My hunting story this year

[Yooper]

Bob and I both had "antlerless" tags this year for either firearm or bow season. He'd been hunting for a bit, but not seeing much. We had small bucks from bow season, but not rifle season yet. I only went out a few times, due to work and family.

Anyway, on Sunday afternoon Bob mentioned that he wasn't going to hunt that day since he hasn't seen anything near his blind. But he'd go sit with me in my blind, as it's big and roomy enough and he'd like to do that. So, we got my stuff and went over to my blind. I brought only two shells- because you only need one shot anyway as a rule, and the second is for insurance.

We sat for a bit, and I'm watching the far right and he's watching the far left. He whispers, "here comes a deer". I looked over, and saw a small one with a bigger one coming in behind. I watched them, but lost sight of them between the windows. Suddenly, I looked way back and saw the small one again coming in to my right. So, I got ready, but it was a pretty far shot, off to my right, and I only saw the head and front shoulder. I whispered to Bob- "I think that's the small one, I'm going to wait". He peeks and says, "OMG- it's a HUGE doe. If you've got a shot take it!" So I shot.

Bob says, "Oh, it was a clean miss!" but he looked and grabbed my gun and took a shot. I was puzzled because I didn't see my deer fall, but he must have seen it run off when I didn't.

He says, "OK, I saw her fall". So we get out of the blind, and go to get the deer.

I went right, Bob went left. Here is the conversation:

Um, Bob? The deer is over here.

Um, Lorena? The deer is over here!

Um, Bob- no. The deer I shot at was over THERE. You said you saw it.

Lorena. You're nuts. It was RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, ON THE LEFT.

Bob. I couldnt' see right in front of the blind on the left. Remember? I was looking right.


So, I started walking over and sure enough. My small deer was DOA with a perfect shot. Bob looked at me and said, "OMG- you shot a deer!".

That's when it dawned on us both- we saw different deer all along! He thought I was shooting an entirely different direction, and thought I missed the doe he saw.

So, we both tagged our deer and took them home.

Later, Bob said, "That's the first time I've ever shot your rifle! It's dead-on!" I agreed.

 

[bad67z]

Great story Yoop, and congrats on a full freezer!

 

[Stevo2569]

Cool story Yoop. Glad to here you both got deer. I saw a huge drop tine monster a month ago and I'm still waiting for Mr.Big to come back.

 

[Revvy]

Oh wow, who woulda thunk it, two deer with two shells....LOL

 

[kh54s10]

OH Noooooo! You killed 2 Bambies

Cool story!

 

[Yooper]

OH Noooooo! You killed 2 Bambies

Cool story!

Well, not Bambis. But my deer was much smaller than Bob's- his was a big older doe that really was huge for a doe. I was laughing- he's right that the doe he saw was huge!

 

[Homercidal]

Nice!

I once shot a doe in the throat. Was supposed to be behind the front leg, but the scope had become jarred since sighting it in...

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Congrats! There is very little deer where I live, when we go hunting we are lucky if we see a doe. We cannot shoot doe's only bucks, but I guess they are plentiful in your neck of the woods.

Instead we go bore hunting.

You making some deer jerky now?

 

[Yooper]

Congrats! There is very little deer where I live, when we go hunting we are lucky if we see a doe. We cannot shoot doe's only bucks, but I guess they are plentiful in your neck of the woods.

Instead we go bore hunting.

You making some deer jerky now?

Probably not jerky. But with 4 deer this year, we have enough. I'm making Italian sausage for sure (already made some!) and I'm going to can some. I loved canned venison!

Where are you at in Texas? When we spend the winters in Texas, we see lots of deer but they are very small compared to the ones up north!

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Can someone explain to me why back home upstate the signs all advertise "Deer Cut" rather than "Deer Butchered."

Also, why the backstraps are always missing when you get it back ;-) ;-).

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Canned venison? Is that like a homemade potted meat or a con fite?

 

[FastAndy]

Probably not jerky. But with 4 deer this year, we have enough. I'm making Italian sausage for sure (already made some!) and I'm going to can some. I loved canned venison!

Where are you at in Texas? When we spend the winters in Texas, we see lots of deer but they are very small compared to the ones up north!

What does canned venison taste like? Is is spamish? Or all soupy?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Also, do you keep organ meats and/or blood for offal preparation? (A topic I can spend hours going over)

 

[Yooper]

Canned venison? Is that like a homemade potted meat or a con fite?

I can just the meat, in quart jars. I cube it, add 1/4 onion and a dash of salt and cover and pressure can. It comes out with a non-gamey taste and texture that is great. When the kids were at home, I'd open a jar of that (it makes a "gravy" of sorts), dump it in a pan, add a little sour cream and serve it over noodles for stroganoff. They loved it, and my daughter canned some venison last year for her family. Well, she came over to my house and I canned it, but it was HER deer!

I use the canned venison in chili, sloppy joes, stews, etc. It really is quite good!

 

[Yooper]

Also, do you keep organ meats and/or blood for offal preparation? (A topic I can spend hours going over)

My dog gets the liver, but I discard the blood and other "guts". My husband cooks the heart for himself when I'm not home. I'm NOT a person who can do organ meats, offal, or tongue type of stuff.

 

[Homercidal]

I've had canned venison sloppy joes and it's pretty good. But not like ground beef in texture. More like shredded meat.

My grandma used to pickle hearts...

 

[CreamyGoodness]

You... gave... the liver to your... dog... *cries silently*. Hehe. All seriousness though what do you mean by pressure canning? Just another term for processing the jars in hot water?

 

[crash1292]

well congrats to Yooper and your hubby.
I didn't see squat....but that is the norm

 

[Homercidal]

You... gave... the liver to your... dog... *cries silently*. Hehe. All seriousness though what do you mean by pressure canning? Just another term for processing the jars in hot water?

No, a pressure canner cooks the meat under PRESSURE. Not sure what the specs for meat are, but I use my canner at 250F and 15 lbs. pressure for 15 minutes to sterilize starter wort, etc.

The necessity of the pressure (and the resulting temp, since water boils at different temps depending on their pressure) is different for various types of food.

 

[Yooper]

You... gave... the liver to your... dog... *cries silently*. Hehe. All seriousness though what do you mean by pressure canning? Just another term for processing the jars in hot water?

No, a pressure canner cooks the meat under PRESSURE. Not sure what the specs for meat are, but I use my canner at 250F and 15 lbs. pressure for 15 minutes to sterilize starter wort, etc.

The necessity of the pressure (and the resulting temp, since water boils at different temps depending on their pressure) is different for various types of food.

Exactly! for meat, you have to go above 212 (and for most low-acid foods), so you need to use a pressure canner. Under pressure, you can get to 250 degrees. For meat, the safety zone is 90 minutes at 15 pounds per pressure, and then cooling time. It takes about an hour to even get up that high, and then about an hour to cool, so it's a long day. I can fit 7 jars in my canner at one time.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Probably not jerky. But with 4 deer this year, we have enough. I'm making Italian sausage for sure (already made some!) and I'm going to can some. I loved canned venison!

Where are you at in Texas? When we spend the winters in Texas, we see lots of deer but they are very small compared to the ones up north!

I have never had canned venison, sounds good though.

4 deer that is amazing we only dream of that here. I am in El Paso Texas, we usually have to go up to New Mexico to get a deer but the laws have become so restricted it is not worth it anymore. They tell you where you can go hunt and it doesn’t matter if you are going with a group, they will tell me to go to this location and another member of your group to another location an hour away or more. It just isnt worth it, we have gone deer hunting south of San Antonio but that is not really hunting they have the ranch fenced off high and just stock it with deer we will never do that again.

I am sure when you come to texas you are around Austin , San Antonio or Dallas right? We are all the way to the west, and really not considered part of Texas. There is very little deer here, basically the only thing you can hunt here are coyotes (which I am not a fan of) or Quail and Dove (Love me some Quail).

Edit: My brother went Orax hunting last year and brought back a huge one, but those things aren’t hard to hunt they basically stare at you. They are not scared and it is to easy, but they are tasty..

 

[Yooper]

I have never had canned venison, sounds good though.

4 deer that is amazing we only dream of that here. I am in El Paso Texas, we usually have to go up to New Mexico to get a deer but the laws have become so restricted it is not worth it anymore. They tell you where you can go hunt and it doesn’t matter if you are going with a group, they will tell me to go to this location and another member of your group to another location an hour away or more. It just isnt worth it, we have gone deer hunting south of San Antonio but that is not really hunting they have the ranch fenced off high and just stock it with deer we will never do that again.

I am sure when you come to texas you are around Austin , San Antonio or Dallas right? We are all the way to the west, and really not considered part of Texas. There is very little deer here, basically the only thing you can hunt here are coyotes (which I am not a fan of) or Quail and Dove (Love me some Quail).

Edit: My brother went Orax hunting last year and brought back a huge one, but those things aren’t hard to hunt they basically stare at you. They are not scared and it is to easy, but they are tasty..

When we go to Texas, we stay on the Gulf coast, on the Coastal Bend. There are lots of deer, but they sure are small! We have a friend with a ranch (closer to San Antonio), and he's invited us to hunt hogs and deer but it's really not worth it for us, since we have plenty of venison and the hogs are tasty but a PITA to work with!

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Post some pictures up, lets see these deer!

 

[EdWort]

What a hoot. I guess when you each saw each others deer, you said "DOH!"

Yooper, the sharp shooter from the U.P.

Nice job. Time for sausage & beer.

 

[Yooper]

What a hoot. I guess when you each saw each others deer, you said "DOH!"

Yooper, the sharp shooter from the U.P.

Nice job. Time for sausage & beer.

You should have seen Bob's face! He never saw the deer I shot, and he thought I missed the deer he was looking at. He looked at my deer (which dropped in place, down a dip and that's why I didn't see it fall or run off), like WTF?!?! is THAT? I just laughed and laughed. His reaction was priceless.

 

[Airborneguy]

Congrats on the score! So far, nothing for me. I only hunted the first two days of the season. Saw 5 does each day, but none of us had doe tags. I literally sighted in on the first five, one after another, as they walked broadside to my left at about 20 yards. I was praying for antlers so hard, but nothing.

We might get out one more time, but after that I'm going to have to wait until at least January when muzzleloader opens in Jersey. Next year, I hope to be living upstate NY which would put me much closer to my hunting grounds, which means I can start bowhunting again.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Careful what you wish for Airborne... spent half a lifetime trying to get OUT of upstate...

 

[Airborneguy]

I've spent my whole adult life trying to get out of the city!

 

[bmud0314]

Upstate guy here. I hunt WMU 8G on my parents place. I had 6 tags: 1 archery, my gun buck tag, I recieved both antlerless tags I put in for, and as usual, 8G had doe tags left over so Nov 1st it was first come first serve, 2 more doe tags. So 1+1+2+2, yeah, 6. Never used em all, but its nice to have options. Three in the freezer this year. I think I'm gonna slow down my hunting and focus on bottling.

 

[copyright1997]

I've spent my whole adult life trying to get out of the city!

And after you live up here for awhile you will be complaining about the NYC area folks who come up to hunt in your woods.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Love that story. Nice job!

 

[viking73]

Nice! Good thing you both had a tag!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

And here I thought you were going to say you got 2 deer with 1 shot
Glad you both got deer & your freezer is full. Now I'm going to be thinking about a nice, tender, juicy venison roast all day!
Regards, GF.

 

[Airborneguy]

And after you live up here for awhile you will be complaining about the NYC area folks who come up to hunt in your woods.

I used to own land in Sullivan County and one of the reasons I sold it was because of all the poachers. My friend is dealing with it now on his land near Deposit.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Deposit... my ex-girlfriend (the rich one) had a summer house about 15 minutes from there. I forget the name of the town. Delaware county right? Hellzapoppin', talk about remote. I'd mention some of the things we used to get away with out there, but Id be telling it to an officer of the law, and thats a bad idea.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I was also going to say that growing up more than once we had fully armed men knock on our door. "Ma'am, can we shoot a deer in your yard?" My grandmother loved watching them from the window while drinking her coffee, so that wasnt happening. We'd hear gunshots anyway.

As a transplanted country boy who has lived in nyc for the past 10 years I have always had complicated feelings about the critters. I love venison, and think a kill-shot is way more humane than winter kill, but I will never forget the yearling that used to come up on my porch to be pet before he was killed by some hotdamner with a pipe.

 

[copyright1997]

I'm in no way saying that hunting shouldn't be allowed. While I'm too lazy (or busy brewing) to hunt, I think it is actually more humane to hunt what you eat vs picking it up at the grocery store. (But it is important to eat it if you kill it.) Plus I'm a big believer in the 2nd amendment.

Us upstate folks however, do worry a bit about hunting season as there are then a bunch of people who *have* to get that doe (or whatever) while they can, tresspass and sometimes make it unsafe to go out on your own land. I have a friend with about 50 acres who has had his garage window (facing the woods) shot out during hunting season. When I was running marathons and other long distance races, I would do quite a bit of my training in the woods (trail running), and I would have to stop runnning trails once hunting season started.

However, if you come to my door and offer me some nice venison steak in exchange for hunting on my land, shoot away! I might even provide the ammo!

 

[bierhaus15]

Around where I live, people probably kill more deer with their cars than with guns. We had some friends from Florida visiting last fall and their 5 year old daughter kept pointing out all the dead "horsies" on the side of the road.

I used to entertain thoughts of going deer hunting, but when they opened our area up for hunting with rifles, I dropped that idea real quick. Now we got morons with .300 win mags shooting cows and their neighbors houses 2 miles away!

 

[lschiavo]

Great story! Now we have some venison for our next smoker cookout

 

[IrregularPulse]

Nice story Yoop. Got my first ever deer this weekend. 2nd time ever "hunting". First time was 12 years ago with my cousin. I just tagged along. No gun for me and we didn't see anything in the little time we were out there. 10th shell ever shot from my new-to-me 870, first bullet ever fired at a living creature and first deer I've seen while hunting.

She ran right at me, I was in her path. She slammed on the breaks and stared at me just a little sideways from head on. We both looked at each other like, " what the bless do we do". Then I remembered, "oh yeah, I kill you now". Sighted her and pulled the trigger. I watched her hop up, turn and run back. About 1 minute later I heard her bleeting 2-3 times and that was it. It took about 2 minutes to find her 20 yards away.

Put a slug behind her left shoulder and it came out her back right ham. Nicked a lung, took a chunk from her heart and blew out 2-3 major arteries. Barely nicked her gut, but didn't bust anything gross. She ran maybe 20 yards and that was downhill.

Still unreal that I actually shot one. I went from being nervous about hunting, to shooting one, watching one be gutted (a tradition for the guy that took me. He always does a new guy's first one to teach them. I wasn't arguing), skinning one (mine) and processing one into various cuts all in about 17 hours yesterday. Going back this week to help process a few more so I get mine processed no charge. The guy I went with processes as a side gig. I guess he used to be the best taxidermist in the area as well years ago, but got out of it.