goosifer

Wolc, you may find this article of interest How Much Meat Will Your Deer Yield?

I finally finished butchering the buck I got last week. It had a lot of flank meat that I saved. Trimming it is a real pain. While I made sure to trim it as best I could for any silver skin and fat, the fascia/membrane (the nearly transparent filmy stuff that you can tear with your fingers, unlike the whitish silverskin that must be cut with a knife) is almost impossible to fully trim off. For those of you that butcher your own, to what extent do you trim the fascia/membrane off of the flank meat? How do you use it/cook it? Just grind it? stew meat? Jerky? Myself, I am going to set it aside as stew meat and cook it a long time in an acidic liquid to break down the membrane, like I do with the shanks. I'm thinking venison cacciatore or maybe a stew-style sauerbraten (BTW, I made an awesome osso bucco with venison shanks last year; hope to replicate that soon.)

You know, I have a couple apple trees on my property that I should probably prune, now that I think about it. The apples were very good baking apples, actually.

Well, if my neighbor with the commercial orchard is any indication, after Dec 1 starting at 8:00 every day of the week. Chainsaws only. I keep telling myself the deer get used to it . . . .

Based upon people's comments in the forum, I ordered a pair of Baffin Selkirk boots last week. Only cost $133. It's crazy how cheap gear costs almost as much as quality gear. The key is to know which one to buy. I look forward to using them.

I don't know if you guys are joking, but I would hate to see someone run out thinking today was the last day of muzzleloader. Muzzleloader season ended yesterday, Tuesday Dec 19 in the Southern Zone. Today is Wednesday, Dec 20. I got this from page 25 of the rules guide. If I am crazy or wrong, I apologize in advance. Hunting is still open on in Westchester County and Suffolk County, but TF is in 9H.

(Note: Program is closed for the 2017-18 season.) Cornell has a highly regulated program that allows hunting on private property that it owns. See link It is an interesting patchwork of hunting lands near Ithaca. For one of them, Mclean Bog, they even give you DMAP tags. Possibly a better option than just going to public land in the area, assuming the regulations and requirements aren't too bad. I've not fully researched this or the online test and permit application. Has anyone ever hunted the Cornell University Deer Management Program?

(Note: burmjohn posted about this on 1/15/14, but I can't open the link to the post that comes up in search.) I've been reading about the Deer Management Focus Area program in Tompkins County (includes land near Ithaca and Cornell) that allows two antlerless deer per day from the second Saturday in January through January 31 (January 13-31, 2018). See DMFA I find this really interesting. Has anyone ever hunted the DMFA season? Going to this January?

https://www.fieldsupply.com/ I bought some gauntlet gloves. I like fieldsupply. They have a new featured deal every day or so. You can really find some good deals on quality gear here. (I am not affiliated with them; just like a bargain.)

I am feeling a lot more thankful now than I did a few weeks ago. Although, I struck out in crossbow and shotgun seasons, two of my hunting buddies each gave me a deer. During muzzleloader, I finally connected on two deer. (I actually gave one to a hunting buddy.) Funny how connecting on a deer can put you in a good mood. Peace, and happy holidays to all.

Will be going out at 1:30 today with a couple hunting buddies for the last hurrah of the season. Yesterday was quite an adventure. Me and two hunting buddies decided to head down to West Valley/Ashford area at the end of the 219 to hunt. We were watching the weather Friday and Friday evening and thought it would be OK. Well, we were wrong. 18" on the ground and it was lake effect snow like crazy at 7:00 a.m. After a discussion, we decided to head up to Niagara county land to hunt. There was snow on the ground, and I was able to connect on my second muzzleloader deer in two days, a nice-sized doe, later Saturday morning. Story here in the muzzleloader harvest thread.

In the same stand in a tree row overlooking a field when I got my first muzzleloader deer. About 80 yards to my left, perpendicular to the tree row is a row of trees that gets a lot of east-wes deer traffic. At my 10 o'clock, about 90 yards away, I see three doe slowly moving East. I Iined up a clear shot on the lead doe and fire away freehand; didn't even bother to zoom in the scope, although I probably could have and should have. No drop. It just scampers off to its hard left, while the other two doe go run away to the left. Fortunately I have an experienced hunting buddy with me. We wait a few minutes, then he goes to look for a blood trail while I direct him to the shot area from my stand. He finds some hair and some fine mist-like drops of blood. He tells me to come down and stay to his side 15 yards away with my muzzleloader ready in case we jump it. Had there not been snow on the ground, it would have very difficult to follow this blood trail. It was intermitant at first, where it first bounded away, and just a fine mist spray of blood in spots. We keep at it, towards the edge of the property. We find a spot where it had bedded down for a while, about 100 yards away, with blood all over the area. Now the trail is getting easier to follow. Finally, after another 50 yards or so, we find the blood trail that is spread out over a wider area, like it was staggering or going side to side. 10 yards away, we find it. A nice sized doe. Although I aimed for the center of the deer, I had shot it in the throat. I am glad it was ultimately a lethal shot, and that we were able to recover it within an hour. Still, I feel bad that it had to suffer unnecessarily like that. This is the second shot in two days that was high and to the right. I think I will need to go to the range and confirm my sights are on. The first shot on Friday was through some tree branches, so I had assumed it had been deflected. But two days in a row? I've been very lucky and fortunate this muzzleloader season.

Yes. Nikon Inline XR 3-9x40.

At about 11:00 this morning I shot my first deer with a muzzleloader, a 6 point buck at 150 yards. I just recently got home after dealing with it. I posted the story in the hunting success stories forum here (I thought there was a muzzleloader harvest thread but couldn't find it.) Sorry for the pic, I was solo and in a hurry. (FWIW, I was aiming for the lungs; it ended up being a neck shot <shrug>.)

I went out solo this morning for muzzleloader. Went to a stand in the back left corner of the property. Saw nothing and started to get cold after two hours, so I took a walk to another stand near the front left corner of the property. Within a few minutes, I see a white tail bounding from right to left, about 100 yards away, then another. They quickly go out of my range of vision, but then they circled back. It was almost like they were playing. I take a look with the rangefinder and see it is a buck chasing two does. I stupidly zoomed in my scope to the max 9x, and now I am struggling to get a deer in the scope. Finally, I spot them and get them in the scope. The buck pauses, I quickly line up a shot and fire away. The buck bounds off to the left again, after the does. I try to watch him go as far as I can. No drop. So I wait a few minutes, get down, reload (you never know) and start looking for tracks, blood or hair. The shot was between 80 and 100 yards, best I could figure. I find the tracks, but no blood or hair. I follow them as far as I could go where I lost the buck to the left of my field of vision. Nothing. Oh well, I missed. At this point I'm near another tree stand at the front center of the property, so I just decide to go sit in that one. It's about 10:45, and I was going to take a lunch/heat break around 11:30 anyway. Go up, get all settled in, etc. and within 5 minutes, almost directly in front of me, I see a buck standing in the middle of the food plot that's in front of the treestand I had just shot from! Well, this time, I'm not rushing it, and he was he kind enough to just stand there in the middle of the food plot and wait for me. I guess he was still looking for the does that gave him the slip. I use the range finder to range him in at 150 yards. Then I look at the chart for my scope/ballistics (I printed it, laminated it front and back with packing tape, and attached it to my scope with a garbage twist tie) and see that the second circle at 8x is 149 yards. So I crank my scope to 8x, carefully like up my shot, and gently pull the trigger. Bam! He drops like he is supposed to. Saw the legs try to move for a few seconds, but that was it. I quickly went to go get the UTV, then went over to field dress him. Although the middle of the day, I was worried about the coyotes coming. Fortunately, that was not an issue. When I finally get to him I see he is a six pointer with a surprisingly wide rack; medium sized body. For my first muzzleloader kill, and my first deer of this season, I'm happy. After two misses in shotgun, and one miss earlier this morning, it was a relief to finally connect. Sorry for the pic. I was solo and in a bit of a hurry.

Oh, don't worry about the slim crack. We'll just kerry on.

BigVal, what style of hunting did you do there? Following tracks, still hunting, climber?

on tape delay . . . . spend 6 hours in the stand in NW Niagara county earlier today. Saw nothing. Had some snow flurries that were starting to stick. We are supposed to get our first real snowstorm tonight and tomorrow, 3-5 inches. I am hopeful that will help bring the deer out, and help me see them in the fields, later this week.

Hey Four Season Whitetails. (May I call you FoSeW for short?) Sorry I took so long to get back to you, I was actually out hunting. This dialogue we've been having has been very enlightening. It's illuminated how you have very poor reading comprehension skills. I asked you who "we" is. I'd like an answer. You like to use the plural pronoun "we" a lot. You allege that there are 10-12 people on this forum that think like you do (that it is OK to mock/attack/bully/whatever another member if you don't like what they have to say), and that they have presumably appointed you as there spokesperson. I guess that makes you the "leader of the pack" @@. Do you think that having these "bully buddies" legitimizes the way you act and talk to people on this board? FWIW, except for Belo, I think they are imaginary like your high school girlfriend, Rosie Palm. But seriously, it doesn't matter how many other members "agree" with you, what you are doing is wrong. It's gone way overboard. Whatever truth there may be with your grievances doesn't justify your actions. You are like a pack of jackals waiting to pounce. (Jackals are canines, but smaller, just like . . . ., well anyway.) Please do report me. I would like to see a moderator get involved in this situation. Oh, and I am glad you are following me. Do try to pay attention and take notes. Maybe you can learn how to be act civil. (Oh wait, was I supposed to be intimidated by your saying you are following me and watching my every post? I'm sorry, I missed that at first. Oooooh, I'm scared. LOL! )

Belo, there is nothing wrong with someone posting a lot or starting a lot of topics. If the posts are not of interest to you, don't read them. You have no right to use someone's posting a lot as a prima facie reason to bully them. More posts help a forum, in general. If the moderators have an issue with the content, that is up to them to address, not you.

Yeah, it sure seems like you can say and do whatever you want on this board. That's a sad reflection of the board if true. Who exactly is this "we" you keep referring to? I am not afraid to stand alone and speak up for what I think is right. Yet you need the mental security blanket of others, real or imagined, to be a bully. That sounds more like cowardness to me.

It's almost pathetic how you brain works as far as how you think you can talk to people. You are a classic bully. It sounds like you really take comfort in your 10-12 "bully buddies", the way you keep mentioning them as justification for your behavior. I know there are a few here that may think like you, that's it OK to verbally abuse people, but I really hope it's not that many. And, again, as I told you above, I am not going to let you off easy by ignoring you. The website guidelines (I found them, fwiw) state, "You are strictly prohibited from communicating on or through the Website any unlawful, harmful, offensive, threatening, abusive, libelous, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, fraudulent, sexually explicit, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable material of any sort . . . ." If I see you violating these rules, I will call you on it. Maybe if I do in enough the moderators will start doing their jobs and start calling a spade a spade when it comes to your bullying behavior.

So you think how you treat certain people is OK because no one from the board gave you a warning and you didn't "break any site rules" (Are there any rules for this site? I would love to see them.) Well, I think your wrong. I do wish the moderators would step in and say enough is enough with respect to your and others bullying, but since they haven't, I, speaking for myself, am. And while I could simply ignore your posts, I won't. Allowing your bullying to continue unchallenged would send a wrong message to all of the current and future members of this board.

I'd be curious to know what your experience was hunting there, if you would care to make a new topic on that when you have time.

Four Season Whitetails, do you have a reading comprehension problem? You still keep trying to prove and defend your "point". Your bullying is NOT justified no matter what you and others say. If you don't like what a certain member says, then just block them or report their post to a moderator. You don't have the right, no matter how much money you contribute to the board, to mock and belittle other members of this forum.