Deer Camp 2011

 We had another successful deer season this year that, yet again, has given us a full larder.  My wife and I each took two deer.  In the picture up above you can see a portion of the crew from this year.  At one point we had 14 hunters*

*Did you know you can fit 14 people in a 4-door Dodge Dakota, armaments included.  Impressive, I know...

My buck

Here you can see the buck I took through the neck (the ONLY place to shoot a deer) at about 40 yards with a .50 caliber flintlock long rifle.  Dropped where he stood.

Shelley's buck

 Shelley took this buck with a .50 caliber in-line.  The ballistic tip bullet she used did amazing amounts of damage from the shock of the bullet.  This was another neck shot and the buck didn't even wiggle.

Dad's buck

My Dad broke from tradition and took this buck literally between the eyes from a whopping 6' away.  How did he get so close?  The trick is all the camo and scent blocking equipment he uses.  If you don't use that stuff you will never get a deer. Obviously...

Deer Camp 2010

THis is a video of the deer I took this year during Iowa's early muzzleloader season in October. The shot was made at about 25 yards with a .50 caliber flintlock Blue Ridge rifle firing a round ball pushed by 90 grains of Fffg black powder. The shot was a complete pass through, from one end of the buck to the other. Until this deer I had only gotten one other buck, and that was 20 years ago. The spot I was standing when I took this buck was less than 20 yards from where I took the first one. This spot is one of the best producing spots on the family farm. So much so that has earned the moniker "The Pooching Rock" because standing here almost makes it too easy.

Deer Camp 2009 and Canning Venison

Here are a few pictures from Deer Camp 2009.

Deer Crew 2009

The Longrifles

Mom, Monkey & I

Or serious deer hunter look...

First doe of the year.

I now have 8 venison tenderloins, 4 hind quarters, and enough trim meat to fill twelve quart jars (all told about 100 lbs.) And that's under half of what my old man took to start canning at his house. Plus there is 35 lbs. of hamburger and 25 lbs. of summer sausage. I love my life...

To can the deer meat (using a quart jar) is a really simple process. The first step is to trim the meat; get as much fat and gristle off as you possibly can. Next you cube the meat into nice bite size chunks (1.5" to 2"). After the meat is trimmed and cubed you put as much as you can into your canning jars. Once you have your jars full you add one teaspoon (don't bother being precise, just scoop and throw) of salt and then a .50 cent sized piece of beef tallow on top.

Put the lids and rings on at this point and screw them on as tight as you can. It is a good idea to run your finger gently over the lip of each jar before you fill it to make sure there are no blemishes, and again once you've filled the jar to make sure its clean. Now place your jars into a large stock pot and fill with water up to the lip of the jars. Bring the water to a hard rolling boil for 3.5 hours. Remove the jars and let them stand on towel until the lids seal. If you aren't in a hurry you can boil them for the 3.5 hours before you go to bed, then shut them of and allow them to stand in the water over night. That's how we did it growing up since my folks worked and I had school. It take a few days, but it gets the job done.

Once you've canned the venison and you are S-U-R-E the lids have sealed you can put the jars on the shelf until you are ready to use them. Canned venison in shelf stable for years so long as the seal isn't broken and the lids don't rust. It is also a very versatile way to prepare quick meals. Since the meat has been boiled in the jar it is pre-cooked and can be eaten as is, or you can use it in dishes like strogenoff, stews, any Mexican dish that uses shredded beef, bbq sandwiches, etc... I like to fry up garbanzo beans with olive oil and chipolte seasoning and then add in some canned venison. If you try it out and come up with some different recipes please share them with me.

Iowa 2009 Muzzleloader Hunt

Here is a video the first of my two deer from this years early muzzle loader season. About a 30 yard shot with a .50 caliber flintlock. I shot another doe in the exact same spot a week after this one. More Deer Camp 2009 pictures to come soon...

Deer Camp 2008

Here are a couple of picture from deer camp. The first shows most of this years hunters. My Grandpa is seated in front, he is still hunting at age 97! I hope I can hunt for that long. The other is a pic of one of the deer I got. She was a pretty good sized doe, she had close to three inches of fat on her back!

My Dad is pointing to where I hit her, which was exactly where I aimed. We were pretty impressed because it was a 130 yard shot (he measured it three times!).

I used a .50 caliber flintlock rifle with a patched round ball and 90 of FFFG black powder.

I got another deer (a button buck) a couple of days before at about 35 yards. We processed both of the deer ourselves. I would have to say that my favorite part of deer hunting is the butchering process. There is something exceedingly satisfying about providing food for your family literally from field, to table and doing all yourself (with a little help from your Mom and Dad of course!). Thanks Mom and Dad!

I didn’t use my smoothrifle as much as I would have liked because it was shooting 18” low ad 50 yards after we got it back from the gunsmith. I just didn’t have the time to try to sight it in so I used my old Cabela’s Blue Ridge Rifle.

Besides the great deer hunting with my family (there were four generations at deer camp) I got to do some of the best wildlife watching I’ve done in my life while waiting for the deer to come by. I saw…
1 Woodcock two different times (My Dad saw three)
1 Brown creeper
2 Red fox
2 Coyotes
5 Pileated woodpeckers
15 Gold-crown kinglets
and 1 Sharp shinned hawk that flew within 6” of my right elbow.

Why can’t deer season be 365 days long?