Went for a sit this evening after work. Wind was perfect for a close to the road spot I found on public. For some reason it was really quiet in the woods except for acorns falling. Didn't push in quite as far as I wanted to. Didn't see anything, but had a deer come in as I was packing up in the dark. Came from where I was expecting, but it was about 10 minutes too late. It never blew, just bounded off and then slowly walked down the ridge. I'm guessing it was a buck by the fresh rubs on the same trail, but I really have no idea if it was or not. The wind is looking good for another "close to the road" spot tomorrow evening. I may ease over there after work for a quick hunt.
I'm legal come Friday, now only need to be lethal. Have two buck tags and a doe tag for archery, if need be I can use the bow during firearm season have a buck and doe tag for that as well. Weather will dictate when I get out for my first hunt.
Man, it's cool hearing how other states do things. Here in GA we get 2 antlered tags and 10 antlerless tags that are good for archery, muzzleloader, or firearms. NC is the same as the carry over, but it's 2 antlered and 4 antlerless. GA also has public land that have "bonus hunts" that are usually firearms hunts, but they will tag the animal for you. Most of them you are allowed 2 antlered deer unless that particular WMA has antler restrictions, then it's only 1 antlered deer. You can use any legal weapon for deer on those hunts too. If a guy was good enough he could kill well into double digits of bucks in GA.
The processor I deal with will not be taking whole deer this year. Only deboned. Kind of sucks if I get one in high temps because of time. All the processors have been over booked for a year with beef and pork sales. Might check your go to’s and make plans for your processing.
We get two buck tags when you buy your license here in MA. Doe permits are on a lottery. The state is split up into 15 different wildlife management zones and they allocate a certain number of doe permits for each zone. I got a doe tag for this year in my zone so 3 tags total for me!
Ever think about doing it yourself? Not sure what you have available to you at home(hanging station, extra fridge/freezer, etc.) I've doing doing all my own butchering for all but one of the years I've been hunting. For one, I enjoy the process and two half the time I don't know what I want to do with the cuts until I'm in there doing it lol and I know how the meat is handled.
Here are a few different mock-ups that I put together. Kind of plain, but let me know what you guys think. I can tinker with some of these as well.
While I have 3 either sex tags, I can only take 2 antlered deer regardless of weapon. Does/antlerless are unlimited for achery. We also have a separate muzzle loader season. You can use a muzzle loader during shotgun season but not a shotgun during muzzle loader season. If you are on private land you can use archery equipment during shotgun season if you have a valid firearm permit. Archery has always been open during muzzle loader just have to wear blaze orange/pink. For firearm this year I'll have shotgun, .44 mag and bow to choose from.
i like the first choice out of those. in case you guys missed me posting on other threads, my whole family has been diagnosed with COVID in the last two days. We are doing quite well. Not sure if I can slip out for a hunt or not. It is hitting my wife harder than me. Pretty sure it would be marriage suicide if I left her home with our three boys right now. My quartine ends Saturday if symptoms do not worsen. I may go out Sunday if she is okay with. She and the kids have quarantine longer since their symptoms started a few days after mine.
Yes we just built a barn so I will have a place in the future. I have bought a commercial meat grinder. Just need to get everything set up. Probably won’t happen until next year. Do you make your own snack sticks or summer sausage? That’s what I want to get good at making.
Hi-Mountain products are pretty good for sticks and jerky. Did some jerky last year with LEM brand and was pretty good as well. When I do do sticks, sausage or even jerky with ground meat I have a hand mixer I bought before the grinder or would have gotten a grinder attachment one and use the grinder to stuff the casings. Pretty easy to do, I just hate cleaning the grinder more than anything
I’ve got a nice dehydrator and love makin jerky. Problem is all that time drying and it’s gone in a matter of 1 day. My wife actually loves the stuff. I’ll have to look into the Hi-Mountain stuff.
I'm good with whatever the majority likes for avatar. Forgot to mention in previous post. I'll be making some summer sausage this year. My mom gave me my grandparents recipe that she had. Has a recipe for 10lbs and then another for a 100 pound batch. I'll be doing the 10lb or maybe even halving it to 5lbs. Recipe is likely older than I am, but I can remember eating it when I was a kid. Reading my grandma's note she stated they used to buy the pork to add, but now their batches are usually 500lbs at a time so they just kill one of the hogs to use I couldn't imagine doing 500lbs of summer sausage in one sitting lol
I use 3 of the round dehydrators, nothing fancy. Bought a bunch of extra trays, so I think each one has about 12 trays now. I rotate them about every 30 minutes or so for even drying. If I am doing ground I use the jerky blaster with the two strip tip and basically lay strips in a complete circle and cut to length once dried. Hard to tell the difference really between whole muscle and ground aside from shape. I bought a cheap slicer this year for some whole muscle to see if I can get thickness consistency. Cutting 10lbs by hand gets tiresome.
I kinda like number 2 now as far as standing out goes, but 1 the darkness also symbolizes the silence. Unheard equates to unseen.....
I’ve got a cheapy slicer too. I found the key is to having the meat really cold so that it doesn’t hang up in the blades. Seems to slice better when the muscle is tight and chilled.
