Hunting Don'ts

This is my first deer hanging from a tree, rather unorthodox, but it worked in a pinch. The deer hung for three days in moderate daytime temps, and freezing nights. Then on the fourth day, I brought the deer to a butcher in town. He guessed the carcass yielded 55% of the dressed weight, so about 67.2 pounds. I asked for the hide also. I intend to tan it myself. If the hide comes out well, I'll go back down to the butcher to collect one or two more hides to tan. I was told that on a given day there may be as many as 24 hides in the dumpster, what a waste. I'll document the process as I begin. The first thing I have to do, is remove the skull, and salt the hide with pickling salt. I have ordered a fleshing knife, and a tanning kit for the remaining steps.

I have begun giving some of the venison away, because I can not imagine eating all of it before it gets freezer burnt. When I got home, I cleaned out my freezer and stuffed it full of the venison; breakfast sausage, back straps, hamburg, steaks, one roast, and loin.

Next year, I'll build a place to hang my deer, complete with block and tackle. This year alone, I have learned alot about hunting, and more about the post hunt; cleaning the deer, hanging the carcass, cleaning up my clothes, ordering various cuts of venison, and imagining all the ways I can prepare the venison.

Now to the issue at hand that I feel compelled to discuss. The day after I got my deer, I knew my neighbor and his wife were out hunting Derry Hill. They had asked me to come out with them to take photographs. I walked out to their location, and stayed long enough to know they would not get a deer with all of the noise they were making. I returned home. Late in the afternoon, I heard FIVE shots! Right away, I knew he had taken a bad shot, then another, and another....and so on. With disgust, I thought about the poor deer that had to endure such cruelty. Then I received a text message of all things, from his wife, who was still in the woods. She relayed the whole torrid situation moments later. She told me her husband had taken a shot at a deer. The shot hit the deer opening one side of it. The shot was taken head on (shooting don't #1). The deer began losing his entrails, and attempting to run away. Fearing the small buck(button buck) would get away, dubious hunter took shot #2, which blew off one of the back legs(shooting don't #2). At this point, I'm envisioning a few things, his taking random pot shots, disregarding firearm safety, and of course disrespect for the deer. Just appalling. It doesn't stop there. He takes a third shot, and blasts the mandible from the deer! I'm guessing the other two rounds were either misses or a final blow to an already mutilated deer. While they hunt their own property, and do not require hunting licenses, they do take liberties with this privilege. I don't know if they register their kills, or even if they must by law. Occasionally, they bait deer with corn or apples. Thankfully, the bear get to this stuff, and eat most of it before the deer have a chance. This couple crunch their way through the woods, destroying any chance of seeing a deer. Then they wonder why they rarely have a successful hunt. They are poor marksmen to say the least. Both have now taken multiple shots on a deer. The woman in this duo, told me once that she took a bad shot at a doe a couple years ago. In the process of taking the shot, she shot another doe, at the same time injuring them both, but killing neither! She chose one doe, and went after it. It took her two more shots to kill the doe. Presumably, the second doe became coyote food.

Needless to say I will never hunt with the people!