What wine goes with elk? Elderberry, of course.
Those were the thoughts at the Rick Clunn homestead outside of Ava, Mo. Clunn, one of the greatest anglers of all-time, and his wife, Melissa, had bought 400 elderberry plants for their health benefits.
“All the potential uses for elderberry, the main one she wanted was for elderberry syrup,” Clunn said. “It’s very good for your immune system. And of course some people use elderberries to make wine – that was sort of the thought as well.”
It’s kind of appropriate that the “Zen Master” of bass fishing follows a largely organic lifestyle. Melissa and Rick aren’t living off the land entirely, they’re just conscious of ingesting items that aid health.
And yes, a small herd of elk roam a high-fenced area near the house.
“We garden, have chickens,” Rick said. “We do harvest some deer to add to that and the occasional turkey. That’s pretty much it, what you see on most little farms, with exception of the elk.”
Elk is among the healthiest meats, low in fat and cholesterol and high in protein, and the red meat tastes great. Bison are close in the healthy meat category, and the Clunns had a virtual game park until the elk-bison battles began.
“On part of the property we have a 30-acre high-game fence, because Melissa is very organic. So we’re basically raising our own meat,” Rick said. “We had buffalo and elk.
“We slowly weaned out the buffalo and now we just have elk, mainly because they weren’t really compatible. They were compatible except during the winter when you had to bring in hay; then they’d fight over it.”
See photos of the Clunn spread.
Clunn said they keep anywhere from eight to 12 elk, and they just butchered several cows this fall to restock the freezer. They have two young bulls and one mature bull who handles the breeding … and the bugling.
“Quite a bit of that bugling does go on,” Rick said. “He’s kind of calmed down here this last week or so, but I really expect him on the next phase to come back one more time. I don’t think he’s quite finished yet.”
The Clunns can watch the herd from the windows of their beautiful home, which may or may not go on the market soon. Clunn said it’s a dynamic situation that they might sell the house and a portion of their 1,000 acres, keeping the higher elevated acreage where they would build a smaller home.
“I blame Jerry McKinnis for this,” Rick said. “Every time he does something, some way, somehow, Melissa copies him. He painted his cabin dark brown and well, guess what, we ended up painting our house dark brown.”
The Clunns and McKinnis have celebrated New Year’s Eve together for the past 10 years or so, and last year McKinnis announced his similar plan.
“He decided, ‘I think I’m going to sell this place and build me a house up top,’” Clunn said. “And it’s just conversation. Sometimes they materialize, sometimes they don’t.
“Now, we started thinking about it, the logic of it. We love where we built because we live in a gorgeous place. But it’s a lot for one or two people to maintain. And I’m sure that’s what Jerry was looking at as well.
“So we are basically in the process of going to try to sell this place, reduce our property from about 1,000 acres down to 200 then build a smaller place on the 200 that’s up on top. This whole thing, nothing’s stable.”
Deer season would change. Clunn might have one of the fanciest deer camps when his two daughters and their families visit for the Missouri deer opener. Clunn calls the Douglas County area the most hunting and fishing friendly community he’s ever lived in.
“They celebrate hunting season even in the school,” he said. “In Texas, you never saw that unless you were in the hill country where a lot of leases were, but the rest of the Texas you never saw that.
“Our house is essentially a hunting lodge, and we have a cabin.”
The deer are plentiful, and they lead full circle to the demise of the elderberry plan.
“Of course, the deer ate all the elderberry plants. We fought and fought them, but we couldn’t keep them out,” Clunn said, who even sprayed a University of Colorado concoction of egg yolks and water on the bushes. “It would keep them off them for about two months until the rain washed them off, and then they’d come back and start hitting them again. Eventually, they won the battle.”
But that won’t stop the Clunns from enjoying some heart-healthy libations, like the full-bodied red wines made from grapes like Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which are recommended to go with elk.