goosifer

I made venison liver pate this morning. Not bad for a first attempt. I also have venison heart meat strips marinating in a tomato, basil and garlic marinade. Will grill them tomorrow.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I'm out of likes again.

Congratulations to everyone that got a deer today (grampy, Jerry's daughter and Team Hoyt; hope I didn't miss anyone), and commendations to everyone that sat out in the snow today. I'm waiting until Friday to go back out in 9A. Today I skinned and quartered my deer from Saturday that I had hanging. Tomorrow, I will spend all day deboning, trimming, and maybe grinding if I have time.

Thank you, all, for your kind thoughts. I've used up my supply of Thank You's for today. Will catch up tomorrow.

I thought that was Sulu

In a spot in the middle of the backyard that we can see from the kitchen. When he was younger, we'd sometimes see him as a white blur streaking across that spot. When he was older, we'd see him just moseying around, sniffing the grass with seemingly unlimited interest. He was 10 when he died. Not really old for a dog his size, but given what he'd been through, it's miraculous that he lived as long as he did. Looking at him, he looks just like another one of those cute, spoiled, yappy dogs, which he was, but I think he was the toughest dog I'll ever meet. About 4-1/2 years ago, the day before the Fourth of July, we noticed him walking funny in the backyard, like the caboose was loose from the rest of the train. It was presumed he had herniated a disc, common for long-bodied dogs like him. (His breed is Coton de Tulear.) We immediately scheduled him for back surgery with a local vet surgeon. Immediately prior to the back surgery, the surgeon did a myleogram to identify which disc was herniated. There was none. The surgeon called us and said for us to come pick him up the next day. When we walked into the surgeon's office, Max looked horrific. He was stuporous, nearly catatonic, paralyzed in his hind legs, blind, his whole body curved in a crescent shape, and circling uncontrollably (dragging himself with his front legs). The surgeon mumbled sorry and something about a disease called GME [Granulomatous Meningoencephalomyelitis]. [Basically, GME causes the body to create excess white blood cells in the nervous system, which leads to inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.] Not knowing what else to do, we drove 3 hours to the Cornell Companion Animal Hospital, run by the Cornell Vet school, arguably the best in the country. The neurology department took him in via their emergency room and immediately started treating him with steroids, immunosuppressants, and chemotherapy. Within a few days, he had regained his vision and partial use of his back legs. It was amazing. What then followed were months of periodic chemotherapy and ongoing medications, physical therapy, massage therapy and laser therapy. In time, we were able to rehabilitate him and keep his GME symptoms at bay. Except for one back leg that would always look "kick standed" out to the side, you'd never know how sickly of a dog he was. We maintained that status quo for a couple years or so. This past January, he started circling much more than usual [a common GME symptom]. He was having a GME relapse, and we restarted the chemotherapy and high doses of steroids to battle the disease. (He had previously been weaned off of these treatments.) Also, Max was increasingly sensitive by the side of his stomach, and sometimes wouldn't eat. A sonogram diagnosed an enlarged gall bladder, a side effect of all the steroids he had taken over the years. We rejiggered his GME meds and added some liver/gall bladder supplements to his diet. This seemed to help for a while. Every month when we would take him to Cornell for chemo, they would do a sonogram on the gall bladder. For a while, it actually shrunken a bit, but then it started to get bigger again. Between the friable (thin, papery) condition of the outside of the gallbladder and the increasing amount of solids inside it, a burst gallbladder and or mucocele (plug) was imminent. Last month, we were given three choices: 1) keep doing the same, and hope it doesn't burst, 2) put him down or 3) operate to remove the gallbladder. The surgery is a very risky surgery in general, but especially so for Max given he was immunosuppressed. We opted for #3, figuring at least it would give him a chance. I was thinking his odds of survival were 50/50, but in retrospect, were probably more like 33/67. The surgery was done on Halloweeen. It went OK, and he seemed to be OK immediately afterwards. But later that night, major medical complications occurred. I won't go into the details, but I'll just say they had him in the ICU for over two days trying to stabilize him and get his blood pressure up. Nothing worked. On Saturday, after we had exhausted all of our options, we were basically told his body was shutting down due to low blood pressure and lack of oxygen to his organs. At that point, we instructed the ICU vet to euthanize him. We turned his body over to the neurology department so they could do a necropsy for research purposes. GME is a funny disease in that the diagnosis can't be confirmed without a sample of brain tissue. From his initial diagnosis of GME, Max lived for about 4 years and 4 months. Most dogs diagnosed with GME usually survive somewhere between never leaving the vet to maybe three years. As we understand it, Max is the longest surviving GME patient in Cornell's history, and one of the longest surviving in the country (not like there is an official database for this sort of stuff). With his 4+ years of case history, it is our hope that he will be able to help Cornell figure out a better way to treat this horrible disease. That, we hope, will be his legacy. Through it all, Max never let the disease, or all he endured in being treated for the disease, get him down. Even though his stamina was greatly affected and he constantly endured a level of neuropathic pain, he still enjoyed playing, barking at the TV, car rides and all the other stupid stuff that dogs enjoy. So to me, for all he went through, and for all we hope his case contributes towards the treatment of GME, I think he was a very special dog. If you made it this far in the post, I thank you. I wanted to share some sort of tribute to him, and this is the only online forum in which I am active.

@turkeyfeathers post in the What's For Dinner Thread inspired me. Anyone every make venison gyro meat? The gyro recipes I've seen usually call for 100% lamb or 50% lamb/50% beef. I was thinking of trying 50% lamb/50% venison. Also, the recipes are a bit fuzzy on the target % fat for the meat(s). I'm guessing 20%? If so, may need to add some beef, or possibly pork, fat to the mix to hit the target fat ratio. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. dddd

Yesterday morning (where I was) in 9A I heard maybe 10 shots (other than shots taken on my property). Also heard a bunch of .22lr from the property next door late morning and afternoon, which was really annoying. However, we think it kicked up a small buck to one of my hunting buddies late in the day when they started shooting again, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Overall, it did seem like a relatively quiet opening day.

Well, so far, left my distance glasses in the truck, didn't bring enough nitrile gloves, forgot my no fingertip cold weather gloves, and could use some more plastic bags. Oh, and need to bring more Band-Aids :). Roughing it, I tell ya.

Doe down at 65 yards at 7:35. Still in stand as hunting buddy one field over working on a shot on a buck

Heading out soon. Am I getting weaker in my old age or is all my clothing, gear and crap getting heavier? Sheesh. Good luck and be safe everybody.

Every year on opening day it seems like I forget to bring something. One year it was the keys to the Kubota UTV. Another year it was my distance prescription glasses. Then there was forgetting the safety strap that goes around the tree. So I thought I would get a head start and start this thread tonight. I am sure I will forget to bring something. Oh, and Biz, you are only allowed one submission to this thread, as you shouldn't have forgotten anything with the load you had!

4:00 a.m. Almost an hour drive to my hunting land, unfortunately.

That's one way to congratulate a hunting buddy, I suppose.

That's one way to create excitement!

I sighted in my shotgun (sabots; no rifle in 9A) today. Went to the same indoor range I go to every year. This time, in addition to bringing my lead sled, I brought wood shingles to wedge the tabletop so it wouldn't wobble, and wood clamps so the lead sled wouldn't move around. Worked out great. Still took me 11 shots to sight in a gun that should have been fine, but what can you do. Maybe I didn't zero it in as accurately as I thought last year. Still need to switch from the camo hunting fanny pack to my orange fishing vest for all the things I like to keep on my person like rangefinder, tags, etc. Stands are all set.

Wow. Love to hear the total distance you end up tracking him. That sounds like hunting with a workout!

strange encounter. Should something like that happen again, you may want to ask for their name and number and tell them you will call them back with your answer. Or ask for their name and address so you can fill out the hunting lease. Any excuse. Maybe take down their license plate? If they never come back, all good, but with people like that, I worry they may try to hunt on your land anyway.

Iwas out for about 8 hours total today. Saw one deer, a fork horn that cruised up the middle of the field with the wind at its back. It managed to stay out of shooting range as he went past me from left to right. I thought he might circle back once he got a whiff of the doe in heat I put out, but I think he may have spotted me. He stared for a good five seconds in my direction, and then kept going away from me. Oh well, hope to get a buck during muzzleloader.

Going out for a double session, with one hunting buddy in am and another in pm. Last shot for crossbow season. Good luck all

Tapped out at 11:15. Only thing I saw was a feral cat take a dump on the path near my stand. With the low wind and some sun, it was a very pleasant and peaceful session. Still need to tweak my equipment a bit to stay warmer.

Set my alarm clock correctly this time so all set in stand. Trying some doe in heat for this mornings sit. Calm wind , which is nice.

No. No. Have landowner names, working on getting phone numbers. Given where it went, pretty sure it didn't double back. It is the traditional sanctuary area. Blood trail ends near property line, so to continue the search would most likely require going on neighbor's property. It's all wild country back there. Not like there are fences or markers or anything. I had to look on onX to see if we were still on my property when following the blood trail.

Porter (Youngstown), Niagara County, NY. Until/unless I get landowner permission, can't continue the search anyway. But thank you, TreeGuy, I appreciate the offer of help.

https://www.deersearchwny.org/services.html website states "It is the hunter’s responsibility to obtain permission from the landowner prior to any tracking." I will try to contact the landowner's in the morning for permission.