For those who love cooking red meat, like me, it can be a somewhat lacklustre experience pulling lumps of glistening beef directly from vacuum sealed packs, particularly when pondering the fate of the other parts of the animal which has died to provide dinner.

Ought not we carnivores, who consider greens a garnish at best, to tear our meals from the flanks of our prey, before utilising its pelt and bones to create an ornately carved set of hunting tools? Think a rabid Ray Mears.

For several years now our television schedules have seen a gradual proliferation of shows about foraging, bush craft and other “back to basics”novelties, and a host of courses have sprung up in which a scrawny man in khaki shorts will take you traipsing around a road-side copse for half a day to track down a few mushrooms and a manky berry or two.

But anyone looking for a real opportunity to get a more involved with their meat as it makes its journey from haunch to plate could do a lot worse than book onto Land & Wave’s terrifically entertaining Deer in a Day course, held amid the hills and dales of rural Purbeck.

In essence the day’s events are straightforward – skin and butcher a deer, prepare a range of morsels with its flesh and then eat them with friends or, in my case, charming strangers.

Land & Wave was set up in Purbeck six years ago, its founders backed by just £600 and a drive to provide adventurous experiences in the countryside which surrounds us but often goes unexplored.

Their courses take guests to several different locations, in this case the Old Malthouse in Langton Matravers, near Swanage.

So I joined a group of around eight people, for the most part unknown to each other, on a mild, sunny winter morning to be confronted by a 55lb deer hanging in a tripod and a very tall, very bearded man armed with a large knife.

Owen Senior, a founder of the company and the leader of our group, said his course is enjoyed by a wide variety of attendees – small groups, individuals interested in bush craft, couples and stag parties among them – albeit not many vegetarians.

“Lots of people want to know more about the food they eat, where it comes from, how to get the best from it,” said Owen, who himself grew up in the Dorset countryside.

“A Deer in a Day course is as far away from vac-packed supermarket meat as is possible to get.

“The idea behind Land & Wave was real adventure, real experiences – an authentic experience that would stay with people and make them happy.”

The deer are shot in Purbeck as part of a general cull. Ours was shot on Arne by local stalker before being bled, gralloched and kept at a cold store.

To gralloch, by the way – the term derived from an old gaelic word for guts – is the noisome process of removing the animal’s digestive tract, and the head, hooves, heart and lungs are also removed prior to the day.

So we got to work with hands, knives and Owen’s patient expertise, flaying the deer, removing the few remaining organs and even salting the hide – ready for its journey to the UK’s last tannery in Devon.

Then, moving inside the delightful former schoolhouse, we learned how to butcher the animal, carefully segregating the individual muscles and stripping out the less tender meat and connective tissue for mincing.

With the aid of chefs from Crab Apple Catering, also locally-based, we cooked up a fine selection of dark steaks with a little butter, garlic and thyme.

One loin steak was kept aside to be served carpaccio, with salt and oil, and another was used for a Wellington. One hind leg made for a stew, and another steak for venison medallions on toast with a “Stroganov” sauce.

The scrappy bits, connective tissue and fat went into the mincer to make sausages and blue cheese stuffed meatballs.

All were different ways of getting the best from the different parts of the carcass.

I had a number of revelations, first the cost – our deer carcass, which would feed more than 50 people in a single sitting, cost a mere £85. Secondly the time – it took our group of amateur butchers only a couple of hours from arrival to have ten or so steaks separated out and ready to cook.

Thirdly I was surprised and impressed with the amount of venison a human being can consume in a day, although we had homemade soup, bread and cider, and good company to help wash it down.

For those seeking a more visceral experience the team at Land & Wave are already planning a “stalk to fork”

extension to the programme later this year, which will give people an opportunity to track and shoot a deer before the butchery begins.

“The local adventure industry is growing fast and has become really important for local employment,” said Owen.

“This year we will employ 35 people in Swanage, and it is not just us. All local adventure companies are doing a great job building a sustainable, positive industry that brings millions of pounds into the local economy.”

For more information on the company visit landandwave.co.uk.