Deer season 2020

[adsm08]

Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms..... quote from one of the Clint Eastwood westerns, I think.

True enough.

We drug it off between two down trees and covered it up a bit with some sticks. I'd be very surprised if the coyotes haven't gotten into it already.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Guess the weight.....

65 lbs

 

[MikeG]

Nailed it, or pretty close. Hanging scale said 60 pounds although it's hardly calibrated or NIST traceable.

Got about 6 pounds of meat off each ham (not quite 7 pounds with the bone in).
Shoulders perhaps 2 pounds of meat on them, each.
Backstraps and tenderloins, 4 pounds.
Rib/belly meat, plus neck - about 4 pounds.
Shanks (lower legs) maybe 1 pound between the three of them. Pitched one due to collateral damage. A normal human can't chew through them, but cook them for 24 hours in the crock pot, then make chili out of the meat, and get 12 or so quarts of broth.
Asian friend wanted heart/liver/kidney, for something.... although I've eaten both deer heart and liver. 1 pound total there.

So roughly 25 -26 pounds. Which is a lot more than I'd get if I had taken it to the butcher, but I'm pretty slow and meticulous cutting it up.

Plus a batch or two of homemade broth. And oh man, were the tenderloins delicious.....

And, astonishingly, the chickens started pecking at the scraps of meat on the backbone. They even chased the cat off! Deer flavored eggs, hmmmmmm........

 

[Uncle Gump]

The shanks are usually cleaned up as much as possible and tossed into the burger pile.

Never though about a long slow cook in the crock pot. The effort to get all the silver skin off even makes it hardly worth the time to clean it up for the burger pile. Might have to try your way in the future.

 

[MikeG]

Beats having them clog up the grinder, in my experience.

 

[JohnnyO]

PA has distinct seasons, and rules, for muzzleloader and rifle.

Deer season in PA generally involves hiking around the woods being cold and wet, which is why I don't hunt. If could hunt deer in July I'd be all over it.
Besides, the best deer hunting where I live is done with the front bumper of your car or truck. The insurance companies don't ever charge you a deductible for it. Couple years ago my wife bagged two deer in three months that way. Paint was barely dry from the first one and her minivan was on it's way back to the body shop.

 

[MikeG]

And as a bonus they're already tenderized......

 

[JohnnyO]

And as a bonus they're already tenderized......

On the first one the head was already removed. Deer went under the minivan, deer's head went over the minivan. I was riding shotgun.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms..... quote from one of the Clint Eastwood westerns, I think.

Josey Wales...

 

[adsm08]

Deer season in PA generally involves hiking around the woods being cold and wet, which is why I don't hunt. If could hunt deer in July I'd be all over it.
Besides, the best deer hunting where I live is done with the front bumper of your car or truck. The insurance companies don't ever charge you a deductible for it. Couple years ago my wife bagged two deer in three months that way. Paint was barely dry from the first one and her minivan was on it's way back to the body shop.

I enjoy small game hunting. I do not enjoy deer hunting. I like to be up moving.