Crossbow guidance...total noob

[E.Shell]

It worked! Congrats on your hind and new crossbow!

Yup, worked good. Thank you.

I REALLY appreciate everyone's advice here too!

Nice Ed. Is that a hind Sika? Good eats, I hear.

Thanks. Yes, hind Sika, about 80# on the hoof, looked like a mini-cow elk. Had fried butterflied backstraps last night - very good, very mild flavor.

Congrats
Good looking deer and rig

Thank you.

Congrats

Thank you.

Congrats!

Thank you.

also, I did not notice your reply before. The big Bite #12 is a 3/4 horse grinder from LEM. I bought it for grinding and using with the 25# mixer. It is a good grinder but at 1 1/2 hp, you bought a monster for just grinding the brought home deer.

Ahh, gotcha.

I've had mine about 20 years, maybe longer (it all runs together). When I bought it, several of us hunted together and often had two or three deer to process and I didn't want to dick around with something that was going to be straining, or something I had to use a large plate with first pass then go back and double-grind with a smaller plate.

I'm feeling your pain with home processing. I got to start working my core as age and this desk job is wearing me out when the hard work starts. I can jump in with both feet, but 3 hours later, i and saying we can finish this tomorrow. Or that is what my back is creaming.

I got everything cut & trimmed except 1 whole hindquarter and a shoulder. I was going to try to finish it all today, but my back said 'enough!'.

People give me shit for not processing my own deer. They don't know or understand my day job.
Eff'm

It gets harder every time. I know I couldn't bend all day and work then want to keep on after I got home.

You do what makes you happy and you're right, F'em.

Yeah! FM!

I process mine because I an particular about how my meat is handled and don't think a lot of other guys take care of their deer before taking it to processors. I don't want my meat, mixed with theirs and that is what they do.

^^ This ^^

It is a lot of work, when done right. I absolutely hate deer fat and processors don't take it all out. I nit pick that crap out. Tomorrow I am doing the grind for my buck I shot. I will spend two hours chopping and cutting the fat off the meat and 1/2 hour grinding and bagging it. A processor will spend a 1/2 hour grinding it, or less, because they pile it together. I kicked my daughter out of helping because she leaves too much fat in. Deer fat is awful, if i have not made that clear.

Mine will be ready to grind tomorrow, but as little as these Sika's are, I might just cube it small and use it in chili, BBQ and a crock pot. It would be a breeze to grind but after that, the grinder cleanup is a P.I.A..

 

[lazarus]

I started years back after going to the butcher and hanging around to talk with them. Guy was butchering one and they brought it in from the eastern shore on a warm day. He was stating guy can shoot a deer, but can't invest in two bags of ice to keep it from going bad. Then stated how they grind it all together. You only get some of your deer ground back as it is all dome together.

Many processors are expensive or do a really cheap job. My daughter used a cheap guy and be butterflied the loins and left the silver skin on it. Froze the rumps and band sawed them whole into steaks with the bone and connected tissues. Too thin and just terrible.

I bought the bite bite 12 4 years for about $360 and they are $530 now. I also use meat tubs and process over a couple of days. My back hurts and doo roasts and back strap one night and trim and grind another.

I really like my deer processor. If I had more free time, I'd butcher them all myself. These days I usually get one earlier season and take it to my butcher. Then usually 1 or 2 later season, that I do myself because it is cold enough I can hang them in my shed and then process them up outside on my SS table the next day over a few hours listening to music or podcasts. Now a morning harvest, means I can hang and start processing right away if I wanted to. The hide comes off a lot easier that way. Yeah I also try to grind the next day. The trimmings go in a meat tub or two and in to the fridge. Then I lay them out on cookie sheets in the freezer to chill more before grinding so it doesn't get mushy.

 

[lazarus]

It worked:

View attachment 437003

Where I was:

View attachment 437007

Got in the stand at about 3pm Thursday afternoon. Had two come in at dusk. One behind a tree, the other in the open, but head-on toward me at 20 yards. Waited for a better shot, but no luck. When the one I could see dropped it's head, I shot it from the top into the base of the neck. Arrow struck behind the crosshair, ranged down through the chest, clipping the heart, and exiting at the solar plexus. Except a few small drops, almost no blood for 30 yards, then buckets, then 10 yards later, dead deer. Exit hole plugged with lungs and fat, all blood was blown out through the nose and mouth and sprayed all over. Deer's legs buckled at the hit and never straightened up, took a straight line run and I could hear it crash.

No bones hit. The Ten Point 'Center-Point' broadhead cut a big hole on both sides of the deer. 20" arrow fully penetrated and apparently buried in past the nock. I knew exactly where the deer was standing and I looked for the arrow for a few minutes, but couldn't find it.

Nice job! I am glad it worked out great for you. I am also kind of jealous, I've been wanting to harvest a Sika for years. Maybe this year will be my year.

 

[miles71]

Good thread. I’ve shot a bow since I was a boy, it was great time I spent with my father. As I’ve gotten older I’ve developed issues with my back and shoulder, which makes drawing a bow tough and painful.

My son got his first deer during the youth hunt weekend, we are hooked!! I’m thinking a crossbow would open up more hunting time together without the shoulder pain.

TD