'Tis Hunting Time—A smallish blog

[FauxPas]

23 hours ago, Shelby said:

 Loving this new porch furniture.

 

 

 

Oooh, I love this too! Those rocking chairs are so cool. (I was going to say 'those chairs really rock' but I restrained myself, hahaha)

 

I picture hot chocolate along with the blanket. Or maybe a brandy or cognac, but personally I'd go Grand Marnier. Orange says Christmas to me.  🙂

 

But where is the tree with the lights that you watch from there? Am I missing it in the photos? 

 

 

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

 

Oooh, I love this too! Those rocking chairs are so cool. (I was going to say 'those chairs really rock' but I restrained myself, hahaha)

 

I picture hot chocolate along with the blanket. Or maybe a brandy or cognac, but personally I'd go Grand Marnier. Orange says Christmas to me.  🙂

 

But where is the tree with the lights that you watch from there? Am I missing it in the photos? 

 

 

I'll take all of the above lol.

 

It's in the next picture down.  Just a small tree in the corner of the porch.  I didn't put any ornaments on, just twinkle lights.

[Shelby]

Happy Saturday!

 

They got a huge old buck yesterday evening.  He's tough--the tenderloins are tough so the rest of him will be really tough.  But, no matter.  We'll grind him up for burger.  I was assured that next year or maybe even this doe season a more tender deer will be harvested.  I will show pics of the loins etc.  later.  Mr. Buck is currently hanging from our tractor where he cooled off overnight.

 

Pictures from the deer stand:

 

 

 

 

Mr. Buck

 

 

 

After all that excitement I made a batch of @Kim Shook's Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls.  I made them years ago and our hunter friend really liked them.  I was re-reading this blog and ran across the post about them.  Thank you Kim, we love these!

 

 

Celery stuffed to use up the rest of the cheese

 

 

Wings are one of our hunters favorite foods so I fried up a ton last night.  Made extra so they'd have some to snack on during the Georgia/Texas game today.

 

 

Cabbage salad and baked beans to go with

 

 

Our hunter's very fancy plate lol

 

 

We are cleaning the deer today....not sure what else....as usual I need to figure out dinner.   See you in a bit!

 

 

 

 

[gfweb]

On 12/5/2024 at 3:27 PM, Katie Meadow said:

@Shelby I'm just curious. Last night I read a long piece in the Nation magazine about Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD. It describes the westward movement of the disease in deer and discusses at length the possibility of it jumping to humans (zoonotic). In some states like CO and WI it's so pervasive that every deer killed must be tested before you can eat it. Are hunters in your area dealing with that? I knew absolutely nothing about this until I read the article. Now I know more than I wish I did. 

 

It is looking like its becoming big deal.

 

In PA its one county over from us...about 30 miles.

We have about 20 or so deer on our place at all times. I've never seen a sick one.

The state has a testing program, not required.

 

But who knows if the testing catches it all.  And farmed venison is exposed in the fields.

 

It hasn't been reported in humans, but it would have to be suspected to be tested-for.

Edited December 7, 2024 by gfweb (log)

[C. sapidus]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

Happy Saturday!

 

They got a huge old buck yesterday evening.  He's tough--the tenderloins are tough so the rest of him will be really tough.  But, no matter.  We'll grind him up for burger.  I was assured that next year or maybe even this doe season a more tender deer will be harvested.

 

 

Good luck with the buck! One of my hunter friends only hunts does, mainly for the more tender meat.

 

I may have told this story before but - his daughter became a vegetarian, but her one exception was venison because that is what she grew up eating.

[Shelby]

The guys are out removing the corn feeders and tidying up the shooting houses for the season.  I think they're going to come home and split some firewood--we have tons to do using all of the downed trees that fell during the storm in the spring.  They boned the buck out yesterday.  I still have to work on the meat, make the burger and get it packaged up but that can wait until at least tomorrow.  I'm taking today off lol.  A couple of pictures--ya'll have seen this so many times before in this blog I'm sure you're sick of it lol.

 

 

 

Above are the backstraps

 

Here are the tenderloins.  They weren't as tough as I thought they were going to be.

 

 

 

 

 

I melted some butter in cast iron until screaming hot and sautéed the steaks

 

 

Our friend brought us redfish which he seasoned with salt, pepper, butter and a bit of rosemary and then grilled.  It was delicious.

 

 

Shrimp, macaroni and cheese and Brussels sprouts to go with

 

 

And that's a wrap for this year   Thanks as always for hanging out with me  

Edited December 8, 2024 by Shelby (log)

[ElsieD]

Thank you, @Shelby!

[gfweb]

That was too quick!

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, gfweb said:

That was too quick!

 

Amen! I was hoping for a 2-week visit and blog!

[FauxPas]

10 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Amen! I was hoping for a 2-week visit and blog!

 

Me too!  😆

[Shelby]

Aw thanks you guys.  I didn't post a whole lot of pics because you've seen them for years....all the processes.  Also I was under the weather until late in the evening on Friday so I just wasn't up to my usual self.  He'll be back and I promise I'll post more   I'm glad you guys read along.

[gfweb]

53 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Aw thanks you guys.  I didn't post a whole lot of pics because you've seen them for years....all the processes.  Also I was under the weather until late in the evening on Friday so I just wasn't up to my usual self.  He'll be back and I promise I'll post more   I'm glad you guys read along.

 

That's more like it!

[rotuts]

@Shelby

 

maybe next year you can rent an A.I. robot , w DeerScan  ( DS )

 

you can all stay home , by the fire , and follow the outdoor action on a Monitor !

 

then ' pull '  ( i.e. push a button ) at the appropriate time !

 

all you would have to do is make gallons and gallons of EggNogg  several months in advance .

 

if you must endure cold and discomfort to make it Real 

 

you can sit on the porch for a few minutes at a time , in shorts !

 

A.I. seems to be popular these days it seems 

 

and I got the idea of the ' Shooting Monitor '  from 

 

The Day of the Jackal 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt24053860/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_day%20of%20the%20

 

*****  No Spoilers *****

 

Episode 9  

 

I highly recommend the show.   

 

 if you can stand it , only more episode completes season one,

 

this week ! 

 

Edited December 9, 2024 by rotuts (log)

[Dr. Teeth]

Beautiful old buck.    Love the pseudo palmation on the left antler.   Sure he was less than a joy on the plate, but holy cow.   Thanks as always for letting folks follow along without having to wait in a cold stand.

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, Dr. Teeth said:

Beautiful old buck.    Love the pseudo palmation on the left antler.   Sure he was less than a joy on the plate, but holy cow.   Thanks as always for letting folks follow along without having to wait in a cold stand.

Super nice of you.  Yeah that antler was what sold the harvesting deal.  They couldn't let that one go.  It's ok....we will grind it up and next time I get my way with an old dry doe that will be much more tender.

[Smithy]

11 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Super nice of you.  Yeah that antler was what sold the harvesting deal.  They couldn't let that one go.  It's ok....we will grind it up and next time I get my way with an old dry doe that will be much more tender.

 

I don't remember: can you (they) shoot bucks or does there? Or is there a special permit required for one or the other? Here in Minnesota there's a special permit required for does and young bucks. I've been told that in Kentucky, where friends hunt, it's the other way around.

[Shelby]

Ooooof.  Where to begin?  As some of you know we had a major hail storm the beginning of September.  Time has flown so fast it still feels like it just happened last week.  We're slowly getting things fixed up and back to normal.  Roof people can't even start until possibly next spring they are so backed up.  Luckily I haven't found any leaks.  Anyway, all of the sudden it was time for our hunter friend to be here 😮 **panic** lol.  He arrived last Wednesday and left on Sunday--it was so hectic that I couldn't post anything in real time.  Hoping that the December visit is muuuuuch calmer.  So.  Here's a bit of what we got up to:

 

I managed to throw a quick chalkboard drawing together (thank you internet for the inspiration) and got some fall/Halloween decorations put up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ronnie's granddaughter was selling mums for a school fundraiser so I bought some for the porch--our pumpkin patch got demolished so I didn't have any pumpkins (insert major crying face).  I was shocked when Ronnie and our friend arrived from the airport and unloaded a ton of pumpkins that they bought for me!

 

 

 

 

 

Now, if the cattle come to visit me this winter I'll have at least a little snack for them to enjoy.

 

I really dropped the ball taking pictures a times- so I'll have to piece in here and there.  The first night, since they had grabbed lunch not too long before, I put out just a few snacks.  @HungryChris's marinated mushrooms were again a hit.  I've been ordering from Nuts.com and loving some of their offerings--these spicy pickle pretzels are addictive.

 

 

That night I IP'd ribs that Ronnie had smoked along with stuffed jalapeños and baked beans.  

 

Next morning they got up early to go dove hunting and work on the deer stands etc.

 

Scout got to go and had a blast.

 

 

 

A dove cleaning pictorial--as usual they saved all of the livers, gizzards and hearts, too.

 

 

On the way home they stopped off in a mostly Amish community and bought some homegrown tomatoes--it pains me to type that lol.  But we had none, again, due to the hail.

 

 

They're better than store bought....but not near like ours.

 

Another snack board

 

 

Ronnie really wanted me to do pressure cooked chicken gizzards.  That's a LOT of frying when there are three of us.  But, I started at like 3 in the afternoon and got done around 4:30.  I included the guts from the doves.

 

 

 

Pressure cooked for 40 mins along with salad and gravy for dipping

 

 

Next morning more doves were gotten.  This time, I asked them to pluck them so I could freeze them and we'd have them roasted in the oven over the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wrapped them in saran and then vac packed them

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shelby]

We worked on cutting up a ton of firewood both Friday and Saturday.  I'm STILL sore from lifting and stacking.  Anyway, Saturday I started early in the day and got a chipped beef cheese ball made for snacks.

 

 

Then I stuffed the doves with jalapeños and onions, bacon wrapped them and marinated them in Dale's.  

 

 

Our guest is a deviled egg fanatic

 

 

Creamed brussels sprouts

 

 

And grilled doves

 

 

 

So, that's a little tidbit from last week.  Again, I hope to be much more on top of my game for next time

 

 

[Smithy]

@Shelby, I'm so pleased to see any sort of an update here, and I'm amazed at your energy in decorating the house! It's good to see you recovering, at least somewhat. Thanks for the update.

 

Would you please explain (no doubt again) what "Dale's" is that you used to marinate the doves? Also, I love devilled eggs too but am generally too lazy to make them. What do you use for the filling?

[Shelby]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

@Shelby, I'm so pleased to see any sort of an update here, and I'm amazed at your energy in decorating the house! It's good to see you recovering, at least somewhat. Thanks for the update.

 

Would you please explain (no doubt again) what "Dale's" is that you used to marinate the doves? Also, I love devilled eggs too but am generally too lazy to make them. What do you use for the filling?

Thank you Smithy!  It'll be reallllly nice to have this all behind us.  I'm going to be taking it really easy over the next few days.  Because I can lol.

 

Here's a link to Dale's --it's soy sauce based.  A customer....or maybe a mill guy...turned us onto it a million years ago.  Good stuff.

 

Yeah...deviled eggs are a pain especially if you have to make a lot of them!  Filling this time was Hellman's mayo, mustard and a good healthy dose of dry Ranch dressing mix.