Wrap up of Ohio rifle season

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Axis II

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Yesterday was the final day to hunt deer with a modern rifle in Ohio. December 2-8 and then this past weekend. We started bow hunting my buddies place and didn't have near as many deer sightings, camera pictures or buck sightings as years past and were getting a little worried cause we had EHD for a few years. I started December 2nd hoping for a crack at a big 130'' 8pt that likes to play games with us. First he comes right under my tree early bow season on my right side and being right handed I had no shot. He them walks away from me so hard quartering away I couldn't take a shot. He stood there for about 10min just staring through the woods and at a very hard quartering away angle. A few weeks later he came across a cut corn field about 80yards away and didn't respond to any of my grunts. He hit the woods and coyotes fired up and chased him my way. I lowered my bow early and dropped the rope and he stood there at 30yards broadside with my bow on the ground. He also came by my buddy at legal light a few nights before this. We both tried getting him during rifle season to no avail. On Friday my buddy went out to glass the fields and found him with half his rack shed. He will get a pass till next year. Saturday evening was very eventful. I had a group of 5 doe come feeding in but the largest was too close to the tree for me to shoot. I watched as they fed away because money is tight and I didn't want to burn $75 butcher fee on a doe. With the last 30min of light left here come a small 70'' or so 8pt with gimp leg and about 8-9 more doe. I passed everything because again no extra cash for butchering. Sunday night I decided that if it was mature I would take it. I was sitting in the stand waiting for them to walk down the trail they had the night before and catch movement from my left. A medium doe and her baby come walking right down the trail I walked through the woods. I did tag a coyote and doe during the week long season and blessed to do so. I will now focus on rabbit and squirrel hunting until Jan 3rd when 4 day muzzleloader season starts.
 
Come to hawaii, and ill teach you how to butcher a deer...or something...and by butcher, i mean butchering the job of butchering:thumbdown:

Sounds like you hand an interesting season at the very least.
My deer "season" (only trip home i had) was a little crammed, and I didnt get to do as much sight seeing as is id have liked. Watching deer is one of my favorite things to do now that i dont live where there are any lol.
 
You clearly need to learn how to process your own deer. For the cost of paying someone to cut up two deer, you can get a good grinder and all the tools you need to do it yourself. I pass up deer now, just because it's gotten to be more work than it's worth, unless the deer has good horn. I'd rather let the grandkids and my boys shoot and enjoy the experience. Went out Sunday for a late season bow hunting sit and saw two doe and a small basket rack buck I had seen early on before the gun season. Knowing he made it thru till now made the night. Odds are he'll be back next year if I am. Bow season goes to the end of January here, fall Turkey till the 5th. Fair numbers of turkeys where I bow hunt, so I always take a call along just in case. Many been the times, I get so involved working turkeys, I don't hear/see the deer till they're on top of me. Sometimes I think deer relate turkey talk to safety or maybe they think the turkeys found some acorns or other food they missed? Some guys have found sheds and seen bucks with only one horn already, so I need to get back out and see iffin' any of the "big" boys that got by me earlier this year, are still out there before I can't tell what they are. Antlerless Firearm Holiday hunt starts today and runs thru Jan. 1. Don't need meat, but might go out just for the heck of it and to say "I coulda".
 
I pass way more deer than I shoot. You might invest in a video camera. A 1080P digital video camera isn’t expensive. Can easily find them for $100. And I find when I spot deer that aren’t shooters, I really enjoy filming them. Its proof of what I claim to have seen. And it’s a good learning tool.
 
LoonWulf said:
Come to hawaii, and ill teach you how to butcher a deer...or something...and by butcher, i mean butchering the job of butchering:thumbdown:

Totally off thread and slightly er-relevant but noticing the Hawaii blurb brings back my very pleasant 1 1/2 year duty post with the USN. 1961/62 Kaneohe Bay Marine Air Station.

I’ve long planned to return, sadly it hasn’t happened yet.

Mele Kalikimaka.
Click to expand...
 
Mele Kalikimaka!
I actually haven't heard that since highschool lol

Sounds like we maybe heading home to Molokai in Feb, so I'll get a bit more deer hunting in then.
 
For the price of having two deer cut up you can buy everything needed to do the job right. A meat grinder, plastic cutting board, knives and a vacum sealer.
I can cut up a deer by myself in about three hours.
Vacum seal the meat and it will last longer in the freezer.
New York deer season is from mid November to the end of the first week in December, three weeks.
Next you if you have time to take a day drive you can come over to my brothers and you can join in on cutting up a deer or two and check out our hunting spots. If you have an extra $100 you can pick up a New York non-resident hunting license and a doe tag or two gor $10 a piece and do a day or two or three of deer hunting with us.
If you just come to get in on the butchering you can take half of a processed deer home with you.
 
Ended mine without even walking into the woods. Public land near me is small and overcrowded. The few farms that I stopped by and tried to establish a relationship and possible access was denied. Looking like I'll need to pack up the RV and start heading down to the national forest lands instead of finding anything in the local area.....
 
Processing a deer isn’t hard all kinds of help is available on the internet although it can be time consuming. If you are going to grind the hamburger a good grinder is essential. The cheap ones just don’t cut it. I use the grinding attachment to a kitchen aid stand mixer. It works reasonably well and is not very expensive if you already have the stand mixer. Otherwise you could find a processor that is willing to just grind the hamburger.
 
Cabellas/bass pro sells very useable grinders at good prices. I have the gander mountain knockoff of those and it works well too... but I don’t think there’s much reason to recommend those as the company is in trouble.
 
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