Deer Season 23-24

[GaTrapper]

Post your 23-24 deer season success pictures here! 

[GaTrapper]

Was lucky enough to shoot this doe last Saturday morning (23 September). Shot her at 32 yards. She ran 20 yards and stood there for a second, laid down, and flipped over. I dont know if she knew what happened. 



 

[beenthere]

That a yearling doe? 

[GaTrapper]

Nope. Big doe for my area. 

[thecfarm]

Good for you.
We are in moose season now.
Bear too.
Have to wait for deer for a few more weeks.
I don't hunt, so don't keep track of all the seasons.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Congrats on the fat doe. I love it when they never know they've been shot like that.

   Our bow, which includes crossbows, season started today. I will watch the weather and go hunt a little along when we have nights cool enough to hang one to chill overnight but not freeze. I need 2-3 this year for the freezer and caning purposes.

[TroyC]

Howard, I think you posted your venison canning recipe before, but could you re post or direct me to it? I think I might try canning some this year so I don't have to freeze and thaw it.

[WV Sawmiller]

Troy,

  Any Beef/meat canning recipe will work (and probably are all the same) but here it is:

Cut your deer (or other game) meat into small chunks to fit in canning jars
(I use the small trimmings off my deer for this)

Pack the fruit jars tightly to the bottom of the rim (about 1/2" from the top)

Fill the empty space to the bottom of the rim with hot water

Put on the lids and rings and tighten

Place in a pressure cooker with the amount of water specified (A couple of quarts sounds right)

Place and tighten the lid and put on the stove for 10 lbs pressure

Heat till the pressure ring starts to jiggle

Reduce heat so the pressure ring jiggles 2-3 times per minute

Cook 75 minutes for pints (or half pints) and 90 minutes for quarts.

Remove from heat and allow the cooker to cool naturally
(Warning - removing pressure ring and allowing the pressure off too soon will pull the liquid out of the jars)

Once cooled/pressure is gone, remove the jars and tighten the rings - be very careful doing this and if a ring is cock-eyed don't touch it as I had one blow off a quart of canned apples one time and got serious burns from it. The lids should all snap down sealed. If any do not seal refrigerate and use it in the immediate future.

  Some people put a little salt in with the raw meat. I do not. I am looking for a recipe to make corned deer in the jar. I think it is just a matter of adding the right spices but I have not found the detailed recipe for it.

   If you have a rack you may be able to stack and do multiple rows of jars at the same time. The meat cooks in the jar and is ready to eat when open. If you don't have a full cooker put empty jars in as space fillers.

  We drain it, add a little onion and BBQ sauce and it makes great BBQ. We diced and brown taters and onions and add the drained meat to make hash. You can drain and add Cream of Mushroom sauce and serve it over rice like stroganoff. My wife has made soup with it but I prefer hamburger which has more fat and flavor.

[stavebuyer]

I have some room in my freezer, so I thought I might just tag a plump doe during bow season. But I just had to let these pass on by...



 

[Southside]

WV - I have a sea duck canning recipe from back when that came to mind when you explained what you do.  
 
Dress, pluck, and rub the duck with butter, then season the sea duck with salt, pepper, old bay, garlic, and pepper.

Place the duck into a large pot of hot water in which a 10 lb or so stone has been heating for at least 1/2 hour.  Granite is the traditional material, but I am sure others work too.  

Continue to heat the pot for 45 minutes per lb of duck.

Remove the duck and stone from the pot of water.  

Throw away the duck and eat the stone, it will taste better and be more tender.   :D

[Old Greenhorn]

We used to do something like that with Bluefish when I was a kid. Same spices and rubs, then roll it in newpaper and bake at 350° for about an hour. Throw away the fish and eat the newspaper.

[WV Sawmiller]

SS & Tom,

  I heard the same for cooking a fox where you quartered the fox and put him on a cypress board, covered him with fresh cow manure, baked so many hours and threw it all away and ate the board.

  I can't vouch for any of the others but I can vouch for the canned deer and have had some several years old that was still good to use and tasted fine.

[Walnut Beast]

Nice picture Stavebuyer. I would have done the same thing!

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 
128 lb crossbow kill but my hunts are never that simple!

 I went this morning and saw 5 deer and one turkey but let them go. I went back up about 3:00pm and decided to let Sampson, my Rat Terrier go with me as he really wanted to go. I was in a shooting house so figured he'd quiet down and not know when the deer were around. Partially right. He did quiet down but about 4:00 I spotted a nice doe about 70-80 yards away and headed my way. I decided to take her. Sampson heard or smelled her and started trying to bark at her. She did not pay any attention. She got under the feeder in front and steep angle below. I shot and missed. I guess the steep angle made me shoot too low. She jumped but did not leave so I stepped back out of sight and recocked and reloaded the crossbow. She was about 20 yards away so I got the crosshairs on her heart area and shot. She jumped and ran about 80 yards towards the gate and my ATV and I lost sight of her. I had seen bright red on her left side. I could see both sides and never saw her leave so decided she must be dead so I got out and walked over with Sampson in the lead. The doe jumped up with him in hot pursuit. I heard him bark down by the creek a few minutes later so walked down there but did not see the deer or Sampson.

 I walked back to the shooting house and started searching till I found the blood trail. I found where it crossed the trail and down the hill. I frequently lost the trail and would put my walking stick pr hat at the last spot I saw blood and would make small circles till I found the next spot. There are lots of yellow maple leaves with small spots of red that make it hard to find. I trailed for over an hour and probably 400-500 yards. Finally the trail crossed the property line and down a steep slope on a very sketchy trail over a cliff face. I found the last blood spot and none on the trail ahead so figured she had to have gone down. It was probably over 100' and almost sheer but I figured with my walking stick digging in the bank and a couple of well placed trees along the way I could make. Nope! After 10-12 feet in the thick leaves my feet slipped and I was heading down the slope uncontrollably picking up speed. When you are a kid sliding in the leaves is fun, At 70 not so much! At one point a little over halfway down I got sideways and rolled several feet that way and remember thinking "I wonder what I'm gonna break this time?" Well, I finally stopped rolling and was able to get up. I saw my hat about15 feet up the hill and got it. Then I saw my deer about 30 feet away. She was about 20' from the property line back on my side of the line. It really was an excellent tracking job but a poor choice of routes off the mountain.

 I walked back home and went back up to my ATV and collected my Crossbow and gear and hooked the little cart to the ATV and was able to drive right up to her. She was already stiff and I finally got her loaded and back home. I called her in for our Game Check in, weighed and cleaned her and have her in a couple of reefers chilling to cut up tomorrow.

 When I was taking inventory tonight I realized my cell phone is missing. I am pretty sure it came out of my pocket on my tumble down the slope so I'll call AT&T and see if they can turn it back on and we'll get as close as possible and call and see if I can find it and if I can get to it without a repelling rope. :


 
This photo does not do justice to the slope but this is where I rolled down and where I['m thinking my phone is hiding.

 I found the first bolt I shot but not the one that killed the doe.
 

[Walnut Beast]

Congratulations. So when Samson was nowhere to be found was he by the deer? 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Apparently after Sampson chased the deer over the cliff and was certain she was no longer a threat he came back and told me we were both safe and it was time for me to go get him a treat. : I am pretty sure I heard him bark at the deer but he did not stay there and "hold her at bay" like he was supposed to do. :D He may not be the worlds best hunting dog but I still love him. ;D

UPDATE:

I found the bolt that killed the deer. Point is mangled and the cock feather (fletching) is gone. I can re-use the bolt if I put a new fletching on it and replace the point. It was about 20 yards past where I had shot the deer. I don't know if it went through and flew that far or it hung in her ribs and fell out there. I suspect it was a complete pass through and still went  that far.

No luck on the cell phone. I figure its a permanent loss. AT&T could not help and if I ever call them again I am going to order Babbel 2 months ahead and learn Tagalog first.

[TroyC]

Howard, I'm getting close to using the canning recipe. I read one in a pressure cooker insert that included browning the venison first. You ever tried it that way and if so, notice any difference?

[thecfarm]

No idea what you have for a phone.
But Jeff lost his and found it.

[WV Sawmiller]

Troy,

  I never browned any meat I canned. I just canned it raw with no issues.

Ray,

  I had a cheap flip phone from AT&T. I read that thread where Jeff recovered his but maybe he speaks Tagalog and could communicate with the service desk people. I could not and have given up on it. The only big issue is the phone number on it. I got smart and saved them all to the SIM card instead of the phone. Of course guess where the SIM card is right now? :

[SawyerTed]

Put this narrow rack 9 point in the cooler this morning. 


 

[newoodguy78]

Nice looking buck. 

[trapper]

Cleaning windows sealing cracks putting buddy heater and tank in my blind this afternoon 2 deer came into the field my blind is next to,  Makes me hopeful for when gun season opens Saturday. Evicted a mouse that chewed some foam.   What are they doing seven feet off the ground and no food in the blind?

[gspren]

In Oct I got a doe in PAs special senior antlerless season, one of the few benefits of getting old. Last Friday, November 10th I got a buck in DE, it's a 7-8-9 point depending on who counts, I call it a 7 point, one side is palmated non typical but I'm a meat hunter so I shoot what I see.

[WV Sawmiller]

gspren,

   WV opened their youth hunts up to seniors. First we had one Saturday hunt for youth in October then they opened Sunday hunting and made it 2 days in October then they added the 2 days after Christmas and a few years ago they opened it to resident seniors. Only antlerless deer (Antlers less than 3" or does) and these deer do not count against our bag limit so I refer to them as our free deer.

[trapper]

grandson got a buck Sunday. son got one yesterday and  I got a forkhorn today.  We all have doe tags left.  All year old bucks.