.... is hanging a deer on your back porch

We've had a strange year in 2010 for deer hunting in Texas, as the unusually large acorn crop has made it a challenge to even see deer, much less get one.

At least in the central Texas "hill country" it seems that the acorns are finally getting eaten up and the deer are moving again. This coincides with a cold front that will push the temperatures to freezing tonight (yeah I know we are wimps....).

Anyway, got out to the bow blind and managed to put an arrow through this doe. She was pretty good sized for around here, probably about a hundred pounds, maybe a bit less. Hit a bit low in the chest and we had a difficult time finding it, as the trail just stopped in a big pool of blood, then ..... nothing.

The wife looked at the last few yards of the trail and commented on blood being on the 'wrong' side of the trees..... something I had overlooked. Evidently, the deer stopped, then did an exact 180 and headed back in the direction it came. After that became evident where it had run and a simple job to follow it the rest of the way.

The other nice thing, we don't get many nights in this area cold enough to hang a deer. It will be right at freezing tonight so a little block and tackle that my wife bought me last year got put to use.

Hoping to get up to the rifle lease next weekend. So far we have 2 does bowhunting, and 1 little buck with the bow also.

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MikeG

Looks like your building a nice little stash of backstrap!

Good shooting, and tracking, Mike! Congrats on some good eating headed for the freezer!

All that back-porch carcass hanging sounds normal to me!

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Congrats on the bow kills. There is something about bow hunting in the back yard that can't be explained. I have a nice shade tree that has a perfect limb.

Well, you guys that have real winter, sure! We get a few days of freezing weather here a year, generally.

True story, the landowner where I hunt, had a deer get in his swimming pool about 10 days ago. Little doe that I guess was being chased at night by a buck. It drowned but not before the hooves put lots of holes in the pool liner. So, between that and the landscape destruction, they are pretty happy to see us put a dent in the population.

Poor guy doesn't even hunt and had to deal with disposing of one!

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MikeG

Well, it warmed up quick, probably around 50 right now. Had to get it in the cooler. Hopefully one night of hanging will do it some good.

There was actually enough meat on the ribs to salvage. We aren't even required by law to keep it - our deer normally are so thin in the ribs you can pretty well read a newspaper through them! I have to say, this has been an unusual year for deer hunting. If you can get one, it's bound to be in good shape......

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MikeG

Glad you got the doe, Mike - Lord knows, they sure need to be thinned down in all parts of Texas.

TPV says its supposed to freeze up in North Texas, so maybe the acorns will sour enough that the deer will be back at the feeders when you get there. I'm counting on that the middle of next month for some "hawg" huntin'. Gonna be up, then?

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50's not bad. Id give it 4-5 days if it wasnt much over 50.

Got up over 60 in the afternoon, so it's in the freezer anyway. 38 lbs of meat off of it which, again, is pretty respectable around here.

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MikeG

Thats interesting, i got exactly 39 lbs of hamburger off the deer i got this year, and maybe 40 lbs of steaks, stew meat, roast/jerky. Sure wish i would have had a doe tag this year...old buck is like eating leather....

Helped a few other people get some nice tender meat in the freezer...just didnt go my way this year.. I'm jealous of your tasty lookin little doe.

Little ones are good! Hanging this one seemed to help even for one night. The meat kept tearing as I was trying to get it processed.... surely a good sign that it will be tender.

On the two biggest bucks I have taken, I think I got 65-70 lbs. of meat off of each of them. Gives an idea of the size of our deer as compared to the rest of the country. Hobby of mine I guess to see how much meat I get off of the animals and try new butchering methods.

Pigs..... I have gotten up to 90 lbs of meat off one that I butchered myself, and took a 275lb. (live weight) directly to the butcher after field dressing. Don't remember what I got back but it was a lot! Even a tough pig eats better than a tough deer......

Hung one of my big deer overnight and it got into the mid 20s the next day, had to hack apart a frozen deer.... not fun!

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MikeG

My family had a deer hanging in the mid 20s for a few days (years ago).... Freeze dried all the meat, was horrible. Now i understand why they leave the hides on deer in very cold conditions.

I have an older neighbor who has a disability tag, so he can take any sex elk, was able to get him a calf this year, and was able to hang it for 7 days! most tender meat i ever did see..

how many deer can you take a year there? I usually dont get around to weighing all of my meat, is something that i enjoy doing, thought its usually going in the freezer as its wrapped...

5 tags on a standard hunting license. Not all counties will let you max out but quite a few will. So I have 5, my wife has 5, and my son's $7 youth license has 5. 15 to start with!

Then, just when you are done using those..... any landownders on the MLDP program will have their own sets of tags. My son usually takes a doe on a friend's place on the MLD.

I don't recall if the managed hunts in the state parks or in some of the federal stuff (like Aransas NWR) have their own sets of tags, or they give you tags. The rules on that sort of stuff change from year to year.

Basically, with a little planning, you can shoot way more deer in a year than any sane person would want to clean. If that's not enough game, most of the places that have deer have feral pigs and those are shoot on sight, as many as you can.

Good on you helping your neighbor.

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MikeG

great call by the wife on the 180. I had one do that to me a few years back and it took 5 guys to figure out that the doe was only 45 yds from where she started. Next time i'm calling my wife. might save me a few hours!

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