Some Local Deer

[assateague]

These are all from about a 3 square mile area around the house. Only one was mine, though. But Illinois has nothing on us down here!

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[FlintRiverFowler]

Holy hell. they rarely get that big down here if ever.

[Flightstopper]

Monsters for sure

[assateague]

Don't get me wrong- I will not wait for a buck. A does steps out, a doe gets shot. We're allowed unlimited does, with rifle, bow, and muzzleloader, and 2 bucks per weapon per year, so there's really no need to wait. Add in 30-some crop damage tags, and I get my fill. Damn things are like rats anymore.

[Flightstopper]

I almost wish we had that problem. We can only shoot does during bow season in the county I'm in. Bucks also have to be over 13" spread unless its a spike.

[jarbo03]

Definitely some very nice deer. We have some monsters around here also, go west a bit and there are giant muleys.

[JGUN]

Nice bucks! Ours are still in velvet now though.

[3legged_lab]

We're allowed unlimited does, with rifle, bow, and muzzleloader, and 2 bucks per weapon per year, so there's really no need to wait. Add in 30-some crop damage tags, and I get my fill. Damn things are like rats anymore.

jeez, we get one deer per year with only a very few exceptions of some special draws that will allow you a second. There are even limited chances to kill a doe, most go to youth hunter draws I think.

[jarbo03]

We can shoot 1 buck and up to 7 does I believe. I haven't killed a deer in 8 years or so.

[duckkillerclyde]

Do you only have white tail?

[assateague]

Me? For the most part. We also have Sika deer in the marshes. They're small, about like a German Shepherd, and related to elk. They start bugling in September. They're very tasty, but really hard to kill, since they rarely venture out of the tall marsh grass. I think we get one bull and two cows per weapon of those, also. I've only ever shot one.

[duckkillerclyde]

our mule deer taste like sage brush and sand. and the black tail taste a lot better. I've never had the white tail in oregon.

[jarbo03]

There are different terrains for the mule deer here. You can find them in sage and yucca fields and they can taste the same as you mentioned. You can also find them in farm areas, a fat wheat or milo fed muley is pretty good.

[assateague]

If you hang a deer long enough, it doesn't really matter what they eat. I find that "off" tastes are usually from putting it up too quick or taking it to a processor who puts it up too quick. All my deer hang for at least 7 days, except the ones I shoot in the summer or early bow season, when it's too hot, and they get quartered up and put in the fridge to tack up for about 4 days. (fridge is too dry to leave them longer than that- you lose too much meat)

[Flightstopper]

Do you hang them in a breathable bag or what? I have been very curious of what is accepted, more for ducks, as far as hanging and dry aging. Not very common to see here in Texas and nobody knows the right way as you can imagine with the heat.

[jarbo03]

If the weather is right, I hang them from a tree after gutting with a stick being used to pry the rib cage open. I also do the same with geese if possible. A few years ago I drug a deer out of a draw for my dad and hung it in a tree, an unexpected cold front came in overnight and froze the deer solid. I went to pick it up and had a 7' long frozen deer trying to manage my way through the trees on the 4 wheeler, it sucked.

[assateague]

Do you hang them in a breathable bag or what? I have been very curious of what is accepted, more for ducks, as far as hanging and dry aging. Not very common to see here in Texas and nobody knows the right way as you can imagine with the heat.

Same as Jarbo said, except I use my gambrel in the yard. After about the first 30 minutes or so, all the "juice" and moisture on the outside tacks up. It makes almost a "shell" on the outside, feels like it's been shrink wrapped. At this point, flies or anything can land on it, and they can't spoil the meat, because they're not actually touching it. Mind you, it's generally in the 50s when I do this, so you might be SOL down there. If it gets cold at night, it can even get up in the 60s during the day- just keep it out of direct sun and you're fine. When you put it up, the tack peels off like a very, very thin layer of plastic, or maybe rawhide. I'm talking very thin- you can see your knife blade running beneath it. This tack is all the stuff that will impart a bad taste, basically seeping out of the meat to dry up and be discarded. Makes the meat very tender and tasty, and letting it hang helps break down the muscle fibers as well, making it even more tender. I've been doing this for about 30 years, and never had any problem whatsoever.

[Flightstopper]

Very cool, the way I read it I see Jarbo as skin on and Assa at skin off. Skin and feathers on for waterfowl as well? This is something I've trying to research a lot because I really want to start trying it. Some sources are sketchy when it comes to the facts though.

[assateague]

I've never aged ducks or geese. I don't kill enough to wait that long- they get shot, they get eaten right away.

As for skin on/off of a deer, skinning a deer after it's been hung is darn near impossible. It takes me about 3 minutes to skin a deer right away- the times I've tried it after it's hung, the hide seems like it was glued on. Sucks. I also hang mine head down, although more than a few people I know do head up. I've never understood this approach- it just makes more work.

[Flightstopper]

I tried head up once, worst idea ever I don't get it. All great info once again Assa thanks a lot.

[JGUN]

We also hang ours head down, skin them right away and let age in a walk in cooler for about a week. We also rarely gut them in the field anymore. Skin them first then gut them into a trash can while hanging. Keeps everything very clean, no dirt or leaves, and if you head shoot them there's no blood in the body cavity. Works awesome!

[Flightstopper]

We also hang ours head down, skin them right away and let age in a walk in cooler for about a week. We also rarely gut them in the field anymore. Skin them first then gut them into a trash can while hanging. Keeps everything very clean, no dirt or leaves, and if you head shoot them there's no blood in the body cavity. Works awesome!

I used to head shoot everything until I took a does lower jaw off with my 30-06. Winch went apeshit rolling over cedar buses and all. By the time she stopped again she was too far off for my three follow up shots. Not enough blood to track. What made it worse was the doe I though I missed fell so fast I didn't even see her fall behind a small brush pile. Everything from her eyes to her neck was gone, no ears left. Other doe starved to death, can't get myself to try again.

[JGUN]

I always like them looking at me for head shots. Gives a little more room for error. Put the crosshairs on their nose and if you hit a little high takes of the top of the head. Hit low, hits them in the neck. Left to right, clean miss.

[assateague]

Anything under 150 yards gets neck shot for me. It's either a clean miss, or they're dead and down. Does the same thing as a head shot, but allows more margin for error. With the .35, if that bullet makes contact anywhere on the neck, the shock will drop them, and the jugular or carotid (or both) will be burst. I love that gun.

I like the idea of gutting them into a can, but I don't have a four wheeler or anything, and I need to get rid of all the extra weight possible before dragging. So sticks, dirt, and leaves for me it is Occasionally, I'll throw them over my shoulders and carry them out around my neck, like a scarf. After gutting them. When I stop at the store for a cup of coffee on the way home, I generally get some odd stares.

[Flightstopper]

I take neck shots every time now. It doesn't help that my rifle skills are not what they should be anymore and not ashamed to admit it. You only have to be so good to shoot a deer at 100 yards tops of a corn feeder. Plus deer hunting is boring as heck to me compared to ducks. Now hunting I do like but don't care for all the hassle of dealing with cover scent, laundry soap and scrubbing my balls so they can't smell me.

[assateague]

Yeah, I don't do any of that stuff, either. It's fun for me, but only because we have so many deer. If I sit for more than 30 minutes without seeing or hearing a deer, something's wrong. Getting a shot is often another story, but there are deer by the bucketful. I see it as a very cheap way to fill my freezer, more than fun. The saving money part is what I enjoy more than the hunting part. When I see a deer getting close to a kill shot, I start seeing dollar signs.

[jarbo03]

Very cool, the way I read it I see Jarbo as skin on and Assa at skin off. Skin and feathers on for waterfowl as well? This is something I've trying to research a lot because I really want to start trying it. Some sources are sketchy when it comes to the facts though.

With the geese I gut them, open the cavity and hang them from the neck, it ages and improves the meat the same as deer. It is easy for me to do cause I go shoot more geese than anything, doesn't take long to stock pile a lot of goose meat.

[Goldfish]

We used to always hang them by the feet to skin them but I watched a processor doing a seminar at gander and ge did it head up. Now, remember
Bet he does this for a living, but he skinned the deer in 5 minutes. His record was 4:16 or something like that. He starts at the front wrists, cutting all the way around, then puts the blade under the skin and goes up the front of the leg, in to the chest where it was opened from cleaning. Does the same on the other side. Then goes up to about the top of the neck, and goes around. He then steps to the back side of the deer, rolls the neck skin down some, grabs hold, and just drops himself pulling the hide as he goes down, he then rolls the skin to get a good grip, and puts his elbow into the skin for a push point basically and just drops to the floor again. He had it about skinned at that point. One more pull for the back legs maybe, and pop the skin over the tail (was kinda cool sounding because it did pop), and he went on to butchering.

We've never had the time to let them hang at all. We shootem, hang them to cool, go back out to get more, and process them that night. Repeat the next day if we still have tags and want more meat.

[Baysider]

Yea I'd say they are like rats around here Assa. We have had a large area in a managment program for the past 5 years. The VA biologist that we work with told us right off the bat that we needed to get the buck:doe down. I killed so many does in those first 4 years that I didnt even deer hunt last year. I got sick of cleaning them. I typically only keep one or two and give the rest to families in need locally. The year before last on the last two days we killed around 140 deer with man drives on our land. When the herds of 20-30 busted into the fields it looked like something from national geographic followed by a massacre. Yea we have too many, and that doesnt include the 90-100 we kill from stands each year. Our efforts are starting to show results though. The average weight has increased a bit and the bucks are sporting much better racks like they did before the population exploded. Either way a lot of families get fed from our hunting.

Typical morning hunt.

[assateague]

Can you run them with dogs down there, or is that only over in mainland VA?

And yes, they are a problem. Of an evening, I can drive around and count at least 200 in about 45 minutes without even thinking about it.