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.