wolc123

I think that is most folks problem with tenderloins. Generally, the older the deer, the longer it takes to get past that. My best guess on this does age is 4.5. One of her tenderloins was tough as hell, the day after she died, maybe the toughest I ever had. The other one was considerably more tender, but still tougher than average, after 5 days in the fridge. My best guess on this buck’s age is 3.5. After 6 days in the fridge, his tenderloins may have been the most tender I have ever had. He was certainly corn fed though (see gut pile), so that may have had an effect. Besides the time in the fridge, the age of the deer, and the diet of the deer, some say how fast they die has an effect on tenderness. The doe was DRT from a shoulder blade shot, which also penetrated thru both lungs. The buck trotted off about 60 yards after taking a slug thru both lungs, centered on the second last rib.

I cant recall ever killing a deer in its bed, so I can’t help much with this one. My preferred technique is to ambush them, after they leave their day or night beds, and are on their hoofs and out looking for some lovin. I believe this old boy’s day bed was in a swamp last Friday, so I’d have needed hip boots to catch him there: damned good eating though.

Not sure how many food groups are represented here but I can’t recall a better tasting dinner:

I wonder if there is a way to find local processors who take deer carcass donations using the internet ? That seems like the type of thing a smart phone or computer might be good for. How would you feel if you ended your season with unfilled tags, passed on multiple good opportunities, and ended up hitting one with your car on your last trip home from camp ? Or worse yet, someone you love does, right by your hunting location ? I only passed on one good opportunity this year, and that was only because that little antlered buck didn’t look like it had enough meat on its bones to feed my family for a year. I have a heck of a time filling dmp’s, so I need to be somewhat careful with my buck tag. That said, I definitely would have felt some regret at the end of the season, had not a much larger bodied buck showed up 6 days later. At times like that there is an excuse for passing bucks but I don’t see any for antlerless deer and dmp tags. Those are passed out for a reason and that is population reduction.

It was a fun way to hunt when I was young, but I lost any interest in doing it after my hair got parted by a shotgun slug one time.

This is a great example of why it is very selfish of us hunters, not to try to kill all of the deer that we legally can, every season. Deer numbers are higher than they should be in many areas. If you can’t use the meat, many processors will take it, at no cost to you, and donate it to the needy. I am no saint myself, and I usually let up a bit, after I have enough meat in my own freezer. Thanks for posting this, as it will make me try a little harder, to fill the last (4) of (7) tags, that I was issued this year. Unfortunatly, I used up most of my vacation days, but I am really looking forward to the Holiday ML season this year. It will be great to be able to hunt deer on paid Holidays. As far as not wanting to shoot does because “there is not enough around” etc., those decisions ought to be left to the professionals (DEC). If they don’t think there is enough in an area, then they will issue fewer tags the following season. The Christmas season should be a time to put the needs of others ahead of your own. Please do your part.

I think we are pretty safe in Erie county, at least the northern portion, where the snowmobile club is very well represented by hunters who know better than to risk trail closures by opposing the Holiday ML season.

Three of my stands were in ash trees, including that which I had killed my first antlered buck from, the one I killed my largest racked buck from, and the one I killed the most deer out of. Lots of memories from those, but it definitely was not worth the risk of trying to keep them. I replaced two of them in nearby poplar and maple trees. There were no other species of trees close enough to the other one that were big enough yet to support a stand, but I now have stands on either side, that can cover that spot fairly well. It was tough on my chainsaw, cutting up those trees with more than 40 years of nails in them. My older cousin had built the first one before I was old enough to hunt. I added many nails thru the decades, as steps and supports rotted and needed replacement. One good thing is that everything is replaced with treated lumber and galvenized lag bolts, so annual maintenance is much less.

I won’t miss the ash trees when they are gone, after pretty much using nothing else for firewood, since the first hint of the emerald ash borer showed up, about 10 years ago. I so miss the days when I burnt more oak, maple, cherry, hickory, and walnut. All of those make more heat than ash, and far less ashes. The problem I have, is that more than half of the trees in my woods are ash and about 3/4 of them are dead and the last 1/4 are dying, along with most of the trees in the hedge rows. I don’t think they offer much to wildlife, compared to oak at least. They are easy to split, but that is the only good thing I can think of about them. The town cleared all of them from one propety line ditch a couple years ago, leaving many dump truck loads of logs, most of which I gave away. That saved me a lot of work, by not needing to cut them down myself. I will start cutting more this winter, from the middle. Hopefully, I can talk the town into clearing them from the other side soon. My new nieghbor is ok with that. The town will only clear them from a line if both nieghbors agree. (They won’t clear for a landowner in the center their property). I am thinking I have about 5 more years of ash burning to look forward to. Hopefully, none of the dead ones falls and hurts someone before then.

There might be something to that. One side tenderloin, from the old Adirondack doe that I killed during early ML this fall, was quite chewy for breakfast the next morning. After 5 days in the fridge, that from the other side was quite tender, when cooked the same way. She may have been 4.5 years old though, and I think the age of the deer is the biggest driver in how long it takes to pass the rigor mortis. I have eaten a lot of them fresh from corn-fed wny deer and they were never too tough. I think the buck I killed last Friday night in wny may have also been 4.5 years old, so I am giving those 6 days in the fridge, just to be safe. I like them a lot better when they are tender.

I never touch them with any water, which can promote bactetia growth. If any piss or gut juice touched them during the gutting process then I rinse them with fresh blood from ahead of the daiaphram. I remove them, wipe them dry with clean paper towels, put them in a zip lock bag, and into the fridge. They are good to eat right away if the deer is less than 8 months old, but should remain in fridge for about an week minimum if older. I will be having some for supper tomorrow, after 6 days in the fridge.

Gas for my power washer was cheap last year, so “joe” (top right) was less than $ 5. This year will be a good bit more.

No rattles out of this 1960’s Ithaca when the big ones sneak in close on a calm, cold evening :

Sorry for your loss. I saw a pretty good YouTube video, where a guy disassembled and cleaned a bolt from a Marlin goose gun. It didn’t look too difficult and that is probably the same as what is in my M512 slugmaster. Looks like a good winter project.

Nope

Yea, but he didn’t say “dented”, he said : “well dimpled”. To me, that rules out a gun issue. I know I have a gun issue with my Marlin shotgun, because there was no sign of a dent on the primers, when I used it on freezing cold days, after getting it soaking wet in rain or swamp water submergence on my prior hunts. If he finds someone else with one of those oddball caliber guns, then he can have them test the questionable ammo. I think I will lock my questionable, oil-lubed firing pin assembly Marlin shotgun in the trunk of my car, on a real cold day this winter, and see if it will fire with one of my extra slugs the following morning. I will let you know how that goes. If it don’t go “bang”, then I will take the bolt apart and clean it good with brake cleaner, prior to next September’s early antlerless season. If it does go off, I will clean and lube the bore, add another drop or two of cpl to the firing pin, and put it away for safe keeping.

Not all guns react the same way. On both of my FTF’s, there was no visible dent on the primers, and the gun was soaked the day prior to freeze up. That leads me to believe that trapped water was the culprit. Either that, or The Big Guy preferred that I take the buck(s) later, that those two does were pregnant with. I now have plenty of meat, no gun buck tag, and I never had much love for processing does (takes me too long to trim off all that fat). For that reason, I am going to stick with that lubed-up Marlin the next time I get out there with my three dmp’s, here in the sz, which will be the last Saturday of the season. Hopefully, it will be good and cold and a doe (or better yet a button buck) will give me a chance to see who’s right). Then I will know for certain whether or not I need to use the Marlin or my (always fires) Ithaca, the next time it is real cold and I have an valid buck tag.

If the primers were well dimpled, then that rules out any issue with the gun. I don’t know if I can buy the “oil on the firing pin” issue. Two big does owe their lives to “no dimple” issues I had with my Marlin 512. Both of those happened on freezing cold days, after I had hunted with the gun in the rain and warmer temps on the previous day. Some day, I will strip that bolt apart and clean it good, but for now, I soaked both ends of the firing pin assembly with CLP oil, and I have only been using it when the temps have been above freezing. I think my freeze ups were due to water in there, and the CLP oil ought to reduce that. I am in a shotgun only zone and fortunately, I have a backup gun (60 year old Ithaca 37 16 ga.) that has never failed to go boom or kill the deer I shot it at, since mounting a Weaver 1.5 on it 39 years ago. Some of those have been when the temp was below zero. It’s effective range is only about 75 yards though, while the Marlin is good to at least 163 yards (my farthest kill with it).

Yes

The tag you used during early archery season was good for an antlerless or an antlered deer (I assume you bought an archery license). You can buy a muzzleloader license and get another tag to use with your crossbow, but you will only be able to use that for antlerless deer, during late muzzleloader season. Most of NY is 2 bucks max with one needing to be taken during gun season while the other needs to be taken in early or late archery/crossbow/ml seasons.

I had to aim considerably farther back than I wanted to last Friday, because the shoulder was behind a tree. The slug hit near the back of the rib cage, about midway down, penetrating thru to the opposite rib, but not exiting. Hopefully, I will be rewarded with more meat, because of that. I will find out Sunday afternoon when I skin it. My experience has been, that slow moving shotgun slugs don’t cause a lot of meat damage compared to fast rifle bullets, when the shoulder is struck. What caliber and bullet were you using ? Here is what the 16 ga Remington slugger looked like when it fell out under the hoist: After taking the hit, It trotted off at a medium speed, about 20 yards forward, turned 90 degrees, then 60 yards to the left before going down in some real thick stuff. I would have preferred a shoulder shot, because recovery would have been way tougher without the dusting of snow. I don’t think that slow moving slug would have wrecked much meat on the shoulder, based on my past experiences with them. I really like the shoulder shots when there is a group of antlerless deer and I have multiple dmp’s. Very often, the others will stick around a while when the leader goes down.

I have the same concern and that is the main reason why I would never leave one overnight. If I ever served our kids some gut-tainted venison they would stop eating it completely, and that would be the end of life as we know it.

I think Jeremy using the Evercalm as deoderant trumps that. I sprung for one of those Scent-away deoderant sticks this year and that may have helped with that old buck and doe that I was able to fool. I also use their body wash/shampoo and a Scent-factor jacket. Both got down wind of me before they caught my lead. Great idea on the leaves and bushes.

No problem. G-man has me a little worried now about the residual effect though. I can’t fault him for raising the concern. After all, he is the first to post the infamous PA chest girth chart on this site, on which I have grown so dependent.

Good point, and if it didn’t work so well, I certainly wouldn’t. As cheap as I am, I even tried saving the unused stuff from one year to the next a couple times. That didn’t pan out the first time, when I just left it in a drawer. It worked when I put a third of a stick in the freezer though. That was the last year when I used the last of it up on the first day of northern zone gun season, and was not able to get a shot off at the monster that snuck to within 15 yards of me. I was too cheap to replace it after that and had to settle for a 2.5 year old buck at home later, that was dumb enough to come in to a grunt call. I think a new stick only cost $ 15 this year. Based on his chest girth, that’s about 90 pounds of boneless red meat hanging in the garage, so that’s not a bad investment. He’d have never stopped long enough for me to get off a shot, were it not for that Evercalm.