# Deer Hunt Eats



## Paymaster (Nov 14, 2013)

I hauled the Akorn Cooker out into the field on our annual trip to Piedmont NWR last week. I always do the cooking in our camp, But this was a step up from the Coleman stove! One in our group shot a deer so we feel successful. I did Deer Kababs and Brats one night and a deer ham, a butt and a fattie the next. There were hundreds of hunters in the campground. I put up a little banner so some web forum friend that were there could find our camp.


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## salt and pepper (Nov 15, 2013)

Looks like fun & food. Except for the "100's" of hunters!


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## Paymaster (Nov 15, 2013)

salt and pepper said:


> Looks like fun & food. Except for the "100's" of hunters!


 
30,000 acres of forest and 1200 hunter quota. There were probably 500 or so folks in the camp ground which is several hundred acres in size. Was not bad at all.


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## salt and pepper (Nov 15, 2013)

I wonder how many camps are set up in the 47 sq miles? Must be good numbers of deer in that section. Well have fun and keep the hunters happy with your good food. Are you hunting too, or the camp cook?


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## Addie (Nov 15, 2013)

Last night I watch "North Woods Law." They stated that just one deer doe can feed 100 people. Imagine what a buck could feed. 

If two members of one household were hunters, they could feed the family for a whole year with just a couple of hunting trips a year, each. For the cost of a couple of boxes of bullets and the gas, not a bad deal.


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## pacanis (Nov 15, 2013)

Addie said:


> Last night I watch "North Woods Law." They stated that just one deer doe can feed 100 people. Imagine what a buck could feed.
> 
> If two members of one household were hunters, they could feed the family for a whole year with just a couple of hunting trips a year, each.* For the cost of a couple of boxes of bullets and the gas,* not a bad deal.


 
 Good one.
I know of no hunter that just spends money each year on ammo and gas. And that's not even counting the licenses, stamps, permits, latest camo pattern, buck scent, rattling antlers, blind, deer stand, four-wheeler, 
Sure, after you've hunted a while you pretty much have everything, but then you need to upgrade. 
My neighbor processes his own deer and I'll bet he's got $1000 just in stainless tables, meat grinder, slicer, hoist, spices, casing, freezer paper...
IMO getting a deer is the bonus. You'd be spending money on hunting whether you got one every year or not.
Ask me how I know


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## Zereh (Nov 15, 2013)

Male bonding at it's finest. =) Looks like it was a fantastic time with some great eats!


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## Paymaster (Nov 15, 2013)

salt and pepper said:


> I wonder how many camps are set up in the 47 sq miles? Must be good numbers of deer in that section. Well have fun and keep the hunters happy with your good food. Are you hunting too, or the camp cook?


 
I hunt as well as cook. Neat thing about the Akorn is it is portable and can be set up at a certain temp and left to do it's thing. I set the temp for the deer ham and butt cook at 250* and went to sleep with a remote therm probe in the deer ham. The remote alarm was set to go off when internal temp hit 160*. It alarmed, I got up and took the deer meet off and put the probe into the boston butt and set the alarm at 205* and went back to bed in the camper. I got up at 4:30 to do breakfast and the internal on the butt was at 203*. By the time it was time to hit the woods, the butt was done and I removed it.I like that Akorn cooker!!!!!!!!


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## taxlady (Nov 15, 2013)

Addie, that math works when the locals are poaching deer for food.


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## salt and pepper (Nov 15, 2013)

taxlady said:


> Addie, that math works when the locals are poaching deer for food.


 
 Poaching is not Hunting!!!


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## Addie (Nov 15, 2013)

pacanis said:


> Good one.
> I know of no hunter that just spends money each year on ammo and gas. And that's not even counting the licenses, stamps, permits, latest camo pattern, buck scent, rattling antlers, blind, deer stand, four-wheeler,
> Sure, after you've hunted a while you pretty much have everything, but then you need to upgrade.
> My neighbor processes his own deer and I'll bet he's got $1000 just in stainless tables, meat grinder, slicer, hoist, spices, casing, freezer paper...
> ...



I was thinking of you when I saw that. When I lived in Texas, each hunter bought ten tickets to place on their deer. I thought that was a lot. But that year it happened to be the first year they were putting a limit on the hunt. My landlord had a processing store in the front of the house I was renting. I used to help him in wrapping, checking tickets, recording them, and other chores. In Maine, it is only one deer per person and they hold a lottery for the hunting season. 

One customer came in with a buck the day after the season closed. My landlord refused to accept it for processing and confiscated it to be reported to the gaming department. The hunter tried to say he shot it the day before, but the blood around the wound was still a bit damp. I made a quick exit from the shop as I knew there was going to be a big problem. And there was. I had to call the cops. That was one mad hunter. And my landlord was one stickler for going by the law. That was quite an education for me.


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## pacanis (Nov 15, 2013)

taxlady said:


> Addie, that math works when the locals are poaching deer for food.


 
 Exactly. Or if you're a farmer with enough land to be able to cull the herd due to the damage they cause your crops.
Hunting is an expensive addic... err, I mean sport.


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## Addie (Nov 15, 2013)

Up on the North Shore here, there is a reserve and the deer herds are out of control. The gaming department wants to set up a hunting season for them, but the Bambi Lovers raise holy hell and don't want them hunted. Yet the deer are now roaming in the winter outside of the reserve and destroying private property. There has been some serious damage and some of the residents have been injured by bucks with their antlers. I haven't heard anything on the news for a couple of years. I am wondering which side won. I am for the hunters. Hope they won.


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## Paymaster (Nov 15, 2013)

Addie said:


> Last night I watch "North Woods Law." They stated that just one deer doe can feed 100 people. Imagine what a buck could feed.
> 
> If two members of one household were hunters, they could feed the family for a whole year with just a couple of hunting trips a year, each. For the cost of a couple of boxes of bullets and the gas, not a bad deal.


 We go thru two deer in about six months. Mostly burger and sausage. I do take out the loin whole and sometimes leave a ham de-boned but whole. But as you know, if you check out my threads here, we eat a lot of pork and beef as well as venison.


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## Addie (Nov 15, 2013)

Paymaster said:


> We go thru two deer in about six months. Mostly burger and sausage. I do take out the loin whole and sometimes leave a ham de-boned but whole. But as you know, if you check out my threads here, we eat a lot of pork and beef as well as venison.



When the gaming department came to my landlords processing place, they sided with him. They asked him if he would be willing to process it pro bono and donate it. He did and gave it to the elementary school for lunches. He made sausages with the whole deer. The school department was thrilled to get it as it saved on the food budget. I was surprised at how much meat was turned into sausages. It made a heck of a lot of food.


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## taxlady (Nov 15, 2013)

salt and pepper said:


> Poaching is not Hunting!!!


I guess you were never really poor and living in the country.


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## salt and pepper (Nov 15, 2013)

taxlady said:


> I guess you were never really poor and living in the country.


 
You are so wrong, I come from a family of 12 and have lived in "The Country" most my life. From NY state and now in MT. Wild game hunting is a sport that also feeds many people. Myself included. That does not mean its OK to kill for food, or over kill, for that matter.The price you pay for hunting & fishing is cheap enough that you don't have to just go out and kill something. Thats what gives hunters a bad rap. You are wrong and it will cost you more if you get caught and have to pay a fine, loose you gun, car and have to spend time in jail. So think about that!
There is no need for people to go hungry in this Country, no excuse!

PS: I had to quit school to help feed my family.


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## taxlady (Nov 15, 2013)

salt and pepper said:


> You are so wrong, I come from a family of 12 and have lived in "The Country" most my life. From NY state and now in MT. Wild game hunting is a sport that also feeds many people. Myself included. That does not mean its OK to kill for food, or over kill, for that matter.The price you pay for hunting & fishing is cheap enough that you don't have to just go out and kill something. Thats what gives hunters a bad rap. You are wrong and it will cost you more if you get caught and have to pay a fine, loose you gun, car and have to spend time in jail. So think about that!
> There is no need for people to go hungry in this Country, no excuse!
> 
> PS: I had to quit school to help feed my family.


I wasn't really trying to argue the ethics of "poaching". I was pointing out that the economics of hunting near home are different than the economics of a hunting trip.

I lived in an area where many of the locals bagged deer out of season to help feed their families. There were enough deer that the carcasses of starved deer were regularly found in the woods in winter. BTW, hunting season was the most dangerous time to be out in the woods. Most people wore orange vests and put them on their dogs. I even wore mine to go to the outhouse.

We supplemented our meat with snowshoe hare from a snare line. Yes, we had the appropriate licenses and followed the rules.


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## Addie (Nov 15, 2013)

When a herd of deer feed on your property during a hard winter and they are destroying all the trees and plants, I don't consider it poaching if the home owner shoots some of them and uses the meat to feed the family. But when a person is in a car and spots a deer at the edge of the woods and shoots him from his vehicle for the fun and excitement of it, then that is what I consider poaching. Useless killing of animals is poaching. Feeding your family out of season and protecting your property, is fine with me.


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## salt and pepper (Nov 15, 2013)

Tax & Addie,
  I get you point, now get mine. Its still breaking the law. Lets end this.


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## farmertrish (Nov 16, 2013)

pacanis said:


> Exactly. Or if you're a farmer with enough land to be able to cull the herd due to the damage they cause your crops.
> Hunting is an expensive addic... err, I mean sport.



I would love to get a nuisance permit for our land. Start thinning the herd in September. Right now hubby wants to keep hunting just for family. I understand, but 2 years ago, when I went into my field at the crack of dawn to pick corn for market, and I jumped 7 deer, 3 bucks in velvet and 2 does and 2 young ones, I was ticked off. Early October, deer just become eating machines. I had a lovely crop of swiss chard, beets, carrots, and spinach, I now have a crop of.....stems. We've had a discussion. He's beginning to realize that maybe we need more than just 2 hunters on the property.


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## Addie (Nov 16, 2013)

farmertrish said:


> I would love to get a nuisance permit for our land. Start thinning the herd in September. Right now hubby wants to keep hunting just for family. I understand, but 2 years ago, when I went into my field at the crack of dawn to pick corn for market, and I jumped 7 deer, 3 bucks in velvet and 2 does and 2 young ones, I was ticked off. Early October, deer just become eating machines. I had a lovely crop of swiss chard, beets, carrots, and spinach, I now have a crop of.....stems. We've had a discussion. He's beginning to realize that maybe we need more than just 2 hunters on the property.



If you were to get that permit, I assume you would take some of the meat for your family. But seven animals does sound like a lot of deer meat for one family to eat in one year. At least to me. Can any of that be meat be donated? 

( I have this thing about feeding hungry children.)


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## farmertrish (Nov 16, 2013)

A nuisance permit just allows a land owner to hunt or allow others to hunt out of season, to control the herd to minimize crop damage. Each hunter still has to follow the state regulations. Where our farm is a hunter is allowed to take 4 deer. If DNR (Department of Natural Resouces) determines that 25 deer can be thinned, each hunter is allowed to take 4 deer, anything over that, per hunter, is to be donated or given away. So hubby could take 4 deer, and lets say another hunter could take 4 deer. That's a total of 8, then 17 deer still can be harvested, but must be processed and donated or given away. Most of the deer are given to correction institutes, I don't know why.
When I said 7 deer were jumped, it just means that I surprised them, and they took off running from my corn field.


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## Mad Cook (Nov 17, 2013)

Paymaster said:


> I hauled the Akorn Cooker out into the field on our annual trip to Piedmont NWR last week. I always do the cooking in our camp, But this was a step up from the Coleman stove! One in our group shot a deer so we feel successful. I did Deer Kababs and Brats one night and a deer ham, a butt and a fattie the next. There were hundreds of hunters in the campground. I put up a little banner so some web forum friend that were there could find our camp.


Blimey! You don't mess around when you go camping, do you. 

I still have recurring nightmares about a small two-man ridge tent, sleeping bags on the ground (someone forgot the airbed) and trying to heat cans of beans in the open air on a tiny one ring butane burner which had to be watched constantly because it was so wobbly. It poured with rain all weekend and he snored. Did the relationship survive that romantic break in Wales? Did it hell! I wasn't THAT young and foolish!


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## Addie (Nov 17, 2013)

Mad Cook said:


> Blimey! You don't mess around when you go camping, do you.
> 
> I still have recurring nightmares about a small two-man ridge tent, sleeping bags on the ground (someone forgot the airbed) and trying to heat cans of beans in the open air on a tiny one ring butane burner which had to be watched constantly because it was so wobbly. It poured with rain all weekend and he snored. Did the relationship survive that romantic break in Wales? Did it hell! I wasn't THAT young and foolish!



 Maybe he was testing you.


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## Mad Cook (Nov 17, 2013)

I live just down the road from Lyme Park (where Mr Darcy swam in the lake in the Colin Firth television production of "Pride and Prejudice" - Lyme Hall stood in for Pemberley). It's no longer privately owned but there is a herd of about 300 red deer. The park is securely fenced so they rarely get into people's gardens. The deer are culled by the park rangers once a year and the meat is sold in the better butchers in the area but there is no sport shooting there.

The Park is open to the public (with payment to park your car in the grounds) and I believe that horse riders are now permitted in the Park. Lots of nice walks and wildlife to spot. 

Visitor information - National Trust

No sport shooting in the UK unless you are rich or have rich friends and get invited to a Scottish (or other area) estate for "The Shooting" - mostly deer, pheasant and grouse and then you don't always get to eat what you shoot although the beaters often do quite well out of the kill. 

 My cousin sold his business in Nottingham and retired on the proceeds (at 50!!) to Anglesey, North Wales. He was a very keen gardener and one thing lead to another and he ended up working as gardener to a syndicate of 5 local landowners (one was a distant cousin of the Queen, would you believe!). He used to get called in to beat at the shoots owned by these people so for 15 years we were kept supplied with pheasants for the pot.


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## Addie (Nov 17, 2013)

A few years back we had a TV show about the Waban Estate. The Earl and his wife showed what their daily life was like running the estate. Most of the time the lady of the house was in dirty rubber boots and old clothes. Her husband had a stroke, so most of the work was left for her to do. Their one child was an adult and was recovering from a crippling auto accident. When he was well enough, the series ended with the parents turning the whole estate over to him and they took a flat in London. Strange customs. Deer running all around the place because they always had. Certain days for polishing all the silver. And there was a LOT! Cabinet and cabinet. They had a very young 'butler in training.' They sent him to London to learn how to polish the silver. The boy's mother was thrilled that her child was going to be a butler. What better calling for a young man. 

So who polishes your silver? Your butler? And do you have a tiara as fancy as the wife of the Earl of Waban?


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## Paymaster (Nov 20, 2013)

Wow! This'n certainly went off the rails!


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## GotGarlic (Nov 20, 2013)

No kidding! From hunting-camp cooking to polishing the silver!


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## Zagut (Nov 20, 2013)

Properly polished silver is needed when serving properly harvested venison. 


How could you settle for anything less?


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