British chef, restaurateur, and passionate outdoorsman Mike Robinson shares his love of field-to-table cooking, discussing sustainable hunting, wild game preparation, and the connection between harvesting and serving exceptional food. Read on for his flavorful perspective…

Mike Robinson lives in the United Kingdom and alongside his work as a chef, he fronts up the hit MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) shows Farming the Wild, Fishing the Wild, Wild Game Masterclass and Wild Fish Masterclass. In this blog, Mike takes us back to his earliest memory of hunting, chats about his favorite Hornady ammo and shares a current favorite game recipe that we think will make your mouth water…

What’s your earliest memory of hunting, and what was the first gun you ever owned?

My earliest memory, and I remember it vividly, was shooting a rabbit with an airgun I had been given for my tenth birthday, and then cooking it. I made a rabbit korma curry and it was one of the first things I ever shot and cooked. I later inherited a pair of 1886 Charles Lancaster shotguns from my grandfather. He had died before I was born but wanted them to go to someone who would use them. I still use them to this day and will be double gunning with them in Yorkshire this October.

Was there a family member or friend who inspired you when it comes to hunting and/or cooking?

No one in my family hunted and of course I didn’t have the chance to meet my grandfather, but I grew up reading lots of adventure books, Wilbur Smith and the like. That sparked a passion and all I wanted to do was live in the woods, hunting and cooking my own food.

What influenced you to become a chef and restaurateur, with a focus on wild food?

Well, my mother didn’t (and still doesn’t) enjoy cooking, so it was either microwave meals or ‘cook it yourself’! Luckily, I loved cooking, so it didn’t faze me. When I started getting this instinct to go out and shoot food, my father, who wasn’t a hunting man at all, was clear that if I shot it, I had to cook and eat it. That’s become my mantra for life. I do very little sporting hunting, and 99-percent of everything I do is about management of wildlife and landscape, and sourcing meat.

When did you become a Hornady sponsored shooter and what brought you and the brand together?

I was introduced to Hornady through a mutual contact, Simon Barr, when I first got the commission to make Farming the Wild in 2019. It’s been fantastic for me because as well as hunting for the show and the restaurants, I also run a huge deer management business over 60,000 acres of land. The tool of deer management is the rifle, and a rifle is nothing without the ammunition. We need exceptionally accurate shooting and that requires exceptional ammunition. Hornady sends me 2,000 rounds a year and we shoot 1,500 deer with it, we couldn’t do our jobs without their ammo.

What’s at the top of your Hornady shopping list now, the ammo you really rate?

I’ve really settled on two. First, I use the 6.5 Creedmoor 120-gr CX™ Outfitter® for virtually everything, bar when I’m on the big open fields in midwinter and we need to go a bit further out. Then I’ll choose 6.5 PRC 130-gr CX™ Outfitter® which really performs in those tougher conditions. Those two rounds do virtually everything I need.

If you had one last hunt on this planet, where would you go and what would you hunt?

Honestly, the UK is so close to my heart, but I hunted a non-trophy, cull Cape buffalo in Zimbabwe many years ago and it was the most real, exciting and terrifying thing I’ve ever done. Very memorable!

What’s your favorite game dish to serve right now?

In the fall I enjoy rustling up a Roman-style ragu with wild hare cooked in red wine, tomatoes, bay leaves and garlic. It’s deep, flavorsome and unctuous, and I braise the hares in a Traeger pellet grill, so you get that smoky, rich flavor too. We’ll hand make ribbons of pappardelle pasta to pair with the hare ragu and some piquant, salty aged Parmesan. It’s pretty bloody good! I’ll shoot the hares myself with a 17 rifle and use Hornady 17 HMR® 17-gr V-MAX® rimfire ammo for the job.

What advice would you give to aspiring chefs and hunters who want to bring more wild game into their kitchens?

Learn to butcher your game yourself and invest in some processing facilities. If you send an animal to a processor, you never know what you’re going to get back. Go online and learn about temperature control, bleeding, gutting and dressing. I’ve done a few videos about this online, so check them out.