Bambi Whacking 2022-2023

[308Scout]

So many recipes! I read on the comments on one of the recipes that a dude uses it for stroganoff. His family were never the wiser...

LOL - my wife and I did something similar one Thanksgiving several years ago with my relatively anti-gun and anti-hunting in-laws ("why would you want to hunt the lovely animals" types, but with no aversion to actually eating meat). My better half cooked up some squirrel pot pie and we sold it simply as "pot pie". They ate it and absolutely loved it until my wife revealed the protein source. They immediately looked unsettled and the SIL acted like she needed to vomit (she'd actually been the most complimentary of it). Given squirrel pot pie's origin, it's actually a perfect old school Thanksgiving recipe.

 

[G8tor]

Easy recipe for backstraps if anyone wants to try...
Marinate meat in 3 cups soy sauce, 2 cups brown sugar. Little garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and a splash of hot sauce for 24 hrs. Wrap in bacon, put in baking dish. Pour marinade over everything and rub a little more brown sugar on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Dee..licious....
Usually steam fresh broccoli on the side to dip in the cooked marinade. Baked sweet potato with some butter/sea salt. Absolutely great. I'm sure it's nothing special but it's my go to for backstraps. Has a sweet/sour teriyaki taste

I always wrap the backstraps in bacon, but I've always seasoned and grilled them like a normal steak. I'm definitely trying this.

 

[lazarus]

I always wrap the backstraps in bacon, but I've always seasoned and grilled them like a normal steak. I'm definitely trying this.

I do them lots of different ways.

Last night was blackstrap, broccoli and mashed potatoes from the garden. Anyway, about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, two tablespoons of brown sugar, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 3 tablespoons of ketchup, two tablespoons of cider, 2 tablespoons of butter, some flour to thicken. Volumes approximate. I never measure anything.

Sear the blackstrap on medium-high heat in a cast iron pan for about 3 minutes on every side and the ends with salt, pepper and a couple tablespoons of butter. After it is seared, Pour half the mixture over the back strap and rotate it around a couple of times. Throw in the oven at 400F for around 15-20 minutes until the reduction is now reduced. Pull out and stick on the burner again on medium heat and pour the rest of the sauce on and cook for a couple of minutes till it’s reduced again. Slice thin. Very delicious and a nice medium to medium well doneness.

I am also a big fan of sweeter BBQ sauces on it and wrap with turkey bacon and throw on the grill on very low heat around 275F for about an hour turning and rebasting occasionally.

 

[Ecestu]

LOL - my wife and I did something similar one Thanksgiving several years ago with my relatively anti-gun and anti-hunting in-laws ("why would you want to hunt the lovely animals" types, but with no aversion to actually eating meat). My better half cooked up some squirrel pot pie and we sold it simply as "pot pie". They ate it and absolutely loved it until my wife revealed the protein source. They immediately looked unsettled and the SIL acted like she needed to vomit (she'd actually been the most complimentary of it). Given squirrel pot pie's origin, it's actually a perfect old school Thanksgiving recipe.

Like Brunswick stew. From Brunswick, GA, naturally.

 

[Ecestu]

Tossed in a little Ray's, this is what I imagine appetizers in Valhalla would be like.

 

[Waingro]

I always wrap the backstraps in bacon, but I've always seasoned and grilled them like a normal steak. I'm definitely trying this.

My buddy swears by grilling them also same way

 

[Archeryrob]

I process my back strap by cutting the loin in three lengths. Cook on the grill with a temp probe and pull at 135 and might get 140 or close in a 5 minute rest. No need for bacon as it will not dry out and sprinkled with Memphis rub. Steaks about the same. 5/8" to 3/4" thick and just time done. Medium rare as medium well starts to toughen up.

Well done deer is only ground, all day roast in a crock pot and pressure canned deer. You don't know how good deer is until you pressure can some. I meticulously trim venison for fat to remove the off favor from it. It melts fat and tendons and even as a trim I still get a small light right of hard fat at the top. It makes easy, quick, meals. I will start hunting this weekend and the first one is all going in pint jars, save the fish and loins.

 

[outrider58]

I process my back strap by cutting the loin in three lengths. Cook on the grill with a temp probe and pull at 135 and might get 140 or close in a 5 minute rest. No need for bacon as it will not dry out and sprinkled with Memphis rub. Steaks about the same. 5/8" to 3/4" thick and just time done. Medium rare as medium well starts to toughen up.

I do the same thing, though I marinade for at least 8 hours in 'poor man's' teriyaki sauce. Half syrup, half soy sauce, 1/4 tsp five spice, garlic powder. Sprinkle with a pinch of instant coffee when done(optional).

 

[lazarus]

A spike and a fork with half a broken off tine out in my side yard this morning doing a little sparing. Seems early to me, but I'll take it :-)

I need to think about when to get my blind back out and to try to harvest another one soon before the groups start breaking up entirely and it becomes less predictable on when they are moving through (because I'd like one more "easy" deer before I start really hunting for a decent to big buck later this month).

 

[SpruceJPG]

So he cut down trees on your property? Or just that he cut down a bunch on his property and pushed everything on to yours?

If he cut down trees on your property I'd be having more than just a chat. I'd let him know he was over the property line and cutting down trees on your property and how would he like to compensate you for that? Trees have a value. Whether it is just that you wanted them there, or because some day you were thinking of cutting them down for firewood. One thing if he cut down some limbs overhanging his property, especially if they might be blocking something or could land on his stuff. I wouldn't be a D-bag and demand thousands of dollars, but I'd be making it real clear he literally crossed a line and did something wrong without even bothering to tak to you or verify the property boundaries (or knew where they were and didn't care). Not that I think I'd escalate it that far, but it is exactly the kind of thing tailor made for small claims court if you are positive on the property boundary (like have proof of it). Can resolve it for a few hundred bucks and don't do anything like that again, or can get dragged into small claims court seeking a couple thousand in damages from cutting down the trees (you'd probably need to try to figure out the lumber value of the trees lost would be the best method to figure out what to go for in small claims court).

That said, I am guessing he cut it down on his property, and you are just upset that he did. Unfortunately, nada. I've seen too many neighbors do similar things over the years without bothering to talk to other neighbors I can't do much at my age other than shrug and try not to get annoyed about it. Their property, if it isn't illegal, well not much I can do about it.

Now I agree, it is nice to give a heads up on anything you think might impact a neighbor, even if it IS on your own property and not on that neighbor's property. Sometimes there can be a bit of compromise that still makes everyone happy. Or sometimes it can just be as simple as "Oh, thanks for letting me know you'll be running a chainsaw and brush hog for a couple of days. As a favor, could you not run it tomorrow after 5 because I have some friends coming over for a cookout" (or whatever the heck). Or even just, okay thanks for letting me know.

The dragging everything on your property isn't okay though. Honestly depending on how much it is and how long it might take to move, I'd probably be really tempted to just take it all and throw it right back on to their property, whether it blocks their camper in or not. Though I'd give them one more chance by trying to talk to them. Just remind them/tell them they dumped it all on a trail you'd cleared and WOULD like to use. Can they please clear it all off your property as soon as possible and let you know how soon you can expect them to move it.

If they don't make that deadline or can't be bothered to tell you. Or just ignore the request, either toss it all on to their property or tell them you'll be hiring someone to come clean it all up and will be sending them the bill if it isn't cleaned off in a week.

PS Also if that trailer is on your property, I'd absolutely be dealing with it ASAP. Tell them they need to move it off your property right away. Or contact county police non-emergency number and ask what recourse you have. You may be able to get the trailer towed at the neighbor's expense, though trickier if the towing company can only access via the neighbor's property.

Property line is in red. Truck and trailer have been parked in the cleared area to the right of the tree, which is my property. I walked over and talked with him last night. Brought a laser pointer to shoot along the line to show exactly where it was, and he agreed to clean it up all of the stuff that was pushed over. It goes about another 10 or so feet past what's seen in this photo. I even offered to help if he wanted it.

What's more concerning is the plans he has for his lot - Had a logging company come out to quote taking down 150 trees! Two houses up on the other side did the same thing - bought a 75% wooded lot and cut everything down, which pissed of the guy who likes to keep to himself, and now it's happening to the other side. There are any number of other houses in the area with clear yards, minimal to no trees, and yet two people come in just to have everything taken down. One of the main reasons we moved here was because it was tucked back in the woods, now that's gone to shit.

Talked to the neighbor behind me who agreed it sucks, but that could push more deer into our wooded section. We shall see.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah that's a pretty clear property marker right there too.

TL;DR neighbors sometimes suck. I know my current situation is fairly lucky, but could change. The only real solution is living on enough property that what people around you do has significantly less impact on you.

Hopefully your neighbor, pardon the pun, cleans up his act. That sucks he is going to clear cut so much of his property. Not really a thing to do about that other than buy a larger property someday. That isn't me trying to be glib, it does suck. My diagonal neighbor spent a week clear cutting and brush clearing at the very back corner of their property that meets up with the corner of mine. It blew all the deer out for the week, though they came back the day after they stopped running a bobcat 16hrs a day. It looks like they were clearing a parking area and driveway around to their sunken garage in the side of the hill that is probably right at the legal limits of the set back as it is (they actually probably cleared 10-15ft on to their neighbor's property from the looks of it also).

Nothing I can do about it because it isn't on my property. My feel good is I can't see most of it because of big thicket of bamboo where the deer like to bed down (part of why it blew them out of here). And the deer mostly don't seem to move through their property. They have dogs, geese, ducks, chickens, goats, sometimes turkeys and kind of let most of them run wild on the property. Plus broken down riding mowers on blocks, old car batteries, scrap metal, etc. Not sure if they cleaned that stuff up in their backyard as part of the land clearing. I hope they did, as I can't imagine that stuff helps getting washed into the creek between our properties. But again, the bamboo screens it even through the winter. I just really hope my next-door neighbor NEVER cuts down that bamboo. I doubt they will. They are on a hair over 4 acres and their house is at the very front of their property with 3 acres of woods behind and to the one side of their house, and you have to go up the ridge, and then down towards the creek. You'd have to clear a solid 70-80yds of mature trees to get to it, and it is a mix of rocky and a bit steep section dropping down to a shallow shelf maybe 10yds wide right at the creek. Literally no reason to clear it out other than wanting to see the neighbors through the woods. Those are the neighbors I hope never leave. They are both retired, but he JUST retired. Their kids don't have kids of their own yet and they want to be very involved grandparents. So it could be if their daughter in Georgia has kids they might move down there. I am hoping it would be just getting a place down there.

They are both super nice and seem to have no desire to do anything to their property other than keep it up. And they both WANT me to hunt both our properties. A new neighbor who is anti-hunting (or just doesn't want me within the safety zones or retrieve anything on their property) means it would shut down where I like to setup my blind and hunt and most of my deer I've ended up retrieving off their property. I could move my hunting location and it would likely drop how many deer drop on their property and would be outside of their safety zone. Where I setup my blind is around 110yds from their house, my stand is more than 150yds from their house, but it is still about 50-60yds from the property line depending on exactly which way the deer run and they almost all want to head towards that property line back towards their bedding areas. So I'd likely need to move in the woods back 50-80yds, which puts me uncomfortably close to other neighbors I have not talked to about hunting. Outside of the safety zones for them, but much closer to their properties and more likely a deer might decide to go "the wrong way" and then it might only be 80-100yds to get on to one of those neighbor's properties and drop. The downside to hunting small parcels. Anyone around you can really mess things up.

My limited experience though (not with any new neighbors) is at least where I live in semi-rural Howard County, most of the neighbors think the deer are a nuisance and don't mind if you hunting so long as it isn't necessarily right in their face. I do have one neighbor who clutches pearls and bemoans that I am hunting. Fortunately, she is across the street and 3 properties down, about 250yds away, about 400yds from where I am actually hunting. So she has 0 bearing on me being able to hunt.

The areas that seem to have much higher anti-hunter prevalence seem to be the McMansion neighborhoods. At least my very limited 2nd hand experience. So even if they moved out and someone new moved in, it might not be an issue. Especially since the areas in question are reasonably far from their house, and the stand is very much out of eyesight. Also, very unlikely any deer would hop their fence on a death run since they only rarely even jump their fence in to browse around (but they do some). So it isn't any kind of escape route for them. Same deal though with my behind the house neighbors. It just takes one of them moving out and someone new moving in to mess things up a lot.

But, it is what it is. Nothing I can do about it. Well, I can keep trying to get the HoCo delegation to propose a law to reduce safety zones to 50-100yds from a tree stand for bows. MoCo's change has apparently been pretty successful and zero incidents. I just need to get the actual timing right and figure out who the heck I need to talk to. Apparently, the HoCo delegation only entertains citizen proposed bills for like a month or two in late spring after the legislative session and I keep missing that like 2-month window. Though that doesn't fix having to retrieve a deer that runs on to a neighbor's property.

I am a few years from it, but I am getting to the age where I can just buy a medium sized property somewhere I can hunt if I need to. Not ideal. I like hunting right where I live. It is a bit less "hunting" than it is harvesting, but where I am in life I am okay with that. I love venison. I love to hunt to, but it is nice having the option to go sit in a blind or a stand and have a deer in the freezer that night if I want and know there is about a 90% chance of that happening if I don't F up. At least for 2 months out of the year. The rest of the season it is a little less reliable. And then I can make it harder by actually going for a nice buck. Or go to public land to really hunt if I want. I don't want my only choice to be public land, or hop in the car and drive 1-2 hours to get to my property to then be able to hunt it. Oh and BTW it is far enough away I can't do a whole lot of observing, maintenance, etc. I am hoping my gig can last till retirement, or at least near retirement, another 8-10 years before I need to actually worry about any of that. No idea what I'll do in retirement, but I am still kind of hoping to move up to VT, NH or ME and maybe get 8-10 acres on the LOW end. Ideally, I'd be getting 20-30 acres. I mean, I would not mind a lot more than that, but I am trying to be realistic and also weigh the fact that my wife would like neighbors and not live "in the middle of absolutely no where". So we probably need to be within a half hour drive of somewhere like Frederick, or the equivalent wherever it is. Say, half an hour or less to Bangalore, or Portland, or Burlington. Close enough you can reasonably drive into town for stuff, like dinner, and actually have a little bit of selection. An 800 person town with one family restaurant, a cheap bar, a post office and a gas station being the best there is within 30 minutes is not going to cut it for her. I could also settle for finding a place that is 4-6 acres again in retirement, but it would need to be further out so that I could reasonably find and buy a 15-30 acre place to hunt and put a cabin on to get away from things a little more, that is within a 30 minute drive of where I live. At or near retirement I'd have more time to actually be out on the property fairly often and I don't mind if it is more work to hunt, and less harvesting. But I know if I need to drive an hour plus each direction, even in retirement, I am going to have a hard time having the motivation to be out on my property as much as I want.

 

[Archeryrob]

I do the same thing, though I marinade for at least 8 hours in 'poor man's' teriyaki sauce. Half syrup, half soy sauce, 1/4 tsp five spice, garlic powder. Sprinkle with a pinch of instant coffee when done(optional).

Try this, stab all over with a fork, 1/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup Cider Vinegar, 3 Tbsp Soy and Brown sugar and garlic clove or to taste with powder. I've done neck slabs with this and tie into roasts and the ACV helps make it tender.

 

[outrider58]

Try this, stab all over with a fork, 1/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup Cider Vinegar, 3 Tbsp Soy and Brown sugar and garlic clove or to taste with powder. I've done neck slabs with this and tie into roasts and the ACV helps make it tender.

I will. I have one of those meat stabber thingies that I have yet to try.

 

[Ecestu]

This recipe is legit...
https://honeybunchhunts.com/venison-steak-bites/#recipe
Air crisp setting for 10ish minutes.

I added some pepper flakes.

 

[Doco Overboard]

Youngins are starting to reduce the numbers.
This one had a drop tine.
But it broke somewhere when it ran off.

 

[mauser58]

Youngins are starting to reduce the numbers.
This one had a drop tine.
But it broke somewhere when it ran off.

Hell thats a nice buck no matter what. Also its tall . Good job!

 

[lazarus]

Youngins are starting to reduce the numbers.
This one had a drop tine.
But it broke somewhere when it ran off.

Nice one! Thats a nice set of pitch forks its got up top.

 

[AlBeight]

Youngins are starting to reduce the numbers.
This one had a drop tine.
But it broke somewhere when it ran off.

Beautiful buck, very unique tines on that monster. Too bad about the drop tine. He looks pretty swole too, looks like it’s getting to be about that time a little early this year. Congrats.

 

[308Scout]

Checked the trail cam for the last week's action. The bucks are still showing up here en masse overnight with more frequent individual bucks appearing during the day. They're not going to be together for much longer, though. Even the big boys are starting to get testy with the others now.

 

[RRomig]

Youngins are starting to reduce the numbers.
This one had a drop tine.
But it broke somewhere when it ran off.

I’ll take those different , odd racks any day over a perfect 8
Congrats !