Old deer

[BigFatKen]

For those of you who wanted to hear more of the "who shot the deer", I've been busy. I shot the oldest doe I have ever aged in my life last night. She was at least 8 1/2 years old. Teeth worn to gum line. It goes past my plastic teeth aging samples. Big belly full of food. Maybe not well chewed enough to allow good digestion? Only weighed about 90 pounds. Would have been at least 120 two years ago. I only hope she tastes good.

 

[BBBS]

Good for jerky.

 

[f4t9r]

Was this one gunned down from the truck like the Buck ... LOL !!!!! (kidding)
At what point to they start getting smaller ?
Maybe I do not want to know Im still waiting on who shot the buck !!!!!

 

[garrett1955]

grind that pig into hamberger, or make jerky!

 

[Kim]

That is an old deer. If I was her I would be glad you shot me. Better than a pack of coyotes or such.

 

[BigFatKen]

weight loss?

I need to remove a few more does this year. I have aged a never bred 1 1/2 at a gutted 75 and a 2 1/2 mom whole at 100. I wished I could have had the live weight of the 1 1/2. She may weighted as nuch as the mom. After this age, it depends a lot on:
1 Were they bred?
2 How many fawns to nurse?
3 How was the rain that year.
4 ?????????? Stress, coyotes, dog packs running them in winter, causing the deer to waste energy and 100 things
I will have get the two I named "Mama San" and "Big Mama". These are big big deer 4 1/2 to 6 1/2. IF (hopefully when), I get at least one I can better answer when they go downhill in weight.


The rains here last year was big; big acron crop and the deer in hard to find spots. Dry this year, little grass or acorns. only a few acorns in woods. I see squirells moving in groups (herds) of a dozen.
Of the rifles we discussed, only BAR had 4 groove bbl.

 

[scout26]

In Southern Illinois, real good mast crop this year. Seems like there were more acorns on the ground then leaves. Both Deer I took (so far) had bellies full of acorns, very little greens. However, the meat doesn't have that "acidy-acorny" flavor though. Deer weren't moving nearly as much as in the past.


8 1/2 yo doe, that meat is already jerky on the hoof.
Not tenderloins, more like tougherloins. Sounds like all burger and jerky.

 

[BigFatKen]

acidy-acorny?

I got a buck and doe last year with so many acrons you could throw a dollar bill on the ground without covering at least one acron. Three weeks there, I was sorry I got that lifetime steel roof. I did the "green thing" and saved a 42" white oak. It is now 1/3 over my new house.

What is acidy-acorny. I never noticed it?

 

[JamisJockey]

My friend has a 120lb dog.....

 

[BigFatKen]

We got the "trophy" cull deer

The neighbor shot a 4 1/2 year old 91 pound buck with 2 inch antlers. We have been after him and his father for three years now. Testes bigger than the 3 1/2 yr old buck one the kids took. His father is the "bad seed" and we are trying to shoot all of his offspring. They simply do not get any bigger and breed the does while the heavy racked bucks are fighting.

 

[Matt G]

Good job on taking the cull-- it's irritating sometimes how those little spikes can drive off the big boys with the nice racks.

I would love to learn more about how to age deer. My first real buck was an older one on the decline, but I wasn't able to really age it. Teeth were about halfway to the gum or further, and he was pretty gaunt.

The biggest and best deer I ever shot was likely a two year old, and sometimes I think I should have let him age. . .

 

[BigFatKen]

age deer

There are lots of learning aids out there to age deer. I have three things which came in a set. It is $29.99 at Cabelas. Click here
1 A plastic set of jaw bones. These you can make from your own deer by cutting them out, drying and mounting, usually on a canoe paddle. A homemade set is better as it shows what wear your deer have. There may be more sand in feed, for example, which may fool you if you rely on the plastic jaws.

2 A Heavy stiff cardboard little book, which helps in the determination of living deer. This has a lot of pictures. Mostly needed if you have REAL control of the deer as on a 10,000 acre ranch.

3 a DVD that shows better than the plastic jaws how to interpete the jaws. All deer have the #4 tooth. If it is a fawn, it will have 3 milk teeth in front. If is is a yearling, the milk teeth get replaced and later the other teeth grow in and then get lost. The ageing jaws go to 8 1/2 and then you go by how far the teeth are worn below the gum line and size and health of deer. The DVD really helps on the real old ones.

A set of your jaws and a good look at the DVD will help. This was all known when people read books, so I'm betting there is a book with images out there.

 

[Buck_Master]

Deer Meat!

DEER MEAT! YEEHAW!

 

[scout26]

BFK,

A few years ago I took a 2 1/2 yo doe in mid Janurary that had been eating nothing but acorns since October. The meat had a somewhat bitter taste, kinda like the taste coffee gets when is sits in the pot with the warmer on all day. It was okay meat, but not the usual flavorful venison that comes out of southern Illinois. Mrs Scout said she could taste the acorn flavor in the meat.

 

[BigFatKen]

bitter deer?

I never heard that deer got bitter. Now, I know that guys who chase a big buck after it's wounded for a mile and then put it on their hood and show it off at every bar they know end up with a "swamp buck" taste. But that is just bad handling.

 

[BigFatKen]

eatin' the old lady

I had my first steaks from "old lady" as we call her and they were tender and tasty. You could cut it with a serated butter knive or a fork with a little more push.

The cull deer is also great.