Pennsylvania Game News - December 2024 - 63

cular) forces " try " to bend bones, but the
femur must be especially strong.
A mechanical engineer could tell us
that compression and tension on a bone
are greatest toward the outer surface, so
a hollow cylinder achieves the greatest
strength for the least weight. That's why a
bamboo stem is hollow, as are aluminum
arrows and scaff olding that supports the
weight of many workers. A deer's femur
is hollow, its interior fi lled with spongy
marrow to fi t this model. Bending forces
are also greater toward a bone's mid-point.
As you cut round steaks in cross-section,
notice that the femur's bony perimeter is
thickest halfway along its length.
The venison prize all hunters covet is
the " backstrap, " of which every deer has
two. To anatomists these are the Longissimus
dorsi, long parallel cylinders of lean
muscle tucked in a channel that runs atop
the ribs, tight against the spine. Forward, it
tapers into the base of the neck. Rearward,
it slims to blend with the sirloin atop the
hindquarter.
Wild game recipes often proclaim that
the backstraps are tender because they do
little work. That cliché carried a sniff of
myth the fi rst time I read it. Credible biomechanical
texts reveal that the backstrap
muscles stabilize the spine, yet allow it to
fl ex during the internally violent thrusts
and compressions that are part of running,
especially as the deer changes directions.
I couldn't fi nd a specifi c reference to deer
locomotion, but here's what an article
from the National Library of Medicine,
Center for Biotechnology Information,
says about the Longissimus dorsi function
in sheep, which must certainly apply to
deer: " ... sheep experience more lateral
flexion as the propulsive input of the
pelvic limb onto the thoracolumbar spine
is acting simultaneously to the braking
input of the forelimb. "
DECEMBER 2024
The backstraps, then, enhance the independent,
but complementary, functions of
the front and back legs.
Backstraps don't have the elastic,
collagen-rich, intramuscular tissues of
the front shoulder muscle group. Instead,
each lean backstrap is sheathed in resilient
sinew that contains its power and concentrates
that force along the core, where
it's needed to keep the vertebrae aligned.
They are tender on a plate not because
they're lazy muscle, but because deft
venison chefs peel the sinew, then sear
the meat fast on high heat, always for less
time than you'd think one should.
Braise backstrap low-and-slow, as you
would the front shoulder, and you'll get a
chewy gray lump with little appeal.
Steaks and loins, though, are only a
narrow measure of what this creature
means to those who know it. Common
as they are, deer reacquaint us, often, with
uncommon qualities. They inject native
wildness and physical grace into our daily
lives. A deer's airy fl eetness uplifts us, and
we feel briefl y lighter on our own planted
feet. Such a boost wears off with time and
distraction, until another agile whitetail
soars across our gaze.
63
Pennsylvania Game News - December 2024

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