Linguistically it means anything "hunted or pursued," however, most people say venison when they mean deer.
Interesting point. Venison=deer, pork=pig or swine, beef=cow or steer, mutton=sheep, the first being Norman-French, the second being Saxon. The Normans were rich enough to eat them, the Saxons too poor but they were the foresters, swineherds, cowherds and shepherds who cared for them.
Would we eat as much meat if they were called by their Saxon names, deer meat, pig meat, cow meat and sheep meat?
