Meat in the freezer

[Glanceblamm]

Twas a good first seaon all in all. I passed on my first shot at a button at 8:15 on Fri...Had the usual array of the 1-1/2 year olds running around as well as smaller does. By Sat evening I had passed on three more shots at these youngsters in hopes that the bigger bucks & does would come through. It happened Sunday morning as a mature doe came through that my freezer was begging for...she was unhurried and not acting alert like they do when they have bucks chasing them so I took the shot at a paultry 23yds and she ran but a short distance before going down with two bad lungs!

This is a Full House for me (so to speak) with three deer taken with a Vaquero & two more with the SBH. I believe that this is just our sixth year for handguns in the regular season?

[GRIMJIM]

In the regular season I guess you'd be right.

Sounds like a freezer full.

While I like the fact you can use handgun during the regular season. I wish there were still a handgun only season. A lot less guys in the woods then.

[stevinator]

Nice job on fillin the freezer.I have been taking a pistol also,didn't get one this weekend but will be ready again.I kind of like being able to take the pistol early but know what you mean about the late season.The first year I tried a pistol was 03 and I think the pistol only in Jan had already been around a couple years up here.I shot a buck that year first season and I think sometime before the slug season they said we could take the pistol.Because I actually bought it to try that Jan and got to use it early.It took me a year or 2 to decide to do it so I think the first handgun season could have been as early as 01?

[d_hiker]

I would like to see an early handgun season.  Maybe the week or weekend before the first firearm season.  It would give you a chance to get in there before all of the bodies are swarming the woods.

[Glanceblamm]

While I like the fact you can use handgun during the regular season. I wish there were still a handgun only season. A lot less guys in the woods then.
Posted on: Yesterday at 11:26:43 AMPos

I believe that this is how it all started and there was 14 original county's that grew to 21 county's over the course of a few years in the Jan only season.
I know what you are saying bout having a lot less guy's out there...when I am Coyote hunting it is great to have the woods to myself without the fear of messing someone else up or having the aggrivation
Of having some one move in on you well after daylight with a banging ladder stand or a four wheeler!

I shot a buck that year first season and I think sometime before the slug season they said we could take the pistol

I don't remember exactly how it played out but do remember that I got caught with my pants down on that first handgun usage during the reg season. It was late dec when the Good Wife ask what I wanted for CHRISTmas and I automatically said that I wanted the Ruger Vaquero in the .45 Colt and recieved it!
To be real honest with you, this is the first centerfire revolver that I had ever owned!...I was well versed in the usage of the single actions having shot the heck out of the cap n ball 1860 army and a .36 navy along with a single shot in the black powder over several years. With that new .45 in hand, I purchased dies right away and had near a year to shoot it exculsively. The long gun (read a traditional blackpowder rifle) that had been used since 1981 has stayed at home.

I did wish for that blkpwder rifle upon my first late season hunt (which would have been legal) because the terrain and yarded up deer in my late season spot down in Crawford county. You know how it goes...On the yarded deer you might get a reasonable shot but you may also see the entire herd of over 20 deer pass by you @ 100yds or a little better...I do practice some out at this range and do ok but when it really comes down to it, am reluctant to take this kind of shot at that range. To fix this problem I put a Red dot type of scope (read the Bushnell Trophy) on the SBH in the .44mag...it shoots great out at that range and is holding its zero well. I took that gun during this '08 regular season cause I could not resist giving it a trial run. I found no disadvantage at all to turning the thing on plus getting the hammer on that S/A eased back in time but without alarming the deer.
I will still reserve two more Vaquero models, one in a 4" and my original in a 7.5", both in .45 Colt for the regular season in the future.

[bilmac]

Glance

You seem to be a man interested in judging venison on the hoof so I'm interested in your opinion. I used to think, in fact I believe all Wyomingites think that a dry doe is the better meat carcass. Recently I have been associating with a young guy from Missouri that has eaten lots of deer, and he tells me that there a wet doe is considered the best. Now I'm confused. I must say that I've eaten quite a few wet does, and I can't say they were bad, and a fat dry doe is a lot more work to butcher, so are we Wyoites all wet. What is the consensus in Ill. wet or dry?

[Glanceblamm]

Glance

You seem to be a man interested in judging venison on the hoof so I'm interested in your opinion. I used to think, in fact I believe all Wyomingites think that a dry doe is the better meat carcass. Recently I have been associating with a young guy from Missouri that has eaten lots of deer, and he tells me that there a wet doe is considered the best. Now I'm confused. I must say that I've eaten quite a few wet does, and I can't say they were bad, and a fat dry doe is a lot more work to butcher, so are we Wyoites all wet. What is the consensus in Ill. wet or dry?

I am not so much of a judge of the venison on the hoof but rather am savoring the total experience so to speak. In IL, we will take over 100,000 deer with the hunter sucess rate being around 58%. There is a bunch of deer out there for sure but very little time to hunt them. When the guns start going off, the deer figure this out pretty quickly and will dissapear. Even I will take a deer in the first season when possible because of this but we cant be real selective on the whole if you want to be assured of having meat in the freezer.
I leave the fawn crop along with the buttons & spikes alone.
I like to leave the (toy bucks) or the 1-1/2 year class six to eight pointers alone just because of the potential they have of developing the trophy size rack.
I do not mind taking the larger bodied bucks but with inferior racks (like last years) because it has been removed from the gene pool.

I can remember taking at least one dry doe (very good eating) but the majority have been wet and also were very good.
Yours is a question that I had not considered before. Some of the very worse venison that I have ever eaten came from a large buck that a friend took but had wounded and traveled a fair distance. This meat was almost bitter as per the tarsal
gland and the blood circulated throughout the stressed animal.

In the end, I am looking for a large bodied deer (processing is outrageous these days) that will fill the freezer (very doable with our grain fed animals) and I will take the pains on the precise shot placement that will allow an unstressed deer to expire quickly.

[S.B.]

Way to go, Randy, you da man!
Steve