BUCKANDAQUARTER

The guy can shoot, I won't deny that. He had a shot at vitals on the 3 and he nailed them. IMO #2 was what made the whole thing unethical in my book, there wasn't a very good situation for shot placement, regardless of skill.

I don't see how it is ethical to shoot at running deer. Deer #2 he had no ideal shot placement but chose to take a crack anyway, and it worked out for him. Somehow they were all dead quickly, which is great. I have no problem with anyone filling there tags either whether it be 1 or 20 in Md, but I won't do it on a wing and a prayer. I don't like wounding deer or seeing deer wounded, it has happened to me, but not because of risky shot placement. IMO we should do everything we can to make sure we have a decent shot. And calling people out because they don't like to see deer suffer needlessly is pompous.

Read the comments on youtube.... the guy sounds like a tool, in case we needed more evidence. The second shot was horrible just shot it in the hindquarter when it was walking under him, then someone comments that he is an ethical hunter for putting it down. No respect for the game.

I should be getting out Sunday with a buddy of mine. Got to go and check out the back woods sugar house and make sure everything is still there after hunting season. I wish there were more grouse around we used to be able to get 2 or 3 and see at least 6, along with 3 or 4 rabbit.

I watched that a few weeks ago. I liked it. It is nice to have another angle to help sort out all of the BS the government and news media spoon feed you.

I got some really nice Field and Stream socks (strictly for hunting and not for work this winter), a boot drier (finally!), a dehydrator for making some venison jerky and fruit snacks, and my boys (age 7 and 2.5) picked out some jigs and softbaits for fishing (they look like they'll be great for crappie, walleye and bass). A great and useful haul this year. I asked for a trail cam and a Major League Bowhunting hoodie but Santa must have forgot. They will be purchased shortly. Edit: He must have heard me because my clothes drier just crapped out.

I heard there are some decent pike but the wind can be quite a PITA, from what I have read, and been told it is basically a wind tunnel since it is long and narrow. I have always wanted to fish it but haven't due to that fact.

Haha! This year the wife made swedish meatballs and lasagna and used venison. Her mother "hates" venison, so we made a point not to tell anyone we used venison so we coud get her unadulterated opinion. Sure enough "wow these meatballs fantastic, and the lasagna too!" My brother and sister inlaws love it, they were hoping we would prepare some. Some people are changing their attitude after watching the eye opening shows they have about slaughter houses, and the pink slime ordeal. All natural, free range, lean.... what's not to love?

I can only imagine how much you can learn from this, where deer go, ie hiding/bedding, feed, etc... and then apply it to hunting.I might have to stop and see if I can go searching on the neigboring proprty where I hunt, not that I expect to find anything.

There are a few different places to go, in Cambridge there is West End Deer Processing, friends of mine go there and are very satisfied, I think he charges $50 for processing. I go to Belhow Deer Processing off of Blind Buck Rd in Salem. It is about 1.5 mi from me. He does a great job and vacuum seals. $70 for processing. They always do a great job, clean packs, I have never found a hair. I will continue to go there and recommend him I just didn't know what was normal for turnaround timing.

After butchering well over a hundred I'm sure he wouldn't wait until my came in to steal some meat, haha. I used to cut my own. I had a butcher a couple houses down that I used to go over to a lot during deer season. I learned quite a bit and during hard times I would cut my own. But to me it is well worth the cost, as of now, to have it done. He vacuum seals it which I really like. I had a bunch get freezer burned one year with paper so now I won't go back to paper. I don't really have the space to do it right now without it being a major PITA. Someday when I finally find a good place to buy I plan on having a good designated area just for processing. Someday.

Great topic! I had one story in particular that I wished to share a few months ago and never did. It was told to me by my neighbor, Sylvester Novak, growing up who very much served as a grandfather to me. I made my first dollar off of him, he taught me how to swim, garden, etc. This story was told to me the better part of 15 years ago, and unfortunatly he passed on several years ago, but it is one I will never forget. It was just after WW2 ended and he just got done serving as an engineer on a sub. He and some buddies went up to Maine for a whitetail hunt. The area they were in was pretty much all clear cuts. They set up camp and everyone promptly got deathly ill. The weather was warm and rainy and not the best for hunting. One guy struggled to get out hunting and ended up shooting a monster 10pt. They all managed to get this deer back to camp and there was only one small tree around to attempt to hang it from. They got a rope around the tree and tried to hoist it up. The tree bent right over barely getting the deer halfway raised up. That night it cooled down to well below freezing. The next morning they looked out and the deer was completely off the ground, to the point where they had to cut the tree down to get the deer. The frost had removed so much "water weight" from the deer it allowed the tree to spring back up over night. The buck ended up well over 200#. The details of the rack and exact weight have been forgotten. I tried to look up the Maine 200# club records but I can't seem to find any records online. I know the guy ended up getting a patch and things like that. Whenever I feel like crap and don't want to get up to get out in the woods I think of that story. It worked this year as I had a horrible backache and pushed myself to get out, I ended up getting my buck during archery that day.

And that boys and girls is why you shouldn't drink out of streams... any ideas on cause of death for these bucks?

Te fox says ickitidy ticky clang plan plow

Merry Christmas to all! Be safe! And don't make an ass out of yourself at Christmas parties.

Glad to see he won't have to struggle this winter.

Probably right. He didn't have a bunch in the freezer, but with it being the end of the season a lot of people could have brought their stuff in after letting it hang. He sid he cuts up the uglier looking stuff first to get it the heck out of there. I'm sure everthing is copasetic and he has never given me a reason to think otherwise. I just don't really know what is normal as far as turnaround time.

Wow good luck folks. We have had 40's and 50's with rain the last few days. I am in the banana belt about 30 minutes south of Glens Falls, and about 65 miles from Albany (north). I remember 98. I have family that lives a little south of Plattsburg. They run a construction company and have some big generators. They stayed awake for days driving tow behind generators to farmers up there to get their milking done. Must be tough for the farmers in your neck of the woods.

Alrighty. I used to let mine hang for a week, if the weather was perfect, when I cut them up myself. I never really noticed a difference in the meat from the 2 or 3 day hangtime. I said I didn't mind if he let it hang a little bit. I have never had one that hung for 10+ days. I have heard stories of people letting them hang in root cellars for over two weeks and the meat was fantastic. I just want some inner tendrloin or those little sirloin steaks. YUMM...

He has a formal meat room in his walkout basement. Every other deer I got from them was done in 2 to 4 days, the same with the other butcher I used. Not meant to be a loaded question. I was just curious as to what some of you guys experience as far as timing and aging.

Arigt I dropped my doe off to be butchered last Sunday (12/15), the night I shot it. This is the fourth deer I have brought them so after we BSed for a couple of hours I offered to pay him, he said it didn't matter, but I paid him anyway. My wife and his wife are friends btw. So I said I wouldn't mind if it hung a day or two since I just shot it that night. He had a buck that was frozen stiff that someone had dropped off, which is why I made sure to drop mine off right away seeing how it was so cold out. My wife went grocery shoppping yesterday and while at the store she texted the butchers wife to see when the deer was going to be ready and whether or not she should buy burger. She said it would be ready no later than Friday (12/27).We were kind of surprised that it was going to take nearly 2 weeks. When I got one with my bow is was ready in 2 or 3 days. They have a walk in cooler and everything, and they do a great job. I know he wasn't backlogged with deer. What do you guys think?

I would never take a headshot. I too have seen the consequences of failed headshots. Some yahoo shot a spike with a .22 right in the jaw. Luckly the deer was put down by my brother. As for neck shots I have taken a few at close range with a rifle (20 yards or less) and everytime the deer dropped in its tracks. I did have clean miss neck shot this year at not even 50 yards with my muzzleloader (scope was wayyy off, some of you probably remember the horrible *hit show I had when I got that doe posted in Live from the Woods). It definitely got me thinking.

I am much younger than many of you guys, but I love hearing these stories. It sounds like was raised very similar to you guys though. No backtalk, finish your plate (even if it meant sleeping at the table), no TV, fear of mom's wooden spoon collection, etc... In 8th grade I gave my parents the money I EARNED (imagine that!) to get cable so I could keep up with the kids at school. I was born in Schenectady and my father wanted us kids to have a country up bringing like he did, so he moved us to Cambridge (Washington county). This was the best thing he ever could have done for us children. I grew up in an old farmhouse that needed a ton of work. I had a large pond (almost lake) that I fished every single day. My brother (5 years older) got into trapping at a young age and I would often assist him. HE bought me my first high powered rifle for Christmas, and I took off the first day of hunting when I was 16. He gave me a crash course on scouting and I shot my first deer, by myself. I do believe opening day was a valid excuse to miss school. In fact I wrote a short story on the experience for my English class that was supposed to get published in the tri-county literary achievement magazine, but didn't probably due to the fact that taking a deer might offend some people. I remember both science teachers would ask kids how they did on opening day (they are now long since retired unfortunately). After school I used to walk about 3/4 of mile up through the fields to go to my friends house to hunt and fish, often hunting my way there with my single shot 12 ga. My bus driver was a butcher and he had butchered a deer that had broken it's knee and rehealed (strange looking knee) and he brought the knee on the bus to show us young hunters! Thinking about all this stuff shows me how "lucky" I really was. It is sad to see how the freedoms, and responsibilities, I enjoyed not all that long ago are pretty much gone for my kids. I live in town now and maybe my views are distorted because I don't live in sticks (yet!).

I would have loved to grown up and raised kids back then! You are right, I can imagine there being headlines about some little kid bringing that to the wrong classroom.

It is amazing how things have changed since I was a little kid in the 1980s and early 90's. Things have gotten downright pathetic and it actually makes me sick to think about how it has have evolved over the years. I have small kids and it is a challenge to bring them up with the "old school" mentality. You don't want them to feel left out or different from their friends. I teach my boys about hunting, fishing and they eat wild game. Some kids their age would probably rather eat rat poison, not knowing any better. I live in a small town and can't imagine what it would be like in a city. I can't imagine how some of the older crowd feels about this subject.