About Our Venison
2-4x the Antioxidants
8-64x the Healthy Fats
22% More Protein
The Mission…
In 1959, nine Axis deer were introduced to the island of Maui. Without active management, Maui’s deer population has the potential to balloon to over 200,000 animals over the next decade.
Though that number would seem to indicate a thriving deer presence, this population boom is occurring on an island with finite resources where ranchers compete with deer for grass and farmers can lose an entire crop to super-herds in a single evening, where deer wreak havoc on the delicate balance needed to sustain native plant and animal life, devastating the understories and guilds of trees essential to Maui’s water and soil resources.
Although they are one of the most destructive deer species that could have been introduced to Hawaiʻi, Axis deer also produce one of the best tasting and most nutrient-dense red meat on the planet. Now, more than ever, mindful harvesting of these incredible animals stands as an important management tool, helping to transform a mounting ecological disaster into a valuable food source.
After a decade of solution-building, our wild-harvest field and butcher capacities are well on their way to making a significant impact on bringing Maui’s Axis deer numbers into better balance.
And now we send out this kono, this invitation, for you to join us in our mission to alleviate an issue while employing a resource, to connect more people to the value of this story and this food, to help balance Maui’s Axis deer population for the good of our environment, communities, and food systems.
Aloha nui from the entire Maui Nui ‘Ohana.
Responsible Red Meat
SOURCED STRESS-FREE AND IN THE WILD
Axis deer are notoriously challenging to harvest. Harder still is sourcing these animals under rigorous USDA inspection. Our greatest challenges, though, invite us into our most interesting solutions.
At Maui Nui, we source our venison from a field operation, the only one of its kind in the world, that actively and mindfully manages Maui’s deer populations using FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) technology. Infrared is the cornerstone of our work, our eyes in the dark that allow our surveys and USDA wild-harvests to be incredibly precise and the deer – truly wild.
As a non-native species, Maui’s Axis deer experience minimal stress throughout their lives through the absence of natural predators and seasonal swings. For us, it is just as important to remove all stress from the harvesting process. When animals are stressed during or immediately before harvest, they rapidly deplete their bodies’ sugar stores and, in turn, their lactic acid levels, causing serious adverse effects on meat quality – both texture and flavor. The huge effort that goes into our own stress-free sourcing is, first, an ethical choice, in addition to quality control.
Stress-free is the difference you can taste.
