doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - Good eating Doe day after Thanksgiving

Nice score for the larder, Dave, regardless of who the lucky recipient is! The scope cap issue likely kept you from becoming too cold. Ha! We are all human; stuff happens; some are willing to admit being less than immaculate, mostly those of a better calibre.

Speaking of which, the .300 Blackout is used here quite a bit for taking feral hogs up to several hundred pounds w/good success. Night vision optics are popular for that use as well. Methinks you are underrating the cartridge's capability by a bit, but not the range it is most effectively used in.

Neat photograph!

Dave,
I'm a 9.3 man also, if you look back in your files at my email address, you will see it. I also took a truck load with 7x57R, and 8x57IRS, all with breakopen guns. With the 7x57R, I was able to take the weak Kitz, then strong Kitz, then Geiss. Not only do you have to be silent, but you have to drop each one in it's tracks. If one runs, they all run.
Ted, I not only put beans(pinto) in my Chili, but also tomatoes. You have to add extra cumin. I make it like I like it, I call it American Chili, not Texas or Mexican.
Mike

Subsonic loads suck in 300 Blackout, unless you get off on long blood trails. They can get the job done, but you have to shoot with the precision of a surgeon. If you want to go subsonic for any big game, go 458 SOCOM, with 300 gr. HP loads. IMO, of course.

SRH

There is a lot of truth in that Stan.

Some day soon I plan to put together a 458 SOCOM upper, that thumper is 90 percent of a 45-70 !

Congrats on harvesting the nice doe for the freezer. Excellent story and picture too. Loading some fresh venison in the freezer in November and all seems right with the world.

NB

Great deer story. Brings back memories about three disc ago. ): and a fat doe is not only good eating but population control that is sorely needed.

About 15 years ago I mentioned deer drives at Thanksgiving dinner to two cousins. After several hours of wine and memories of how effective they were one decided to set one up on one of my farms. He called every cousin and brother we could and ended up with a doe only afternoon hunt on opening day. My farm is a penusulia with three blocks of woods and 400 acres of fields in the middle. Each section of woods has a small creek or big ditch seperating it like three leaves on a clover.

First drive sent 30 plus deer out of one section of woods, the blockers in the fields killed nine. Second section of woods pushed over 50 deer out and the blockers killed 16. Then we were heading towards the third block of woods when one of the brighter cousins remarked gutting 24 deer was a lot of work. After five minutes discussion the hunt was ended and the work began. The sad thing is that the third block had all the missed deer from the first two drives in it and what ever deer had started there. I wished they had pushed that section as well to reduce the herd numbers. The farm was over run with deer that year.

We had a full freezer that year, in many homes. Several went crazy with deer jerky, deer sausage, dried deer meat. I even found a couple of those fellows made some very tasty stuff for me to try. Funny how the best tasting stuff came from fellows who won't share their recipes but will give you their special treats.

That's been long enough that maybe it's time to do it again. Deer drives were great family events when I was a boy. Maybe I'll try to make it a five year family reunion for hunters in my family. Every five year do one big family deer hunt and keep youngsters hunting like my Gradfathers did as a group effort instead of single hunters working alone.

Horses for courses. Our terrain here is totally different than Dave's and the calibers represented in our group were 6mm Rem,.260ai, 270Win, and 308....all with big glass, mostly 3x9 variable or larger. Shortest deer shot was 165 yards, longest ran to 425 or so.

Here's a typical setup for us. 215 yards to the ditch, 465 to the plum thicket in the far corner.

I can probably make the 215 with a good rest.

The 465? I am confident that I can scare them good by kicking up some dirt around them...;-)

Ted:

Venison is always good for what ails you. An excellent lean protein that may be an acquired taste for some (I actually grew up on it). The options here are endless for venison (I process my own animals): meatloaf, stir-fry, chili, steak & eggs, stroganoff, biscuits & gravy, salami, summer sausage, Italian sausage, tacos, & even venison stew. My favorite is elk, then mule deer, then whitetail, but all can be either good or bad depending on how they were killed and then how they are handled. Over-cooking is easy to do, which makes the meat dry and tough (there is no fat marbled into the meat like with beef). Under-cooking is always preferable here. Steaks and roasts are the most common fare on our table, with either a blue-cheese sauce or a cranberry/horseradish condiment to mix things up a bit and keep things moist. Baked potatoes, pasta and even red-wine risotto make for very good sides, and....a good red wine seems to be fairly complimentary to a venison meal as well (Pinot Noirs thru big Cabernets work just fine, but the bigger reds are my favorites, the Merlots, the Malbecs....!)

Lloyd,
For a guy who doesn't hunt deer, I've eaten my fair share of it. I understand what is edible on the deer, and what isn't. Helped drag and butcher some, but, mammals by firearms isn't my thing. To begin with, my Setter would be left home.
It simply gets tough to have any around in the freezer when the only one who eats it is me!!! I like all the things you mentioned, but, don't like preparing two complete dinners, to feed the non venison eaters.
I know you have a taste for wine, my inner heathen prefers beer. I picked up the French gun habit, but, skillfully avoided the $50 a bottle dinner wine habit the guys who built and sold me the guns have.
I'm OK with that. Beer, good.


Best,
Ted