Who's Hunting Tomorrow??

Went to the pheasant opener in California. California stinks now for wild pheasants. Not many birds left. Didn't even get a shot.

 

Cool pic. Someone I hunt with on occasion has a English Setter. Nice hunting dog. Saw your earlier post. This guy doesn't I know doesn't have much in the way of family commitments so he travels all over the place to hunt upland game all over the US. He is going pheasant again to either South or North Dakota. He has already hunted Montana, Iowa, and Nebraska the past few years in addition to all the hunting he does in CA.

 

Gun deer season starts Nov 23rd if the hunter is under 16 the season is open now. Naturally bow has been in effect a couple of weeks.

 

That sounds awesome but I can only dream of traveling to hunt. I can't miss any days of work in the autumn months.

 

LOL, me too. I have family commitments and work to do outside my regular job so I can't travel either. But maybe after I retire.

 

Owyhee draw hunt tags filled!!

4 days of stomping around Juniper Mountain in SW Idaho. Beautiful backcountry down there. First 2 days we saw absolutely nothing! We hiked 8 miles the first day through lots of canyons & draws, 2nd day was a 7 mile hike... NADA! It wasn't until the 3rd day that we came across a bunch of does & forky's. On the 4th day we hiked about 3 miles up a few mesa plateau's and I came across my 3x3. He was rutting with a pack of 4 does. We got within 150yds of him and he did not care about us one bit but rather spent his time corralling all the does that were getting skittish. He finally gave me a shot through a narrow window of deadfall. 1st shot I hit him in the neck just above the shoulder. Somehow it didn't take him down but my 2nd shot was right on the money while he was at a sprint. Crack shot! After closer inspection this guy was actually a 3x4 but he had snapped off one of his points. Must be a scrapper! Anyway, my friend & I dragged this sonbech 2460yds mostly flat thankfully with a few downhill portions.



That night (after I shot my deer) as we were heading down Juniper Mountain road we came across this beastly 4pt. My pops hopped out the truck and spined him while he was at a dead sprint. The old man one upped me! But after 4 days of hiking my butt off and not seeing anything more than forky's, I was quite happy with the 3x4.

 

Pics of Owyhee country in Idaho. Most of these pics are skirting Juniper Mtn. The Junipers up there are VERY thick and honestly too difficult to hunt. And the forest service had some public access roads cut off due to prescribed burns. To which we believe was a big reason why we weren't seeing very many animals down there. Prescribed burns & ranchers had a lot of cattle in the area. Not a good recipe for hunting success but we made do.

 

I spy FORKY!

 

Hell yeah man! Great work in some beautiful country!

Next time get yourself a Kuiu pack, bone that thing out and save yourself the drag!

Here's to a full freezer

 

Yea I’m definitely going to look into getting a freight frame pack, so if you recommend the Kuiu then i’ll Look into it! Main reason we dragged it was because it was flat & downhill. Wasn’t too bad of a drag, but time consuming. I’ve never learned the gutless boning method but I’m very interested in trying it. Sounds like a very easy way to haul out meat.

Meat... Started an at-home operation this year. Bought a Cabelas 0.75hp Carnivore Grinder and wanted to make my own ground meat & sausage. We of course saved the backstraps & tenderloins to eat separately.

For the ground meat we did 2 batches. 1 mixed with ground up bacon ends, and the other with high fat ground beef.

For the sausage rolls we did 2 batches as well: pork fat & bacon ends mixture. We followed a “summer sausage” recipe given to us from an uncle that swears by it. After stuffing the casings I smoked them on my Traeger for 13 hours. The results are absolutely amazing.

Goodbye Butcher costs!!!

 

Beautiful country.

 

Me.

For pussy.

 

Rifle season starts Saturday in PA. Harvested a doe last month in early muzzle loader season.

 

I've been really happy with my Kuiu pack. I have 3 different bags for my frame that are pretty simple to switch between. Last elk trip i put my 1850CI bag inside of my 7200CI bag with all my backpacking stuff and simply unhooked the 7200 and had my day pack ready to go.

I don't do the gutless method, but a lot people do. I just quarter and then debone the ribcage, neck, etc.

I usually don't add any fat to my burger but I have done bacon before with good results for burgers.

Grab Rinella's cook book when you get a chance, lots of great game recipes, real good jerky brine and a few easy sausage recipes too. I have a killer breakfast sausage recipe if you want it.

 

Of course i want it! Thanks dude!

And thanks for all the other helpful info!

I've also been recommended this cookbook from many people that swear by it :

 

Check these out





Hoping I run into this bad boy

 

1.) 15 lbs. ground deer (fine grind plate)
2.) 15 lbs. ground pork shoulder
3.) 9 tblsp. table salt
4.) 4.5 tblsp. ground thyme
5.) 4.5 tblsp. marjoram
6.) 9 tblsp. rubbed sage
7.) 9 tblsp. table grind black pepper
8.) 1 quart of buttermilk

Keep it cold and mix well. I packaged loose in approx 1 pound packs with Saran Wrap and butcher paper. I’ve doesn’t Deer and cougar and both turned out great.

 

Good luck!

 

I might have permission at a small 6 acre lot up the road a mile. Fingers crossed but the opener is Monday so I gotta know quick and scout. Just a long shot at this point.

Awesome pics FaCe...thanks for posting 'em and congrats on your buck.

 

Well that permission dried up 'cause the dude's wife who he's separated from is concerned because their grandchildren live in a house nearby.....um, yeah, I shoot at houses all the time. Cripes.

Well Whip's gonna get to re-charge the batteries as we hit the final week of Pheasants pretty hard. I hunted him the past 4 mornings straight and he's wiped out! Got a slew of points and 9 more birds. Shit, this old man with a fake hip needs the rest!