KK, first of all an 8 pounder is bronto sized so i would advise halfing the thing to start. Ya have to debone the thing and remove ALL of the deer fat and silver connective tissue on the outer surface. One should allways freeze his meat deboned, fat removed as deer fat tastes rancid at best and wrap your meat well. For a stellar pot roast follow these steps.
1. Brown roast in heavy cast dutch oven or roaster with a bit of cooking oil... not olive oil.
2. Leave browned roast in roaster and add couple cloves crushed garlic, bay leaf, cup or two of water or apple juice, pepper, and one packet of onion soup mix.
3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and place roaster in oven COVERED.
4. Cook for 3 to 6 hours depending on how old the animal was. Turn meat couple times during cooking and add a bit more water should this cook out.
5. Add peeled halfed potatos, carrots and turnip hunks... place them around roast for the last hour as these veggies dont take too long to cook.
Your roast will be done when the meat is falling appart to the fork and tender. Remove meat and veggies and place on platter. Use remaining fluid at bottom of roaster to make gravey by getting it simmering on high heat on stovetop. Add a tablespoon of flour mixed into half cup of water or so and stir into simmering gravy in roaster to thicken.
You will then have a pot roast to die for! Depending of coarse on how well the animal was cared for in the field and how it was prosessed at the butchers. Remember when cooking wild game like deer and moose... low and slow...that is low temp over a long time.
Ted from Manitoba