wolc123

Buck-n-doe was also where I took the one that I thought I got back more than I should have. It was a rutted-out 10 point buck I killed at the end of gun season. I skinned it myself, took the head and hide to the taxidermist, and the carcass to Buck-n-doe. The hind quarters were thin and the carcass could not have weighed much over a hundred pounds. The meat I picked up, which included lots of "pepper-sticks", some steaks, chops, small roasts, and grind, all totaled 74 pounds. I was not too concerned about getting that one back, as it looked like he may have been old and tough. I remember thinking, when I picked up the box, that they might just put quantity of meat in the boxes based on the information on the tag (10 or more point buck = 75 pounds, 8 point = 60 pounds, smaller bucks/does = 40 pounds, fawns = 25 pounds, or something like that.) The meat was all good, and those pepper sticks were awesome. I do think they told me that I would get back the poundage of smoked/processed stuff that they added to the "general supply", but the rest would be my own. I would definitely consider that shop again for a late-season kill. They certainly did not "short-change" me that last time I used them.

I have been on both sides of this one and never had an issue. I have even made some new friends as a result. One out-of-state "antler-fanatic" even stopped over to check out my mounts when he was in town. He was very wealthy and had leased the hunting rights on hundreds of acres of land behind our 40 acres. With signs every 50 feet or so on the border, I thought a call first would be a good idea. My folks farm, in a nearby town, is heavily posted and is adjacent to a trailer park. A few years ago I saw a guy come thru the woods obviously on a trail. He told me he had hit a big buck. Myself and another neighbor helped him track it for a couple hours. There was good snow so it was relatively easy to follow. Eventually we lost the trail and gave up. As I was eating a late lunch with my parents, we looked out back and saw it cross the field behind the house with one front leg hanging. I followed the tracks to the property line and the bleeding had stopped completely. I have seen three legged deer do fine, so he should be ok, but likely grow "non-typical" antlers in following years. There will always be a fringe of miserable SOB's who wont let you on their land for any reason. Most likely they had bad things happen to them and are taking their frustrations out on others. The best thing you can do for such folks is to pray that they "see the light" before it is too late. Their bitterness may cost you some meat, but they are doing far more damage to themselves. There are plenty of deer and they are not worth getting such folks all riled up.

It has been a while since I had any done by a processor. That can be a real gamble and I value venison too much now, with a family of four that all love eating it, to trust it to another. Growing up, we had a neighbor who was a butcher and cut up deer as a seasonal side-job. He was very good and very efficient and would nearly always return more than half of the field-dressed carcass weight as freezer-wrapped boneless venison. If he couldn't get that much back, it was due to my own poor shooting. You could always count on getting your own deer back also. Unfortunately, his butchering days are done. I tried a few other processors with mixed results. Usually I got less meat back than I should have, and one time a lot more. I was never certain with them, that it was my own meat I got back. For the last 15 years or so, I have butchered my own, and I usually end up with slightly under half of the field-dressed weight in boneless meat. Our family now consumes 4 average sized (aprox 120 lb field dressed) per year. That means about 240 pounds of meat in the freezer. Some years I kill them all myself (thanks to liberal dmp permits), but usually friends, or passing motorists help out a bit (they all taste the same). The key pieces of equipment needed to do your own are a good grinder, an old refrigerator (for aging in warm weather conditions), and a vacuum sealer. The best thing about doing your own, is full control over the aging process, which makes a world of difference in the quality of the meat on the table. Because seasonal processors get so many deer in at once, it is very difficult for them to maintain control over the aging process. Other advantages are learning where to shoot the deer to ruin the least meat (hint-center lung is best). It is also nice to control the size of the packages and to save some cash.

That is when it is tough to beat a ground blind. I have (3) of them now and they make me really look forward to hunting the rainy days. I can always find the right one for any wind direction. The biggest advantages of hunting the rain is less competition from other hunters. Deer activity does not slow down at all unless the rain is very heavy. Rattling has been particularly effective for me in a steady rain. Bucks don't expect hunters to be out in those conditions so they are more easily "fooled" then. Also, the background noise of the wind-driven rain makes it very tough for them to tell that it is not the real thing. I cant think of any time when deer activity is higher than immediately after a very heavy rain. A ground blind enables you to be in position to take advantage of that action. Better yet if you have a tree-stand nearby that you can quickly get to when the pouring stops. Even the mid-day action can be crazy at these times. The only hang-up I had with rainy afternoon archery hunts is the hardship it added to blood-trailing, especially after the sun set. Hopefully, no more of that now, since I picked up some CSI-type "blood glow". Rain is supposed to multiply the effectiveness of that stuff, which makes the blood glow in the moon and starlight. There is no problem tracking with a gun in the rain if you are willing to sacrifice a little more meat and hit them in the shoulder blade. As far as trapping in the rain, maybe if fur prices were higher it would be worth it but it don't sound good for this season. I would spend your time in the deer blind instead.

I have killed (2) with knives, by slitting their throats, after I found them lying on the roadside with their eyes shut. One was a big doe a few years back, that came to and sprung to her feet after I stopped to cut off her tail. I jumped on her back and slit her throat with a tiny, but extremely sharp knife. She landed a hoof against my lower leg, but the swelling soon went down and I recovered fully. My freezer was full already so I gave that one to a buddy who dropped her off at a butcher, after stopping at the police station to get a road-kill tag. The butcher said she was the cleanest deer he cut up that year, without a mark on her body. Apparently she must have just hit her head on a car, knocking herself out. The second was a button-buck on the last day of ML season last winter. That time I used a much bigger knife but it was very dull, and it took a lot longer to get the jugular. His hoofs were flying as I was jabbing, but he never connected and I got away unharmed. That was due to my earlier experience and improved hoof-dodging ability. That little buck must have been struck by a car broadside, knocking the wind out of him, for there was considerable bruising on front and rear shoulders on his port side. The other side, tenderloins, backstraps, heart and liver were great however. If and when I ever have to track one after dark, I would not hesitate to go in with just a knife. I will definitely be sure it is extremely sharp. I am looking forward to a nighttime track, mostly because I want to try the CSI type "bloodglow" I bought last fall to see if it lives up the the hype. Not so much that I would intentionally "botch" a shot however. Both bucks I shot since getting it have expired within 40 yards, so I have not got to try it yet. It has added considerable "prime-time" to my afternoon hunts, since I am no longer afraid to stay in the stands until legal sunset. "Bloodglow" supposedly lets you follow the trail by the light of the moon and stars only.

My favorite blinds are made from old construction-style truck caps. These have side doors that fold up, and ladder racks on top. I build a 3 ft high, 3-sided wall on a deck, or an old snowmobile trailer and place the cap on that wall. The solid end faces the prevailing wind direction. I build an "upstairs" deck on the ladder racks, again with three 3-foot high walls but an open top, for "good-weather" hunting. I have lost count of the does I have killed out of these, but still waiting for the first antlered buck. I might have got my first last year, but he caught be napping and snuck to 15 yards before I was awakened by the sounds of his footsteps. He bolted when I tried to slowly position my x-bow for the shot. That worked out good for me a few days later when I killed his bigger brother from a nearby tree-stand. That little nap probably gained me 15 pounds of meat and a couple extra points for my archery buck tag. Other big advantages of these truck-cap blinds are cost and durability. I have less than $50 total in the three I have now. People are always setting them out by the road for little or no cash. Regular truck caps with sliding windows work ok, but those windows don't give the glare-reduction or extended rain protection when opened like the fold-out doors on the construction types. Also, they seldom have ladder racks for making the "upper decks". For the one blind I made from a regular cap, I put the deck up on 6 ft. legs to make a mid-level, single-floor unit. Speaking of "fishing", that action was better than the deer last weekend on my trip to the northern zone for opening of ML. Just one little buck in range, not worth my ML/archery antlered tag. The smallmouth bass were cooperative however, with 10 of them providing fillets for vacuum sealing on Saturday and Sunday.

One thing that nobody has mentioned, and that helps in controlling sweat as you walk is to get yourself into better shape physically. I only started paying close attention to that the last few years, out of necessity, due to the mountainous terrain I frequently hunt now. It was not so critical on the mostly flat-land I hunted prior years. You might even get more chances at deer on you walks if you can move at a slow steady pace, rather than trudging along wheezing and out of breath, then stopping for long, frequent periods to catch your breath. I cruised right up on a four-pointer yesterday, and could have shot him in his bed if he had met my harvest criteria. Taking off the hat, gloves and opening the jacket and bib zippers on the walks also helps minimize sweat by allowing the heat generated by walking to escape, as does shedding layers of fat, another reason to get in better shape. As far as staying warm on stand, regardless of your physical condition, A good wool hat, with ear covers and a face-mask under it works for me in the coldest conditions. For the feet, I can get by most days with those black rubber, army "micky" boots, but I use cheap China-made arctic pacs, rated at 60 below when it is extra cold. For the hands, I just picked up a muff from Bass-Pro that holds a chemical warmer in a separate internal pocket. That thing worked awesome the last couple mornings when the temps were in the 20's. Using that, It is just like having your hands over a fire to keep them warm on the stand. That heat seems to enter the blood in your hands and flows thru the whole body.

Any reports from the weekend? I just got back from ML hunting zone 6F. Saturday morning, as the snow/rain mix was falling hard, I got a quick look at a bear at about 75 yards, but was unable to get a shot at it. I think I may have located it's den. If it is not hibernated by this Thanksgiving weekend, I hope to get a crack at it with my rifle. I will feel a little more comfortable shooting at one with a few more rounds in the chamber. It has been a regular around camp the last few weeks according to a contractor I talked to this morning. I managed to get my father in law the whitetail mount he wanted for his new lake-house last Thanksgiving weekend, now he is asking for a bear-rug. I was really hoping to connect on a doe, as this is the only time we can take them up there. They must know that, and keep out of the area until gun-season, when they are off-limits. I did manage to sneak up within 40 yards on a bedded 4-point buck. When he stood up, I just could not bring myself to part with my buck tag on such a light- weight deer. He looked like about 120 lbs, field-dressed, if that. Certainly nothing like what might have been his daddy, who I killed on the same hill with my rifle last Thanksgiving weekend. That massive-bodied 8-point probably field-dressed double that. It was not a bad weekend overall, as I managed to take a couple limits of smallmouth bass, mid-day in about an hour between hunts on Saturday and Sunday. I also helped my father in law put away the boats and other stuff for the winter. The cold weather made it great in the woods, finally getting rid of the bugs that have made it pretty tough in there since early May. Too bad it didn't make the does a little more active however.

My favorite is stuffed cabbage. My wife does it the "lazy" style without actually stuffing the cabbage, just kind of mixing all the stuff together. I could eat that every day, but she only makes it once a month or so. Tacos are our kids favorite and we all like spaghetti, lasagna, goulash, and chili. My wife also makes some good baked beans with grind. Our extended family and friends love that dish at get-togethers. I have been known to secure a little more for myself at such gatherings by making comments like: "nothing brings out the flavor of beans like ground deer meat" that is always effective on my sister in law and a few others who are grossed out by anything "wild". I have been doing plain burgers on the grill the last few weeks, in an attempt to exhaust the old supply prior to my first hunt this Saturday. We still have a little better than one average size deer left in the freezer, so it don't look good as far as that goes. For grilled burgers, I mix 1 raw egg with 2 pounds of pure ground venison (I never add pork). I then form the patties and refrigerate for a minimum of 8 hours. That time, plus the egg, binds the meat together and keeps the patties from breaking up when you flip them. I grill my own medium rare and my wife and kids medium. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy. We all like them better than burgers made from beef. I usually end up with equal parts grind and other cuts from each deer I butcher. We use the grind and the rest at about equal rates. Small roasts, cooked in the crockpot are the primary use for the rest. I always just put the first deer into zip-lock bags, and we use that one first. Those bags keep it fresh tasting for at least 4 months. The rest are vacuum sealed for longer term storage. I have never noticed any lack of freshness in vacuum sealed ground venison up to 3 years in the freezer.

Barnett Recruit with 125 gr blackout mechanicals. It shot a little flatter last year with a new string. Shot pictured was 6 pt buck thru heart at 59 yards. I only had 8" of penetration, so I will limit shots this season with it to 50 yards. I picked up a range finder to help make sure. Sighting in a week or so ago, firing from a rest, every shot to 52 yards struck within 1" of the point of aim. Using the factory red/green dot sight, the top dot was right on at 20 yards, the middle at 30, and the lower at 45. Last year when it was new, the top dot was good to 40 and the middle on at 50. I estimated the buck, who's heart is pictured, at 50 and my 59 yard shot hit about 6" below the point of aim using the middle dot. That was rather fortunate as the 8" penetration at that range centered on the lungs would probably have only got one lung and would have been a more difficult recovery at best. Until NY state gives the crossbow full inclusion into archery season, the $250 I spent is all I am going to fork over for a crossbow. I will settle 2 weeks and a 50 yard effective range until then.

Mine almost always buried the bolts right up to the fletching in the foam block, with just the one going right thru. To pull them, I used to put a piece of wood 2x12 on the ground and push the tips against that to start the bolts back out. They still pulled out hard, a real pain and slow-down during practice. The "rag bag" is a dream in comparison, with virtually no effort to pull the bolts. Plus, all you got to do is shake it up occasionally to keep one section from wearing out.

Until last season, when I purchased some "bloodglow" just in case, I always left the stand at least 15 minutes prior to legal sunset during archery season. I am a meat hunter and would not dream of leaving an arrowed deer in the woods overnight. That always left me with about 45 minutes of so-so natural light to make the recovery. With the "bloodglow", I stay right up in the stand or blind until the legal sunset. It supposedly makes the blood glow in the starlight, and works even better in the rain. I have not tried it (both my bucks- archery and gun, last year expired within 40 yards), but it has definitely added considerable "prime time" to my hunts. I took one of my largest bucks, a few years ago with a gun, less than a minute before sunset.

Maybe it would be less pathetic if I did the math for you and came up with some evidence you could look up yourself: In "Successful Predator" by Mike Schoby, he states that the average hunter can hold a 2" group at 100 yards prone, and is lucky to hit the paper offhand. A standard 100 yard paper target measures 21" x 21". 21 divided by 2 is a shade over 10, not including the extra area for the square shape, which adds even more difference. Group diameter is an excepted standard for accuracy comparison. Here is at least some evidence that, when fired from a rest, the 10X accuracy improvement over a conventional bow fired offhand may be at least in the ballpark. What evidence can you come up with showing they are not that much different? Are you for or against full inclusion? Do you like deer killed cleanly or sloppily? Show me the math if you can.

One thing I have not seen anyone acknowledge is that crossbows can easily be fired from a rest. Who fires a bow from a rest? Anyone who has ever fired a rifle from a rest and offhand should understand how much more accurate that makes your shot. If you lack that experience, compare the average scores of a high-school rifle team in the offhand and prone positions to get a taste of how much tighter those "rested" groups are. What is cool about denying the use of a more accurate weapon? Do we want more wounded deer running around? I agree that it is equally as important to put the arrow in the proper location with a crossbow and a regular bow, and there is little difference between the two when they hit in the same spot. Hitting the "right" spot is just so much easier with a crossbow. The ability to work from a rest is of primary importance, but not needing to draw or hold at draw also add up. Throw on a telescopic sight and there is absolutely no comparison in accuracy. I think saying a crossbow is 10X more accurate on deer is conservative when you add all that up. Because deer are easily frightened by the quick motion required to draw a bow, the crossbow advantage might drop to 5X on fixed targets. I have yet to have any shot, in practice or at game, out of around 100 total shots taken, fall outside the conventionally accepted "pie-plate" diameter with my crossbow at ranges to 60 yards. I am no "Robin Hood" and it always took me months to attain that kind of accuracy at 30 yards with my compound. There was not a single "flyer" during those 100 crossbow shots. The only bolts I lost were one that missed a grouse head by about an inch, one my buck sheared with his leg after taking it thru the heart from 59 yards, and one that flew thru the center of my foam block target while I was unloading. Speaking of flying thru foam targets, what a difference a "rag-bag" makes. I filled an old nylon seed bag with old sweatshirts and towels and it stops them bolts every time in less than 8", and they are real easy to pull out. Don't waste your money on them foam targets.

I usually freeze the hearts for a month or two, which may help kill the worms, but boiling the hearts and tongues prior to pickling, should finish them off for sure. We never had any trouble with the pigs done that way, but I will be sure to have her boil the bear a little longer. Thanks for the warning.

Odds and Ends: I really like beef and pig tongue. My grandma always pickled them along with the hearts when we butchered. I always liked the tongue a little better than the hearts. It is softer and less "chewy", almost melts in your mouth. Beef tongues are huge compared to deer tongues. I always save all the deer hearts and my wife pickles them using grandma's recipe. It makes a great appetizer for the new year's eve party, and she usually makes me another batch for valentines day, served on a "heart" platter. Maybe I will save the tongues this year and have her throw them in with a batch. I wonder how bear tongue would be? Only one way to find out, maybe this weekend. My favorite part of any deer is the liver from a button buck or doe fawn. Livers from 1-1/2 year olds are still pretty good, but after that, they are not worth bringing out of the woods. My mother in law and I even tried some 4.5 year+ Adirondack mountain oysters last Thanksgiving weekend. If you do those, you might want to make a slice across, prior to frying or they may make a little mess in the frying pan when they "explode".

Not only is deer activity more in the cold, but handling the meat is easier after you score. This coming weekend should be the best ML opener up in the Northern zone in quite a few years. For a change, I will likely spend more time deer hunting than fishing and grouse hunting, like I have been doing up there on that weekend the last couple years due to "warmth" . The last thing I want to deal with when the temps are in the 60's or above is a deer carcass. No trouble with the fish and birds. The lows in the 20's should also take care of the ticks, which I hear have been horrendous this year so far. The last thing I needed for the trip was some hand-warmers and my wife just got back from the store with a bunch. If it rains, I will use my crossbow to "keep my powder dry". Bring on the cold.

When you do your own butchering it is pretty easy to trace the arrows path. It definitely passed BELOW the spine. I threw away all the meat that was slightly discolored, and that extended well down onto the ribcage. The rear & front quarters, and neck were good however, so it wasn't a total loss, and the rack was a bit above average for me.

I killed an 8-point with my shotgun about 10 years ago that had taken somebody's arrow under the spine, thru the chest cavity. The mechanical broadhead and about 2" of shaft were stuck under the hide on the exit side. I suppose it's possible that the blades did not deploy properly on contact and it could have skimmed the lungs without cutting enough to kill the deer. The meat around the wound looked infected and I trimmed a good deal away including the front half or so of the backstraps. The buck was healthy looking, and was with a smaller four point, hot on the trail of a doe I had just killed with my ML. Later, after having to trim off so much meat around that arrow wound, I wished I had shot the 4-pointer instead, which also would have been an easier shot. Meat means more to me than antlers, and I literally got "shafted" that time.

There is a product called "bloodglow" that is supposed to work pretty good. They say it is particularly effective at locating liver and gut-shot deer. Google it. It was developed for crime scene investigations and makes blood, that is not visible to the human eye, glow in the dark. You mix a tablet with water and apply to the trail with a spray bottle. Rain supposedly makes it work better. You follow the glowing trail in the dark without a light. I ordered some last fall "just in case" but have yet to try it since both my subsequent hits (with crossbow and rifle) have expired within 40 yards of the shot. I think it cost around $30 for enough to track 3 deer. Even if it's too late for that one, it would be a good thing to have around in case it happens again. I know how you feel, as I also lost my first doe more than 30 years ago (hit her in the shoulder blade). I also lost a couple other deer with the bow over the years including another shoulder blade on a nice buck, and a small buck that I hit too far back. That last one was one of two deer that I am sure did not make it because of me, the other from a bad hit with my ML. The shoulder blade hits with a bow usually recover just fine. A friend got that big buck I hit there a few weeks later with a shotgun and it was all healed up. I never got back in the stand on those years I lost a deer, figuring I only deserved one deer a year with a bow, whether I was able to recover it or not. With family and job responsibilities limiting my practice time, I hung up my bow for good after my last recovered kill, which just happened to strike the buck in the jugular vane when he ducked the shot. Maybe after my kids move out and I retire in a few years, I will have enough free time to get back into regular bow hunting. Until then, I will stick with the crossbow, with which I am currently 1/1 on deer. I ain't perfect with it though as my first shot at live game was a clean miss at a grouse's head. I bought a range finder, and have it fine tuned now, so that I can hit within an inch of the point of aim to slightly beyond my effective range of 50 yards. Here in the Southern zone, we still have to wait a while to legally hunt with it, but I am going to use it next week up in the Northern zone.

If I were limited to one gun, it would be a 16 ga shotgun with a modified choke (you guys are cheating with two barrels). With that, and the proper ammo,I could take any North American game inside of 50 yards.

If it were me, I would look up near the NW corner of the Adirondack Park, St. Lawrence County maybe. That will put you far enough north to get out of the reach of most of the lake effect snows and winter kill which has often had detrimental effect on deer populations a little further south in the Tug-hill area. The deer density might be a bit less than most southern zone areas but is still pretty good, even after the last two tough winters. It will also put you close to some of the best smallmouth bass fishing in the nation, in the St Lawrence river and the Indian river lakes. The deer up there are every bit as tasty as those we get in the corn-growing regions of Western NY. The scenery is also about the best I have seen in the Country, which adds a lot to the whole hunting experience. Hunting pressure is minimal compared to most southern zone areas. Some of the zones up there allow only antlerless harvest during archery and ML seasons, I would stick to the zones that allow antlerless and/or antlered then. Ideally your land would be in a zone open for bear also and there are more of those around as you get closer to the mountains. Most of the area is buck-only during gun season.

I always use hearing protection on the range, even with a .22 rimfire. My favorite wool hunting hat with the ear flaps down gives me at least a little hearing protection on most days while gun hunting with larger calibers. They also keep my ears warm, kind of like killing two birds with one stone. Unfortunately those flaps also block my hearing enough to make it tougher picking up a deer approaching in the cover, at close range. I rely heavily on my ears and have killed more deer that I heard first than I saw first. My x-bow, coupled with newly arrived range finder, was hitting so good on the range today that I may even take that up north for ML season this year. There are certainly no noise issues with that "silent killer". Cleanup is a lot easier than the ML also. The only problem is the 50 yard effective range vs a bit over 100 with the ML. I may take both, using the ML in the mornings, when it will be cold and the ears need to be covered anyhow, and the x-bow in the afternoons.

Last year, I verified that my broadheads hit the same spot as fieldpoints, using my old archery foam block target. The broadheads would penetrate thru the block, I would unthread them, then pull the shaft out the front. Unless I change broadhead brands or types, I will use only fieldpoints for practice. It was always a pain pulling them fieldpoints from that compressed foam target. Today, I just filled a nylon seed bag with old sweatshirts and towels and used that. It worked like a charm and did not cost me a dime. I was itching to play with my new range finder, which arrived in the mail yesterday. It worked very well. I am all dialed in now with the top dot right on at 20 yards, the middle at 40, and the bottom at 50. Shooting from a rest, all shots to 50 yards struck within 1" of center. I will have to try a little "offhand" work later. That free "rag-bag" sure makes practice go smoothly with fieldpoints anyhow. It will also be great for unloading the crossbow after hunts.

I picked up a muff at Bass Pro last week up in Canada. They had a camo one with a large zippered pocket for storage and a separate pocket in the middle for a chemical warmer. That's the one I got. For $10 less, they had a plain one that was camo on one side and blaze orange on the other. Previously, I used a heavy insulated mitten on my left hand and a light thinsulate glove on my right, always having a chemical warmer in my right jacket pocket. They are calling for 20's in the Northern zone next weekend so it looks like I will get to try the muff out.