'Tis Hunting Time—A smallish blog

[ElsieD]

Thank you, Shelby.  Not knowing the first thing about hunting, I found this very interesting.  I was especially happy to see all the parts being used.  

[cakewalk]

Great stuff. About how many pounds of venison would you say you got from that deer? Also, about your hunter: does he take any venison home with him? Or at least the pelt?  Is he a friend of yours, or is he a "hired hunter"? Is that a regular thing, for people to hire professional hunters to kill and then cut up their game? (You might have addressed this previously and I missed it. If so, can you point me in the right direction?)  It's really fascinating to see, and it is such a tremendous amount of work. A far cry from picking out some steaks from the meat section of my supermarket! 

[Shelby]

5 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

Great stuff. About how many pounds of venison would you say you got from that deer? Also, about your hunter: does he take any venison home with him? Or at least the pelt?  Is he a friend of yours, or is he a "hired hunter"? Is that a regular thing, for people to hire professional hunters to kill and then cut up their game? (You might have addressed this previously and I missed it. If so, can you point me in the right direction?)  It's really fascinating to see, and it is such a tremendous amount of work. A far cry from picking out some steaks from the meat section of my supermarket! 

Thank you so much!

 

We got about 60 lbs of meat total.  They weighed the deer after they field dressed her (took the insides out) and she weighed 188 lbs.  We lost about 50 lbs of meat due to the front end being shot up.

 

No, our hunter hunts in his home state, too, so he gets any meat that he wants there.  He comes here to hunt with Ronnie because it's a whole different experience than it is where he lives......plus, we are a lot of fun lol    He lives in a more populated area.  Also, I don't think his family is in to eating it much......   He started out as a person we would wine and dine for business reasons  and quickly grew in to a really great friend  .   My husband could be a hired hunter--he's hunted his whole life and knows the ins and outs of all of it.  Around here you could hire a guide that would put you in a field that deer are known to be in and let you try to shoot it yourself.  Then the guide would gut it, hang it and cut it up and package it for you.  It's expensive.  The guide would either have to own his own place to hunt on or lease it from someone else.  Also very expensive.  As a rule we do not let anyone hunt on our land that our house is located on.  We have other land that we own or that family owns that we hunt on.

 

It is work, but it's fun work.  Very rewarding.  I really glad you enjoyed reading about it and thank you for asking questions  .

 

[cakewalk]

24 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Around here you could hire a guide that would put you in a field that deer are known to be in and let you try to shoot it yourself.  Then the guide would gut it, hang it and cut it up and package it for you.  It's expensive.  The guide would either have to own his own place to hunt on or lease it from someone else. Also very expensive.

For us city slickers. 

 

Thanks for your response. 

[Shelby]

7 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

For us city slickers. 

 

Thanks for your response. 

Well,   yeah. But.....

a lot of people do it. I just asked Ronnie how much it would be on average --a premium hunt would be a place to stay, all meals included, the guide takes you to the hunting spot, picks you back up, entertains you, cleans, packages etc. (you are never guaranteed a deer) would cost around $5,000 to $6,000 for a three day hunt.

 

I couldn't live in a big city....just as a lot of big city folks wouldn't want to live here in the sticks lol  .

Edited December 4, 2016 by Shelby (log)

[cakewalk]

18 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Well,   yeah. But.....

a lot of people do it. I just asked Ronnie how much it would be on average --a premium hunt would be a place to stay, all meals included, the guide takes you to the hunting spot, picks you back up, entertains you, cleans, packages etc. (you are never guaranteed a deer) would cost around $5,000 to $6,000 for a three day hunt.

 

I couldn't live in a big city....just as a lot of big city folks wouldn't want to live here in the sticks lol  .

 

A lotta money! It's an interesting thing. Not meaning to take this too far astray, but it's the way of life that interests me, not just the idea of going on a hunt. There is a completely different way of looking at your world, and I mean that in the immediate sense rather than the larger philosophical sense. I'm city born and bred (I like the feel of concrete under my feet!), but I've always found the idea of a rural existence fascinating and even enticing. It's the middle ground that I've never really understood (i.e., suburbs). 

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

A lotta money! It's an interesting thing. Not meaning to take this too far astray, but it's the way of life that interests me, not just the idea of going on a hunt. There is a completely different way of looking at your world, and I mean that in the immediate sense rather than the larger philosophical sense. I'm city born and bred (I like the feel of concrete under my feet!), but I've always found the idea of a rural existence fascinating and even enticing. It's the middle ground that I've never really understood (i.e., suburbs). 

That's what makes eG so great IMO.  Learning about other ways of life.  I'm like you, only vice-versa.  I can't imagine living in a city where you step out of your door and have a grocery right there.  Or you could order in and have delivered a million different kinds of food (I wish for that on some nights).

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, Shelby said:

That's what makes eG so great IMO.  Learning about other ways of life.  I'm like you, only vice-versa.  I can't imagine living in a city where you step out of your door and have a grocery right there.  Or you could order in and have delivered a million different kinds of food (I wish for that on some nights).

Or you could live in the suburbs where we get much of the 4-legged wildlife, not so much of the two-legged wildlife, limited order-in type places, no grocery stores you can walk to but the smog remains on the horizon. It ain't so bad. 

[Okanagancook]

I am with Shelby on living in the country.  We lived in cities until retirement at age 54.  Been living in the country for 11 years and we love it.  Not as 'country' as Shelby though.  I get my eggs from a local who is augmenting her income, we get all locally raised meat where we go to the farm to pick it up, of course locally made wine, local fruits, etc.  A 20 minutes drive and we are in a town of 30,000 with some decent stores but no real specialty shopping.

 

we have deer wandering around all year long... a bit of a nuisance really.  A lot of hunters this time of the year....moose too.  DH used to hunt with his dad as a youngster but doesn't have the nerve for it now....he wanted to be a vet! 

There are tons of quail running around and we have harvested a few of them, very tasty but if you don't get the kill shot they are a bit tough

 

 Friends hunt and we get some meat in return for lending them our sausage stuffer every year!  That works well.

 

we only have 1.7 acres but that keeps us busy enough.

 

great blog Shelby

[Shelby]

10 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I am with Shelby on living in the country.  We lived in cities until retirement at age 54.  Been living in the country for 11 years and we love it.  Not as 'country' as Shelby though.  I get my eggs from a local who is augmenting her income, we get all locally raised meat where we go to the farm to pick it up, of course locally made wine, local fruits, etc.  A 20 minutes drive and we are in a town of 30,000 with some decent stores but no real specialty shopping.

 

we have deer wandering around all year long... a bit of a nuisance really.  A lot of hunters this time of the year....moose too.  DH used to hunt with his dad as a youngster but doesn't have the nerve for it now....he wanted to be a vet! 

There are tons of quail running around and we have harvested a few of them, very tasty but if you don't get the kill shot they are a bit tough

 

 Friends hunt and we get some meat in return for lending them our sausage stuffer every year!  That works well.

 

we only have 1.7 acres but that keeps us busy enough.

 

great blog Shelby

Thank you!!

 

You have a beautiful place.

 

I've seen a moose once in person.  So majestic.  I've never eaten the meat.  

 

The older we get, the more tender hearted we are, too.  I don't think that's a bad thing.  We shoot what we eat and we eat what we shoot. 

[Shelby]

I want to thank everyone who read this.  I really appreciate you guys!  It's been fun.  

[BeeZee]

The hybrid hunter...guy I work with who grew up in the city, now lives in the suburbs, and he's a bow hunter. He knows a lady who has a large property/farm and she has him come around to thin out the deer every now and then. Plus she has asian pear trees so last year he brought bags of them in to the office, yum. He only hunts until he has his freezer filled, since he eats what he kills, also.

[Okanagancook]

'Tender heartened':  I even hate trapping mice that make a mess in my outdoor kitchen.  We bought a tunnel electricuter type killer so they die instantly and I don't have to pry them off the regular traps

 

the other thing about living in the country is everyone has your back.  If you need help, there is a line up of people to come lend assistance.  Or sharing equipment...like the sausage stuffer, our pig roaster, we borrow wine pumps, trucks, etc.

 

You know everyone's vehicle (maybe not such a good thing) and wave when encountering them.

 

the gals at the pub know which beer you drink and by the time you park your car, it's on the table when you walk in

 

[Jacksoup]

I've really enjoyed this @Shelby. The kill what you eat and eat what you kill seems meaningful to me but am not there yet and probably will never be.  The boyfriend is a gardener and not a hunter.  We have 15 chickens and get about a dozen eggs a day- some are young. We are growing a lot of what we eat but have a long way to go before we reach your level of living off the land.

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, Jacksoup said:

I've really enjoyed this @Shelby. The kill what you eat and eat what you kill seems meaningful to me but am not there yet and probably will never be.  The boyfriend is a gardener and not a hunter.  We have 15 chickens and get about a dozen eggs a day- some are young. We are growing a lot of what we eat but have a long way to go before we reach your level of living off the land.

Thank you so much!

 

Hey, not everyone has venison burger in their freezer   I've alway wanted chickens but my doggies...and the coyotes won't allow that to happen.  I'm jealous that you get eggs!!!!

[Jacksoup]

The boyfriends dog has dispatched 3 chickens so we have to be careful when entering the coop or the big German Shepard follows us in.  The chickens are in a custom built coop and have lots of laying boxes and room to roam.  And we grow organic kale and greens for them.  

[liuzhou]

Let me join the chorus of thanks. It has been fascinating.

[quiet1]

I found it interesting you butcher it yourself. Everyone I've known who hunts around here pays to have it taken care of - you just take the whole dead deer to the person and leave it and come back and pick up all the bits in a couple days. Not sure why - these are not folks who hunt with guides or anything like that.

[Okanagancook]

Yes, our local butcher is very busy now with animals that are brought in from the hunt.

good business for our little businesses.

we need to keep this going.

frequent your local small entrepreneurs 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I really enjoyed this peek into your life @Shelby. Thanks!

[sartoric]

How you live (in a rural setting, dealing with actual dead animals and on the other side of the world) is fascinating for me. I'm a city person, who tries not to even step on ants. Thanks so much for sharing, love your cooking too

[Wayne]

 

I've just returned from an eleven day trip north (no internet) to catch the tail end of this blog. I also see that I missed the first installment since it ran during my last fishing trip.

Nice.

Didn't fish or hunt but did help my brother process 30 lbs. of pheasant sausage (he hunts) of which my share was 10 lbs. and 5 lbs. of pheasant breasts. No photos as vacuum sealed bags of meat aren't very interesting without photos of the process.

I'm a huge fan of venison and usually get gifted some every fall. It's currently shotgun season so with any luck I'll have some by Christmas.

 

 

[quiet1]

My Vietnamese relatives do an interesting thing with venison, it's pretty tasty but I can't remember ever being told the name. It uses up little odds and ends, though - basically the meat pieces are marinaded in some kind of rub, then the meat is seared and cooked until desired temp, then it's served with each person getting a little dish with some spice mix in it, and lime wedges. You squeeze the lime into the spice dish to make your own personal bowl of sauce, then each piece gets dipped briefly (or longer if you prefer) as you eat. Anyone heard of such a thing?

[Shelby]

11 hours ago, quiet1 said:

I found it interesting you butcher it yourself. Everyone I've known who hunts around here pays to have it taken care of - you just take the whole dead deer to the person and leave it and come back and pick up all the bits in a couple days. Not sure why - these are not folks who hunt with guides or anything like that.

Some people do that around here too.  We just never have 'cause we know how to do it and we like being in control of the process.  I've heard many complaints that people who take their deer to the locker don't come home with the deer they actually shot.  But to each their own  

2 hours ago, Wayne said:

 

I've just returned from an eleven day trip north (no internet) to catch the tail end of this blog. I also see that I missed the first installment since it ran during my last fishing trip.

Nice.

Didn't fish or hunt but did help my brother process 30 lbs. of pheasant sausage (he hunts) of which my share was 10 lbs. and 5 lbs. of pheasant breasts. No photos as vacuum sealed bags of meat aren't very interesting without photos of the process.

I'm a huge fan of venison and usually get gifted some every fall. It's currently shotgun season so with any luck I'll have some by Christmas.

 

 

Nice!  I'd be very interested in the pheasant sausage recipe if you have time.........

[Wayne]

50 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Nice!  I'd be very interested in the pheasant sausage recipe if you have time.........

 

We ended up making 3 batches of 10 lbs. each (manageable with our equipment).

1/ a hot Italian style sausage (fennel seed, garlic and LOTS of hot peppers).

2/ a fresh kielbasa sausage.

3/ a French style garlic herb sausage (garlic, brandy, mustard and lots of fresh herbs).

All the batches were 25%/75% pork fatback/pheasant breast meat.

If you are interested in the recipe I would suggest #3 as it best showcases the pheasant meat.

Unfortunately my notes are home but if interested I'll post later.

 

Cheers.