Just wondering if there was anyone else here who hunts. This is my first year, so far I've done a bit of upland game hunting (bagged a few squirrels) and my hubby has taken me whitetail hunting 3 out of the 7 days of first season. While he got a deer on opening day (I didn't go that day), I haven't so much as SEEN a deer yet. It's getting frustrating.
Anyway, do you hunt? What do you hunt? Where do you hunt? How do you hunt? Let's talk hunting.
I'm not one! But I am new to the east coast and looking for good places to get moose/deer... from VT, Quebec, Ontario, upstate NY - any ideas from anyone? I used to get it all from my friend (whose husband was a very avid hunter) and now I got no moose for my spaghetti
I don't but my boyfriend does. He was deadset on getting a deer, but the season for the type of gun he owns ended already with no success. He's hunted other things in the past, but he mainly focuses on deer. He loves the taste.
Hey, do any of you hunters/hunters' wives have any good low cal recipes for game meat? Antelope, deer, and pheasant in particular.
I'm just not sure how to cook it. I haven't tried cooking the antelope yet, but I've heard the smell of it cooking is awful... but I really want to use it up. We have about 40-50 lbs of it in the freezer.
This is a thread for those that DO hunt and it is not a thread created to debate the ethics of hunting.
I'm going to clean up all of the posts that went in the wrong direction. If someone wants to have a debate, you are welcome to create a new thread designed just for that and the thread can stand as long as it stays civil and doesn't violate forum rules (fighting, insulting, intentionally rude, etc).
I dont hunt but my brother does...grew up at a babysitters that made homemade bread, lots of fresh veggies and whatever her husband shot or caught...
The babysitters husband was my brothers fatherly role model since ours cared more about alcohol and chasing women..he was taught how to hunt respectfully
The first deer goes in his freezer, the next goes to some old timers that are on fixed incomes...
Hmmm, away for day and looks like I missed some anti-hunting posts! For any interested, read The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting by Frank Miniter. Helps me deal with those who are against hunting. :-)
Anyway...
Sacha~ Have you looked around at the butchers in your area? Some carry exotic type meats (why venison is labeled exotic I'll never know!) especially around this time of year when deer season is on. Otherwise I really don't have any ideas, sorry! We just get our own around here.
Theox~ What kind of hunting are you interested in? You should take a hunters safety course and learn some of the basics! :-)
Rainbowgirl~ We don't do much waterfowl around here, not sure why, just seems here in the midwest everyone is set on whitetail. Of course our state does produce some of the largest trophy bucks around, so that might be why. So you have hunting dogs? What breed? My husband has always wanted a good hunting dog but I'm not up for training a dog at the moment.
ArtyKay~ I'm not sure about antelope... But I know marinating any kind of game in milk or buttermilk overnight will remove some of the gamey flavor from it (tho not all). And cooking it low and slow makes it less tough. We usually just throw our venison in a stew or soup, cook up deer steaks the same way we'd cook up beef steaks, or grind it up and add some pork fat and make burgers out of it. It can be as low or high cal as you want since you decide how much fat to add and what all you want in the dish.
jules126~ Respectful hunting is so important. It makes me angry when I see people who are just out for racks and basically throw the meat away. We keep all of ours since we have a family of 5 to feed (and no one we know likes deer, go figure) but 2 or 3 deer will keep our family in meat for an entire year. Steaks, roasts, ground venison, etc. My father-in-law even eats the heart and liver. My husband was raised a waste-not want-not hunter, and that's how he's teaching me and our kids to hunt.
So only a couple of hunters here? It's so much fun! And on the weight loss side of it, spot and stalk hunts are a brutal workout! Muscles so tensed up all the time, walking for miles... Hunting from a stand has it's good points too, mostly that there's no room to bring any food, plus you don't want the deer to smell or hear you eating, so it keeps me from noshing. :-)
As guns go, I've been using my husband's 12ga H&R so far, but hoping to get my own 20ga soon (the 12ga has a bit too much kick for me!). My husband has been hunting with his dad's .357 (which amazingly is legal as long as the barrel is over 4 inches long). We'd both like to get into archery, but are waiting until we have the funds.
Princess (love your Halo Kitty - that's my name on another site b/c of my lurve of that game!): I have a Labrador. Retrievers (no matter what branch; Chesapeakes, Goldens, or Labradors) are exceptional bird dogs. They do take a ridiculous amount of work to train though and if you get into competitions (hunt tests or field trials) you need to train to a certain standard. Force fetching is usually used; that's associating pressure (usually an ear pinch) with the word "Fetch" and relieved when the dog reaches for and grabs the "bumper" (canvas covered boat-bumper like thing or plastic). Then there's force to pile which I don't understand at all.
I don't do competitions with mine for various reasons.
You are right - they need a LOT of work to get them to where they can be handled on a hunt. Nilla had her first hunt this year and it went poorly because I didn't have the foresight to work her on retrieving anything heavy and feathered. She retrieved wings like nothing, but when it came to an actual bird with weight on it, she had no idea what to do and I couldn't convince her that I wanted her to pick it up. A week of working with grouse wings tied to a training bumper and the next hunt she brought back a spruce hen (which I'd never seen before) after listening to hand and whistle instructions to get to it, and the second retrieve she did was on a rabbit (which we don't think even her great-aunt, my dad's dog, would have done), although it did take some coaxing and whistle corrections.
She's not perfect by far, and she's no where near what she "should" be according to some people, but we're only concerned with her getting the birds and bringing them back; not how fast she enters the water or how fast she runs down the road, etc. Get the bird, bring it back, deliver to hand. That's all we care about
So far, it's taken about a year (From November to October) of working with her nearly daily on learning whistle commands, obedience commands, and retrieving skills.
Your husband CAN get "started" dogs or "finished" dogs too, but you'd miss out on the puppy stages (that's good and bad lol), but they're much more expensive than a puppy because of all the training needed.
You cannot beat a retriever though; no matter which branch; they're (and I'm biased lol) the best family dogs out there and the cutest puppies
Hi fellow hunters. I hunt, and actually got a deer during our November gun season. I love the outdoors and in our area the deer herd needs to be controlled due to over population. I feel better getting one with a gun than someone hitting it with a car and causing injury to people and deer.
I have hunted for years, my DH doesn't hunt, he can't sit still long enough. The one thing I love about our hunting season is just being out in the woods, quiet and peaceful. If I see a deer and decide to shot it fine, (and there are times that I have seen one and not taken it, just watching it) if not I just enjoy being out their. Nature is wonderful in it's self.
My spouse is an avid hunter - he practices his markmanship constantly through the year, and is beginning to gear up DS12 for his first real season. We live out of town a bit, and "venison" is another name for "pest control". The deer really have gotten out of hand in the last 5 years or so! We used to have pheasants and fox, but the deer have destroyed a lot of the natural habitat with their browsing. I expect to pick up a bow for the first time in 2012. I don't expect to get to the obsession level of DH, but will very happily help reduce the population on our acreage!
I wasn't all that enthusiastic about it until I had my first taste of venison tenderloin, grilled rare ... OMG! Now I fully understand why these tender little bits never make it home from deer camp!
My spouse is an avid hunter - he practices his markmanship constantly through the year, and is beginning to gear up DS12 for his first real season. We live out of town a bit, and "venison" is another name for "pest control". The deer really have gotten out of hand in the last 5 years or so! We used to have pheasants and fox, but the deer have destroyed a lot of the natural habitat with their browsing. I expect to pick up a bow for the first time in 2012. I don't expect to get to the obsession level of DH, but will very happily help reduce the population on our acreage!
I wasn't all that enthusiastic about it until I had my first taste of venison tenderloin, grilled rare ... OMG! Now I fully understand why these tender little bits never make it home from deer camp!
I want a bow too! I've never been comfortable shooting a gun, and I'm thinking I'll take to a bow a lot easier.
Any other hunters?
but I really want to use it up. We have about 40-50 lbs of it in the freezer.
