Elk Backstrap Steak Diane Recipe
By Michael Pendley
Steak Diane is one of those classic recipes that was all the rage at upscale restaurants back in the 1950s and ’60s. The classic presentation used brandy, and the pan sauce was often flamed tableside for a presentation with flair.
Luckily, after falling out of style for a few decades, the dish is making a bit of a comeback these days, and my family has found that using elk instead of beef is a wonderful changeup. For this recipe, we use elk backstrap medallions and substitute bourbon for the brandy or cognac traditionally used in the recipe. I think the oaky flavor of the bourbon pairs well with wild venison of any kind. Use a high-proof bourbon if you plan to flame the pan sauce, in order to burn off the alcohol.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Four 4-ounce elk tenderloin medallions, about ¾- to 1-inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
6 ounces baby portobello or button mushrooms, thinly sliced
¼- cup bourbon
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
¼- cup heavy cream
¼- cup beef stock
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 green onion, diced
1 teaspoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Hot sauce, to taste
Directions
In a large cast-iron skillet, melt the butter in the olive oil. Season the elk with salt and pepper and cook over high heat until lightly browned on the bottom, about one minute. Turn the medallions and cook for one minute longer, then transfer the steaks to a warm plate and tent them with foil.
Add the shallot and garlic to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook until softened, about four minutes. Remove from the heat, add the bourbon and carefully ignite the pan with a long match.
The initial flames can reach one to two feet above the pan, so make certain there is nothing flammable nearby.
Once the flames die down, add the mustard and cream to the pan and stir the mixture over moderate heat for one minute.
Whisk in the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, scallions and parsley, then season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.
Return the elk and any juices from the plate back to the pan, spooning the sauce over the medallions and simmering until the meat is heated through.
To serve, plate the elk medallions, then spoon over the sauce. A side salad and potato make this a classic steakhouse presentation.
Very rarely do deer "drop in their tracks" at the shot. Once you make your shot, stay focused on the deer noting where it was when you fired and the direction it took off in.[/caption]
Despite what we may see on television, deer usually do not drop in their tracks at the shot. Sometimes, too, “stuff” happens and the shot is less than perfect. That’s when you have to unleash your tracking skills and go find them. Here are 10 tried-and-true tracking tips that have served me well over the years in finding deer after the shot.
Before you leave your stand, use your phone to take a photo of where the deer was standing when you shot and the landmark where you last saw the deer before it disappeared.[/caption]
Go to where you last saw the deer and look for blood and tracks. Remember to look on the bushes as well as on the ground for blood. If you fail to find any, go to spot where you shot the deer and search for blood and/or hair. If you still don’t find a blood trail of any kind, go back to your stand and double check to make sure you were looking in the right places.
Next, start where you last saw the deer and walk to the location where you last heard the deer. Watch for blood and other sign along the way. Sometimes it takes a while for the blood trail to start.
When looking for a blood trail, heavy signs higher up on bushes or spurts off the trail may indicate arterial bleeding, which means you should find your deer shortly.[/caption]
Did you find pieces of bone? Trust me, it’s not ribs as so many people think; 95% of the time it is pieces of leg bone. You may get that deer, but it’s not going to be easy.
A lot of blood at the start that turns into a few drips and then stops in a ¼ mile or so, is usually a low hit in the brisket. You are in for a long day with that deer.
With a leg or brisket hit, the deer is very mobile and will keep moving if pushed. If you can get some help, it’s best to place hunters along the escape routes and hope the deer comes by as you track the blood.
If you simply cannot find a blood trail of any kind, divide the land where you last saw the deer into a grid and walk each grid point until you find the deer or a sign of its trail.[/caption]
In that case, expand the grid and repeat. Look under every bush and in every brush pile. A mortally wounded deer will often crawl under cover and will die there.
Photograph Courtesy of Leupold® & Stevens, Inc.[/caption]
I have been using a 
Public land from coast to coast has one common denominator: It’s marginal. These lands entered the public domain because they weren’t valuable for agricultural, residential or other private commercial use. Consequently, the best public deer ground is often steep, rocky, weedy, and raw—all factors that can improve the hunting if you know how to read the terrain.
On public land, the variables are too numerous to mention, but they tend to fall into three themes: accessibility, landscape type, and hunting style.
We’ll pick apart three different-but-common landscapes, and then apply the other two variables—accessibility and hunting style—to each. I hope you recognize your local public parcel in these descriptions.
Dense timber can be hard to hunt, because there aren't many defined edges. In these places, look for tracks, scrapes, and rubs, and set up downwind of those signs.[/caption]
These public properties tend to be grown over and fairly sterile in terms of wildlife value. But they serve as productive transition zones for whitetails, providing bedding areas, mast production in good acorn years, and terrain that rewards hunters who get away from the easy access spots and work the interiors.
Accessibility: You’re likely to see lots of vehicles at the access points and trailheads, but don’t let that deter you. Prepare to hike, maybe only a few hundred yards or perhaps as far as two miles, to get into the best hunting terrain. If possible, you’re going to want to hike a ridge, maintaining your elevation as you work into the interior.
Keep your eyes peeled for deer sign—maybe a rub or a scrape, or a well-used trail. If you’re packing a treestand, the very best spot to erect it is on the nose of a distinct ridge that overlooks a saddle. Bonus points if you can find a good tree that commands the spot where two major ridges meet.
Some access points will be at the lower margins of the property, in which case you have some climbing to do. Find the dominant ridge of the parcel and hike up it, keeping your eyes peeled for sign.
In areas where water is abundant, look for mast-producing trees. In areas where water is limited, look for little seeps and springs—places that might concentrate deer.
Hunting Style: Your hunting style in these woodland habitats will likely be from a treestand. Many public properties don’t allow permanent stands, so think about bringing a climber and setting up over a defined trail. Alternatively, try making a mock scrape, and see if it’s being tended. If it is, that’s the spot for your stand, just downwind of the scrape. This is the perfect terrain for stump-sitters, folks who simply plop down and watch. It’s an old and very effective method for woodland hunting.
If you intend to hunt from the ground, plan on using deadfall and slash vegetation to build a ground blind. No need to bring in a commercial blind, especially if it limits your mobility.
A killer spot to set up for ag-land deer is just inside a timbered edge overlooking a field.[/caption]
These landscapes range from the monoscapes of the Great Plains wheat belt to the corn and soybean country of the Midwest to the smaller pastures of the Southeast. What they all have in common, however, is very productive edge habitat, the line between cropland and nearby woods, or pasture and brushy cover. You should be hunting that edge.
Hunting Style: Prevailing wind direction can make or break your hunt. Walk that edge, looking for places where deer routinely jump a fence, rub a cedar fencepost or where they scoot between hiding cover and feeding areas. Because deer tend to be equal-opportunity foragers, it can be hard to tell precisely where they feed, but you should be able to identify these movement corridors.
If you can’t predict wind, identify stand locations on either side of a corridor. But if there’s a prevailing wind, set up downwind of the crossing and plan to be in place in the evenings. These are typically not morning spots, but they are good places to intercept deer moving from cover to feed in the evenings.
In mountainous country, set up on edges, including those spots where timbered slopes meet creek drainages, and watch for migrating deer.[/caption]
Accessibility: When thinking about seasonal migration corridors, target your scouting and hunting activity on food sources. Think about the lower-elevation attractants for deer. Maybe that’s an irrigated alfalfa field where they’ll find succulent forage once frost nips the higher-elevation plants. Or perhaps it’s a cut corn field adjacent to weedy bedding cover.
Hunting Style: Regardless, you want to find those riparian corridors that offer easy access from the high country to the foothills. Finding fresh sign can be tough here, since the transitional landscapes are often dry and rocky. So instead, hunt the weather. Wait for a snowstorm to hit the high country, and then set up on a promising canyon a day or two later. If you’re in the right place, you should start to see does and yearlings moving downhill. The mature bucks will wait a couple of days and then start to move.
Good hunting strategies for this landscape include using a spotting scope set up on a vista that allows you to look into a number of drainages, a pack that is stout enough to pack out a portion of a deer but light enough so it won’t slow you down as you intercept promising bucks, and a GPS with a landowner chip that will alert you when you reach that public/private land interface.
About the Author
Andrew McKean is a longtime outdoor writer and the former editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. He lives in northeast Montana with his family and yellow Lab. You can follow his adventures on Instagram 
Rattling can be a deadly tactic to try during the “chase phase” of the rut, which occurs in the first and second weeks of November.[/caption]
During the "lock-down phase" the advantage to hunters is that bucks are so intent on breeding that they often overlook small movements that would otherwise blow a setup earlier in the season.[/caption]
During the "post-rut phase," look for bucks to feed in remote areas where high-energy forage, such as brassicas, winter rye, uncut soybeans and apples in abandoned orchards, are readily available.[/caption]
How To Hunt: If you’re a food-plotter, this is the time to concentrate on high-energy forage, such as brassicas and winter rye. In agricultural country, find uncut soybeans and corn. Bigger bucks will spend more time in solitary bedding areas, so set up on trails between those overgrown, brushy areas and prime food sources. Here again, try to hunt the weather. If you can be out before a big winter storm blows in, you’ll see enhanced deer activity. And hunt fields the day after a snowfall or winter storm when deer become more active again.
Pro Tip: Find native fruit sources—wild plums, persimmons, and even neglected apple orchards. Those fruits have sweetened with cold weather, and calorie-desperate bucks will focus on these high-sugar food sources.