SZ Gun opener plans

[wolc123]

I finalized my plans this morning and picked out my "target" buck from a group of (4).   He looks like a near-match to the 2.5 year 8-point that I killed with my crossbow last Saturday on the opposite corner of DMU 9f.   If all goes well, he will stroll by a stand that I have left un-hunted thru archery season.  He was headed that way when I last saw him.   If he don't, then I will be able to enjoy Adirondack deer hunting over the Thanksgiving long weekend, which is something I really missed last year after tagging out on opening day.   

[ATbuckhunter]

Ive got a Jiu jitsu competition that day so no opener for me this year. Ill be out sunday though

[Nomad]

Sitting in the green hut with my daughter , I really don’t care if I shoot  one in gun, two big deers last year so left over meat ,and I got  75# off my 10pt in bow .

My cam showed bucks in front of hut 3 out of last 5 mornings  , wind is right for me to hang  scent to draw them out as well . It’s all about her , and hunting with friends, going out to lunch ,total low pressure gun season .

[doebuck1234]

Already got my bow buck yesterday and Im the only one who eats it in the house so not too worried about a 2nd deer.typically i spread it out with sister,gma and parents as ill do but getting my dad his first will make my season complete for sure.may sit seperate or may team up with him n try some calls on a buck that i know is in the area.

[wolc123]

Being a pure meat hunter, opening day is often a high-pressure day for me, since that is the day when about half of our meat usually comes in (our family of four consumes about 200 pounds a year and I am the only one who hunts).  Our meat situation is very good right now, so the pressure will be off this year.   Normally, I look for a "three on a side" minimum, during the first half of the seasons.  I am upping that to: "four on a side",  "outside the ears", or clearly 2.5 years plus this season, for the first time ever.  I am still hoping to get a fawn on my last archery hunt tomorrow afternoon, to top off the freezer with some of that "fit-for-a-king" venison.  

It might sound odd for a meat-hunter to be that selective with a bucktag, but dmp's are very hard to fill where I hunt due to heavy pressure on antlerless deer by farmers with "nuisance-permits", prior to October 1.   I see at least (6) antlered deer per each antlerless while hunting.  2.5 year plus bucks provide a lot more meat than 1.5's, so I need to be selective, or face more store-bought chicken on the table.   

I was blessed with a button buck last season, and still have a few roasts from that left for "special occasions". If things go like they have for the last (38) seasons, this will be an "off-year" on those.   One way or another (gun, bow, crossbow, ML,  automobile, or gift from friend), we have ended up with one of those every other year over that stretch.   

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by wolc123

[wolc123]

3 hours ago, blackbeltbill said:

I have read your posts for a long time now. Just curious here if you use the Supermarket for anything. Be it Bananas,Catfood, Yogurts, Peanut Butter Wheat Bread, Warm Cloths, or do you have a big garden, Fruit Trees, to cover all your food needs. You already mentioned 200+ lbs of Deer Meat. Any Small Game like Squirrels or the occasional Turkey? Serious post here.

I stop for essentials (including bananas-which I eat two a day, Genny light - which I drink one a day, and milk) at a local produce market, once a week or so.   It is owned by an extended family member and is a quick easy & stop on my drive home from work.  It is only a couple miles away and I can take lightly-traveled back roads there and back.   My wife stops at the big supermarkets, out on the main highway, for other stuff: vegetables, paper products, pork, and often more chicken than I would prefer.    Other than fish, which we have one or two times a month to stay within the recommended NY state consumption guidelines, the only wild game my wife and kids eat is venison.   Fortunately, venison tacos are the kids favorite meal so we get that a lot.   They also like almost anything made with ground venison, like spaghetti with meat sauce, lasagna, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage, chile, etc.   

The ground meat is always the first thing to get used up (I never cut it with pork as many seem to do).  I ground all of the de-boned meat from last Saturday's 2.5 year old 8-pointer (except for the tenderloins, backstraps, liver, heart, and oysters), and we still had a bunch of vacuum-sealed left in the freezer from last year's massive 3.5 year old gun-season swamp-buck, so we are in very good shape there right now.   We also ate out a lot more than usual last year, so our venison consumption was down a bit. To save time, I always package the grind from the first deer in zip-lock freezer bags (putting something that will be gone in a few months in vacuum sealed bags is a big waste of time and money).  Vacuum sealed venison will last at least (4) years with no freezer burn or loss in flavor. 

I eat squirrels and rabbits, cooked in the crockpot, but my wife and kids will not (youngest daughter tried squirrel once but will not any more.   They did eat the breast of the hen-turkey that I killed last fall, but did not act like they enjoyed it.  I suspect they would have liked it a lot better if it "magically" had appeared out of a freezer package.  I thought the drum-sticks were very good.  It has been a few years since I killed a grouse, but that is still the finest tasting "bird" I have ever eaten.      

Edited November 10, 2019 by wolc123

[Hock3y24]

I’ve already got all the venison I need for this year with the 5 bow deer I’ve gotten between pa,ny. However I know a few good families that will take a deer and I fully plan on getting them some during gun. Got 2 dmp and my buck tag left for ny and a buck and doe tag in pa. I won’t shoot a small buck though. 

[wolc123]

4 hours ago, Hock3y24 said:

I’ve already got all the venison I need for this year with the 5 bow deer I’ve gotten between pa,ny. However I know a few good families that will take a deer and I fully plan on getting them some during gun. Got 2 dmp and my buck tag left for ny and a buck and doe tag in pa. I won’t shoot a small buck though. 

Had I not blew it on two does last year (one gun misfire at my folks place, followed by a miss on her caused by a bad scope, then another missed doe up in the Adirondacks due to striking a branch with my ML) , I would have given one to my brother in law.  He raises beef cattle and makes awesome jerky from a 50/50 mix of ground venison and beef.   The straight beef stuff is too oily and the straight venison stuff is too dry.    Hopefully, I can fill at least one dpm tag this year and set him up a little better.  Usually he has plenty of folks giving him deer but last year he came up empty.  My kids like that jerky a lot and we really missed it last year.  

In 38 years of hunting, I have never killed a doe at my folks place  I had another late season mis-fire from the same gun about 15 years ago, which saved another big one.   The place is literally crawling with bucks though, so I am reluctant to try for the only doe that seems to be around over there, until after my gun buck tag is filled.   One of her fawns (especially if it is a button buck) is certainly on my hit list though and will NOT go towards making jerky.  Hopefully, he makes it to "deer heaven" this afternoon.