Deer hunting

[coyotewhisperer]

who's hunting deer this fall? I had two tags for the early muzzleloader season. yesterday got a big whitetail doe and today a mule deer doe. never got a good chance for a shot on either of the two bucks i saw. If it hadn't been 90 degrees out i would have done some pictures on feild dressing etc.

here is the muley today i feild dressed her and stuffed her with bags of ice and drove the 45 minutes to the small family owned butcher shop. with the heat and time wise i didn't do the whole process myself this year.



no thats not me. getting her skinned



skinned and pressure washed ready to go into the cooler



that first deer there in the cooler is my white tail doe from yesterday



wish it wouldnt have been so hot and i could have done a feild dressing post. going to get all my steaks from the white tail the rest burger and the muley all burger. we are not having them add any beef or pork fat and will cook the burger with cocanut oil.

anyone else want to chime in on how they do there deer burger or how you cook it?

[protus]

i hunt.
Lately i havent been all gun ho about it. dunno why.
either way i try to go least once a month over the 4 month season.

i'd rather be backpacking to be honest.

anyway.

I dress,butcher and pack all my own.

when we make burger i set up an electric grinder.
I get some cheap pork sausge rolls( like ya make bfast suasage out of) in what ever flavor works for you ( medium does well for burger).
I'll do a 1:1 ratio for burger.
2 lbs of deer to 2 lbs of pork.
comes out like a lean 90/10 burger.
If i want it greasy or like a cheap burger ill add more pork.

if i want deer sasuage its 2 pork to 1 deer ratio with a sage flavored pork sasauge.

i pack it in 1 lb blocks.

if we do some this year i'll have to do a how to on it( just messy) lol

[Lowdown3]

Just started putting some corn out this weekend. I/we won't go out till it gets cooler. We try to do everything at home and like you mentioned, butchering a deer at home in 80 or 90 degree weather is pretty much impossible. It's hard enough in cooler weather IMO!!

[EX121]

Going muzzleloader hutning this weekend. Using America's first 'assualt weapon' a.62 flintlock smoothbore Fusil de Chasse.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Woo Hoo I can't wait, getting back from a school on the night before opening day of bow then in a few weeks got me 9 glorious days of muzzleloader with 7 of them being all alone. It's gonna be hit and miss for gun this year with me calling in with "buck fever" :) Man I'd do a spear season if they would open it. If a guys real lucky he might stumble on a porker while out and about and a coyote or 2 usually meet their demise too.
I hand mix mine with 30-40% ground beef and my sausage with about the same or less pork.

[Longhunter]

I'm planning on hunting on base this year. However, I've been dragging my feet because it's just been too hot lately. But I think next weekend I'm going to go. This weekend will be used to shoot the old muzzleloader and get my tags in order. Also I think this year will be the year that I successfully tan a hide. I've tried in the past, but didn't put alot of effort into it. I've already convinced some friends to give me their deer hides as well so I have more to practice on. Any tips from anyone who does/has tan?

[coyotewhisperer]

I did some home tanning when i was alot younger. used a recipe in an old trapper and predator caller magazine. From trapline to finishing a pelt ready for the tannery i am very good at, just not the home tanning part.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Longhunter my first attempts were unsuccessful due to not getting all the meat/fat off and trying to hurry it. Good luck I hope you get it done.
BTW coyotewhisperer those are nice looking meat goats ya got there! I'm also going out with my daughter for her second hunt on youth season in Oct. too. She took a nice doe last year with her 243 at 215yds. from the prone off my pack. If I'd a been wearin a button up shirt it woulda busted with pride. The heat makes it hard to process for sure. I have an old fridge in my shop we pull the racks out off and stuff'em in there when it's to warm to hang. I wish the best for everyone, hope yours is a bigun and just remember it aint always the kill that makes the hunt!

[Bearman202]

Couple of things here. In rural Missouri, the usual practice is to go to a supermarket and buy a 10 lb box of bacon ends and pieces, and grinding that with the deer for deerburger. (Talk about some tasty chili!) The other thing is to let that big buck go. Too many people are hunting for a rack, instead of meat, and they kill off the big deer. They did that in Texas, where they hunt with a chair set up in the back of a truck. As a result of killing all the really big bucks, they now have deer that are a little bigger than your average Great Dane. It killed me, because these guys were cattle people. They wouldn't dream of breeding their stock with a small, whimpy bull, but they couldn't make the connection to deer. The other thing I've heard that made a lot of sense is that you never shoot the first deer you see. The idea is that if you don't see another one, then the population is already thin. Shooting the second deer makes a lot of sense to me.