This exactly. That's multiple meals for my family and I don't regret it, even for a second but that doesn't mean it wasn't a humbling experience. I am proud, and it happened on my dad's birthday & he's super proud of me (which makes me happy). He did skin it - mostly because I don't have that skill yet. And I've got your pussy. Wait... I mean, name calling isn't nice.
It's true.....I see it right there, covered in delicious looking Skittles. Meanwhile, congratulations on your first deer!
I got a deer last night. It was getting dark and I didn't realize it was a young one antlered buck. Guess I'll have to get the decent 8 pointer I saw next year.
So I went deer hunting in Arkansas this past weekend and finally got to take a shot of my first deer ever. The doe was about 100 yards away and the way my stand was situated, I was not expecting her to walk out of where she was. Because of that I had a very limited shooting window. I don't know if a small branch deflected my round or I had bad aim due to so excitement, but she was able to get away after I shot a round. I'm gearing up for the Christmas hunt so hopefully I bag one that weekend. I've already got a new scope ready to sight in.
Did my annual thanksgiving hunt down in Eastern Shore Maryland last week. Our group killed about 14 ducks at this sweet RSA we got an invite to last minute on Black Friday and then Sunday I killed two deer from the same stand about 10 minutes apart around sunset damn near in the same exact spot (which made tracking super easy, even in the dark). We ate all the ducks while we were down there and I came back with around 60lbs. of venison in various states of butcher, so I'm a happy fuckin guy. Took some pictures and some GoPro videos, but still need to work on the latter. Here's one from Friday morning in the fog:
Saw this buck at the Grand Canyon, just hanging out less than 100 yards from the road. The rack is just a 4x4 but it was tall and wide enough my girlfriend thought it was an elk at first. We caught a glimpse of a big bull elk, there were cow elk right next to the road, and I got within 10 yards of some mule deer does, but that buck was just massive.
South Rim, just east of the main lodge area as we were headed to the Desert View watchtower. We were driving along and my girlfriend just started yelling ELK ELK ELK! She was having a lot of fun being my game spotter as I drove. Here's one of two cows near that spot that I think I could have poked with a stick as we drove past: Spoiler: Elk I am also pretty certain we came across some mountain lion tracks while hiking to Devil's Bridge outside Sedona. Maybe not as exciting if you live there, but for us it was cool. Spoiler: Big kitty track This was the size of the palm of my hand, which is over 3 1/2" inches wide. I couldn't see any claw marks either like all the canine tracks from dogs around were showing too.
I found this on Pintrest and thought I'd share. Sweet Bacon-Wrapped Venison Tenderloin Author: Food.Com Recipe type: Wild Game Prep time: 40 mins Cook time: 40 mins Total time: 1 hour 20 mins Serves: 2-3 The #1 rated deer recipe on RecipeZaar since 2005! It's deer season again, and you know what that means - a lot of 'Zaar chefs trying out THE venison recipe again or for the first time. Thanks for all the reviews. Hands-down, this is the BEST deer meat recipe in America. Even those who don't like wild game meat will fight for a piece of this. **I will warn you, that this creates almost a "candy tenderloin." You can see from the reviews how many people love it, but if you're looking for a gamey dish that brings out the purely meaty taste of your venison, this is not for you. Ingredients 2 lbs venison tenderloins (a single deer loin or Moose or Elk or Pork or Beef) ½ lb bacon (Plain, thin-sliced Bacon is best) 3 cups dark brown sugar 2 cups soy sauce (Regular NOT low-sodium. You'll want the saltiness) ¼ cup white sugar (Optional for added Sweetness) Instructions Mix brown Sugar and Soy sauce together in a bowl. They should combine nicely into a soupy soy liquid. Put Deer Loin in a cooking tray and pour Brown Sugar/Soy Sauce mixture over loin. Roll tenderloin over in mixture, completely covering it. Let meat marinate in mixture at least 3 hours or overnight in fridge. It's best to marinate for 8 hours if you have the time. Also GREAT to use a Food Saver or other Vacuum device to Vacuum pack/seal the meat with Marinade. With this method, you can achieve Overnight-level marinade in just a couple hours! Remove loin from tray, and place on a slotted bake sheet with a drip pan or aluminum foil below to catch dripping. Don't throw away marinade. Wrap a piece of bacon around the very end of the tenderloin, securing the bacon strip with a toothpick. Repeat this process until the entire loin is wrapped in ten or so bacon "loops." The tenderloin should look like an arm with a bunch of wrist watches on it, the watches being the bacon strips. Drizzle remaining marinade over deer loin. You can continue to baste the loin with the marinade throughout the cooking process with either a brush or a turkey baster. Place on center rack in oven and bake at 350°F for 30-40* minutes. *This should cook the meat to about Medium. For those of you who prefer rare meat (like me), cut the time to 25-30 minutes and then follow with the "OPTION 2" step below regarding searing. OPTION 1 - with about 10 minutes of cooking time left, you can lightly dust the top of the loin with white sugar. This creates a sweet crust on top of the bacon. Might be too sweet for some. Try doing it on just HALF of the loin to see if you like it! OPTION 2 - For a crispier crust and crispier bacon, remove Loin from oven and place the Loin(s) directly on a Grill over medium-high heat to sear the bacon and outer loin. (Thanks to all of you reviewers who taught me this. It's a great step for those of us who like a cooked crust and a pink center). Remove from oven and place on cutting board. Using a knife, cut the loin between each strip of bacon so that you have many pieces of meat, each with their own toothpick. You can eat these pieces directly from the toothpick or remove the toothpick and eat like steak. You can thank me later. The next day, try the leftovers on a wheat bun with spicy BBQ Saucefor an awesome leftover sandwich.
Went fishing at the Lake Ray Roberts spillway the other day and got a few sandies on rooster tails and minnows. The top two were fucking massive. And delicious.
Got nothing but cold fingers and toes after three days of late season pheasant hunting with my lab on public land in southern Minnesota. We visited a few different WMAs but saw birds at only one. I like the December hunting because the birds that are still alive are smart and more challenging to reach. Buck is four years old now and this is his third year hunting with me- I still need to get him on more wild birds but he has been steadily improving and is a lot of fun to hunt with. In particular he had a lot more confidence hunting on the icy sloughs and busting through the thick cattails for me (good boy!). One day we only saw a bird that flushed out way in the distance, and on the next Buck jumped a hen right in front of me and a couple of smart roosters piled out of the other side of the slough we were on about 100 yards away. Then on our last day of hunting we had a couple of friends with and their Brittany, and we saw eight hens and five roosters through the course of the day. Buck was on top of four of the hens, which were all sitting by themselves, and four of the roosters ended up flushing in pairs just beyond the reach of my shotgun maybe 50 yards away. We kicked up five deer too. So all in all we didn't end up bringing any birds home but I was still happy to see a number of wily late season birds on the public land and have Buck get a little bit more experience in too. Looking forward to next year.
This year has been an awesome year for my hunting and fishing trips. I was able to catch a 6.5lb bass in Disney and had a replica made of it. This was the biggest bass I've ever caught, so it was nice to get one to put on the wall. My buddy had never been kayak fishing before, so we took a trip a month or two ago to see what we could do. We ended up catching a pretty nice mess of fish that I cleaned for him and sent him home with some nice fillets. Spoiler: Fish Opening weekend of deer season was full of awful weather. I watched a couple young 8pts walk around and decided to pass on them in hopes of shooting a buck a bit better. Around 8:30 I had a pretty nice buck walk out and I was able to get a shot at him and put him on the ground. Spoiler: Buck 1 We decided to take one more trip during deer season to chase the pigs/turkeys on the property and to check out what bucks were left that may make it to next season. Since I had already shot my buck for the year, I wasn't expecting to shoot another deer. My dad mentioned that he had seen a very nice deer walking around and that if I wanted to shoot another deer this year, this would be the one to target. I went to the area he had seen the buck walking around and as I was looking through my binoculars, I noticed a large buck walking through the area. It was the buck I was after. He never stopped moving and he was always behind the brush. I saw him walk around and figured that he had left the area and that I would have to go back the next day to try my luck again. After about 10 minutes from first seeing the buck, I saw him walking towards a little clearing again. I picked up my rifle and waited for him to step out to where I could get a shot. He stepped out, but didn't stop moving, so I took the shot as he was walking through the clearing. I found him laid up under a cedar about 30 yards from where I shot him. I was extremely relieved to make a clean shot and find the buck without much trouble. I have been deer hunting for the last 20 years and this was the first buck that made me want to put up on my wall. He will be shoulder mounted in the next couple months, and I can't wait to see how he turns out. Spoiler: Buck for the wall
Reason number 389 why I love winter in Arizona. We caught and released 3 7 pounders today plus a bunch of little ones. The camera angle makes them look bigger than they really are, still pig large mouth though.
Man, nice fish!! Any idea how long they were? We have booked our first trip to the Boundary Waters for the year, so I'll be back in the canoe in June. My brother got me a Primos Hookup box turkey call (connected with a magnet) for Christmas that I will hopefully call one in with in May. Always good to have something on the calendar to anticipate.
They were probably 22-24 inches, my brother in law never measures length, it is always weight because he is a tournament guy. I hear you on having trips on the books, I always need to have something lined up or I get in a funk.
Wasn't sure where to post this, sort of fits here. Another interesting find from clearing out my Nan's house, a full Leopard pelt she had stuffed in the back of the closet. Seems to be in pretty good condition, a few worn/bare patches and a couple small holes but overall it looks pretty good. Not sure of origins, but she did go to Africa in the 50's and she did like to hunt so its entirely possible she shot this herself... or it could just be a souvenir. Im a little conflicted about it, its cool and all, but im not the biggest fan of trophy hunting (if you hunt for food and get a sweet trophy out of it as a bonus thats fine). On the other hand i didn't shoot it myself and its a relic from a different time so why should i feel guilty about it. Ill obviously keep it (i may not even be able to sell it if i was so inclined), just undecided whether to display it or not.