johnplav

Talk about comfort food… my daughter helped me make turkey pot pie with some Thanksgiving leftovers using my mom’s recipe. Paired nicely with a Rohrbach’s Scotch Ale.

Maybe they'll end up in the same pot of chili at some point

Yep... I've got an old gun that always dents primers and never goes boom... I think it needs a new hammer spring.

I vote blurry Yotes

For hunting… a Kimber Adirondack in 7mm-08. For a fun gun… I’m with @Chef .338 Lapua or .50 cal for long range fun.

I know I should be impressed with her survival ability… but I hate this doe. She’s the most careful, wary deer Iv ever dealt with. I passed up her fawn a few times during bow but she would never get close enough for a shot. Today she skirted around the stand I was in, only to walk right past my normal stand. If I had a hit list, she’s be at the top.

Awesome!

Hunting this stand for only the second time this year. Fresh snow coming down and no wind. Any deer will do tonight.

Nice horseradish dig… processed the biggest root today to clear the sinuses and gift to some friends.

My go-to venison app… this was tenderloin from my big doe, but backstrap works too. Bake bread rounds with olive oil and garlic, then layer seared venison, fontina cheese, crumbled bacon and rosemary. I usually put hot sauce on the bread too… but I knew my crowd so we added individually. I sear the venison until it’s almost rare, then when you bake it enough to melt the cheese it’s a perfect rare/medium rare. The tartare was diced tenderloin, olive oil, old balsamic, capers, onion, garlic, rosemary, juniper berries, salt, pepper, and crushed red. We finished it with a yolk from my buddy’s chickens. Only 3 of us ate the tartare but it was great.

Tenderloin appetizers ready to go:

Cold, windy, no deer seen… I shoulda slept in this morning.

I usually just buy “Carnivore” for the name, but some of our other Go To’s are Josh, La Crema, and Joel Gott. Also Tom Gore and Mirassou. Appetizers will both be seared tenderloin on garlic bread and venison tartare.

I’ve got it easy this year. We’re having two Thanksgiving dinners and my only tasks were get wine for Thursday and make a venison appetizer on Friday.

Since I'm stuck in my office and can't hunt, I figured I'd share a recent experience: My buddy called and said he shot a buck with his bow and it looked good but the deer ran toward a steep, overgrown part of his property and asked if Id help him get it out. By the time I got to his spot, it was over an hour after the shot and it was dark. Instead of going to his stand, I walked up the road until I could see his flashlight in the woods and found my way to him. He told me he had really good blood for like 250 yards, without any obvious beds... but he just lost blood. I went back to the spot he marked as last blood, and was able to further the track another 20-30 yards on my hands and knees finding specks, which eventually stopped. At this point it was starting to rain and he was beginning to get discouraged. We were hesitant to back out with the rain coming, and I decided to follow the trail beyond where we lost blood and after maybe 10 yards I heard a deer jump up and run straight up the hill. As he ran I could hear him struggle as well as a weird sloshing noise. We waited a few minutes and crept up toward where I jumped him. He had been bedded down within 20 yards of us the whole time, and his path up the hill showed good blood again. As we slowly made our way up the hill, we could see him at the top. He was still alive, but couldn't get up, and was done after a minute or two. On the drag back, I crossed the blood trail a few times, and my buddy was right... there was a ton of blood. It turns out the shot was a little back and perfectly broadside. The rage caught the very back of both lungs, the diaphragm and the liver. It appears that I jumped him from his first bed, and when he ran, I could hear the pooled blood in him. Between the damage to the lungs and diaphragm, as well as the bleeding from liver, I'm surprised he was still alive after 2 hours. They really are tough animals. Had we backed out, I'm assuming he would've died in the bed eventually, from the bleeding liver, and I hope we would've found him the next morning while grid searching. My only concern is if he got up from the bed and wandered further and rain washed away the blood, we could've lost him. The lesson I learned on this one: - Damage to lungs or diaphragm doesn't always mean the deer can't breathe. - Organs overlap. Just like how a heart shot usually gets lung as well, so can a liver shot... especially with a wide cutting broadhead. - Liver shots behave as described... good blood at first that can gradually fade away. - Check trail cams! He passed a trail camera that showed him slowly walking away about 50 yards passed the shot. Not the death run of a good heart/lung shot. We were both relieved to find this deer, and looking back, I don't think I would've done much differently. And as a reward… I got a hindquarter!

You better not pickle that heart!

Now that you mention it... I only remember hearing a single shot too. I was hoping for snow yesterday as we had an inch or 2 at our house. But when I got down to my spot there was none. Trail cam pics showed a dusting, but it melted as soon as the sun came up.

Not live… but I had a fun hunt last night. Deer were moving consistently in a snowless portion of 8H from 3:30-5. Let 2 small bucks and a few doe pass by. Almost got a shot at a big 6 that was harassing a doe and fawn. But at the last minute the doe had enough and ran in the wrong direction and the other 2 followed. No hunting today, but I should be able to get down there 4-5 times over the long weekend. Good luck to everyone who’s out there!

We got a new deer book!

Suburban Webster buck living the life, politely waiting for a doe’s consent

Or get killed in the late season as a giant "doe"

I hope so!!

I kinda followed this one… although I cleaned and cut the heart before boiling. I’m sure there other recipes out their with actual measurements. https://www.foxvalleyfoodie.com/pickled-deer-heart/

I tried a batch of @wolc123’s Valentines Day special… pickled deer heart. How long should I wait before I try it??

I helped track a nice buck the other night and was rewarded with a hind quarter. When I have time I’ll write up a summary of the track. I definitely learned a lot on that one. And for the record… Luna and Konux are underpaid!!