Deer Hunting!!

[Black Creek]

well, i harvested just a small buck with the musket so far this year... Wild game is the only red meat i eat all year long. If it doesnt make it into the freezer during season, then we go with out. So i use all that i can. Normally i always go for the heart and liver(and brains to use to tan the hide) but i've never tried kidneys. I kept them this time. Anyone know of a good kidney recipe ?

and for those of you who havent tried this..... keep all the bones as you butcher the deer and make a soup stock. I keep all the bones and the big ones i cut open to expose the marrow(a sawzall with a fresh blade makes it easy) and boil them. take out the cooked bones add in more raw ones and more water as needed. I reduced an entire buck's skeleton down into 2 cups of liquid. oh man ! That is some GOOD stuff right there !!! Venison Ambrosia !

[Black Creek]

Oh... and dont add any salt or anything until AFTER you are done reducing the volume or it will be way too salty

[Ben Brewcat]

Yeah I hear you, my good neighbors! Thing is it's far enough away to get to any good western slope hunting that to add in scouting trips etc. just hasn't worked for me. Granted I'm a hunting newbie so maybe in subsequent years. The only drawback here is CWD really, and it's still under 6% even in the worst area. Populations are good (I'm not a trophy hunter so don't care about racks), hunting pressure virtually ends after two miles of hiking, and I can sleep in my own bed! I see a good number of animals, I just wasn't enough hunter last year to harvest. Live and learn.

My area's no secret: I hunt right here outside Boulder in Lefthand canyon, between Jamestown and Gold Hill. Last year I also hunted elk in some beautiful private land down by Coughlin meadows near Ned.

And since I'm currently without a functioning truck, I'm hunting out of the wife's Subaru Forester. How's THAT for Boulder county hunting !

[John F]

Now I have to spend two months getting in shape to hoof through a thousand feet of elevation change ...

I don't know what it is but it seems to me it used to take two weeks to get in shape and 3 months to get out of shape; now, 3 months to get in shape and out of shape in two weeks.

Wsup?!

I absolutely love packing into and hunting wilderness areas during the rut. Call in a bull and get him throwing small trees over his shoulder and you'll understand. But man, it seems like so much work now.

And we have girly show horses, not manly mountain steeds... (I've mentioned this to my wife and she doesn't seem to care.)

Anyway, NE rifle deer season this weekend.

[Karl]

Our Wisconsin gun season opened last Saturday and runs through Sunday. In order to shoot a buck we must first tag a doe. My part of the state is in a CWD zone so the D.N.R. wants to bring down the herd size. Took a nice doe opening morning. Aged at 5 years so most will be sausage. Wednesday tagged a four point buck. Nice, young and tender. This will be the steak , roast and chop animal. We were lucky to have some ground snow for a change.

[Scrapfe]

DOOD! I wanna hunt where...you can harvest FOUR deer!

Ben, you need to come to the land o cotton then, (No Tom L!!! I ain't talkin bout' California.) Last time I figured it up you could legally bag a max of 90+ deer per season here by using all types of weapons and/or moving around a little. That could net you over 7 tons of venison, field dressed weight. You can ever hunt old school, with hounds

Don’t have any new comparative statics, but a few years back the Bambi population here was number 2 nationally and Texas, the leading state, has five times the land area. Never talked to anyone who has limited out, but I knew one guy who came close year after year. He ran a cow & calf operation in Randolph County. He hunted over his creep feeders while sitting on a tree stump. He killed more deer than you could shake an antler at. All fat and corn fed too.

[peggjam]

I've taken 5 so far, an the wife 3..ground it all into venison hamburg...yum, yum.