First game???

[Osprey]

I'm very close to finsihing my first gun build, hope to use it to kill some sika deer during our October early seasons. Be neat to have that the first kill with it. Thought first kills would be a neat thread - so what was everybody's first game with the guns they built/bought??? :v

 

[BrownBear]

Snowshoe hare with every one of them. No closed season, no bag limit, and great on the table. Headshots only, so caliber doesn't matter. No matter what time of year I come up with a gun, it can draw blood right away. Great field practice with the new gun and its possibles.

 

[Pork Chop]

I'll let you know when it happens. :cursing:

 

[playfarmers]

The first muzzleloader I had was a .45 Investarms, and it took a nice whitetail doe the very first year out. The next was a Lyman Deerstalker in .50, and it took a huge 5x6 whitetail buck on the last day of it's first season. Now after 18 years of muzzleloading I have a new Lyman Trade rifle in .54, and it will start it's first deer season in a couple of weeks.

 

[rabjr]

First harvest with a gun I built was in 2004. I built a Don Stith 1792 Contract rifle to use as a Tribute to Lewis and Clark for the 200th year anniversary of the Corps of Discovery. Took a button buck and a nice eight point that year with it.

 

[PitchyPine]

54 cal matchlock, but afraid i`ll have too wait till November for opening deer season too report in.

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany,

went to this forum last year and get hooked with Ml hunting. Then bought a Traditions Deerhunter caplock .50 at Log Cabin Shop and took my first roe buck in may 2007. I was very very happy about it.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[Roy]

My first deer with any gun was a doe with a .50 flinter that my father built. Not to long after that it was squirrels with a .32 I built.

 

[Robert Egler]

First game I took with a muzzleloader (44 cal flintlock Penn. Rifle): Squirrels.

First game with a modern rifle (22 cal): Squirrels

First game with a modern shotgun (12 gauge): Squirrels.

First game with a bow I bought(45 pound recurve): Squirrels.

First game with a bow I built (62 pound English longbow): Squirrels

Favorite animal to hunt: (Guess! :grin: )

 

[Vaino]

Hunting snowshoes in the snow w/ a flintlock is akin to stalking deer here in Wisconsin. The problem we have is the "cycling" of the populations of snowshoes....some years it's not uncommon to kill a couple dozen over a weekend and on the low part of the cycle one has a hard time even seeing a couple of them. Does your snowshoe populations vary a great deal? I agree snowshoes are excellent table fare, especially the young ones. My first "game" at the age of 9 was a big,fat woodchuck and after killing it, I stood over it and wondered what use it should be put to? Afterall woodchucks eat only choice plants so the meat should be A-1, but after skinning it and looking at the dark, purplish meat I decided to give it to the 12 or so resident farm cats. At first they wouldn't eat it either but after a couple of hours 10 cats were sharing a good meal......Fred

 

[MikeChapin]

My first BP animal was a small Mule deer. Got him with a Dixie .45 percussion. The second was an antelope at about 40 yards with the the same rifle.

 

[shootemup]

First game taken with black powder was a squirrel. I was using a T/C New Englander in 12 gauge, had taken all sorts of game including deer with modern guns but nothing with black powder.

I realized what a great time I was having when my face became tired from smiling. :grin:

Spot

 

[Thomas Dermako]

Going out today for squirrel with my .50 flint. Wish me luck, I'll post how it goes. :thumbsup:

 

[Osprey]

First game I took with a muzzleloader (44 cal flintlock Penn. Rifle): Squirrels.

First game with a modern rifle (22 cal): Squirrels

First game with a modern shotgun (12 gauge): Squirrels.

First game with a bow I bought(45 pound recurve): Squirrels.

First game with a bow I built (62 pound English longbow): Squirrels

Favorite animal to hunt: (Guess! :grin: )

Man, you're in a rut!! :rotf:

 

[paulvallandigham]

That is too bad. Ground hog is sweat, like pork, and hence its name. It makes an excellent sausage, if you don't want to eat it cooked as is. I put a great sausage recipe on this forum down under the recipe section. If you go back far enough under venison, you should be able to find it. The advantage of my recipe is that you don't need fetal pig intestines or expensive plastic casings, and a sausage press to make the sausage. Its done by rolling the ground meat and spices in plastic wrap to form the sausage, in any diameter you desire, and then cooked in an oven, rather than a smoke house. the recipe works with any game or farm animal. Only the end taste will change.

 

[The Baron]

First blackpowder gun I ever owned was an original 11ga. percussion fowler, and the first thing I shot with it was a barn pigeon. Shot him on the fly and was quite happy with myself. :grin: The next thing I shot with that gun was a tom turkey.

Bought a T/C New Englander 12ga. next, and the first thing I shot with it was a tom turkey.

First game I shot with my first flintlock (20ga. Caywood) was a tom turkey.

 

[Robert Egler]

First game I took with a muzzleloader (44 cal flintlock Penn. Rifle): Squirrels.

First game with a modern rifle (22 cal): Squirrels

First game with a modern shotgun (12 gauge): Squirrels.

First game with a bow I bought(45 pound recurve): Squirrels.

First game with a bow I built (62 pound English longbow): Squirrels

Favorite animal to hunt: (Guess! :grin: )

Man, you're in a rut!! :rotf:

Well, first game with a modern centerfire rifle (30-06): Beaver. Hey, they can't all be squirrels! :blah:

 

[billk]

Paul,

I am interested in your venison sausage recipe. I searched the recipe forum, but could find it. Would you mind posting it again if you don't mind? I don't have a smoker or a sausage stuffer and it seems that your sausage recipe is easy to make.

Thank you,
Billk

 

[paulvallandigham]

Okay: I checked the recipe section, and its gone. Apparently Claude doesn't like sausage.

Here is my " Venison Sausage Recipe " but understand that you can substitute any meat for the vension. I found using 1 lb. of ground pork to 5 lbs. of ground beef produced an excellent summer sausage, for instance.

Per 1 lb. of meat: ( Grind the meat with a meat grinder a couple of times to make sure the sinew is well cut up. If you are mixing meats, or adding suet, grind them separately, and then run them through the grinder after mixing them together. The extra grind will only make the sausage finer grained and easier to cut and chew. Your guests will notice, trust me.)

1& 1/2 Tblsp. of Morton's Curing Salt( Tender quick)

1/2 tsp. Mustard Seeds

1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 Tsp. Coarse Black Pepper

3/4 Tsp. Liquid Smoke

1/4 cup water.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly. You can add or change, or subtract any of the spices to your own taste. If you want HOT sausage, then add Cayenne pepper, or any other hot peppers you love.

Expect the meat to turn a gray color that looks awful. That is the chemical reaction to the salt, and liquid smoke. Don't worry. the meat is still good.

You may find that you don't have enough fat from your deer to bind the sausage together. In that case, visit your local IGA or butcher shop, and buy some beef suet( Pork suet if you like the sausage sweeter).

How much? Take a look at your favorite ground beef, and see what percentage of fat is in that product. If you eat a lot of 75% ground beef( 25% fat), then buy enough suet to give that percentage of fat to the sausage. Actually you can bind the meat fairly well using about 15% fat to the meat by volume, but that is cutting it as close as you want to go.

NOW, form a role of the sausage mix on some plastic wrap. Form the meat into a sausage shaped log on the wrap, then close the wrap over the meat, and grab the ends with your thumbs and index fingers.( I like to make my sausages about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and about a foot long, or longer.) Twirl the meat between your two hands, holding the ends closed, so that the wrap presses down on the meat as the wrap tightens, squeezing out air, and filling in any gaps. This pressing allows the salt and liquid smoke to chemically cook the meat efficienctly, so that you don't have bare meat inside the outer layer of the sausage that can spoil. Fold the twisted ends over and under the sausage and place the sausage in the wrap on a cookie sheet, or platter.

REFRIGERATE the sausage for 24 hours, rotating it 180 degrees after 12 hours to help the mix reach every part of the sausage( gravity, you know) and keep a flat spot from developing on one side( the bottom!) After 24 hours, the sausage is " cooked chemically. "

Now, take the sausages out of the plastic wrap, and wrap them in foil. place them back on a cookie sheet, and BAKE them in the oven at 300 Degrees F., for 45 minutes, then rotate the sausages 180 degrees and bake again for another 45 minutes( total bake time is 1 1/2 hours.)

A lot of fat and grease will be cooked out of those sausages. I like to cool the sausages and clean off the fat, and a lot of the salt that is also drawn out of the sausage by throwing the sausage into the sink under cold water, remove the foil when its cool enough to touch, and then wash off the sausages under the water to remove the salts and fat. I dry them on towels. and then wrap them up in new plastic wrap, for either storage in my refrigerator, or in another plastic bag for freezing.

Most friends are simply amazed at how much pressure can be put on the meat by wrapping it in plastic wrap, then closing the ends and spinning the sausage tighter and tighter. They all think you have to have some kind of mechanical press to get that done. And, they all want to cut some slices off the sausage to look to see if their are any air holes, or gaps inside. They forget that the small amount of water added to the meat helps it move together, as you form the sausage " loaf " on the plastic wrap, and that eliminates 90% of the gaps. Water also lubricates, and moves easily through meat, so it will easily move aside out of any bubble or gap and let meat fill in behind it.

I have experimented with other meats in making sausage using this recipe. You will have to adjust the amount of salt you use in your mix if the meat you are using is salty already( Pork while sweet, also has salt in it, for instance). Anyone who buys commercial hot dogs is amazed at what is in most hotdogs besides beef these days. You can use any meat left overs, including turkey and chicken to make a mild summer sausage, or you can spice it up to fire breathing heights. Enjoy.