Deer hunters....
 

So, anybody have any good stories from this season?

And pictures! Don't forget pictures.

Things are sparse in my part of Oklahoma. Some people say the bears are eating them all, others claim the deer have learned to read and when the signs go up that hunting season has started they head for the hills.

Pfft...all you need to bag a deer in my area is a nighttime rural road and a Buick Electra...

Yup. The only deer I ever killed was by hitting with my van at 55 mph. I saw that deer fly.

What caliber van did you use?

I remember seeing the public ridge where everyone pulled off the road to walk up to up yonder,


East of Stringtown , on that road headin between there and that big desolated lake with no sign of people to the east.

About a month ago I drove from Nashville to Cincinatti. I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that I saw at least a hundred deer that had been hit on the interstate. I think the number was higher than that. After seeing a deer wanting to cross the road after sunset, I tucked in behind an 18 wheeler for most of the rest of the way to Cincinnati.

As far as the harvest here goes, it has been thin. There are usually a few that bed down near the house, but I haven't seen any this year. I have heard many fewer rifle shots than usual.

We have deer on our place except during hunting season. Almost never see a deer during hunting season. Water board land is just a couple farms away from us but that is a couple farms too many for deer to cross during hunting season. I got a picture of a fox on the game camera, kinda blurred.

Had a couple raccoons in the garden after I watered. We went without rain for a couple months, serious drought here. The raccoons might have never seen wet ground. They went a little nuts, digging. I dug for them. Not really, dumpstered them.

I would like to have some deer in the freezer. Probably won't get around to it this season.

My neighbor is my hunter by proxy...I take care of his firearms, and he provides me venison for my freezer, since I am unable to get out and hunt anymore. He and his wife also process the meat for me, so I couldn't tell you how big the rack was, or even if it was a buck. What I can say is that I have two of them in my freezer now, with a promise of a third at a later date. I also have 4 cotton tail rabbits that he got a short time ago for me.

He's at his camp right now, hunting black bear. He's promised me a bit of bear meat, if he gets one. It's been 4 years since he got his last one. Never having had it before, I'm real interested in how it tastes.

I have had Bear. I can't say it all does but the stuff I had tasted like Shyte!

Ditto.

Decades ago I was a member of a Sportsmen's club that put on an annual Game Dinner. Almost exclusively white folks but lots of first and second generation Euro ethnics, German, Polish, Russian, Italians, Portuguese I've had bear cooked quite a few ways.

The best as in most normal or regular preparation was as "corned bear" prepared just like corned beef, salted and spiced for some time and then boiled, it was flavorful and tender. The other dish was a "sulze" which is a German recipe that is a type of head cheese but with vinegar and aromatics as the main seasonings. Served chilled and sliced on rye bread with sliced onions, pickles mustard and black pepper. It was very tasty, very sort of hearty, lots of flavor.

Took two Whitetails this year here on the ranch. We have a small, stable herd along the creek bottom. Son got a nice big Mulie. I don't hunt Mule Deer any more. Not crazy about the meat other than for sausage and jerky. My girls filled their tags too up on the North Rim but they have their own freezers and do their own processing. We don't photograph our kills. It's unseemly and disrespectful.
The reason for serving bear with onions, pickles, vinegar, spices, pepper and mustard is to disguise its nasty, greasy taste. I've tasted omnivores and predators before; Mt. Lion and bear. Other than a well barbecued Javelina I don't hunt them. Give me the tasty browsers and grazers; the vegetarians every time.

Tom, I think you must have had some GOOD bear meat. The bear meat I tasted wasn't that good.

If I were dumped in the wild and had to learn to survive I would pay attention to what the other creatures were eating. You probably wouldn't see many of them eating bear.

I have talked to a number of people who fill their freezers with game and fish and live on it year round.

It really is not very difficult to raise meat animals. The loss of the family farm lifestyle to corporate profits has probably been one of the most insidious and diabolical attacks on our country. Praise the lord and pass the pork chops.

I have perused a couple books that say excess consumption of animal products cause many chronic health problems. Forks Over Knives and The China Study. I'll go for moderation on this one.