GreenHunter

Keith your the man! Thought I was done til November thank you so much

Believe it or not I didn’t get a one....sawyers is the real deal Thank you sir! Thank you rob.....mention of diy made me happy haha Had a backpack, tree stand, and 2 sacks of meat I hauled out in one trip like a hammerhead....definitely need to consider a better way to get it out on my back Thank you sir I’m enjoying the journey of learning!

Loving the support yea if I didn’t have YouTube and Steve rinella walking me through cutting it I would be there all day

Thanks everyone appreciate the positive feedback! and thank you squirrel...that’s news to me with getting another tag if you keep the head..and makes me wish I posted on this board the same day I hunted so I could have went back for the head so much info to take in

Rookie hunter here scouted some public land in Suffolk and browsed onX and had a good idea where I think they’d be....saw a group of 3 does while scouting and used the same area to hunt around a month later. bought a summit climbing tree stand very recently and got up in a random safe tree by 7 am...group of 4-5 does rolled in and I got a nice chance to get one within 20 yards...on one side I went through his ribs and the other side i don’t know how to describe...kind of thought it was a gut shot but all that was comming out of that wound was a little swelling “bubble” type that wasn’t leaking much blood...which I’m curious if anyone has an idea what happened there.... Heard the doe drop within 20- 30 seconds about 10-15 yards away from where it was shot so I’m happy in that sense. So I took up hunting solo so I was a lot of emotions when I approached the downed deer and things got real, real quick in my surreal state of now having to face quartering the deer up. I’ve been researching hunting and watching quartering videos and trying to prepare but here was the test... I didn’t like dragging the deer by the legs, it really wierded me out so I tied it up and dragged it with a rope to my tree and started cutting....got over the grossness real fast after the first couple cuts...got the guts out and then strung it up and started quartering. i know I’m gonna get a lot of crap for how much neck meat and I’m sure a lot of other meat along the spine I might have left....but for my first time really bow hunting deer and killing my first deer within a couple hours; tree stand was up just before 7 and the doe was shot about 8:15.- I’m proud I got it done and brought meat home to my family and succeeded in hunting by my own learning, research, and practice..and of course that nice tree stand I just bought which absolutely made the difference....My big day out away from it all was over by 11am and I was home by noon with the kids pulling on my leg But you couldn’t take the smile off my face eating that over cooked backstrap with some beers. Im very happy with the result but im disappointed how much I underestimated caring for the meat afterward....a experienced deer butcher would probably laugh but cry at how much I left and how bad I did...when I got it home I broke the meat down to the small pieces before going in the fridge to “dry age”. In retrospect I think I should have kept the quarters together in big pieces and put that in the fridge rather then me breaking it down....I’m on day 5 and now seeing the pieces harden on the outside and how much I have to cut away from each individual piece leaves me feeling wasteful and that I didn’t do enough to maximize my meat harvest....I have much to learn and hope this is just the first of many more to come! Thanks for reading and appreciate all the comments in advance! Only took 2 bad pics and didn’t have any urge for a selfie.

Haha I’m new and I also enjoy the herb so why not!

Yea now I know what I’ll do for next time...I’ll leave it quartered in bigger whole pieces while it dry ages...if I go that route

Thank you Otto! I’ll check those out

Suffolk county has a lot of ticks and I’ve heard horror stories of people bringing infested deer to their backyard and their dogs getting it etc.....I did hang the deer in the woods and I agree....quartering it that way wasn’t too bad

Thanks for the fast replies! I was initially planning on “dry aging” it for 7 days then cleaning it up and wrapping in butcher paper for the freezer. And grampy...I was gonna pan fry the backstraps and then I assumed the rest was gonna be good stew meat....I honestly didn’t think I’d get a deer my first time out for the year so I didn’t prepare as I really should have....now I know how serious it is to have a thought out plan for after the kill. am I correct in assuming I can cook basically any cut of deer in a slow cooker/croc pot w vegetables for stews? Or are some cuts very specific?

Hi all I’m new to the forum and hunting in general...started bow shooting last year and took my first deer this past Sunday....got her quartered in the field and then I took the meat home and broke everything down into the smaller cuts the best I could for a first timer on his own. i wish I did more research on how to better care for the meat because I googled around quick and my research led me to “dry aging” and that led me to just put my meat right in the fridge uncovered.....I have a few wire racks and I just stacked them on top of each other.... now my my question is....the meat on the top rack seems to be hardenjng on the outside and it looks like red dried up meat....like it’s sort of scabbing on the outside of it.... now when I lift up the top rack the meat that’s on the lower racks seem a much lighter color and not as scabbed. did I ruin my meat by putting it in the fridge stacked? Or will I be able to cut a bunch away and salvage what’s underneath that weird layer that’s forming on top? Thanks in advance!