Best tasting deer I've ever had

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What kind of ranges are you managing to close to before you can take your shots? I keep reading posts online where a scoped inline is a requirement for antelope hunting.

I have always suspected that hunting antelope with an iron sighted sidelock muzzleloading rifle just requires a move back to a more traditional way of still hunting/ground blind hunting where choosing the proper terrain/ambush site is more important than just closing to within 150-250 yards for a shot with a scoped inline.
If you’ve ever seen the show “fresh tracks, with Randy Newberg” there is an episode where his friend hunts antelope with a sidelock (I believe it was a Lyman Great Plains if I remember correctly). That a cool episode, I wish more hunting shows would do more traditional muzzleloader hunting
 
The very best deer I ever ate…I pulled the shot with my bow and just clipped its neck…but thanks to hand sharpened broadheads and luck, it severed the juggler and SPRAYED an blood trail for 30yards and fell over. When I gutted and skinned it, it looked like a professionally butcher lamb because the diaphragm area was never punctured and all the blood left neatly through the severed artery. Then I refrigerator aged it for a while (can’t remember how long). Grilled a whole loin med-rare for my in-laws, who had never eaten venison before. Made a nice béarnaise sauce to go with it. One of the best meals I have ever made…and I cook a lot… 4-5 dinners a week. If I could kill all the deer like that… I would, but too much luck was involved to make it repeatable

...Ben

A similar thing happened to me quite a few years ago. Standing in a tree stand with my longbow on a very windy day. A medium sized 8 point came within 15 yards of my tree and stopped on a little hill. He was nervous and twitchy because of all the noise and movement. When he turned to look at something I drew and released the arrow aiming tight behind his shoulder. He immediately dropped and turned and took off like a rocket. I saw the fletching of the arrow in the hill and thought I'd missed him when he jumped to go. Then I noticed that it looked like someone had thrown a bucket of red paint on the leaves. When he dropped and turned the arrow went through his neck from the top. He ran maybe 40 yards leaving a tremendous blood trail and laid right in the middle of the trail. When I dressed him out it was the cleanest chest cavity I'd ever seen. The meat was delicious and I'm pretty sure it was because of the way he bled out.
 
The largest and oldest buck I have taken ff the hill that I hunt I got on the last day of the season and an hour before last light. It was a windy day with light drizzle turning to snow. I went up the mountain on the lea side so I wouldn't be blowing scent all over the bedding area that I'd normally pass and spotted this guy working a rail ahead of me by about 75 yards. when I neared the top I cut back to my normal route to the stand. As I took the first two steps up the ladder I saw this buck about 30 yards away, facing away at a quarter angle, so I stepped down and got rid of the backpack, shouldered up and waited until the deer moved a bit to make a better shot. After a minute he did just that and my hit was just in front of the shoulder where they neck meets the chest and he hit the ground like someone nailed him with an axe. I reloaded before I approached him because he had been moving a bit, but when I got up next to him he was taking his last couple breathes. The angle of the shot cause the XTP 300 grain bullet to course along the length of his neck and spine taking out all of the arteries and veins while effectively crippling him. He bled out entirely laying there.

This buck field dressed at 240 pounds, was allowed to hang a week and was the best deer by far that we have eaten, both for flavor and being tender meat. When I process deer there's no fat, no hair, no bloodshot, and no blood or bone in the meat and I have exceptional luck with the meat as long as I can hang it a while, this deer no exception. About thirty years ago I shot a large buck that we had watched chasing does all over a field for two hours. Just before I got my shot someone on the other side of the field shot at him and he was off like a bullet and ran right into my zone. Between the being all rutted up and being spooked and running that deer was at best not good eating. I pass on deer that have been on the fly now and if they've been working does for an extended time I'll let them go. In recent years all my deer have been pretty casual when I've shot them and they've been good.

I field dress my deer as soon as they stop twitching and flip them to drain. I like to pull them into shade if I am going to stay o stand unless its cold out. I've shot a doe that walked right past a dressed out buck. I shot a large doe out of a group of 6 only to have a buck walk up on her and start the pawing thing. Apparently she was ready. I reloaded while the dude tried to get her to respond and filled my buck tag at the same time. Hoping that works out this way this year.
 
What kind of ranges are you managing to close to before you can take your shots? I keep reading posts online where a scoped inline is a requirement for antelope hunting.

I have always suspected that hunting antelope with an iron sighted sidelock muzzleloading rifle just requires a move back to a more traditional way of still hunting/ground blind hunting where choosing the proper terrain/ambush site is more important than just closing to within 150-250 yards for a shot with a scoped inline.
I trap this property so know it well. When disturbed the small bunches head for a fence bordering the sagebrush flats adjacent to the agricultural areas. I position myself for about 60-70 yard shots as this doe was while my wife hunts the ag fields with her 270. It all depends on tag draws each year as this is a huge area with only 100 total permits given this year and only 25 or so buck tags in that mix. My wife with her buck taken yesterday. This late in the season the bucks are losing their horn sheaths and they came off when she tried to position him for a picture. She had 2 chances at much larger bucks but shot this one as it was the only one offering a good broadside shot. I'm proud of her hunting ethics and she is primarily a "meat" hunter anyway. ..Shot was ranged 168 yds perfect high lung shot DRT. 270 Ruger 77 TS, 130 grain Win Silvertip and 4350 powder. ...Trader
 

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I recommend reading Hank Shaw’s book. “Buck,Buck,Moose”. Hank is a great writer, cook and sportsman.
I often use his books as gifts to my hunting buddies.
The reason I’m posting is he has some useful information on the OP’s topic of the hanging and such.
 
I bone my deer out on location, pack with ice until finished hunting draining the cooler and refilling ice until we finish hunting then process. Sometimes this is a whole week we hunt. Freeze meat in seasoning and water, squeeze out air from baggies and freeze. I much prefer this freezing method to shrink wrap. I have kept up to 3yrs. with no freezer burn.
 
Freeze meat in seasoning and water, squeeze out air from baggies and freeze. I much prefer this freezing method to shrink wrap. I have kept up to 3yrs. with no freezer burn.
Yep, get the air out and the meat will last a very long time and be very tasty. Any air, I mean any air and within weeks it will be freezer burnt.
 
I recommend reading Hank Shaw’s book. “Buck,Buck,Moose”. Hank is a great writer, cook and sportsman.
I often use his books as gifts to my hunting buddies.
The reason I’m posting is he has some useful information on the OP’s topic of the hanging and such.
Thanks for the heads up on the book. Thats something I'd be interested in reading. I'm a good cook too & have several books on all types of wild game recipes & ideas. I'm a life member of North American Hunt club too & got their books on wild game cooking. Well wishes
 
Yep, get the air out and the meat will last a very long time and be very tasty. Any air, I mean any air and within weeks it will be freezer burnt.
Boy ain't that the truth. Proper care of processing pays off in your game lasting all yr until its time to refill. I really miss not bein able to hang my deer outside ( in a barn or shed ) for a week to cure before processing them now I'm in Fl. Without a walk-in box here, its usually way to warm to do that. Its 80's during the day & upper 50's to low 60's st night here still. Too warm for me to deer hunt in too.
 
I hope your hunting pigs
I'd love to go hog hunting down here, but I haven't as of yet. I don't have transpo & don't really know anyone here. I've tried puttin together a hog hunt with a cpl guys I've met online in the hunting/shooting groups, but nuthin has panned out thus far. A member from here is comin down in a cpl months & I'd love to have something set up on public land to do a hog hunt or two with him while he's here. I need to get my backside out & put the two Osceola Turkeys I'm allowed to kill per season in the freezer too. That season ends on 1/22 along with my deer season. Then I'll put 100% focus on goin hog hunting. Well wishes
 
Theres a lot of vegetable farming and farming of all kinds in Florida. I would say contact these farms and ask permission. Tell them you are interested in doing some varmint control. That you are looking for a long term relationship and will care for their land. If you ask around eventually you will find one. Even go to the local mom and pop coffee shop and ask the cook or waitress. They know these farms and can help. Farmers and people who work on farms love to meet for coffee in the morning.

Once on a farm protect your privileged with you life. Dont take a guest unless you ask. Make sure your guest knows how to act. Know where to park so your out of the way. Put a paper in your window with phone number and contact info. If the farm needs you they will appreciate being able to make quick contact.

I took a guest to a farm once and later I found out he called the farm himself and made his own arrangement. That still irritates me to no end. Hes not my friend anymore.
 
When I lived in Connecticut, I used my buddy's walk in cooler.
He's got a great setup with electric hoist and the whole nine yards.
I would hang my skinned out deer in the cooler, which was a constant 40 degrees. Sometimes for 2 weeks or more. The meat always tasted so much better than times when it's cut and wrapped right away.
Now that I'm in Oklahoma, I have to debone the deer pretty quick because it's not real cold here.
I put the meat in tubs and leave in the fridge for a few days before I cut and wrap.
I wrap the meat in plastic wrap then in regular butcher paper.
We've eaten 2 year old venison that is as fresh as the day we wrapped it.
 
I used to kill 10-15 deer per year between two states, so needless to say, I’ve cleaned and processed a few over the years. I generally never gut a deer, because I have it hanging with the skin off, meat deboned, and on ice in a cooler in less than an hour. I leave it on ice for 4-5 days draining the water and adding ice as needed. The meat turns out a white/gray color after this process, and then, I finish cutting it up and proportioning it out in freezer bags.

I can say definitively that I much prefer venison from my NW Oklahoma place than my east TX place.
 
I used to kill 10-15 deer per year between two states, so needless to say, I’ve cleaned and processed a few over the years. I generally never gut a deer, because I have it hanging with the skin off, meat deboned, and on ice in a cooler in less than an hour. I leave it on ice for 4-5 days draining the water and adding ice as needed. The meat turns out a white/gray color after this process, and then, I finish cutting it up and proportioning it out in freezer bags.

I can say definitively that I much prefer venison from my NW Oklahoma place than my east TX place.
Me too FYI this is not a movement. lol
 
When I lived in Connecticut, I used my buddy's walk in cooler.
He's got a great setup with electric hoist and the whole nine yards.
I would hang my skinned out deer in the cooler, which was a constant 40 degrees. Sometimes for 2 weeks or more. The meat always tasted so much better than times when it's cut and wrapped right away.
Now that I'm in Oklahoma, I have to debone the deer pretty quick because it's not real cold here.
I put the meat in tubs and leave in the fridge for a few days before I cut and wrap.
I wrap the meat in plastic wrap then in regular butcher paper.
We've eaten 2 year old venison that is as fresh as the day we wrapped it.
Havin a walk-in box or a buddy with one is priceless, especially when ya don't have cold enough temps with low enough humidity, or a barn or shed to safely hang your deer in to cure before processing it.
 
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Arlo Guthrie song
"And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
Study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
Singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
Situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
Situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
The shrink wherever you are, just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
Anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
One person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
They won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
They may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
Singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
Organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said
Fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
Walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement."
 

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