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Good Job!
You are the first person I know of that has managed to actually take a deer their first traditional season. For me, it took 3 years. Fred Bear took 5 years to harvest his first deer with a traditional bow.
If you keep at it, you will have tough times. But getting through the tough times is what makes having one hanging in the garage oh so sweet.
Enjoy the meat!
in reply to: Measuring Up #12018Saw seven deer last night, got busted seven times. Too wet and still.
Could have shot the first deer, but it was too small bodied to make it worth while. After he gave me a shot at about 5 yards, he turned around and looked right at me. I thought we were going to bump noses till he back flipped out of there.
I wish this rain would stop… Been raining for a week, going to rain for at least another…
in reply to: A nice memento #12012You’re going to have to leave that in the stew pot a long time before you can chew it 😳
in reply to: Measuring Up #10954colmike wrote: …well that wouldn’t be hunting as you describe it, just killing”. Good point dear.8)
Back to the challenge—wouldn’t want anything less as I see you all agree.:D
Deer taste the same either way 😀 If your freezer is empty, it might be time to take a chip shot, every now and again.
I know if my freezer is empty, the gun comes out until it isn’t anymore 😳
Used up the last package of ground venison last night. I’m starting to get those accusing looks that imply I ain’t doing my job 😯
in reply to: Another Elk Hunt #9798skinner biscuit wrote: Steve,over the counter tags,month long season,hunting 10 miles from my house,no camping necessary,gated timberland open to public hunting,mountain biked in on a logging road with a headlamp,ain’t all that bad.:D
That does sound like a little bit o’ heaven…
in reply to: Let's See Your Fletching #9191With all that work put into those perty arrows, I wonder if you will hesitate to shoot that big fat gray squirrel you’re bound to see this fall?
I’ve been going the other way, trying to put the least effort into each wood arrow that I can get away with so that I feel free to fling them babies with abandon.
Make ’em
Dye ’em.
Dip ’em.
Fletch ’em
Point and nock ’em and straighten along the way.
Whew! that’s enough work for me. That d@m squirrel can suck it! 😈 😳 🙄
in reply to: PA Elk Hunt #9188I hear the success rate is near 100%. But not many tags issued.
In Virginia, about 20 a year or so are killed in the counties bordering Tennessee. The DWR was supposed to stop allowing elk to be taken with deer tags and to let the population expand into VA. But I think they got blowback from the various industries (insurance , Farming, etc) happy with the lack of big critters.
in North Carolina the WRC has a don’t ask don’t tell policy about poaching the few elk in our mountains. As long as you can “prove” they ate your petunia (if anyone bothers to ask), you’re good to go. Thus the elk herd hasn’t expanded here. Lucky to survive at all.
in reply to: White Whitetail #9183Tasty too, what with all those spots to focus on 🙄
in reply to: Another Elk Hunt #63954It’s fun, if only to remind me how much I like hunting the critters in my own back yard, and our eastern trees and views.
Every now and again I think what it would be like to move out west somewhere and try to put down some new roots. It only takes 7 to 10 days of elk hunting to cleanse me of that thought pattern.
I don’t think I could live without the green of summer and the colors of fall, and the smell in the air at harvest time.
Each to his own!
in reply to: Jim Dougherty #61792Sad news. Got the Pope and Young email about it.
Spoke with him a few times in his capacity as writer for Inside Archery.
in reply to: Re-Thinking old Thoughts on Woodies #60577Just got back from colorado (empty handed 🙄 ). I took my woodies with me and was a little apprehensive about it as I have heard from others, and experienced myself, that wood arrows can act differently when exposed to different environments.
I once took cedar arrows on a bear hunt in Quebec. They acted stiff when I got there. Once home, they acted fine.
On this trip, I took the douglas fir arrows I made last winter. They acted just fine. No change.
I did shoot some grouse (tasty when brined with salt and maple syrup). Again, the arrows zipped right through the grouse with a field point. Last year the carbon arrows so equipped stopped in the middle.
Very curious. Same weight bow, same arrow weight, same point. Wood slips through better. Only a few data points, but so far same results. Once a broadhead is introduced, all well tuned arrows will zip through a deer. So hopefully we’ll see that with woodies this year.
Haven’t been in the woods yet for deer this year, not even scouting…
in reply to: After the Hunt #59924skinner biscuit wrote: …I used to put pork or beef fat in my burger, till my wife scolded me for putting the unhealthy in the healthy.Now I find fat in wild game ruins the taste and creates more work when cooking…
Good comments! You are probably right about the fat too, but we still put a bit of organic beef fat in our venison. Not much, say 2% by weight. Most recipe’s call for 10% which is way too much. We kept cutting it down till we stopped at about 2%.
Organic beef fat can be had from Organic Markets for pretty cheap… If it’s grass fed organic beef fat it’s free from the hormones and higher in good fatty acids. So I don’t mind putting a little in.
But as you say, an egg will do the trick too.
This is a good topic. If only there was a tried and true method of practice which would guarantee good shooting 👿
I don’t really have a method, but I have a few guidelines:
– Only bring one arrow to the range. Shoot, retrieve, shoot. this keeps me focused on every shot, and keeps me from ingraining bad shots and speed shooting.
– Practice for no more than 45 minutes. This keeps me from getting fatigued and sloppy.
– During hunting season, make the first shot a hunting shot. This gives me a measure of my cold shot. If it’s good, I call the practice session good no matter what happens next.
I look forward to learning a few good tips from this thread…
in reply to: After the Hunt #47675Ptaylor wrote: Yeah sure does feel good Steve. I wish we could age deer out here. It’s just too warm and humid by the coast for me to leave it outside. The flies are active all year. And we don’t have a walk in meat cooler…
Another option for the committed predator is to convert an old fridge into a cooler. Take out the shelves and affix a couple rods across the width of the fridge upon which quarter can be hung and you have a pretty decent cooler.
Get some large S hooks to hang the pieces, and you are good to go.
Before I built my walk-in cooler, I used to just set the quarters on the shelves in the fridge. Not ideal as there is no air flow under the quarters which limits how long you can leave the meat lay.
in reply to: After the Hunt #47345Congrats on the bear! After your ordeal last year, I am sure you are pleased.
We bought a meat grinder a few years back too. Works like a champ. Don’t skimp on the grinders. Cheap ones (anything with plastic anywhere on it) are a pain.
One of the most interesting things I learned from using a meat grinder is how much aging meat helps break down the connective tissues.
Putting a fresh deer through even a good meat grinder is hard work, requiring several stops to remove collagen tissue from the screw. But age the deer 10 days or more, and the deer goes through the grinder without any hangups, Collagen tissue and all.
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