It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Something to be thankful for....
Since neither John McCain nor Barack Obama are hunters, conservatives were spared the superficial pandering to gun owners, that we witnessed from Kerry & Bush during the run up to the 2004 election. An even more grace-laden reprieve, I would say, is that we were thus spared the ill-conceived notion that the 2nd Amendment has something to do with a recreational activity or providing your family their dinner.
But all of that, as well as vice presidential shootings accidents and gun hating first ladies can be swept aside so room can be made for more pressing matters.
Fall has started to settle in, here in Colorado. Tonight Denver got its first real snow, and for the moment, the city is quiet and pristine. Only 36 hours ago, we scored a record high temp. of 80 if you'd believe it. For many of us, this is the season our mind turns to a slightly more predatory pursuit, and I don't mean politics. Most of the big game seasons for archery and black powder rifles have closed, and we are in the 2nd of 4 rifle seasons for elk and deer, but the day that's marked on my calendar is Nov. 12; opening day of pheasant season. I've got a new Remington 870 Express Super Mag. that needs breaking in. Nothing fancy. A 12 ga. pump with a walnut stock, but reliable as the day is long. So as I give this gun it's first good oiling, I thought I'd see how my fellow Richoteer Sportsman have fared so far this season.
![Hunting-camp,-Copper-River,-Alaska.-SSF---Hunting--Big-Game-[item]...-painting-artwork-print](http://cdn1.ricochet.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/media/images/hunting-camp-copper-river-alaska.-ssf-hunting-big-game-item-painting-artwork-print/1243018-1-eng-US/Hunting-camp-Copper-River-Alaska.-SSF-Hunting-Big-Game-item-painting-artwork-print_lightbox.jpg "Hunting-camp,-Copper-River,-Alaska.-SSF---Hunting--Big-Game-[item]...-painting-artwork-print")
Any tall tales, or young hunters first outings to report? Maybe this time of year just brings back a fond memory worth sharing? I love a good story, and would presume I'm not alone.
This year I will have the vicarious pleasure of accompanying a close friend and his father on opening day, for the former's stepson's first trip hunting. In my family at least, this is one of the few rights of passage we have left, and I am always delighted to celebrate it with others.
On another note, since we have such a wealth of life experience at the various ends of the interweb here, do any of you have good wild game recipes? I figure it's worth asking since we're on the topic. Fish as well, I never quite know what to do with brook trout.
I know a back strap makes a great barbeque, but I've been looking for a good way to mellow the gamy flavor and toughness of venison so I can spare the rest of a deer from becoming summer sausage. (not that I have ever seemed to get my fill of summer sausage.) Also, does someone have a good method for cooking duck that leaves it a little less greasy?
I hope October has been generous to you all, and Happy Hunting!
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Comments:
May '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
wilber forge
Had hunted in Oregon in the old style, no blinds, etc. Just stalking in the sportsman way, until it became too dangerous. Thought about taking the sport up again and went looking for a quality rifle. While making inquiries one was told most of the deer hunters use, guess ? Sniper rifles. Now there is a visual ones mind need not have. · Oct 26 at 2:18pm
Define sniper rifle.
Aug '11
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
I spent my early childhood in NH and ME, where opening day for deer is nearly a state holiday. Alas, my father wasn't a hunter, so I never had that bonding experience. My grandfather was a notorious hunter, kept hounds and chased many a fox or black bear in the old Welsh manner, afoot. The fox pelts were highly valued. The bear, less so, but the meat was never wasted. He looked forward to deer season with relish. Funny, they flocked to the orchard on his farm in Haverhill, NH and grew drunk on dropped apples, yet he never shot a one; buck fever. His son Gayle, my uncle, had the same problem. Hunted every year from his cabin on Ossipee Lake but never bagged his deer. He finally shot a spike buck and his friend said it was in self defense. I've hunted deer and entered the lottery in AZ for Elk, but I've yet to receive a tag. Hunting dove and quail is fun and I've even done the Alaska trip. I bought a tag for every critter in the Alaska wilds and took a grizzly. It was a remarkable experience.
Oct '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
RE, FlownOver... Sorry, Even prudent folk wearing blazing orange vests have been fatally shot by the overzealous who shot without proper target aquisition.
Aug '11
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Wouldn't it have been a "remarkable experience" just to see the grizzly in its habitat and leave it unmolested?
Oct '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Mark Wilson
wilber forge
Had hunted in Oregon in the old style, no blinds, etc. Just stalking in the sportsman way, until it became too dangerous. Thought about taking the sport up again and went looking for a quality rifle. While making inquiries one was told most of the deer hunters use, guess ? Sniper rifles. Now there is a visual ones mind need not have. · Oct 26 at 2:18pm
Define sniper rifle. · Oct 26 at 3:14pm
Interesting point. Not to go too deeply into ballistics. Deer calibers run as .257 Roberts, .270, .30, 30.06 up to 7mm. all with standard classic stock configurations.
Off the shelf sniper rifles have two basic stock configurations, Military style seems to be popular and has variations. Calibers run starting at .308, 300 Win Mag up to a .338 Lapua.
To define the thing, most of the sniper rounds are made for a different hunt. As it appears the folk who hunt with this configuration are more into ego than not. Perhaps for the kill nad not so much a bringing home the bacon.
Any thoughts ?
Oct '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
As one was out of space in the above post.. This fellow is more of classic purist when hunting.
Trying to bag an antelope at 1,400 yrds with a .338 Lapua Mag. always seemed a stretch and pointless.
Aug '11
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Might I suggest that for the true manly experience of killing blameless animals, it might be best to put down all that modern weaponry and go after the critters with slings, clubs and wooden spears?
Let's face facts: even women and sissies can murder creatures with a gun.
Jul '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
flownover: Of course, animals have feelings, asparagus might too. We really don't know. So where does one draw the line with regard to the butchering of meat and the shooting of it ?
Edited on Oct 26 at 02:30 pm
Wherever one chooses to draw a moral line.
May '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Tom Paine
Wouldn't it have been a "remarkable experience" just to see the grizzly in its habitat and leave it unmolested?
Quite possibly. There are many kinds of remarkable experiences.
Tom Paine: Might I suggest that for the true manly experience of killing blameless animals, it might be best to put down all that modern weaponry and go after the critters with slings, clubs and wooden spears?
Let's face facts: even women and sissies can murder creatures with a gun.
I hesitate to even engage in this discussion with you, but if hunting were about manliness you might have a point. Many rifle hunters have great respect for bow hunters, for example, because of the extra patience, discipline, and skill that it can require.
Of course, for most hunters hunting is not primarily about proving one's manliness. What it is about, well, you'll find as many answers as there are hunters.
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 2:48amAug '11
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Mark Wilson
Tom Paine
Wouldn't it have been a "remarkable experience" just to see the grizzly in its habitat and leave it unmolested?
Tom Paine: Might I suggest that for the true manly experience of killing blameless animals, it might be best to put down all that modern weaponry and go after the critters with slings, clubs and wooden spears?
Let's face facts: even women and sissies can murder creatures with a gun.
I hesitate to even engage in this discussion with you, but if hunting were about manliness you might have a point. Many rifle hunters have great respect for bow hunters, for example, because of the extra patience, discipline, and skill that it can require.
Of course, for most hunters hunting is not primarily about proving one's manliness. What it is about, well, you'll find as many answers as there are hunters. · Oct 26 at 5:47pm
Edited on Oct 26 at 05:48 pm
If it's not about proving manliness, then why mount trophies and take photographs? Just to show oneself in proximity to a dead creature? Heck, you could do that at the
poultry section of your local Safeway.
Oct '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Tom Paine: Might I suggest that for the true manly experience of killing blameless animals, it might be best to put down all that modern weaponry and go after the critters with slings, clubs and wooden spears?
Let's face facts: even women and sissies can murder creatures with a gun. · Oct 26 at 4:58pm
It has been a kind of a right of passage to manhood to hunt boar with a spear in Hawaii, or try hunting Javelinas with a knife in the South. Go ahead be a man... You just might survive the events.
Dec '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Tom Paine: My wife and I once had dinner with a very wealthy man, who could have done both of us a great deal of good, in terms of our businesses.
He'd just returned from Africa and was eager to share photographs of the animals - an elephant, a rhinoceros and a lion - that he had, at great expense, and in cosseted luxury, murdered.
As soon as we said our goodbyes, I turned to my wife and said, "I never want to hear from him again". · Oct 26 at 11:05am
I have suspected for some time that you are Kenneth by another name, but this post confirms it.
Anyone who considers killing and eating an animal "murder" is simply not an adult.
You'll understand it when/if you finally finish growing up.
Aug '11
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
CoolHand
Tom Paine: My wife and I once had dinner with a very wealthy man, who could have done both of us a great deal of good, in terms of our businesses.
He'd just returned from Africa and was eager to share photographs of the animals - an elephant, a rhinoceros and a lion - that he had, at great expense, and in cosseted luxury, murdered.
As soon as we said our goodbyes, I turned to my wife and said, "I never want to hear from him again". · Oct 26 at 11:05am
I have suspected for some time that you are Kenneth by another name, but this post confirms it.
Anyone who considers killing and eating an animal "murder" is simply not an adult.
You'll understand it when/if you finally finish growing up. · Oct 26 at 6:42pm
I never said anything about "eating". The guy did not eat the rhinoceros, the elephant or the lion; he simply murdered them. Sort of a thrill-kill thing.
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 3:47amDec '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Man, it was such a nice peaceful stretch there while you were "banned".
If it's so damned easy to kill a deer or any other "blameless creature" with a rifle, I'm sure you've done it, right?
I mean, anyone can do it, right? Just walk out there and slaughter the little darling, pish posh, no big deal. Shouldn't take more than ten or fifteen minutes, right?
I am sick to death of hearing ridiculous and/or stupid people whinging about things they have never experienced and cannot understand.
Dec '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Tom Paine
I never said anything about "eating". The guy did not eat the rhinoceros, the elephant or the lion; he simply murdered them. Sort of a thrill-kill thing.
Well, if you'd expended even a moment of time in research you'd realize that he's not allowed to take the meat, only the trophies.
When you fell a rhino/elephant/other exotic in Africa, the terms of the license dictates that the village nearest the kill site gets the meat. They usually invite the hunter to a feast in his honor, but not always.
That's how the law works there.
I'm sure those local folks were tickled crapless that he "murdered" those critters on their land, what with them being tasty and whatnot.
Most people Observe->Research->Learn->Experience->React, but you've short circuited the process to efficiently jump directly from Observe to React with narry a care in the world for what you missed in the middle.
Aug '11
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
CoolHand
Tom Paine
I never said anything about "eating". The guy did not eat the rhinoceros, the elephant or the lion; he simply murdered them. Sort of a thrill-kill thing.
Well, if you'd expended even a moment of time in research you'd realize that he's not allowed to take the meat, only the trophies.
When you fell a rhino/elephant/other exotic in Africa, the terms of the license dictates that the village nearest the kill site gets the meat. They usually invite the hunter to a feast in his honor, but not always.
That's how the law works there.
I'm sure those local folks were tickled crapless that he "murdered" those critters on their land, what with them being tasty and whatnot.
Most people Observe->Research->Learn->Experience->React, but you've short circuited the process to efficiently jump directly from Observe to React with narry a care in the world for what you missed in the middle. · Oct 26 at 6:52pm
It's spelled "nary".
Dec '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
I really love how any rifle with an optic sight is a "sniper rifle".
What would you rather a man hunt deer with? BAR? SAW? Maxim/Vickers? Shotgun? Rifle but with iron sights only? Sharp rock?
The whole point of using a rifle with an optic sight in a caliber big enough to hit hard is so that when you do decide to take an animal, you can hit it exactly where you need to so that it goes down and stays down with the first shot.
That's why most hunters use high power bolt action rifles with magnified optic sights.
All the rest is crap made up by activists to assist in their demonization campaign against hunters.
Military sniper rifles were adapted from commercial hunting rifles, not the other way around.
Dec '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
Tom Paine
It's spelled "nary". · Oct 26 at 6:59pm
I'll take that as you conceding the point entirely.
Thanks for playing.
How long you think it'll be before your next "vacation"?
May '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
wilber forge
Mark Wilson
Define sniper rifle. · Oct 26 at 3:14pm
Interesting point. Not to go too deeply into ballistics.
...
To define the thing, most of the sniper rounds are made for a different hunt. As it appears the folk who hunt with this configuration are more into ego than not. Perhaps for the kill nad not so much a bringing home the bacon.
Any thoughts ?
As a fowl hunter, I actually don't get into equipment discussions with too many deer hunters. You bring up an interesting observation about different people's preferred weapons. I had not previously been aware of the trends.
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 4:18amDec '10
Re: It's Hunting Season! Oh, and There is This Campaign Or...Something, I Lose Track.
BTW, for the OP, my favorite preparation of deer meat is cubed and pressured canned.
Cut meat into one inch cubes, pack quart jars until completely full (leave your customary head space, whatever you usually use). Into each jar add a tablespoon of water, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper, and two bay leaves.
Lid the jars and pressure pack them for 60 mins at 15 PSI, then cool.
To eat, open the jar, dump contents into a saucepan, heat, and thicken with cornstarch slurry. Basically, the tough/gamey cuts turn into super tender bits of delicious meat suspended in a lovely brown gravy.
Serve over mashed potatoes with peas and carrots on the side.
Try not to pass out from the awesomeness.
We would usually butcher out the loins and the two big hams from each rear leg to freeze, and ALL the rest would go into cans. It gets cooked very well, so even the tough rib meat can be prepared like this.
It is epic, I promise.
Just make sure you peel off all the silver skin (connective tissue) before you put it in the cans, or you'll have random bits of gristle running around in your awesome gravy.
Edited on October 27, 2011 at 4:23am