My 2009 deer hunt

[jayste]

Jc, that's a nice harvest! That pic of those big old backstraps sure made my mouth water! I'm like you. I process my own and like to get the hide off as quick as possible. I usually quarter mine and cut the rib bones off of the backbone and hang all of it for a few days in a "gutted" refrigerator I have in my shop building. After several days of curing I'll process it. 4 or 5 good Kansas deer will fill a freezer, huh?

Jay

 

[JC-jetro]

Jc, that's a nice harvest! That pic of those big old backstraps sure made my mouth water! I'm like you. I process my own and like to get the hide off as quick as possible. I usually quarter mine and cut the rib bones off of the backbone and hang all of it for a few days in a "gutted" refrigerator I have in my shop building. After several days of curing I'll process it. 4 or 5 good Kansas deer will fill a freezer, huh?

Jay

Jay,

It is always questionable the deer meat you end up if you have it processed by a butcher shop. It might be somebody else's gut shotted deer that stayed in it's juices for a while. I know my knives and chopping board are perfectly clean, and I pack them how I will use them. Each package is enough meat for one meal for my family. I double bag and put a label on the first bag. The labels stay the package solidly and also shows which part of deer it came from such as BS-1 for back strap deer #1, R-1, (roast), G-1 (ground), f-1 (fillet) and K-1(Kabob-1). I know Oklahoma deer is as good as Kansas and on young does and fawns I don't emphasize too much in aging although it never hurts. My first deer last year was big ole buck called Marv. he was a tough fella ,even with some aging. I ended up grounding him after couple of meal made with the roast. 4-5 deer completely fills my 5 1/2' tall freezer.

JC,

 

[czechsonofagun]

Last year I killed 6 deer - the whole license - actually in Northern VA you can buy 2 more does for $18 if you wish and hunt till the end of March and there is no limit on does. I made one whole deer into jerky - and my kids ate it in two month in their school lunches. But I don't care, the jerky is much better than Slim Jim or candy bar for a snack.
The last shank from the last season we finished on Sunday - friends over and it fed 11 people with leftovers. I will remember the dinner for a while, it is so nice to share food and hear compliments on my cooking and dumplings, LOL.
I vacuum pack all the meat, feed dogs with scraps and tan all the hides - the tanning is rather getting old by the end of the season, but my family from overseas is always happy to take them from me. This year I am tanning two to be buckskins for small art work and one as a felt - still has three more deer to go if I am lucky.

One thing I realized - when you cook extensively with deer meet, the beef gets boring as far as the taste goes.

 

[JC-jetro]

One thing I realized - when you cook extensively with deer meet, the beef gets boring as far as the taste goes.

Czech,

You are so right if you eat a lot of deer after a while you become much finickier with beef. Although good quality aged beef is great but they are not the stuff you can buy from chain grocery store with consistently good quality. If I lived on my acreage, I would have then used all parts of the deer as I think I'm being wasteful. Although, there has not been a confirmed case of espongiform encephalopathy (deer wasting disease) in eastern Kansas and just to be on the safe side I do not ever used any bone saw cutting at all. I have read the meat is okay even if the deer is sick and the virus is in the spinal cord. I'm a bit concerned even with bone marrow so I do not use any of the great bones. Just imagine the possibility of the great stocks one can make from that. I don't have dog in town to serve them the misc stuff. I corn deer and the boys absolutely love the Ruben sandwiches I make for them.

good eats
JC,

Corned deer ruben sandwich

Gyros sandwich with deer meat a Greek treat, Opa

 

[JB4310]

Oh man JC,
Come on, it's just after lunch and I haven't eaten yet, and you gotta show your menu in living color.

2 Reubens to go, please,

JB.

 

[EddieWalker]

Great pictures and story. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Eddie

 

[JC-jetro]

Oh man JC,
Come on, it's just after lunch and I haven't eaten yet, and you gotta show your menu in living color.

2 Reubens to go, please,

JB.

Yes sir John,

Would you like fries with that?

JC,

We hardly ever eat french fries but quite a bit of roasted wedges of potato

 

[Piperflyer]

Shrink wrap that vension and it will last forever

 

[JC-jetro]

Shrink wrap that vension and it will last forever

That is certainly a true statement. Our venison never last beyond 9 to 12 months. With meat totally boned out, I'm not at all packing any air at all. It is probably %95 vacuum wrapped. If I freeze a piece of salmon that I filleted , I'll wrap it with saran wrap tight and then use my heat gun and shrink wrap very easily and efficiently without using much equipment. I always double wrap anything I freeze.

JC,

 

[JC-jetro]

Great pictures and story. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Eddie

Thanks Eddie,

I'm sure your family does much natural foraging when and where available. I'm telling my wife, god forbid if a famine hits us , we'll be the last ones to die if there still is a critter out there. Being very choosy in the choice of critter right now but anything goes if it is matter life and death. I don't know if I can take it to extreme like Chinese folks can

JC,