Deer Hunting Season

While I was outdoors working today I was hearing gunshots from every direction. It's real men practicing with their deer rifles for the upcoming deer hunting season which starts November 15th in Michigan. They have to walk around between now and then kind of bent over because they have permanent painful wood from now until the 15th. In Michigan as I'm sure it is in other states this is not a holiday but it's celebrated by thousands of men as the best holiday of the year. They get to spend a weekend or even an entire week away from the ball and chain. Hit the bar every night and be up at the crack of dawn toting a rifle in the woods. Not for me, I ain't real man enough.

It's also a super holiday for the hookers. They'll pick up their big rented recreational vehicle and go from mid Michigan north and park it and do absolutely terrific business till the end of November. Local police and State Police know what's happening but they don't bother it. I've heard they even take credit cards and what shows up on your statement is some innocuous untraceable billing name. Real men in Michigan take deer hunting season very very seriously. Many of them have deer hunting cabins where as many as 8 or 10 fellow Hunters can spend the night and they rough it for a week. Playing poker, drinking, and eating delivered takeout food. Enjoying every single second without the old lady there and dreading going back to that life

I went deer hunting once in my early twenties with a bunch of guys and we stayed in a cabin. Watching these still half-drunk guys the next morning walk around in the woods with guns scared me so badly I never did it again.

Quote: Evenbob

While I was outdoors working today I was hearing gunshots from every direction. It's real men practicing with their deer rifles for the upcoming deer hunting season which starts November 15th in Michigan. They have to walk around between now and then kind of bent over because they have permanent painful wood from now until the 15th. In Michigan as I'm sure it is in other states this is not a holiday but it's celebrated by thousands of men as the best holiday of the year. They get to spend a weekend or even an entire week away from the ball and chain. Hit the bar every night and be up at the crack of dawn toting a rifle in the woods. Not for me, I ain't real man enough.

Always the Monday after Thanksgiving here, no hunting on Sunday's though they keep trying to change that. I have seen guys walking along the interstate with rifles, on the side of the road scoping them, you name it. Schools close because teachers and male students just do not show up.

Quote: AZDuffman

Always the Monday after Thanksgiving here, no hunting on Sunday's though they keep trying to change that. I have seen guys walking along the interstate with rifles, on the side of the road scoping them, you name it. Schools close because teachers and male students just do not show up.

There is more holiday spirit surrounding deer hunting season than any of the other holidays, even Christmas. These guys celebrate for two weeks straight with drinking and food and hookers and non-stop card games. If their wives only knew what really goes on. They probably do, they're just as glad to have the jackass out of the house as he is to be out of the house.

What was once a necessity is now a leisure sport.

Funny, when I was a kid living outside NYC I subscribed to "Sports Afield" and "Outdoor Life" and dreamed of someday hunting and fishing.

But when I moved to Oregon where world class hunting and fishing is at hand I soon lost interest as I discovered I did not enjoy the taste of salmon / steelhead nor venison.

Now I shoot craps and fish for comps.

Quote: missedhervee

But when I moved to Oregon where world class hunting and fishing is at hand I soon lost interest as I discovered I did not enjoy the taste of salmon / steelhead nor venison.

The only way venison is edible is if you mix it with three quarters hamburger then what's the point. Many of these guys have their deer professionally butchered fill the freezer and throw it all out next fall so it can be ready for the next one because nobody in their family will eat it

Quote: Evenbob

The only way venison is edible is if you mix it with three quarters hamburger then what's the point. Many of these guys have their deer professionally butchered fill the freezer and throw it all out next fall so it can be ready for the next one because nobody in their family will eat it

The thing about venison, or meat is, it has to be taken care of properly from the minute it's killed.

Lot's of those cabin hunters have read enough, and been around it long enough, that they get right to the blood letting. From there, the thickest part of the animal needs to get cooled within two hours of getting terminated. If not, the meat starts spoiling. If there is the tiniest bit of spoilage, it leaches out rapidly, and it's a game of using enough seasoning so you can't taste the rot.

An animal full of adrenaline or in the rut is never going to be tender or taste good. And all animals taste like what they've been eating. Whitetails out in the desert eating Mesquite and stealing hay tastes like an athlete. The best game has never been spooked. If hunters are out there early before season " sighting in" their rifles, they are scaring every animal in the county. By the time they are legal to kill, they are nasty tasting.

The best one's are out on islands where people aren't harassing them. And the first shot they every hear, is followed by a ka-thump and everything goes dark.

The temperature of the hunt plays a big part, if the animals aren't spooked. There is a big difference in texture and taste if an animals is taken above 50 degrees in the morning and a day that will never go above 40. Lot's to it. Those that live eating game have good meat. Those that hunt for the antlers usually end up giving the meat away. And then there are "meat hunters" who have different seasons and ethics. imo

Quote: petroglyph

The thing about venison, or meat is, it has to be taken care of properly from the minute it's killed.

All I know is I've never had any venison that was edible. It was always nasty no matter what they did do it. I hear that bear is good eating. The Indians in Michigan used to prefer bear to deer because bear has a high fat content and venison is very lean. There are stories of missionaries in Michigan visiting Indian tribes and being given bear meat to eat at dinner. It was so greasy and fatty they eat very little and stored what they didn't eat in their pockets so as not to offend their host.

I'm spending the evening in a house on the ranch where hunt. One of our friends bought it so that he could have a place we (and the kids) could all come to and hunt...and as a very good investment. There are around 4,000 acres here and the coyotes are howling tonight. Our season runs from the first weekend in October to the last weekend in February. It is less than 30 miles from my house, which beats a five or more hour drive to the last place I hunted.

I enjoy venison, especially a nicely cooked backstrap. We also get lots of good sausage. Most of the harvested animals go one ice and the ice is drained and refreshed daily. That gets a lot of the blood out ad makes the meat taste just fine.

On evening "hunts" I am mostly a looker...I am not too excited about cleaning deer in evening. I may take one tomorrow morning but who knows.

In town, the word is that there are hunters and there are hunting widows...and there are some guys who stay around town. Who knows if it is true.

Quote: RonC

I may take one tomorrow morning but who knows.

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When I was a kid there was an uncle, uncle Orville, who was probably in his late sixties or early seventies and had been deer hunting all his life. And he never got a deer. In Michigan where you don't drive in the country at night because you're going to hit a deer. It was a running joke in the family. We went there every Thanksgiving which is right in the middle of deer season and Uncle Orv will come marching In all dressed up in his hunting outfit and everybody would ask him if he got a deer. And we would all laugh.

Quote: Evenbob

All I know is I've never had any venison that was edible. It was always nasty no matter what they did do it. I hear that bear is good eating. The Indians in Michigan used to prefer bear to deer because bear has a high fat content and venison is very lean. There are stories of missionaries in Michigan visiting Indian tribes and being given bear meat to eat at dinner. It was so greasy and fatty they eat very little and stored what they didn't eat in their pockets so as not to offend their host.

I have had deer jerky and it is usually pretty good though of course dependent on who makes it and with what spices. Once I was buying meat at the trade school and the teacher hands me a piece of something and says "try this!" but "hands me" is relative it was almost as if he shoved it in my mouth. Says "deer! how do you like it?" It was not bad but not memorable.

I do know people who love eating it. I have known butchers who did a decent side hustle processing it. For the most part it has to be cut with pork or something else with fat else way too dry.