Today only, Arby’s is offering a venison sandwich, made from a thick cut of deer steak, at all of its U.S. Locations — but if you want one, you’d better move fast.
Each Arby’s store will reportedly have about 100 sandwiches available, which might or might not be enough to avoid the kind of customer frustration set off by the McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce fiasco earlier this month.
The trusted fast-food authorities at Kotaku taste-tested the venison sandwich, which was initially offered at just 17 restaurants last year, and found it well-presented, but dry and “slightly gamey.”
Arby’s is also testing a much rarer creation today: an elk steak sandwich. It will be available at just three locations, in Thornton, Colorado; Casper, Wyoming; and Billings, Montana.
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According to Spokane, Washington’s KHQ news, a Montana hunting advocacy group has objected to the venison and elk sandwiches, saying that commercializing wild game could encourage large-scale farming of the animals. The group says that game farming, which is outlawed in Montana, can harm wild animal populations by incubating disease.
However, Arby’s says the venison in its sandwiches is “farmed using responsible practices” in New Zealand, where deer were first introduced in the mid-19th century. Deer are now considered invasive pests there, damaging to native ecosystems and without natural predators. New Zealand’s Department of Conservation runs several programs to reduce their population, including licensing commercial harvesting for export.
So if you manage to snag a deer sandwich today, according to Arby’s, you might be doing a good thing.