WV Whitetail 2022

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
Well, my little camera is back from the shop and seems to be working fine except for poor operator skills that don't show the 6" antlers on this spike I harvested today. It was the last day of rifle season and my ATV accident 13 days ago and broken ribs have prevented me from getting much chance to chase the deer this rifle season. Today was a very good day to be out with very little wind, cloudy and in the 30's. When I approached my shooting house shown previously in another thread there was a very big turkey gobbler helping himself to my corn. He spotted my orange coat and remembered business elsewhere when I was about 60 yards from him. I got in my stand about 1130 this morning.

  I sat and re-read a Wilbur Smith book till about 4:30 when Annie, my little orphan doe fawn came out to feed on the corn thrown at the 4:00 feeding. Another small doe came up from the draw below and looked to be about the same size or smaller but in her face she looked older with no reddish tint like Annie has and may have just been a small yearling from last year. Or maybe Annie is bigger than I am thinking she is.

 About 4:45 another deer came up from the draw and also looked like a small deer but he had a pair of small spikes I thought were pencil diameter but obviously over 3" which is our legal length for an antlered buck. Of course today was also concurrent antlerless so anything was legal but there will be more antlerless seasons later this month.

  The does ran away when this buck showed up. He fed under me for half an hour. Sunset was at 5:05 today and legal shooting light is 30 minutes after that. I kept watching him and hoping a bigger buck would come out but decided I'd harvest him if nothing else showed. At 5:15 he finished eating and walked behind my stand and was leaving and was about 25-30 yards away and I put the crosshairs on his right chest and shot him with my Remington 7600 30-06 pump with a 150 grain softpoint. He ran about 10' and folded up. I picked up my gear and climbed down and when I got to him I found he was a good bit bigger than I was expecting. I was thinking 70-80 lbs tops and he turned out to be 130 lbs. I had to drag him up about 10' of elevation over 50' then 200 yards level then another 150 yards down hill to my ATV trail. Getting him the first 50' was about all I could do with my sore ribs. I tied him behind my ATV and dragged him 400-500 yards to my skinning rack.

  I lifted and weighed then cut off the head and front legs and pulled the hide off. I cut off the shoulders, then the neck, pulled the brisket and backstraps and trimmed a couple quarts of trimmings for canning or sausage then lowered and gutted him, pulled the tenderloins, and hung the ribs and hind quarters in my log barn for processing tomorrow. It is supposed to be in the 20's tonight so the meat will keep and hopefully it won't freeze there.

  I'll finish cutting it up and start the backstraps corning and maybe make a cooker or two of canned deer and package the rest as roasts (Neck & Shoulders) and cubed steaks (hams).

  Local processors are charging about $100 to cut up a deer. After I got done tonight I am wondering if I should not have just done that.

[TroyC]

I use an old hand cart pulled  behind my 4 wheeler for recovery. Welded a trailer hitch on it with a couple extra cross pieces. Put some rope holders (chain link halves) along the sides for tying. Works great. Goes anywhere a 4 wheeler will.

[beenthere]

Good score.

[Walnut Beast]

Congratulations! 

[Ricker]

Nice eater right there.  100 bucks is a good price, it's work but I like doing my own. Dad and I cut up many, many deer. He's gone now but we usually have a few good conversations while hunting or cutting up.  That is priceless.

[YellowHammer]

Congratulations.  I just paid $105 last night for the one I got yesterday.  I used to do the whole butcher and process thing, but now I field dress them, use my front end loader to get them out of the woods and lay them in the truck without damaging antlers or meat, and they come back in vacuum bags. 

I love hunting but...the guy who does mine is a professional butcher who moonlights as a meat processor and does a great job, 

[WV Sawmiller]

Robert,

   Congrats or your success. My son sent one to a local guy the first week of season who processes them and was happy with the $100 fee and he got it back in 2 days. He likes the guys work.

   I am so close to my skinning rack which is pretty much all downhill that I never field dress them although I considered it yesterday to reduce the weight. I find they are much easier to skin intact because the hide does not hold to the meat as bad when intact and especially if you can skin them while still warm. I keep a pan handy and save the little pieces of meat that want to tear loose while skinning.

   This one was on the lip of a deep draw and I could have pulled him straight down it to my pasture below but then I'd have had a very long walk back uphill up the other draw to my ATV. If he'd been a few yards further down in the draw that is what I'd have to have done.

    I like to shoot a nice buck because of the bigger deer size and more meat but I am definitely a meat hunter so am very happy with this one. As I mentioned I misgauged his size or I'd likely have shot him as soon as I saw him as he was a young mature buck. He'd have gotten bigger next year but not a whole lot. 

   If I did not shoot him yesterday, unless I got a shot at him in muzzleloader season in 2 weeks, he'd never have been legal again till next year as I doubt I will be able to pull a bow again this year. 

    We still have a week of muzzleloader season then 8-10 days of antlerless season. Two of those are youth/senior days when I could kill an antlerless deer each day that does not count against my license/limit. I'd like to harvest 1 and preferably 2 more deer for the freezer if I get the chance as we eat a lot of deer meat and I've used up nearly all we had. For some reason I am not seeing the does I usually do but have seen more bucks this year than ever before.

   Since we usually have more time available I enjoy the processing and if I were not stove up I'd enjoy this one more.

[WV Sawmiller]

Troy,

   The hand cart seems to work well but I think our terrain is too steep even for them. Usually it is all downhill on top of heavy leaf matter and they slide good. In fact the last stretch I just nudge them and they slide and roll till they hang on a bush then I go repeat. If you don't turn loose they will pull you down the hill with them. At the bottom is my ATV trail. Part of that is too steep to even want them in the front basket so its either drag them or load them on the seat behind. I just drag them and hardly notice the hair loss off the hide which I am not going to save or sell. I used to sell them for about $4 each. Not much but I had to skin him anyway. Now they aren't even bringing that so I use feed the coyotes and crows.

[TroyC]

Makes sense. I hunted the pan handle of West Virginia couple of times. Deer there had short legs on one side so they could walk around the mountains without falling over  :D

I hunt central Georgia now and the hand cart works great. I take it in the swamp where you don't want to walk. Goes anywhere the 4 wheeler goes.

[TroyC]

The HF tires only last a couple years but they are cheap on sale  
 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Do you have one of this carts that look like it has bicycle wheels on it? I see them used to pack out game and similar types to help carry canoes and such to remote areas.

   I was stationed in Albany when in USMC and used to hunt up in Randolph county which sounds similar to what you describe. Ga had good hunting and straight forward regs and I enjoyed it there.

   I see you posted the picture which answers the tire size questions. Thanks.

[TroyC]

Yep, got one of those also. My girlfriend's father was an aluminum welder and he made this one to use in Delaware. Works really great for manual pulling and pushing on flat land but if you try to go sideways with it the bicycle tires will bend over. It is a decoration in my shop now  ;D
 

[thecfarm]

Thanks for the deer story!!

[beenthere]

Skinning deer from the neck down will not pick up the fly muscles and involves less time cutting those muscles back out to the hide.

A small rock or golf ball under the skin at the nape of the neck tied to a post and the head tied to the tractor bucket.. hide slips off easily (guts or no guts).





Made a deer hauling buggy similar to the timber carrier @ljohnsaw made out of two bicycles.
Link
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[beenthere]

WV

I used to sell them for about $4 each. Not much but I had to skin him anyway. Now they aren't even bringing that so I use feed the coyotes and crows.

Our Wisconsin Lions Clubs collect donated deer hides and prep them for selling to a tannery.
Reported last year the hides brought over $80,000 for the Lions foundation. Mounts up, but takes a lot of volunteer effort to collect the hides.

[YellowHammer]

TroyC, I'm not sure I would have cleaned that deer, it looks pretty tough.   :D :D  Certainly has a good case or the rigor.

Here is the little one I got yesterday, I was amazed at how much fat it had on it.  I guess they are enjoying my green fields.  As I harvest trees off our property, I always do it with a strategy to generate a network of roads that are tractor wide. If I'm lucky, I may only have to drag one a few yards to where I can get to it with the front end loader.

I love the golf ball skinning technique, especially since it means gutting isn't necessary.  Just fillet the deer and done.  However, the processor I use doesn't want all the nasty stuff where is working, so refuses to gut them.  So I just field dress them hanging by the tractor or skid steer forks as I tote them out of the woods.  It only takes a minute or three and it give me a chance to inspect the meat and guts for disease.    

[WV Sawmiller]

BT,

   I have seen the trick of skinning them headfirst but have never tried that. I may have to do so. Finding a rock in WV to make a "button" under the skin is never going to be a problem in WV. ;) Thanks for the pics and suggestion.

   Yeah I think hides were bringing $1-$2 last years. Takes a lot of hides to earn $80,000. Since I moved to WV I can no figure complicated math like that. :D

    My wife is a Lion and the local club is selling Christmas trees and running a food station at various special events. I get roped into helping a lot but they do good work.

Robert,

   Real nice looking deer. Congrats again. Is the limit in Ala still one per day for about 2-3 month season? The last time I hunted there (back before the earth's crust had finished cooling) that is what it was.

[Magicman]

If/when you do the "rock head first" skinning be absolutely positive that the hanging rope is stronger than the pulling rope. 

Suggestion made by a friend.  ;D

[YellowHammer]

Another helpful tip, when cleaning gut shot deer at night, be careful about the golf ball (we always used walnuts or rocks) technique.  I had a buddy who was standing a little too close in the dark when a gut shot deer was being skinned.  When the deer abdominal cavity came under pressure from being stretched by the rope hooked to a Jeep, my buddy's attention was diverted as he was tipping back a cold beer, and he didn't see the 10 foot long, fire hose sized column of green stomach contents spray him right where the beer met his face.  It was absolutely hilarious, not to mention stinky, and to his credit, he didn't throw up.  We almost did but were laughing too hard.  He had a choice to either ride home on the back of the truck on a cold winter evening (with a fresh beer) or jump into the creek and get the horrible stank off him.  

You are correct, at one point Alabama had a 65 day gun season, in addition to an archery season, with a deer a day, either sex.  It has been reduced a good bit now, with I think 3 bucks a year now.  I generally only shoot a couple a year, one a meat deer and one a 10 point or better.  Some years I get the second one, some not.  We have lots and lots of does, more of them than squirrels because many will throw twins.

As I type this sitting in my chair in front of the TV set, there are 3 does about 50 yards away, eating away in the rain. They are safe, but they look wet and miserable.




      

[SawyerTed]

Howard, that's good eating. 

I've been using the golf ball method for skinning deer for many years.  It saves having to gut them especially does.  Just avoid using the golf ball method on deer harvested by a neck shot, it can be a bit gruesome. 

Here are a couple of my 2022 season brutes. I'm down to antlerless deer on my tags now. 



 

 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Dang! I'm getting embarrassed to even show my puny little 6" spike looking at those bruisers you guys are showing. :( :D

[SawyerTed]

No sir Howard!  Enjoy your hunting!  Enjoy your harvest!  

I've put my share of meat deer in the freezer.  This is an unusual year for me.  

Frankly, I'd rather have a big nanny doe than all those horns.  You run out of places to display them.  

[WV Sawmiller]

Ted.

  Just be sure you don't move the wedding picture of you and your bride and put one there! :D (If you do be sure it is one she killed.)

  I just prepped and weighed the backstraps, tenderloin and brisket and made my corning solution and have that in the downstairs fridge pickling for another 5-6 days. I cut up the shoulders and neck into bone-in roasts and those are vacuum sealed. I deboned the rest of the deer but need to trim some fat and sinew off the leg muscle pieces and slice and cube and wrap  them. If I get ambitions I might jar up the trimmings and make a batch (10 pints) of canned deer later tonight but will probably do that tomorrow afternoon.

  I even tossed some scraps in a couple of live traps on the porch to see if the coons like that or if I have gotten rid of them. I've caught and sent 4 coons to Happy Mountain in the last 2 nights.

[SawyerTed]

My bride is happy to eat any venison I harvest.  She won't ever be killing a deer herself.   I got her to help me get one out of a particularly steep hollow.  She cried the whole time!  I don't do that anymore.  

She will put fish in the cooler but can't bring herself to hunt.  She's said if she had to kill the meat she eats, she'd become a vegetarian.  I suspect she would learn to fish, it is genetic in her family lol