Bambi Whacking 2022-2023

[gtodave]

I just checked my trail camera for the first time since 11/1. Normally I'd check it every week. I'm just not in to it this year. Hopefully it comes back next year.

 

[outrider58]

I just checked my trail camera for the first time since 11/1. Normally I'd check it every week. I'm just not in to it this year. Hopefully it comes back next year.

It's been a strange season.

 

[44man]

This buck appeared about 1 hour before last light. He walked out of thick forest and into a field, and then started to absolutely sprint at a full gallop. The field was about 200 yards across and I was hunting with a .270 scoped rifle, so I had to make a quick decision. I won't shoot at a running deer, so I yelled out "HEY YOU!!!" That made him stop long enough for me to take a shot from about 130 yards, making it by far my longest ever shot attempt. There was zero blood but with the way he kicked, followed by the sound of a crash, I was pretty sure he was down. Still, with the long shot and not finding any blood at all, I was second-guessing myself big time. He only ran about 50 yards but it still took some searching to find him in a thicket and took me even longer to get all the burs off my suit. He's at the taxidermist now. This was a thrilling hunt and I was beyond relieved to find him.

Congrats

 

[Inigoes]

It's been a strange season.

This warm weather has not helped.

But I do appreciate it, not having to bundle up while taking a sanity break in the treestand.

 

[outrider58]

This warm weather has not helped.

But I do appreciate it, not having to bundle up while taking a sanity break in the treestand.

Warm? You should have been in a tree this morning! Lol

 

[Inigoes]

Warm? You should have been in a tree this morning! Lol

As a matter of fact, no!

Work gets in the way of living...

 

[gtodave]

It's been a strange season.

I'm going to force myself to go out this week

 

[outrider58]

As a matter of fact, no!

Work gets in the way of living...

You know I'm only busting chops. Believe me, this morning was not fun. It appeared to be a nice crisp morning, and maybe it was my location(100 yards off the Momocacy river), but it was a raw-ass morning. 24 F with a SSE current(It wasn't windy at all). Be glad you missed it.

 

[lazarus]

Had nothing but buttons and fawns on cameras last week or so. Suddenly I get the entire bacherlor herd for the zipcode camping out - all night. A few of them seem to have discovered how to hit the spin plate on my feeder for extra treats.

I had a doe doing that until she knocked it loose and it dumped 10# of corn on the ground. I wish I had kept the game camera pics. It was hilarious seeing one of her nuzzling it, then the next a blurred cascade of corn, her, and 3 other deer running for their lives.

 

[lazarus]

Warm? You should have been in a tree this morning! Lol

I had been a strange season. I am still sad my hunting is likely done for.

I miscalculated on how much meat I’d gotten off my 6-pt. 58# after trimming the cuttings to grind it. That includes the cuts and the 5# I used to make venison hotdogs. Probably 3-4# of trimmings in the trash of silver skin, connective tissue and found a few spots of bruising. Not the 65# I had thought, but not far off.

I am excited about the venison dogs, but we’ll see. I really wanted to try some without adding animal fat. I found two recipes I tried. One added veggies and olive oil. The other was wine and olive oil and I switched that up for 50/50 whiskey and water instead of the wine.

They smell and look great. I don’t have a smoker, but I am parboiling them in the morning and I’ll probably throw one of each on the griddle right away to give them a try.

Every year I get excited for deer season, then I get the mix of enjoyment and anxiety while hunting (hopefully with some big dashes of elation), and then sad when it’s done. Always feeling like it ended too soon.

PS I also feel like I spend way too much time trimming cuts for grinding. I am 99% sure my butcher isn’t taking remotely the same care.

 

[Derwood]

PS I also feel like I spend way too much time trimming cuts for grinding. I am 99% sure my butcher isn’t taking remotely the same care.

This is exactly why I prefer to butcher and grind my own, and why I don't hunt much in the early season, since I won't butcher it myself if it's warm out. I think it makes a difference in the taste. It takes me a good 2 hours to carefully butcher a deer and another hour or so of grinding. I don't let any of the deer's fat, tallow or silverskin go into the grinder and it helps me end up with a cleaner tasting final product. I divide it into 5 lb portions: 1 lb pork or beef fat and 4 lbs. venison. I then pack it flat, vacuum seal, and put the packets in the freezer vertically like they're magazines. Flat packets defrost so much faster and this blend makes for the perfect blend to use for tacos, spaghetti, meatballs, etc.

I'm really looking forward to the first weekend in January when ducks and firearms deer are both in season. It could be an epic "surf and turf" day if I get lucky!

 

[lazarus]

This is exactly why I prefer to butcher and grind my own, and why I don't hunt much in the early season, since I won't butcher it myself if it's warm out. I think it makes a difference in the taste. It takes me a good 2 hours to carefully butcher a deer and another hour or so of grinding. I don't let any of the deer's fat, tallow or silverskin go into the grinder and it helps me end up with a cleaner tasting final product. I divide it into 5 lb portions: 1 lb pork or beef fat and 4 lbs. venison. I then pack it flat, vacuum seal, and put the packets in the freezer vertically like they're magazines. Flat packets defrost so much faster and this blend makes for the perfect blend to use for tacos, spaghetti, meatballs, etc.

I'm really looking forward to the first weekend in January when ducks and firearms deer are both in season. It could be an epic "surf and turf" day if I get lucky!

Very nice.

I personally prefer mine without any added fat. Then again, I am also in the extra lean ground beef category the rare time I do get ground beef. I just like my meats very lean. So Venison is perfect.

My hot dogs did not turn out as hoped. Mostly down to the parboiling. Even the best success I had in twisting and tying them off on each other was okay. Even then, almost all of them managed to untie/unravel in the boiling water. I cooked up the worst offender rejects where the casing just failed for lunch and they were a bit dry, but very tasty. They'll be fine hotdogs in the end, but not nearly what I'd hoped. A bit of change to the mix, and I think I'll experiment more and earlier on. That way I can have an experiment or two in, before I am at the point where I HAVE to grind up all of the rest or worry about it starting to go bad in the fridge.

I think it is time to invest in a smoker finally. I've been wanting one for a long time, and making kielbasa and hot dogs is just an excellent excuse.

I do notice that my ground venison is a bit better consistency and tastier than what I get from the butcher. I wouldn't call it worlds better, but better is better. And I prefer my cuts a LOT more. I don't mind bone in steak, but I hate bone in roasts, and the butcher doesn't debone them. That and...well, Venison steak is okay, but one of the few times I'll say I like beef better is for steak. I'll almost certainly continue taking a deer to my butcher. They do a fine job, if not exactly how I'd do it. And, for now anyway, their keilbasa and dogs are fantastic and far superior to what I have, so far, turned out. For roughly $110 to process up a deer, and usually 4# of keilbasa and 3 packages of venison hot dogs out of that it saves me a solid 7-10hrs of work if you want to add in skinning, butchering, trimming cuts for grinding, and making sausage (including clean-up time between various steps). I am getting through some stuff faster each time I do it. A little hard to tell on this guy because he was so big. When there is twice the meat to cube, chill and grind, it takes twice as long.

I enjoy doing it all, but it can get to be a little much with 3 kids who are pretty much all at that age where they are self-sufficient, but for SURE need a lot of help with school homework and projects, plus a >40hr a week job and my wife working a job that is a solid 50+.

Some things for next time will for sure go faster. I have a lot of the sausage stuffing figured out, so that'll save a bunch of time. I am going to get a gambrel before next season, that'll make skinning faster and easier. Probably I won't care too much about destroying the hide on the next deer (only so many I want to tan). Likely smaller (but hey, I can dream of bigger). Etc. Probably until most/all of my kids are out of the house, I don't think I'll have the spare time to butcher more than a deer a season. Of course at that point, unless my kids are visiting all of the time, or they want to swing by to pickup venison, one big deer a season will probably be enough for my wife and I. Or a couple of yearlings. She just doesn't eat all that much meat. And as much as I do like meat, I also don't eat all that much. So for the two of us, 60-70# of venison is likely 60% of the meat we'd eat in a year, with almost all of the rest being chicken/turkey/seafood.

 

[Derwood]

Very nice.

I personally prefer mine without any added fat. Then again, I am also in the extra lean ground beef category the rare time I do get ground beef. I just like my meats very lean. So Venison is perfect.

My hot dogs did not turn out as hoped. Mostly down to the parboiling. Even the best success I had in twisting and tying them off on each other was okay. Even then, almost all of them managed to untie/unravel in the boiling water. I cooked up the worst offender rejects where the casing just failed for lunch and they were a bit dry, but very tasty. They'll be fine hotdogs in the end, but not nearly what I'd hoped. A bit of change to the mix, and I think I'll experiment more and earlier on. That way I can have an experiment or two in, before I am at the point where I HAVE to grind up all of the rest or worry about it starting to go bad in the fridge.

I think it is time to invest in a smoker finally. I've been wanting one for a long time, and making kielbasa and hot dogs is just an excellent excuse.

I do notice that my ground venison is a bit better consistency and tastier than what I get from the butcher. I wouldn't call it worlds better, but better is better. And I prefer my cuts a LOT more. I don't mind bone in steak, but I hate bone in roasts, and the butcher doesn't debone them. That and...well, Venison steak is okay, but one of the few times I'll say I like beef better is for steak. I'll almost certainly continue taking a deer to my butcher. They do a fine job, if not exactly how I'd do it. And, for now anyway, their keilbasa and dogs are fantastic and far superior to what I have, so far, turned out. For roughly $110 to process up a deer, and usually 4# of keilbasa and 3 packages of venison hot dogs out of that it saves me a solid 7-10hrs of work if you want to add in skinning, butchering, trimming cuts for grinding, and making sausage (including clean-up time between various steps). I am getting through some stuff faster each time I do it. A little hard to tell on this guy because he was so big. When there is twice the meat to cube, chill and grind, it takes twice as long.

I enjoy doing it all, but it can get to be a little much with 3 kids who are pretty much all at that age where they are self-sufficient, but for SURE need a lot of help with school homework and projects, plus a >40hr a week job and my wife working a job that is a solid 50+.

Some things for next time will for sure go faster. I have a lot of the sausage stuffing figured out, so that'll save a bunch of time. I am going to get a gambrel before next season, that'll make skinning faster and easier. Probably I won't care too much about destroying the hide on the next deer (only so many I want to tan). Likely smaller (but hey, I can dream of bigger). Etc. Probably until most/all of my kids are out of the house, I don't think I'll have the spare time to butcher more than a deer a season. Of course at that point, unless my kids are visiting all of the time, or they want to swing by to pickup venison, one big deer a season will probably be enough for my wife and I. Or a couple of yearlings. She just doesn't eat all that much meat. And as much as I do like meat, I also don't eat all that much. So for the two of us, 60-70# of venison is likely 60% of the meat we'd eat in a year, with almost all of the rest being chicken/turkey/seafood.

I learned to make sausage and properly butcher a deer from watching British butcher Scott Rea's videos on youtube. You can't go wrong with his methods and recipes. He's got a lot of game meats beyond deer.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheScottReaproject/playlists

 

[Archeryrob]

hot dogs and most sausage fat content makes them. Your comments stated about trying to no use fat and I can't comment on those processes. Not using enough fat can leave them feeling dry and lead to crumbly as mixing does protein extraction working as a binder. Hot dog typically use a large percentage of fat, some water and non fat dry milk.

Here is a really good sausage maker fro Germany that moved to here a long time ago..

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEXz4oDS5KqIcinH2CjxVfg?app=desktop

Also heat can be negative. I make Braunschweiger and don't get the water over 170 and boiling can be hot enough to make stuff fat out, if you are using fat. Pork fat is extremely cheap, if you can find a good butcher selling it.

 

[Archeryrob]

I process all myself. My daughter has gotten lazy and go to the butcher and they ground everything, fat tendons and leave all the connective tissue on roasts and steaks. I told her pay more money or learn to do the work and she can eat her trash and she can leave my quality processed deer alone.

I've seen entirely too many guys leave deer out when its way too warm and to have my meat ground with theirs. Nah, I'll pass.

 

[akalma]

I think it is time to invest in a smoker finally. I've been wanting one for a long time, and making kielbasa and hot dogs is just an excellent excuse.

If you have a bbq grill try to start with this simple tube smoker and a bag of pellets. Amazon product ASIN B06ZZRR7XD

 

[Squaregrouper]

If you have a bbq grill try to start with this simple tube smoker and a bag of pellets. Amazon product ASIN B06ZZRR7XD

THIS!!!
Intro to smoking meats 101.

 

[Abuck]

If you have a bbq grill try to start with this simple tube smoker and a bag of pellets. Amazon product ASIN B06ZZRR7XD

They work great. I do lots of different meats with it, such as beer can chicken, jerk chicken, deer roasts, finishing up sous vide beef roasts, and more. Load it up, light it, and it smokes for hours if you position it away from the burners below.

Nice gifts also. The variety pack of pellets on Amazon with the Jack Daniels pellets is a nice companion. But the bulk pellets are a lot cheaper.

 

[CaptainAwesome]

Looking through my pics on my phone today of rut-vacation 2022

 

[Choko]

I've been out at least once a week since Archery open, save a couple weeks. Got the freezer about half full with 8 so far. The Lord's been good to us this year.