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2019 Deer check-in thread.

MEB said:
Got my first deer ever on Saturday night, using archery equipment and a tree saddle. It was a tough season but so much fun and I learned a ton. I’m very happy to have some meat this year. Most likely 1.5 y.o. doe
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Very Cool! Congrats
 
Eye round - cut into 1" steaks. Use one of those Jacquard tenderizer things on it, both sides. Toss them in a dutch oven to brown both sides. Pull em. Toss a chopped onion in there. Let it sweat. Add a container of sliced baby Bella mushrooms. Let sweat. Salt as needed. Toss back in the steaks. Cover with beef broth and add 2 Tbsp or so of Worcester-shir-ee sauce. Cover and bake for 2 hours at about 275.

Remove the steaks. Put the dutch oven on the stove. Turn on burner barely (just to keep ti all warm) and thicken with corn starch slurry.

Serve. Better than any Salisbury Steak you've ever had. And with that tenderizing and the vertical grain of the eye round, it'll be tender as hell.
 
393E4397-D738-419A-9B36-23091FE118F9.jpeg


Went to try my hand at one more day of shotgun season until next year. I spent 5 hours and trekked 5 miles in the woods. Right when I was going to hang it up for the day I looked to my right on a logging road and the same shot presented itself as my first deer on Day 1. She was looking right at me from 50 yards through the woods by the shoreline but her entire body was visible this time. I took aim and shot right behind the shoulders. She jumped once and slumped down the embankment towards the water. I could tell it was a devastating vital shot with significant blood thrown. 2 more does hidden behind her lept up and scattered. She died within 10 seconds. I had to drag her out of the fractured ice.

Shot was through the right front shoulder, through the mediastinum, and out the other lung. The heart was almost clean shorn off it’s major vessels feeding the top. Saved the heart as the only organ meat. I made a very small field dress hole this time, drained, packed with snow, and strapped on my little cargo carrier for my CX-5.
Note to self: be careful reaching into the chest cavity after such a shot. The ribs are sharp.
 
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djbradles said:
View attachment 318026


Went to try my hand at one more day of shotgun season until next year. I spent 5 hours and trekked 5 miles in the woods. Right when I was going to hang it up for the day I looked to my right on a logging road and the same shot presented itself as my first deer on Day 1. She was looking right at me from 50 yards through the woods by the shoreline but her entire body was visible this time. I took aim and shot right behind the shoulders. She jumped once and slumped down the embankment towards the water. I could tell it was a devastating vital shot with significant blood thrown. 2 more does hidden behind her lept up and scattered. She died within 10 seconds. I had to drag her out of the fractured ice.

Shot was through the right front shoulder, through the mediastinum, and out the other lung. The heart was almost clean shorn off it’s major vessels feeding the top. Saved the heart as the only organ meat. I made a very small field dress hole this time, drained, packed with snow, and strapped on my little cargo carrier for my CX-5.
Note to self: be careful reaching into the chest cavity after such a shot. The ribs are sharp.
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Awesome. That’s two for your first season. Nicely done.

Yes, the ribs can be sharp. You need to be especially careful if you archery hunt. Make sure that you find your broadhead and make sure that you can account for the blades before you field dress the deer.

If you can’t find the broadhead assume that it is inside the deer and be very careful field dressing the deer. I have seen blades break off inside the deer as well as the entire head being inside the deer.

This year is a first for me in over 35 years of hunting. It is the only time I never made it out at all during shotgun between the weather and some health issues.

Bob
 
HorizontalHunter said:
Awesome. That’s two for your first season. Nicely done.

Yes, the ribs can be sharp. You need to be especially careful if you archery hunt. Make sure that you find your broadhead and make sure that you can account for the blades before you field dress the deer.

If you can’t find the broadhead assume that it is inside the deer and be very careful field dressing the deer. I have seen blades break off inside the deer as well as the entire head being inside the deer.

This year is a first for me in over 35 years of hunting. It is the only time I never made it out at all during shotgun between the weather and some health issues.

Bob
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We can still do a muzzleloader day. You chill and I’ll drive.
 
ccm75 said:
Vac sealer on my list. Which one did you buy and what kind of bags are you using?
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I bought the food saver brand from Walmart it was about $100 with some extra rolls of material for bags.
I believe it was the fm2000 model.
Works well and you can buy pre made bags or the rolls and make any size bag you want
 
That last piece was the thicker left ventricular wall which was cooked to perfection. The other flaps were almost medium rare and were tasty but rare is the way to go for me.
 
HorizontalHunter said:
I used to eat the livers until the cadmium warnings came out but never the kidneys.

Bob
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Knowing what I know about livers from A&P back in college I would never eat one. It’s the filter house for everything bad in the body plus several other functions. Kidneys act similarly but less toxins are found there.
 
Sick toddler and baby in my house so I didn’t go out yesterday morning. Putting away the deer shotgun for the season is always sad! I did go out to the marsh for sunset though, looking for ducks. Foggy as hell and nothing came within range.
I picked up my share of the deer from our group hunts last Friday. It’s gotta be 30lbs at least. Good haul.
Today after bowling pins I’ll sight in the smoke pole again but it should be right on. The scope hasn’t left the barrel since I added it last year.
Hoping for some cold snowy days before New Years.
 
Got out Saturday afternoon and found fresh tracks of 3 deer, but light was diminishing rapidly. Bumped at moose while attempting to get in front of the tracks I was following, and that was the end of my day. Spotted a rabbit on my way out. For the season so far, spotted as many moose as I have deer.

Looks like we'll have some good snow to work with after Tuesday.
 
Tomorrow will be a key stalk and shoot friends. Thin coat of snow over ice. Crunchy yes but plan your steps and I hope to see more kills this season. I will be going back out but not tomorrow. I have to process my deer from Friday since temps are dropping fast beyond freezing. Thursday/Friday/ Saturday will be super sunny and bitter cold. Excellent weather. If I get another deer it will be donated.
 
djbradles said:
Tomorrow will be a key stalk and shoot friends. Thin coat of snow over ice. Crunchy yes but plan your steps and I hope to see more kills this season. I will be going back out but not tomorrow. I have to process my deer from Friday since temps are dropping fast beyond freezing. Thursday/Friday/ Saturday will be super sunny and bitter cold. Excellent weather. If I get another deer it will be donated.
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Good luck tomorrow. If you have crampons put them on your going to need them.

Bob
 
djbradles said:
Alright. I think my max butchering of deer by myself is going to be no more than 2 per year. Golly....
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Yeah. Thats all I do. Even less if I have meat in the freezer.

MA doesnt have a lot of deer. Theres no reason to kill the only ones you see just to donate them.

I used to donate them for CT. But it becomes a lot of work. Now I just let them walk. I let 20 deer walk in my last two day CT hunt.

How many of you even see that many deer never mind have the opportunity to take them? This is with a bow.

Reset your thinking if you havent even had a chance to get one with a gun, which is ten times easier. Yet your in zone 9 plus where they give out doe permits like crazy.

Watch some hunts in PA where guys see 20 deer a day yet shoot nothing.
Very few people in MA have restraint like that. They see brown they kill it.
Why I have no idea why you want to kill 5 or 6 small deer and give half of it away or waste it to freezer burn.
 

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