Archery Talk

I’ll place a second vote for this methodology

 

So sorry for your loss. The loss of a good dog is soo painful but they bring so much joy that I will always have a Labrador in my life.

 

Thanks Greg. You get only four chances at truly unconditional love in your life: your mother and father, and the dogs that love you unconditionally. The oceans of love they give are more than worth the few days of sorrow.

 

Hey Jake, check this stuff out: Professional Special FX Dirt & Dust | Red Carpet FX I went to the theater dirt dust to camo my face and liked it much better than the stuff they sell to sportsmen. It stays flat and non-reflective, even after you sweat. No sheen like the tube stuff. Best of all, there is no sensation of having something on your face. Easy (easy-er) to get off. Don't forget to do your ears, under chin, side of neck, back and sides of hands. I bought three colors, but ended up using only two. Two of these will last you a lifetime.

 

sure wish I had some beer in my truck... I usually carry field dressing stuff in my backpack. Knife and small saw for the pelvis. Might swap the saw for a butt out but I like the option of splitting the rib cage. I will probably leave my cart at the truck most of the time unless I am real far and just make a run back for it. It helps my nerves settle and makes it so I can’t go after the deer right away.

After thinking about it for a bit I think I might try getting some bags made up with drawstrings for quarters and whatever other meat. I’m thinking one for each back leg one for the two fronts together one for back straps/tenderloins and one extra for neck/trimmings/whatever else. Probably try to make them out of some synthetic then just load those in a 60L backpacking bag.

I feel like if I had done that last night even with a deer of that size I could get it out in one shot without having to take the pack on and off for breaks. It would suck but I spent a few summers as a backpacking guide so I think I could still do it. Terrain is usually pretty flat and worst case two trips it will be done.

I also am a pretty big fan of just cleaning them without gutting. taking the meat off the outside is a lot easier as I remember it.

Hopefully I can give this method a test run in a few days when I am back at it.

 

Thank you. Is there a specific one in that link that you use? There are a few options. I usually just end up using black because a tube of it is easier than a selection of different colors. I like to use it when I am on the ground especially if the sun isn’t at my back. Usually hit my face except for facial hair because it is a pain to get out from under hair then ears neck and forehead from where my hat brim is.

I used the face net things before but the eye opening never works well with glasses and neck/face gaiters fog up my glasses.

 

Yeah, that's funny! I remember all us guys using cold cream to get the stuff off. We were not real good at it and you can't really get it out of the folds of your ears and eye sockets real well without being at home in the shower. So we would end up looking like a buncha' movie extras in Mad Max all weekend in camp! Pretty motley post-armageddon crew. The place I bought mine is no longer on the web, and the ones I bought are not among those shown (it was more than 30 years ago). However, if you stick to the powders (dust), any of them should be fine. Like I said, I bought three, but I would only use two at a time: Green and grey in early bow season, brown and grey later in the Fall/Winter. A good face painting helps ward off other public land hunters too. Most hunters on public land are neophytes. They encounter a guy out in the woods with a well-applied Blackwater-quality face painting and they assume they have run into a John Malkovich with weapons. Their first-blush reaction: "Fuuuck, this guy is a nutcase. I better go in another direction..."! You'll have the woods to yourself!

As for the transport, you may want to consider putting a 48 quart ice chest on the cart and use it to put the meat in. No drip and soak of blood. ESPECIALLY if you are backpacking a climbing stand in. My API Grand Slam Supreme climbing stand and my daypack together weighed 52lbs when I packed for an overnight hunt. Put it all on the cart and carry as little as possible. Pushing a cart with that and more was HEAVEN compared to carrying that stand/pack combo. Strap it all down tight and it is almost silent rolling through the woods, especially compared to me huffing and puffing under that climbing stand with the pack strapped to it. Before cell phones I use to come all the way out to get help from my buddies. I'd also change clothes, taking off the camo and snake boots and putting on shorts and New Balance tennis shoes. That ended the day I stepped too close to a timber rattler in my haste rushing back in. As I got older I realized that slow and steady with everything I might need loaded on the cart was faster than two trips in and out. And considering the size of the rattlers, safer too. Slow allows you to still hunt in and out too. Green-faced John Malkovich...with a cart full of weapons and meat-processing equipment, walking around out there in the woods...yeah, they gonna' be talkin' about you around the water cooler at work on Monday...

You are right: A gutless clean when out there in the back sure is convenient. Just depends on the game warden: is leaving the tenderloins in there a citable offense in his value system?

 

When I use to hunt in the Michigan U.P.
the rule was we don't shoot the deer that come out into the yard.

Sorry about your dog.
I know it's hard.
When my dog Star was about 7 months old we had the first snow of the year. Took her out back and we kicked up a buck. She chased it and I thought crap I lost my dog. She came back. A few day later she's barking and I looked out and its the same buck chasing a doe. A few days later that buck was hanging in the garage. That was the only deer she ever chased. After that she would just sit and watch them. She was always part of my hunting. She'd sit and wait for me to come in from hunting. She always knew when I got one. I thick she was more excited then I was.
Had to put her down last year. She's buried out back where she can watch the deer. I've gotten 2 deer since she's been gone. I've taken both of them past her so she could see them.

 

You are a good man Dan. I am so sorry for your loss. We shall see them again. They await us there. I just know we will...

 

It takes a bit but I can get the tenderloins from outside the rib cage if I am careful not to Nick anything in there. I think the meat usually ends up way cleaner doing gutless especially when you consider everything it gets on it on the trip back to where you clean it.

I have hunted out of a tree saddle the past few years and that puts my whole setup to get in a tree right at around 10 pounds to get up 20’. 10 pounds is definitely a noticeable amount of weight but it isn’t bad and I pretty much always carry it no matter if my plan is to set up on the ground or not for versatility.

 

Any reason that the antlers of that buck would be work down almost polished here? I can’t think of anything other than rubbing trees but I doubt it would wear down bone like that? It is also on the other side but not as much. Also any reason for a bunch of burrs on his neck other than walking through them? Idk if they eat them or not they are the prickly football looking burrs.

 

Cockleburs are probably on his daily route, they don't eat them. As far as the polished antler, he prolly just got a little crazy on a cedar tree or something.

 

Apparently he was an obsessive compulsive deer. Did you age him?

 

I killed a buck years back that had huge bald spot like that right over his front shoulder, seemed like it was a rifle wound from last year. Weird. It’s impressive how resilient they are.

 

I have no idea how. I can send pictures of his teeth or if there is another way I can do my best to follow it. I would guess he wasn’t older than 3.5. I would say he was 2.5 but he was 140ish dressed when I tried my best to weigh him on a bathroom scale and I feel like a 2.5 wouldn’t be that heavy.

I figured the burrs were just from traveling but it didn’t hurt to ask. The area is absolutely full of them.

 

I'm thinking at least 3.5, maybe 4.5?

 

Rut. Teeth tell age

 

Looking back at these pics I realized I didn’t make it clear these deer are from a camera up right after the 18-19 season ended

But that introduces another question I have that I just realized looking back at these pics... could the 6 point in these pics maybe be the buck I shot? He looks pretty similar (tall not wide and left is larger than right) but he would have to survive 1.5 more seasons on pretty pressured public land and he wouldn’t have grown a ton. Both deer look big bodied as well. Thoughts? tried to get a comparable angle. If it was true either the 6 point would have to be 1.5 or the deer I killed would have to be 4.5+ Both of which seem unlikely to me. When I get into his jaw I will get pictures because this whole aging thing looks very complicated to me

 

Could be

 

Not likely, but possible. I've read that less than half of bucks survive the winter due to post-rut emaciation, closer to 40% if I remember right. They burned their candle at both ends chasing skirts and did not take care of themselves as they should. I wouldn't know anything about that though. So there is half a chance there. Factor in other risks of death and you begin to grasp how unforgiving nature really is.