Cube the venison into bite-sized chunks, maybe 1″ x 1″ or smaller.  If using a frozen roast, leave it in the refrigerator overnight.  It will thaw some, but still be icy and easy to cut.

Set meat aside while you prep the other items.

Dice half the white onion.  Put it into a skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter.  Press a couple of cloves of garlic into the skillet, and turn the heat to medium.  Sautee the onion until it starts to brown.  Remove from heat and pour into crockpot.  Save skillet for remaining cooking steps.

Add the cubed meat to the skillet along with a tablespoon of butter.  Season the meat with a packet of brown gravy mix.  Continuously stir and flip the meat until it is thoroughly brown.  Browning the meat brings out additional flavors in the crock pot due to the caramelization happening on the outside of the pieces of venison.  This will help make the stew even tastier, and the meat will retain some of that wonderful seared flavor.

Once the meat is browned, move it to the crockpot.  Do not clean the skillet yet, we need it for one more step.

I was very cautious with seasoning during the preparation process of this venison stew.  I didn’t want it to end up too salty or over-seasoned.  As such, I avoided adding any extra seasoning until I had everything in the crockpot.  Once all ingredients were added to the crockpot, I seasoned with some rosemary, thyme, sea salt, and black pepper.  Again, I was cautious with how much I added, as you can always adjust the seasoning toward the end of the cooking process in a crockpot.