wolc123

I know of several trophies that have fallen to newbies with almost no hunting knowledge. Those bucks didn't get big by "following" the rules and doing predictable things that are reported in magazines and internet forums. Old bucks have usually patterned the "real woodsmen", but the newbies are an unpredictable lot. Its the same way with fish. When I take my wife bass fishing she cant even bait her own hook but nearly always hooks the largest fish. I always catch more however.

I bought an entry-level (Barnett Recruit - $250 from Amazon) last April and it exceeded my expectations in many areas. It arrived in the mail in about a week and was simple to assemble. It came with a quiver, rope cocking device, three arrows with 100 gr field tips, and a red-dot type sight, with three dots that could be changed red or green at various light intensities. My only complaint with the thing is that the intensity level / on-off knob on the sight is tough to turn. It is very easy, and responsive to adjust however, unlike some of my expensive rifle scopes. I switched to 125 gr field tips, and about 3/4 turn vertical adjustment up was required, that's it. It shot flat from 10 to 30 yards with all groups under a quarter's size, all using the top dot. At 40 yards, it was about 3" low with the top dot and group size was about 2". These shots were all from a rest. I was very impressed with how flat this thing shot compared to my compound, especially given that it was just a 135 lb draw, 300 fps model. On the range, I tried the first shots at 30 and 40 yards with the middle dot, but they always went high (about 6" at 30 and 3" at 40). While hunting last season, I only had one buck (small body 4 pt), within range, no does. Unfortunately I was asleep in my blind and when I awoke to the sound of his footsteps 15 yards away, he was looking straight at me and the x-bow was on the ground. I lifted it up in "slow motion", but when it got above my rest he took off and I never got a shot. That turned out to be bad news for his bigger brother (6 pt) a couple days later on the last day I could hunt during archery season. The 6 point never got within range, but he stood broadside at 50 yards (my estimate) tempting me to take the shot. I figured I had a 75% or better chance (that's my number on the last day), so I decided to take the shot. I had some idea what would happen with the middle dot from my work on the range, so I held for a high lung shot and squeezed the trigger. I heard the tel-tale thump as the arrow found its mark, about 10" below my point of aim, and straight thru the heart. Penetration was a somewhat dismal 7-1/4", but the buck only made it 40 yards due to the location of the hit. I used a three blade mechanical broadhead. It looked like someone emptied a can of red spray-paint on the buck's armpit as he ran off and crashed down. When I paced the range to where the the buck had stood, it was 60 yards, or a little longer than I had guessed, hence the low strike. left-right was right on the mark. It looks to me like that middle dot on the Recruit is for 50 yards as I thought, and the bottom dot must be for 60. I will find out for sure this year before hunting. I was not thrilled with the penetration at 60 yards however, and I will likely fork over another hundred or so for a Barnett Raptor (next model up 150 lb, 330 fps). That should be a legit 60 yard x-bow. The Recruit is very light (6 lb), narrow (18" undrawn), and well balanced. It actually handles and points as easy offhand as my Ruger 10/22 carbine. The Raptor is just a hair heavier and same width. Build quality seems to be very good. It is unreal how much more effective these things are than a compound. All that talk about them being similar in effectiveness is BS (have you ever compared the accuracy shooting a rifle from a rest to offhand?). In my own hands, I would rate the x-bow as at least 6 times more effective on deer and 4 times as effective on targets as a compound. I actually feel sorry for the deer. My favorite thing about them is how much time they save me by almost eliminating the need to practice compared to a compound. I am not retired, and have a family, and farm to take care of so my time is very valuable. I probably wont pick up a compound again after my experience with the crossbows. Good luck with your purchase. The only thing we need now is full inclusion for all of archery season. I know I could fill all my doe tags if we had that.

I have a slight preference for bucks because they are easier to butcher due to less fat to trim, and I like saving the buck horns to remind me of the successful hunts. I have no problem shooting does if the local deer population is above optimum, which it has been in most areas I have hunted in Western NY over the last 20 years. Meat is the main reason I hunt, so I would continue to hunt as long as it was legal. Most of the venison our family has consumed over the last 15 years, since they loosened up a bit on the DMP permits, has been does. I filled both my buck tags last season, plus we received (2) "gift" bucks, so all the deer we will be eating until next season will bucks for the first time I can remember. We might be sick of "buck-meat" by next season so the doe-only pipe dream might be a good thing.

Maybe that explains why the buck was struck thru the heart at 60 yards with a 300 fps, 135 lb draw x-bow. He heard the release of the arrow and positioned himself so that he could check out with as little pain and suffering as possible. One things certain however, that heart was delicious. My wife pickled it and another for an appetizer at our new-years party this year. I think my first guess was more on-target. The venison goes where the man upstairs wants it to go. Range, practice, poundage, speed, etc., are of secondary importance. Good luck next season for all you folks whether you got any last year or not.

If you can answer a few questions for me on that shot for me I would appreciate it: 1) What is the speed and draw weight of you x-bow?, 2) What was the range? 3) How much arrow penetration did you get? It looks on the video, like the shaft broke, so I assume what was inside was about equal to the penetration. 4.) How far did the doe run after hit? 5.) How heavy (field dressed) was the doe? I hit the same spot on a 1-1/2 year 6-point last season. My numbers were: #1: 300 fps / 135 lb, #2: 60 yards (measured). #3: 7-1/4" (measured length of broken shaft & 3 blade mechanical o-ring style 125 gr. broad-head inside chest cavity). #4: 40 yards (estimate) #5: 163 lb (weighed). On my shot, using what I am certain was a slower, and lower energy bow, and likely a farther shot, I was not overly satisfied with the 7-1/4" arrow penetration, even though it took it all the way thru the heart. I am looking to upgrade a bit this off-season and would like some numbers to use for comparison with a faster rig. If you don't have the exact numbers, no problem, a guess is good enough for me. Thanks.

I find making firewood an enjoyable hobby so I cut my own firewood. Our 1400 sq ft, L-shaped ranch is heated by two gas furnaces that rarely operate, and one small woodstove (Avalon "mission") that does most of the work. The house is well insulated and setup so the centrally located stove on the main floor, can move heat around the whole house, keeping the bedrooms cool and the main living space warm. 8-10 face cords gets us thru a typical winter. The last 4 years, due to the "emerald borer" threat, Ash is all I have burnt. That burns good, and requires little or no seasoning but does live up to it's name and produce lots of ash. That means frequent cleaning of the stove is required. I prefer to burn oak, cherry, hickory and maple. I have about a 5 acre mature hardwood woodlot at the back of our 40 acre farm which is about 25% ash, 50% oak, and 25$ maple.

Neither of these will fit your "violent" criteria but the wife and I stayed home the other night (after ditching the kids at my sister's) and watched "Djndango" on Netflicks. It was very good. Apparently it won a couple Oscars and my wife is a big Oscar fan. Oscar night to her is like opening day of deer season to me. I wanted to go see "American Sniper" at the theater but it wasn't there yet. That was a very good book anyhow, and I can't wait to see the movie. I considered "Unbroken" for a little bit and may still hit that one, but probably not until it comes out on video.

I have heard that 200 pounds or smaller are good-eating, but the larger ones are not worth dragging out of the woods because the flavor and texture of the meat is so poor. I have also heard that there is lots of waste on bear carcasses, and they produce much less usable meat per pound of body weight than a whitetail. Considering all that, and if you want a rug or mount, I would think that a 180 - 200 pounder is just about perfect as far as a bear goes. I am looking forward to going after one next season.

Our favorite "easy" dinner is to throw a frozen roast on top of a few potatoes, onions carrots and a can of cream of mushroom soup, into the crockpot, in the morning before work. Set it on low, and a good hearty dinner for 4, plus lunch for me the next day, is there waiting when I get home. The pickled hearts (from 1-1/2 and 1/2 year old bucks) were delicious. My mother in law scarfed up the one from an old buck I shot up at their cabin in the Adirondacks this year. I don't know yet how that one tasted nor how she cooked it. It seems that the livers get tougher as they age and I didn't even save that one. I am sure that the coyotes and/or a bear up there were thankful. The liver from the 1/2 year old was fried up immediately. along with the tenderloins, and both were world-class in both flavor and texture. I fried and ate about 1/3 of the liver from the 1-1/2 year buck, while it was fresh, and it wasn't bad but no where near as good as that from the fawn. Those folks who get their meat from the supermarket have no idea what they are missing.

I would rather see pictures like that on the cover of hunting magazines than the big racks they always show. It is good to see that there are still some folks out there who have their priorities right. Thanks for posting. It looks like the outer part gets pretty well done (the way my wife and older daughter like it), while the center looks good and rare, the way I like it. My younger daughter likes it medium, so she should be able to find plenty of that also. Venison is about the only food that I could, and sometimes do, eat every day of the week. "Pickled heart" will be an appetizer for tomorrow's new years party.

I have made (3) so far using old truck caps as the roof structure. The platform (of the 1st floor) is up about 3 to 6 feet. The decks are sized for the caps (two are for mini-trucks, one short bed, one long, one for full-size, long bed), supported by pressure treated 4x4 or 6x6 at each corner, each on concrete blocks. I build a 3 ft high wall across the front and both sides, onto which the truck cap is placed. My favorite type of truck cap to use are the construction-style ones with the side doors that fold out. Two of mine are this style. One has a second deck built up on the ladder rack, for fair-weather hunting. The upper deck also has a 3 ft high camo wall. During the off-season this year I am going to add a second deck to the other construction-style cap. I use a hard plastic swivel chair on the upper, open deck, and soft padded swivel chairs on the enclosed lower decks. I face the solid end of the cap towards the prevailing wind direction. It seems like there is always old truck-caps available for little or no money, and they require no maintenance. That fiberglass or aluminum seems to last forever. The only money I have into mine is for a few cans of camo spray-paint. Of the three, one is built on an old snowmobile trailer, so is easy to move around. Another is built about 5 ft high, from a full-size, 8 ft aluminum cap and, and moves around easily with a couple fork-extensions on my loader tractor. The third one (double decker) is attached to a 24" dia oak tree on the front. This year the weather was never bad enough for me to use them much, but over the last 10 years, I have shot more deer out of them than tree-stands, due to lots of bad weather and the comfort they provide under such conditions. The 8 ft cap blinds are large enough for 2 (mini truck) or 3 (full size truck) hunters. My daughters like to sit in these blinds and will soon be old enough to hunt. I am certain they will be a lot more likely to get into it if they are comfortable. The older one went out with me a bit this year and she wanted a BB gun for Christmas, so maybe there is some hope there. One things for sure, the older they get, the more they eat and it is tough sometimes (thankfully not this season) for me to get enough venison myself to last until the next year. It sure would be nice if they gave me a little help there.

One thing you have working for you now is a free fall in oil prices thanks to the threat from CNG and fracking. Off-road diesel might be under $2.00/gal by next spring.

What kind of trajectory could be expected from a 240 gr bullet? The 150 gr bullets I used were Federal Classic Hi-Shok Soft Points. It don't look like they make them anymore however based on what I see on-line. I still have 3 or 4 boxes and will probably go with the new Power-Shok soft points in 150 gr when I run out. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" they say, and I hope these replacements are an improvement.

I like to hunt them from a tree stand myself (not a real high one however) with the .22 rimfire rifle. That makes it easier to get a down angle on most shots, the ground becoming a good backstop. Knowing your target and what lies beyond is one of the cardinal rules of firearms safety with a rifle especially. For ground hunting, I use a little .410 shotgun with #6's. That is what I like best when they are working the treetops for nuts in the fall.

There is nothing he could plant on fresh cleared ground, that I know of, that will be more attractive to deer next fall, than the fresh browse that sprouts up when all that sunlight starts hitting the old forest floor. Ripping things up with dozers and such might just send the deer into the next county. Clearing the trees is definitely a step in the right direction, but I am not so sure about ripping out the stumps. Some folks have to learn stuff the hard way I guess.

You could probably just cut the stumps off low, and let them, rot out. Ash is all I have been burning the last 4 years to try and stay ahead of the borers. Personally, I will not be sad to see them all go as I prefer oak, cherry, hickory, maple, and walnut for firewood anyhow (less ashes to clean out - I see where the ash tree got it's name). I think I would just clear, like you did, and maybe add some lime after getting the soil tests back next spring. All the "natural" browse that pops up in the new sunlight should be very attractive to the deer next fall, so why not take advantage of that "free attraction" for a year or two as your stumps are rotting. In 3 years you should have some thick, nasty cover in there, again, very attractive to deer when they start getting pressured, so I would leave a little of that, but roundup the rest to clear the way for a late summer planting of rye grain. That grows in almost any soil conditions and is quite attractive to deer from fall thru spring. You could probably just broadcast the inexpensive seed heavy into the dead, untilled thatch prior to a rain and have it sprout pretty good in the untilled, old forest soil. Maybe repeat that one more year, until your stumps are rotted well enough to plow right thru them, you have your soil ph where you want it, and can plant anything you want. White clover and brassicas come to mind as two plots that provide a lot of tonnage per acre and can stand heavy pressure from deer while suffering minimally from other species (coons, turkeys, bears, squirrels etc.).

I never was a big golfer (I prefer the sports of hunting and fishing which are cheaper, funner, and often provide free meals when finished). I did play the company tournament this past summer, just to see what the fuss was all about, and because they offered lots of nice prizes and a good dinner at reasonable cost. A friend gave me one of them cheap little golf range-finders prior to the tournament. My plan next Memorial day weekend is to take a couple hikes with our girls (they will be 11 and 12 then), up at grandpa's cabin in the NW Adirondacks where I shot that buck. For the first hike, on the far shore of the creek, we will try and recover a glass gallon jug of water that Grandpa abandoned over there (he brought it and a roll of paper towels so I could clean myself up after the "bloody mess" he was anticipating, when I called him on the cell phone to bring his ATV as close as he could). He is very particular about keeping his cabin clean (note the newspapers under the carcass in the first photo). He could only get the ATV within a half mile or so of the site, and he carried my gun and gear out that far as I dragged the deer. Snaking it out of the thick brush in the creek-bottom was tough, but it pulled easily on the snow up in the timber. It was all he and I could do to lift it up onto the rear rack of his wheeler, when we reached it. I don't know the exact weight, but I know I am 200 lbs, and I could only lift the front of the deer, before my own feet came off the ground, hanging from the pulley shown in the photo. Grandpa's wheeler came in handy again there. If we cant find the jug (I hate to litter), we are at least going to set a stick under that pine tree, with marks painted at the height of a golf flag (I assume they are standard). Then our second hike will be up the ridge to find that "rest-tree", where we should be able to determine the range to the stick. Maybe I can hint to the girls and their mother for one of them fancy laser rangefinders next Christmas. Any recommendations on a good one?

My scope is an older Redfield 3 x 9, low-profile, widefield with a duplex reticle. I was cranked up to 9 power on that shot. I saw the buck approaching along a creek-bed from great distance, more than a mile for sure. I attempted to position myself for a shot when his path would put him at the closest distance, and I guessed that to be about 300 yards. I was positioned high above on a mountain ridge. I would call it more "lucky" than good as far as the shooting goes. When I checked zero on the rifle prior to hunting this fall, it hit centered above the bull, 1-1/2". That was the only practice shot I took with that gun (Ruger M77). The morning I killed the buck pictured on my previous post, on the Saturday after thanksgiving, it started out in the upper 20's at daybreak, but warmed rapidly, reaching about 35 degrees by 9:30, when I took my first shot. By the time I saw that buck, the noise of crashing ice, caused by the rising sun, sounded like thunder from down in the valley below. For my first shot, I was seated, and held firm, centered behind his shoulder. When he stopped briefly, I squeezed off the shot. He never even looked up, just continued ahead at his previous pace. That "boom" from above must have been covered pretty good by all the crashing ice. I then got up from my comfortable chair, and followed along the ridge. When he reached another opening, I took a second, hurried shot off-hand. Again he continued on, but this time he must have noticed the "boom" because he stopped and looked up in my direction. Just as he stopped, I came to a solid tree, up on the ridge, which I rested the rifle on, while standing. This time I held about an inch below the top of his back, behind the shoulder. My thought at the time was that the range was farther than my initial estimate, so I held high. After that final shot, he "disappeared". Just like baseball however, three strikes and he was out, as I found him after a long, round-about hike, right under the big pine tree he stood near at that last shot. I was lucky that good rest came along when it did, lucky that my rifle fed the second and third rounds smoothly, lucky that crashing ice covered the shots, and lucky to find that buck after the miles of heavy timber, and thick brush-covered creek-bottom I walked thru to get to him. The ridge was too steep to descend without climbing gear, and the creek too deep to cross, forcing me to take "the long way around". In all the excitement there, I wasn't even sure how many times I had shot, until I counted out my remaining bullets when I got back to the cabin. I took 8 in, and brought 5 out. Two of them bullets are stuck in the ground up there now I suppose, while one lays mushroomed, on a shelf out in our garage. That wasn't my first "lucky" shot on this lucky season. I shot at one other, much smaller buck near the end of archery season, back home in the Southern zone, with my crossbow. Again, I underestimated the range somewhat at 50 yards (turned out to be 60). Check out where that arrow struck. I aimed upper lung on that shot. One thing I noticed this year, is that the more I pray to Jesus Christ, and try and do right by him, the luckier I get.

I used what YFK uses on this old boy. Next spring I will hike up and get an exact range, but it looks to be between 300 and 400 yards based on "google maps". The buck was quartering away. The 150 gr Federal bullet struck centered on second last rib and traveled diagonally thru chest, lodging inside lower shoulder on opposite side. Both lungs were destroyed. The bullet mushroomed good and remained intact. The, old 8-point buck field dressed over 200 lbs and fell dead about where he stood when hit. I did not see him fall, but found him lying under the tree he stood near when I fired. When I found him, laying on about 6" of fresh snow, there was not a mark, or a drop of blood on him or the snow. It reminded me of lots of Woodchucks I have shot with my 22/250 using those "ballistic" plastic tipped bullets. No marks on the outside but big mess on the inside. After skinning, the entry hole thru the hide looked just a little over .30" dia. On a Western trip a few years ago, I bumped it up to Hornady "light magnums" in 165 gr, which were new at the time. Elk was our primary target, but I never saw a bull on the self-guided hunt. The performance on a mule deer buck was very impressive however, as the bullet literally knocked him off his feet from a range of approximately 100 yards. I would say those are a bit overkill for deer of either variety.

If you plant that three acres with field corn, trap the coons heavy to irradicate them, and somehow keep the bears away, then you might be able to hold one of them big-ones on your 20 acres during the day. It is really the does that control the territory however, especially when the food is good compared to the surroundings, so it will not be easy. A second option, that may work better for holding a big buck there, would be to knock off all the food-plotting, and let the whole 20 revert to thick, nasty cover. Hinge cut, plant some fast growing evergreens, etc.. The does will move off if you cut off their food supply, creating an opening for a buck to move in.

I can relate to the "miracle" part of that story. I had it happen myself this year on a fat pig of a buck up in the NW Adirondacks. I also said a short prayer, if I could only see a buck, as they are quite rare in this area. Not 10 minutes later, this old boy came cruising along down the creek-bank I was watching from a ridge, high above. I said another short prayer, that my shot would be true. The distance was far. My rough estimate at the time was 300 yards, amd it looks to be at least that based on "Google Maps" My first shot missed (taken from a rested seated position, probably due to range underestimation), so did the second (hurried offhand). Then the Lord provided a perfect tree for a rest, in just the right spot, as I followed him from up on the ridge. He paused in an opening, just when I found the rest and that third shot hit perfectly, diagonally, thru the rib cage. I did not see him go down, but he disappeared after that final shot. I scanned the area all around where he stood with my scope on 9X, but nothing moved. There was a large pine tree right near where he had stood, and I thought maybe, he had turned 90 degrees away, and ran up the next hill, keeping that tree between me and him, after a third miss. Had he continued forward, I would have seen him, as I would have if he backtracked. There was only one other possibility. I gave out a third prayer, that he would be laying there under that tree. It was a long hike around. I left my bright red camp-chair up on the ridge, to mark my shooting location. The creek below was too deep and wide for me to cross, and the ridge to steep to descend direct without climbing gear. I carefully studied that pine tree on the creek-bank below, so that I could identify it when I did get back over to its general location. It took me almost an hour to reach a location on the far bank of the creek, where I could finally see my red chair up on the ridge. It looked like a tiny spec with the nakid eye. Shortly after I saw the chair. The brush was so thick on the far bank of the creek, that it took another half hour or so before I saw a familiar looking, lone pine tree down on the creek. My plan was to locate the buck's tracks in the fresh snow near the tree, and try to catch the buck by following his trail. That is a very popular technique in this area. I knew the trail would be fresh, and the sounds of my three shots were probably mixed right in with the crashing of ice that morning along the creek-bank, caused by the rising, warming sun. The buck likely had no idea he was being shot at (like Steve Martin in the Jerk with the oil cans). As fate would have it, the Lord had other plans. There at the base of the tree, lay the old buck. He was on his side, eyes wide open. There was no mark on him, and no blood or hair on the fresh snow. I stuck the muzzle of my loaded rife (safety off) in his eye and he did not blink. I rolled him over and there was no mark or blood on the other side either. Upon gutting him, I noted a hole centered on the second last rib, and two jagged, similar sized holes, adjacent to that rib, looking inside of the cage. At first I thought maybe all three bullets hit, but it turned out just one did, and the other holes must have been caused by bone fragments. I called my Father in law on the cell-phone, but he could only get within a half mile or so with his ATV because the brush was so thick down on that side of the creek. That is definitely the heaviest deer and the most difficult drag I have ever had to do. I suspect this buck may be quite old because his stomach was full of acorns and most were not even chewed. It was not the biggest rack that I have taken, but surely my oldest buck. Since I turned 50 on Christmas this year, my wife let me get him mounted as a present. Plus it was the first one taken at her folks new camp up there.

It seems that there are some folks who get a little hung up on range alone, when it comes to "ethics" of taking a shot at "live" targets. With a "dead" target, as long as the shot is safe, pretty much anything goes. I would hope that guy would not take a 100 yard shot at a deer with that setup. You can see and hear in the video that he falls a little short on at least two of the requirements. Besides range, here are the other variables, listed in order of importance, that I see when it comes to go or no-go for a long shot at a deer with a x-bow: #1 What is the accuracy of the shooter x-bow combination? He looks ok there. #2 What is the condition of the deer? Still, Alert, Distracted. Feeding, etc. #3 What is the wind velocity and direction? #4 How clear is the shot? #5 How good is the rest? #6 How loud is the x-bow? #7 How good is the scope/sight? #8 How does the broadhead perform at impact velocity? #9 How good is the lighting? #10 How is the retained energy & arrow penetration (should be thru)? #5 and #6 takes him out of the running on a deer based on what I see and hear on that video. I believe I could do that easily to a pumpkin at 100 yards with my current setup (135 lb draw, 300 fps, horizontal x-bow) if I shot from a rest, but I know I come up short on #10, based on a 60 yard shot I took this year (see photo). Fortunately, the 8" or so of penetration I got was enough to get thru the heart. In the future I will think twice about taking a shot over 50 yards with that setup for that reason. With his longer, heavier arrows, I am sure he has that one covered. His failure on #6 makes it unlikely that a deer will be within 5 feet of where it was when his arrow is released at 100 yards however.

Some type of swivel seat that would make it easier to move around slow without big movements, good rests all the way around for gun/crossbow, removable canvas lower blind-covering / wind-break, and rain cover.

I use an old "Enterprize #12" grinder that likely started out as a hand-crank model, but which my grandfather added a 1/3 hp electric motor and gear/pulley reduction back in the 1950's. I cant even guess how much beef and pork he ground with it, over 30 or so years, and I know I have close to a hundred deer thru it myself over the last 30. It takes standard blades and knives available at Bass Pro, etc. I replaced those about 10 years ago, for about $20 total, when it started to plug occasionally on sinews & such. It hasn't plugged since then, and it will swallow good size chunks of meat as fast as you can feed it. The time required to grind an average deer is about 20 minutes. Cleanup is a breeze, as all the inner workings slide right out after loosening a set screw and turning out a ring nut on the front. You can move those to the sink for a quick cleanup, or put all the parts in the dishwasher. The main housing can be scrubbed out in minutes, still mounted to the stand. Converted, motorized grinders such as this were quite common back in the day, and it should not be overly difficult to locate on craigslist, garage sales, farm auctions, etc.. The knives and screens are really the only wear part, and they are usually all made to the same standard, that still is used on today's electric grinders. All you need to specify when ordering for your "antique" is the grinder size (#10, #12, #22, etc.). Other than the knife and screen, the only other problem we had with ours was a burned up motor in a house fire, and another corroded and shorted when the basement flooded. Used, 1/4 to 1/2 hp, 1750 rpm motors are easy to find for $10 or less. (I never actually paid for one, as my dad and father-in-law both have good stockpiles they have scavenged from various old machines. Grinding with that old machine is definitely my favorite part of the butchering job. Skinning is a pain, as is cutting the meat off the bones, trimming off the fat, and vacuum sealing (at least my wife usually does that part). It just seems like magic, quickly turning all those rough and ragged chunks of meat into fine-looking, lean grind. I have looked at a few modern stainless grinders, and have not been too impressed. It does not appear that "you get what you pay for" there anyhow. I have $20 and almost a hundred deer in mine, so I know I got what I paid for many times over. I would be quite surprised to see any of them cheap looking units sold by Bass-Pro, Cabelas, Gander, Dicks, etc, hold up like that.

To me, every deer is a precious gift from God. I can think of no finer food than whitetail venison, and how awesome it was to be able to pursue it this season on some of the most beautiful land I have ever scene, or even after a short walk out my own back door. The Dr's told me this spring that I should have never saw 50, but Lord willing, I'll make that on Thursday. Right now, the only worry I have is to keep things right with someone else who was born on that day about 2014 years ago. Merry Christmas everyone and happy hunting however or why-ever you do it.