How many of you do this?

[roundball]

Mostly, I'm thinking that this might be something I just should do once. I can donate the meat to a foodbank, or find others who might need it. Thoughts?

Not sure it's anything we or anybody else can "tell you" you should do...IMO, you need to get to that mindset yourself...you'll either 'want' to do it or you won't...like quitting smoking...people don't quit because I say they should...they have to get to the point where "they decide they want to", etc

:m2c:

 

[Huntinfool]

What part of my home state is your cabin located DCHawken?

I'm like some of the others you may not need to save on your grocery bill but did you know the venison is much healthy food than Beef. Deer meat is a lot less calories and less cholesteral hardly no fat!

Chuck

 

[Stumpkiller]

Not to mention that venison is free of the anti-biotics, steriods, growth hormone, etc., etc. that beef is subjected to.

 

[Finnwolf]

DC,
Sorry your Dad couldn't have been around to show you that hunting isn't something done to hurt animals for fun but I think you've learned that lesson on your own. I'm sure he'd have been proud of you. Now you've met people who hunt for the right reasons and you've found they are good people.

You seem to be asking for encouragement to hunt but don't let anyone encourage you or talk you into it. This is an extremely personal decision that only you should make because you want to do it. Call one of your new-found country friends and ask them to donate you a venison steak and a recipe for cooking it correctly - then cook it and eat it like Rebel said. You say you don't need the meat but this is like no meat that you buy. No steroids to make it grow fast, no chemical feed to marble it with fat, no preservatives to keep it from spoiling for weeks until someone buys it. This is meat that only you can make - no one will do it for you.

If you decide not to hunt - that's OK - you can enjoy shooting at the range all day. You can let your neighbors hunt your land and control the deer. I think if you shoot them just to protect your shrubs, even if you donate the venison to others, it will not sit right with you. I can't imagine you would put an animal to death and then remove it's internal organs and drag it out of the woods instead of putting up shrub protection.

If you do plan to hunt, please get very good with your weapons, stay within 75 yds. and know where to put the shot for a humane kill. Once you harvest an animal, share the meal with someone you care about. You may someday teach your son to do the same.
Finnwolf

 

[pappydean]

I raised my family on venison as money was always in short supply. But God graciously provided me with a bounty of wealth in the beautiful mountains of the Appalachians and the game in them. I can't ever remember the taking of a game animal without giving some sort of thanks. There is no better place to be than in the peace and tranquility of nature. Great Post!!! :RO:

 

[dispatch 510]

more people should give thanks when the harvest an animal.to many people hunt just for the sport. my dad raised me to eat what you kill.i lived in s.e north carolina for fourteen years,we could hunt deer with dogs.we were hunting at the first of the season,guy said on the cb he seen the buck the dogs were on,and it was big. he shot it a few minutes later. i pulled up to see this big deer,it was about the size of my bulldog.i looked at the guy and said big buck.got in my truck went home sold my guns and dogs. didnt hunt again until two years ago,i live in tn now,and do nothing but hunt with blackpowder,95% of the time it is my 50 cal percussion.

 

[rayb]

sounds exactly like the "last bite" ceremony of the germanic jaeger traditions..

I think it was called "lester bitten" or something like that... not using german lately so apologies for the spelling ...

anyway you give the animal a small piece of branch, later dipped in blood and worn as a trophy in the hat immediately after the hunt...

main point is still respect for the animal.. as you indicated

rayb

 

[rayb]

sorry, didn't see the previous , much better explanation.

rayb

 

[brushbuster]

DC,
Sorry your Dad couldn't have been around to show you that hunting isn't something done to hurt animals for fun but I think you've learned that lesson on your own. I'm sure he'd have been proud of you. Now you've met people who hunt for the right reasons and you've found they are good people.

You seem to be asking for encouragement to hunt but don't let anyone encourage you or talk you into it. This is an extremely personal decision that only you should make because you want to do it. Call one of your new-found country friends and ask them to donate you a venison steak and a recipe for cooking it correctly - then cook it and eat it like Rebel said. You say you don't need the meat but this is like no meat that you buy. No steroids to make it grow fast, no chemical feed to marble it with fat, no preservatives to keep it from spoiling for weeks until someone buys it. This is meat that only you can make - no one will do it for you.

If you decide not to hunt - that's OK - you can enjoy shooting at the range all day. You can let your neighbors hunt your land and control the deer. I think if you shoot them just to protect your shrubs, even if you donate the venison to others, it will not sit right with you. I can't imagine you would put an animal to death and then remove it's internal organs and drag it out of the woods instead of putting up shrub protection.

If you do plan to hunt, please get very good with your weapons, stay within 75 yds. and know where to put the shot for a humane kill. Once you harvest an animal, share the meal with someone you care about. You may someday teach your son to do the same.
Finnwolf

i could not have said it better myself.hunting and the harvest of game is not for everyone .we as hunters (especially traditional)have a strong code of ethics,as has been stated by the many threads posted in this forum.we share an un breakable bond with nature and the game we hunt and should never be forgotten and should be passed down to our childeren .
to me there is nothing better than fried backstrap,fresh green beans and taters taken out of our garden ,all natural with no preservatives ,colors ,hormones ,steroids ,asteroids....... :yakyak: :yakyak:

 

[The Baron]

I would worry about the man who does not offer a word of gratitude. It says more about him than he may realize. Religion and faith not withstanding, even the athiest will offer a thank you for a favor, true?

vic

I think that is very well said, Vic.

I'm not a big game hunter, but I do LOVE my turkey hunting. I've never really spoken about it until this thread came up, but I do say a little something to myself whenever I bag a turkey. Usually, I put my hand on the bird to feel the warmth and texture of the feathers and say a quick thanks to the bird for allowing me to enjoy the successful hunt. I do this pretty fast - in fact I've done it right in front of others who likely never noticed. Not that I'm embarassed about it, but it's not for show - it's just between me and my bird. I love the sport so much that thanking the most important player just seems natural. For some reason, when I switched to blackpowder, this little ritual became more meaningful. Not exactly sure why - the smoke just seems to bring you a little closer to your roots, I think.

Rob

 

[dchawken]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really wish rabid antihunting people could read a thread like this sometime, it might surprise them to learn that hunters are far more thoughtful than they might think, and that there's a lot more to hunting than just blasting away.

Chuck, my cabin is slowly rising in the foothills around Ft. Ashby, in Mineral Co. A couple of streams run on either side of the property, dropping down to some small farms and hayfields about a mile and a half away.

One of the reasons I've been reading this board, besides the BP tips, is to learn about things like shot placement, humane loads and distances, etc. I've never been disappointed. Now if any of you have tips for not losing my lunch when field dressing, I think I might be ready by fall if I decide to go out. Thanks again.

 

[bob1961]

Now if any of you have tips for not losing my lunch when field dressing, I think I might be ready by fall if I decide to go out. Thanks again.

yeah i got one :hmm:....don't eat if ya know ya might have a deer on the ground by days end :what:....or have a buddy do it fer ya :thumbsup:......bob

 

[cayugad]

Now if any of you have tips for not losing my lunch when field dressing, I think I might be ready by fall if I decide to go out. Thanks again.

Believe me, your not the first person to leave an offering at a field dressing sight. Especially if they shoot a little too far back :redface:.

There is nothing anyone can tell you to stop such an event. It is a matter of inner self control. I have a nephew that to this day can not field dress anything without spraying the bushes...

 

Now if any of you have tips for not losing my lunch when field dressing, I think I might be ready by fall if I decide to go out. Thanks again.

Believe me, your not the first person to leave an offering at a field dressing sight. Especially if they shoot a little too far back :redface:.

There is nothing anyone can tell you to stop such an event. It is a matter of inner self control. I have a nephew that to this day can not field dress anything without spraying the bushes...

breath through your mouth, chew a bit of gum or some wintergreen berries if you have them around. Sometimes its the idea of it more than the actually act, too.

All in all, it's funny but I gag more cleaning rabbits than I do deer for some reason. :hmm:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Pretend it's a big fish.

Watch a lot of CSI episodes on TV before heading out. Cause of death was exsanguination from massive trauma to the blood vessels in both lungs as the result of a single gunshot wound transiting the thorax laterally between the third and fourth ribs with an approximately horizontal trajectory.

Go to your happy place. Wait. That is my happy place. ::

 

[Huntinfool]

Wow Dc I don't have any tips about stopping the upchucking. I've never had that problem. I've always been around such stuff I was helping my dad dress game when I was 4 or 5 years old. I guess I've built up a tolerance for such things nothing makes me throw up other than the flu!

The only thing I can tell you is stay up wind of the animal. Think of your forefathers and how they would have handled the situation. Predetermine not to let it bother you I believe it's a lot of mind over matter. Considerate it a necessary evil and get her done!

Chuck

 

[roundball]

Now if any of you have tips for not losing my lunch when field dressing, I think I might be ready by fall if I decide to go out. Thanks again.

OPTION #1
Study and learn how to remove the entire diaphram as a unit with everything still pretty much intact inside it...after taking care of the back end, and with the deer on it's side, you can cut all around the diaphram, snip the wind pipe, and roll the whole sack (diaphram) right out of the deer...pick it up like a suitcase and set it aside out of the way...this assumes the deer wasn't gut shot in the first place.

OPTION #2
An alternative is to not even open up the belly at all...go through the top/back end...lay the deer on its belly, slice the skin opne down the back, skin the hide down away from the back half of the body, remove the hams / backstraps / tenderloins from that direction...
:m2c:

 

[Twisted_1in66]

OPTION #1
Study and learn how to remove the entire diaphram as a unit with everything still pretty much intact inside it...after taking care of the back end, and with the deer on it's side, you can cut all around the diaphram, snip the wind pipe, and roll the whole sack (diaphram) right out of the deer...pick it up like a suitcase and set it aside out of the way...

Sounds great, but wait a minute...didn't you just discard the heart and liver??? OK, maybe I could do without the heart, but the LIVER?? :shocking: Fresh venison liver is pretty hard to beat!

 

[bob1961]

my guess would be that yer not going to sign up fer fear factor also..................bob

 

[noahmercy]

I'm very much a nimrod. I've only shot 4 big game animals. (Grew up without a dad and got into hunting in my late twenties, though I've wanted to hunt since I was very young.) I had an experienced buddy with me when I shot my first deer who showed me how to dress out the critter. The next season he was also along and talked me through it. He was very matter-of-fact about it and I think that helped keep me from getting urpy. After that I was on my own. Season before last, I'm embarrassed to say my bullet hit a twig I didn't notice about 40 feet off the muzzle and I shot my deer too far back, right in the stomach. (She looked up and then went back to feeding, so apparently she wasn't too put out by my poor shot placement.) My next shot took out the lungs and she reared up, pawed at the sky, and hit the ground dead. When I dressed her out, it was a real mess and smelled foul, but to me a "biological" odor is much less offensive than a "chemical" one. I think others already put it best...it's more mental than anything, and having an experienced hunter along who is enthusiastic about your first kill and willing to help the first time or two can be helpful. And the first time you cook some butterflied backstrap or have a pot of chili made with ground venison, you'll come to love the earthy smell of a freshly killed deer.

Oh, one other pointer...get a set of field dressing gloves. I think that keeping your hands dry and clean helps keep the gorge down. :m2c: :thumbsup: