wolc123

Sounds like enigma rolled off the wrong side of bed this morning. I will pray for you pal and I hope you feel better soon. Good luck with your meat care research and your hunting this season.

Ask chef, he knows best. Seriously though, try a google search on your computer and you will find dozens of credible sources, or just read grouse's next post.

Also adds an inch to the chest girth. Sure looks like a heck of a buck though and definitely the best I ever saw taken and posted by a forum member.

Auf wiedessehen Oktober:

It would take about 10 days at 33 - 45 F to get past rigor motis with a 3.5 year old buck like that. Since you will not easily be able to keep it in that range for that long, I would get it processed asap. If I were in your shoes, I would grind it all today, except for the back-straps and tenderloins. Also, since you had some ice in it, that might turn to water, which promotes bacteria growth. All the more reason to get it processed and in the freezer fast. I think it is supposed to get warmer next week, so letting it hang till Monday might not be the best idea. We use way more grind than anything else, so it never hurts to have plenty of that, and the grinder overcomes much of the toughness. Even the hamburg from properly aged deer is a little easier to chew (I think Lary can attest to that), but I would choose tough over spoiled any day. I always grind most of my first deer every year, since we always run out of that first. I also just freeze the first one in zip lock bags, since it usually gets eaten within a couple months. Vacuum sealing would be a big waste of time and money for that, but all the rest get vacuum sealed. That way it can stay in the freezer 4 years and still taste fresh killed when eaten. I still have a few packs left from my 2018 buck, which was nearly identical to yours, except for a couple of busted off points (also weighed 182 pounds). The lasagna my wife made with it last week was phenominal.

No effect on following season. I am heading to Runnings tomorrow, to pick up a couple more dmp's, and pick up a few other items. Even though they are free, I am going to try again this year, to donate $10 to the venison for the hungry coalition. The clown at Walmart had no clue how to do that last year. Hopefully, the Runnings crew will be a little more knowledgeable.

With the high cost and scarcity of ammo this year, I would leave it at one or two shots, if it was right on. If you want some more practice, use a bb gun.

Good luck to all the bow hunters out there. Looks like a great morning for it. I am on the sofa until the sun melts the frost off the leaves. Then it is time to get rid of them and cut the lawn one last time. Also, got to get up on the roof and clean the gutters and chimney. A wood fire would be nice right now. No southern zone deer hunting for me until crossbow opens next Saturday.

What came first, the chicken or the egg ? Same deal with the sabots and rifled barrel. They ought to make both in 16 gauge. I would be all over it if they did.

The 16 is just right. It is too bad they dont make sabots for them. I would guess that I have also killed about 25 deer with both the 16 and the 12. All the 16's were with fosters, but all except 5 or 6 of the 12's were with sabots.

I have always been a Chevy guy but i have not bought a new pickup yet this millennium. My 2000 is still going strong though. I got to use it a little last week. I gave it to my father in law, to keep the snow plowed at his Adirondack retirement home, a couple years ago. My newest Chevy is a 2020 equinox, and so far, so good with that one. I have been driving GM trucks exclusively, since 1982, and have not yet needed to have one towed.

Veteran's day plus or minus 5 every year.

Were you using 20 ga fosters on those "well over" 100 yard kills, or sabots ? The incident I referred to involved fosters. What was the approximate yardage of your furthest deer kill with a 20 gauge foster and sabot, if you have used both ? I have never, nor would I ever use a 20 gauge for deer. My furthest slug gun kills were: 120 yards with a 16 ga foster, 110 yards with a 12 gauge foster, and 163 yards with a 12 gauge sabot.

It all comes down to range. When you get much over 100 yards, is where you get in trouble, when you are under gunned. I would not consider a 20 ga for deer based on a single incident that I witnessed more than 30 years ago. A buddy had one up in a tree stand, at the opposite corner of a field from me, and i was armed with my 16 ga. There was 250 yards between us, when two button bucks walked across, dead center. My buddy unloaded his 5 shot magazine at the pair. One ran into the adjacent bush and the other walked my direction. When it got to about 75 yards I dropped it in its tracks with a single shot. There was snow, and my buddy climbed down and followed a blood trail from the other one. About an hour later, I heard his finishing shot, far in the distance. The 75 lbish field dressed bb, that he dragged out, had a few holes in it, and one penetrated just thru the hide at 125 or so yards. Another entered the guts without exit.

It looks like the ML table you posted was for at least a 300 gr bullet, and 150 gr of powder. I always used a 240 gr bullet with my T/C omega, and 100 gr of powder back then. That explains much of the difference. This year, I upped the powder charge to 150, to use up my supply of 777 a little faster, so I can move on to bh209. The shotgun table that you posted does comfirm my fear of low energy from the 20 ga. I knew the old 20 ga fosters were weak, but that table shows that the modern 20 ga sabots are also much lower on energy at 100 yards than the 12 gauge. That means that a 20 ga slug gun is best left to the recoil shy folks, just like the .243 rifle.

I do most of my deer hunting in a shotgun only area. I would ditch those for a rifle if it was legal. That said, I have never been bothered by the heavy recoil when shooting at deer. On the range, it is different however, and I always use a recoil pad that pins onto my shirt. It is about 1/2 " thick and filled with a material like sily-puddy. It tames down my heaviest kicker (Ithaca 16 ga featherlight), down to about the level of my Marlin 336 30/30. My primary deer shotgun is a Marlin 512, which is heavy enough that recoil is not a big concern, however I still use the pad with it on the range. A ML is another legal option, but I prefer my bolt action 12 ga slug gun, mostly for the 2 extra shots. It is also equally accurate and retains more than double the energy at 150 yards. That is a big gain in performance for a tolerable increase in recoil. For those who are recoil sensitive, I can understand where a 20 ga bolt shotgun would be a better option, but I wonder how the retained energy at 150 yards compares to a 12 gauge. I have seen some dismal results from folks taking long shots with 20 gauge foster type slugs.

More than likely all that Friday shooting was guys doing a last minute sight in. Many let that go right up to the last minute. I always try and get it done by Labor day weekend, to not disturb the local bow and ML hunters. I heard lots of shots Friday afternoon, up near where I was also, and I bet not one of them was at game.

Sure fooled lots of folks on this site. This is at least the second time it was posted.

The crossbow one was on p.2 of that section and the bow one was 3 or 4 pages back in that section. That is one of the advantages of those "no comments" harvest threads and I am glad that our moderator has continued them this year.

Tallying up last year's harvest threads, It looks like 13 forum members killed bucks on November 2, 2019, 8 of them with a crossbow and 5 with a vertical.

Definitely CGI.

This huge triumph could not have come at a better time.

The crossbow guys got to wait another week this year. The archery purists get the first prime rut weekend all to themselves.

Should have but couldn't. I will try Runnings this year. They had better ammo availability also, last time I checked.

Does anyone know if it is possible to donate to the feed the hungry donation program, when you go for your extra doe tags ? I thought I heard that you could do that. I know it costs money to process those deer. I tried last year, but the Walmart hunting department employee had no clue how to take my money. I would gladly pay an extra $10 for that program when picking up my (2) extra tags. Heck, I would throw in $ 20 this year to make up for nothing donated last year. Is there a screen they can go to on the DEC website or something ? Maybe I will try Runnings this year.