One more and done!

Recipe for said chicken fried venison or its all hearsay.

Ks5shooter said:

Recipe for said chicken fried venison or its all hearsay.

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In order to avoid causing a thread drift, I'll have my wife send her recipe for chicken fried venison steak via a PM, Ks5shooter.

MCgunner said:

I'm getting a little bored of deer hunting and MUCH prefer my bird hunting. I'm getting too infirm to hunt the duck marsh much anymore, what I once LOVED to do

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My sentiments as well. If I could get on a good duck hunting lease I'd likely forego most of my deer hunting. The lack of available time to dedicate to either is the real killer for me

H&Hhunter said:

That’s how I and all of my buddies do it anyhow. You won’t find me paying the big bucks to shoot a trophy buck off a feeder in Texas.

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Me either. I won't hunt these petting zoos. Every whitetail I've ever taken has been free range. I don't judge guys that do it, it's just not for me.

Nature Boy said:

Me either. I won't hunt these petting zoos. Every whitetail I've ever taken has been free range. I don't judge guys that do it, it's just not for me.

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I hunted one of these places south of San Antonio once, not for deer or exotics, but for pigs. The hunt was advertised in the Houston Chronicle, 3 days, $180. I had a pretty good time. The place was ate up with pigs. I was allowed 3 pigs 100 pounds or less. It was a 3 day hunt and I shot 'em all in one day. I was just after pig meat. This was before I finally got a hog trap.

When I got there, this fellow takes me out in a jeep. I shot one from the jeep. It ran off in the woods, so we got out and trailed it. I'm easing down the trail before finding the thing and this red stag just walks up to me looking for a handout. I kid you not! I was walking down a trail at one point after cleaning THAT one and I see this curly horned sheep of some sort walking down the trail. I stopped and didn't move a muscle. I was all camoed out in my leafy wear and wanted to see what this thing would do. He walked right up to me, sniffed my crotch, and turned around and eased on off.

Petting zoo is appropriate. Saw lots of big deer in there, too, but none of 'em was interested in my crotch. I got my money's worth in pork and entertainment.

If I had the money, I'd love to book a Nilgai hunt on the King or Kennedy ranch. It's free range. These ranches are HUGE, don't have any high fences. Nilgai don't have trophy horns, but they're about the size of an elk and have lots of tasty meat. They say it's tasty, never tried it myself. I'd mount the thing, though. No sense in doing something like that and not mounting the result. They do claim you need a 300 mag or better, but I'm pretty sure I can place a 160 grain partition from my 7 mag and get the job done.

Nature Boy said:

My sentiments as well. If I could get on a good duck hunting lease I'd likely forego most of my deer hunting. The lack of available time to dedicate to either is the real killer for me

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Well, I got in a waterfowl club a few years back, $1500 dollars. I hunted that club, different spots, a dozen mornings and I shot FIVE BIRDS all year. That's $300 per bird. That'd been 10 years worth of chicken. I read articles that season that all the rain up country held up the migration. I mean, it was in the Houston paper anyway. I don't know that the WMA was very good that year either. Things have been going down hill for ducks lately. I guess I should just stick to doves. That's cheap and I have friends and in-laws who I can hunt on their land with. We have 'em here, but it's so wooded, you have to shoot 'em out of the trees, not real good sport. I've shot a few with my .410 contender pistol, but still not good sport.

Opening-day doves are easy here but it gets pretty tough after that. We don't really get many migrators this far south.
Opener is hot, dry (unless a hurricane comes through) and I usually get sun-burned. My dog loves it though so I'll keep doing it for her.

MCgunner said:

Well, I got in a waterfowl club a few years back, $1500 dollars. I hunted that club, different spots, a dozen mornings and I shot FIVE BIRDS all year. That's $300 per bird. That'd been 10 years worth of chicken. I read articles that season that all the rain up country held up the migration. I mean, it was in the Houston paper anyway. I don't know that the WMA was very good that year either. Things have been going down hill for ducks lately. I guess I should just stick to doves. That's cheap and I have friends and in-laws who I can hunt on their land with. We have 'em here, but it's so wooded, you have to shoot 'em out of the trees, not real good sport. I've shot a few with my .410 contender pistol, but still not good sport.

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There was a drought back in the 80’s up in Canada that decimated the duck populations. It has never been the same since

MCgunner said:

That's $300 per bird.

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Ouch!

Patocazador said:

Opening-day doves are easy here but it gets pretty tough after that. We don't really get many migrators this far south.
Opener is hot, dry (unless a hurricane comes through) and I usually get sun-burned. My dog loves it though so I'll keep doing it for her.

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I like to hunt near a tank so Molly can jump in and cool off. I swear, that dog won't stay outside unless it's between 70.5 degrees and 72. She will hunt, though, break ice or steam if necessary.

Nature Boy said:

There was a drought back in the 80’s up in Canada that decimated the duck populations. It has never been the same since

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I remember that. They dropped the limits down to 3 per day and everyone, but me quit hunting. Didn't really bother us down here, though, raised the limits back to 6 a few years later.

One day during that season, I went down and set my deeks on buffalo lake. Sat watching ducks fly by, a drake woodie FIVE MINUTES before shooting time. Then, about 5 minutes after shooting time, two teal flew in, crossed just as I fired, and I got two with one shot. About 10 minutes later, a pair of Wigeon flew over and I popped one. I got a limit of ducks with TWO SHOTS! That's my all time best. I got out of there in record time for my breakfast and coffee.

MCgunner said:

Didn't really bother us down here, though, raised the limits back to 6 a few years later.

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I pluck all my ducks by hand and I swear I'd rather clean, skin, and butcher a deer than clean a limit of ducks ... especially divers.

I don't duck hunt anymore, gave up shortly after steel shot rules kicked in. When I got divers (Bluebills, usually) I'd just breast them out and make a stew. Mallards I'd pluck, as well as Geese.

I breast 'em all, even snows and speckle bellies. Ain't no meat on 'em, but the breast anyhow, not enough to bother with. I did the paraffin dip thing when I was a kid, but I came to the conclusion I wasn't gonna eat anything, but the breast, anyway.

MCgunner said:

I breast 'em all, even snows and speckle bellies. Ain't no meat on 'em, but the breast anyhow, not enough to bother with. I did the paraffin dip thing when I was a kid, but I came to the conclusion I wasn't gonna eat anything, but the breast, anyway.

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Yeah, but we did like our Thanksgiving and Christmas Goose and/or Duck. They were good smoked whole, too.

Never done a wild duck, but we used to have Muscovys...10 ducks into a 70 duck day i gave up and started skinning them.
I do that for pretty much all wild birds now, skins too thing for good eating imo. I breast doves, and quail.

Bird hunting for me is usually a lot of driving, some walking, and a lot of yacking.On good years its a lot of shooting too, not so good years its very little shooting.

Deer hunting is a lot of walking, some shooting, and a lot of carrying......If birds tasted like deer i dont think id deer hunt anymore.....

Recipe for said chicken fried venison or its all hearsay.

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We’ve done it just like chicken fried steak and it was good.

We have also done chicken fried hog where we didn’t have flower but someone had pork rinds we crushed and used for the batter.

We nicknamed it “twice fried pork” and it was great.

As for “last one”, there is no such thing, if I enjoy it.

Chicken fried backstrap and cream gravy is a Texas tradition!

MCgunner said:

Chicken fried backstrap and cream gravy is a Texas tradition!

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Florida and Alabama also.

One of my best hunts was when I took my best friend on our farm. He lost his hunting area a few weeks before and thought he was gonna miss season. He had never been to our farm. Told him where to walk to and sit in a fence row. Told him it was by far the best spot he would ever have, though it didn’t look particularly special.

Three rules...you don’t shoot a doe, you don’t shoot a doe, and you don’t shoot a doe.

About 15 minutes into season he shot a 183. Absolute monster. Followed behind a couple does. If he’d have shot them he’d never have seen the buck.

He later asked why I’d given him that spot. I got a bigger kick out of him getting it than me shooting it. Ive killed as many deer as I need in my lifetime.

^^^
Good story and Good for you.

redneck2 said:

One of my best hunts was when I took my best friend on our farm. He lost his hunting area a few weeks before and thought he was gonna miss season. He had never been to our farm. Told him where to walk to and sit in a fence row. Told him it was by far the best spot he would ever have, though it didn’t look particularly special.

Three rules...you don’t shoot a doe, you don’t shoot a doe, and you don’t shoot a doe.

About 15 minutes into season he shot a 183. Absolute monster. Followed behind a couple does. If he’d have shot them he’d never have seen the buck.

He later asked why I’d given him that spot. I got a bigger kick out of him getting it than me shooting it. Ive killed as many deer as I need in my lifetime.

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Sorta reminds me of my first deer, though it was a six point, it was pretty heavy for the hill country. My grandpa sat me down in his favorite spot and told me if I saw a doe, let it run by, there'll be a buck behind her. Heck, there were 3 bucks behind her. I couldn't get a bead on the first one, was down in a draw. The second was further up and I hit him in the shoulder on a dead run at 75 yards. It was several years before I figured out WHY those bucks were chasing that doe.

While I still enjoy the hunt after more than a half a century of hunting, the kill has lost it's shine. I tend to let more things walk than I shoot, not only when deer hunting, but also when hunting upland game and Wild Turkey. Most times, I hit the woods and spend more time reminiscing about hunts past, than I do concentrating on the present hunt. It's gotten to the point, regardless of the size of the rack, where I get more of a thrill when my boys or grandkids shoot one, than if I do.