Elk season opens in September. Deer in October. The freezer fills up and the kitchen changes completely.

Wild game is not like farmed meat. It's leaner, more complex, more forgiving in some ways and less in others. You can't treat it like a supermarket steak. You have to understand what the animal ate, how it lived, how it was handled after the harvest. The cooking follows from that knowledge.

My go-to for elk backstrap is simple: cast iron, high heat, butter and rosemary in the last minute, rest for five minutes, slice thin. The meat is so good it doesn't need anything else. The flavor is clean and deep — like beef but wilder, more mineral, more honest.

This photo is from a camp cook after a successful morning hunt. The fire had been going since before dawn. By the time we got back to camp, the coals were perfect. We cooked the backstrap right there, ate it standing up, still in our hunting gear.

There's a directness to that kind of meal that you can't manufacture. You know exactly where the food came from. You were there.