17/2008 9:47 am

MONTICELLO -- Majestic. And tasty.

Both words are appropriate adjectives for elk, the world's second largest species of the deer family and an imposing creature whose meat was historically considered a rare delicacy.

"In Europe, elk were reserved for royal families. They were considered too good for the common people," elk rancher Joel Espe said as he showed off his herd of about 50 calves, cows and bulls at his Hawk Hill Elk Ranch south of Monticello in Green County, about 35 miles south of Madison.

Espe, a former middle school principal, and his wife, Cheri, have been raising the animals commercially since 2001.

A farm boy who grew up hunting, Espe said he found elk awe-inspiring on hunting trips to the Rocky Mountains. When a friend began raising the animals, Espe was intrigued. And when the friend got out of the business, Espe bought some of his animals and began his own operation.

For the first several years, he managed Hawk Hill Elk Ranch as something of a hobby business, but now it's a full-time operation, and he's retired from school administration.

"Initially there was no real business plan involved," Espe laughed. "I just wanted to see elk every day, and to be with them all the time."

The Espes sell elk meat at the Westside Community Farmers' Market (located in the parking lot of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation building on Sheboygan Avenue) every Saturday, at Chicago's famed Green City Market and from their farm.

The red, non-marbled meat comes in a variety of forms: roasts, steaks, ground meat, sandwich meat, snack sticks and jerky. The meat's rich, non-gamey flavor is winning fans both among home cooks and chefs.

At the Green City farmers' market, the Espes have sold meat to customers like well-known chef Rick Bayless, who owns the popular Frontera Grill in Chicago. Despite the high cost of fuel, Espe said it makes financial sense to sell the meat in Chicago.

"People really know what they want at the Green City Market, and they are very serious about how products are raised. They sent an inspector to check and see whether we cut or used pesticides on thistles in our pastures," Espe said.

Closer to home, David "Wave" Kasprzak of The Dining Room at 209 Main in Monticello buys elk several times a year from Hawk Hill as a special menu item for the restaurant.

"It's delicious, it's gaining in popularity, and it's healthy," Kasprzak said.

The meat tastes similar to high-quality beef and can be used interchangeably in recipes. But cooks should be warned that there is virtually no fat in the meat, and it must be handled carefully so it doesn't get dry or overcooked.

There are also some health benefits to eating elk, Espe said. "Grass-fed and -finished elk meat is leaner than the leanest beef."

According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture handbook, elk meat stacks up favorably when compared to chicken, beef or pork. A 3-ounce serving of elk has just 146 calories, compared to (skinless) chicken at 190 calories, beef at 211 calories and pork at 212 calories. Elk is lower in cholesterol, higher in protein and has just 1.9 grams of fat, less than the fat in chicken, beef and pork.

"If you've had heart surgery, I think this is meat that a doctor should recommend," Espe said.

At the 2008 North American Elk Breeders Association (NAEBA) annual conference held in August in Wisconsin Dells, elk jerky and snack sticks from Hawk Hill were winning entries among elk meat products.

At the Westside market, prices on Hawk Hill elk meat range from $5.25 per pound for stew meat to $21.25 per pound for ribeye steaks. Smoky- or jalapeno-flavored snack sticks are $9 per package for five sticks.

The Espes also sell breeding stock, antlers, tanned hides and velvet antler products. The immature antlers are said to have anti-inflammatory properties, so they are used to make nutritional supplements in alternative medicine.

Espe, who is the president of the NAEBA, said there is growing interest in Wisconsin and nationally in raising elk, a native species and a relative of the white-tailed deer.

Although this exotic kind of farming has never been common in the United States, it's growing in popularity, with Minnesota leading the country at 248 elk ranches. Wisconsin is third in the nation with 117 elk farms; they must be licensed with the state.

As the number of elk farms increase, good management practices are essential, according to Espe, who serves on the U.S. Animal Health Association's captive wildlife committee. Espe has become a national spokesman for his industry, and he has a scrapbook of photos where he is pictured with senators, congressional representatives, the governor and other public figures from across the country.

"We (elk ranchers) are probably the most regulated livestock producers in the world," Espe said.

Adult bulls, he said, may stand 6 feet high at the shoulder and weigh up to 1,200 pounds. With their amazing rack of antlers and wild bugling calls, the bulls are an imposing presence, even behind sturdy 10-foot woven wire fences.

During most of the year, Espe said, the bulls on his farm are generally amiable fellows who get along well together, and with the humans who feed and handle them. But during the "rut" season when bulls are looking for cows, they can become dangerously unpredictable -- a threat to each other or anyone else who happens to get between them and the object of their affection.

That's why many captive bulls' antlers are cut this time of year, a procedure Espe likens to cutting toenails because the antler tissue has calcified and hardened.

Far from being a waste product, the hard antlers are a product themselves, prized for their rugged and primal beauty. Antlers are shown and judged in competitions that measure the regularity, size and breadth of the rack. Artists around the world use them in their work.

In fact, a Chicago area artist with a national clientele buys many of the antlers from the Espes' bull elks.

"In so many ways, elk are animals that capture the imagination. You wouldn't believe how many people see our herd from the highway and they just have to stop. I can't blame them," Espe said.

Susan Troller  —  9/17/2008 9:47 am