Cleaning a deer (N2)

If you have the good fortune to take a deer this fall, you will experience one of the greatest thrills in hunting. You will earn yourself a cache of tasty, low fat, high-protein venison that will provide many delicious meals for you and your family. If your deer is a buck, you might also want to preserve the head for mounting. After handshakes have been exchanged and the photographs have been taken, it's time to get down to the gritty business of skinning and cleaning your deer. This is the least glamorous part of the hunt, but doing it right will protect the integrity of your meat and help ensure the best possible flavor. It will also ensure that your taxidermist can provide the best possible mount. Immediately after killing your deer, use your knife to cut the fleshy tissue between the elbow and tendon on one of the hind legs, then detach the transportation tag portion of your deer hunting permit and attach it to the leg. This will allow you to legally remove the deer from the field and transport it to the nearest check station. "Cleaning" refers to removing the internal organs from the deer's body cavity. You should do this immediately upon killing a deer. Venting the body cavity and removing the organs and blood allows the carcass to cool quickly. This slows the decomposition process, which begins the moment a deer's respiratory and circulatory functions cease. A deer's body is amazingly well insulated and can retain heat for a long time. The sooner you clean a deer, the better the meat will taste. When you first start do not stab the deer or plunge to knife right into the deer. Just gently cut into the deer and cut right up to the ribs. The cut around all of the organs and cut the butt hole out and also cut the throat of the deer. This will allow you to pull the organs right out. If you do this properly then your meat will not spoil. All of this will take practice to get it all down perfectly.

America's Big Buck State (N1)

Every hunter dreams of shooting a trophy buck some day in their lives. In order to be able to accomplish that you have to be hunting on some good land that holds these trophy bucks. The OutDoor Life magazine has named the top ten states in America that have the biggest trophy bucks taken in the past three deer seasons. This magazine scored each state with points based on four different measurements. The first measurement was a state’s trophy production. Each state received a score based on the percentage of harvested bucks that qualified for B&C registry. The second measurement is a state’s hunter density. This metric calculates competition for a trophy buck. They divided the total number of firearms hunters in each state by the total land area in square miles. The more hunters a state had for every square mile the less points they would receive in this category. The third measurement is a state’s cost of outfitted hunts. For each state, we averaged the fee of three outfitters that offer a fair-chase, five-day, fully guided hunt (including lodging and meals) during the rut, and also factored in nonresident license fees. A state’s outfitter fee that was under $2,600 received 1 point, while a state’s outfitter fee that was between $2,601 to $3,500 received half of a point, and a state’s outfitter fee that was over $3,501 received no points at all. The fourth and finale measurement was a state’s hunter’s friendliness. Some states’ nonsensical restrictions will leave hunters scratching their heads. They gave South Dakota zero points for prohibiting the use of electronic bow-mounted devices of any kind, including illuminated sight pins. Illinois lost half a point for requiring shotguns capable of firing no more than three slugs. Most other states received a single point. After these four measurements the states were listed in a top ten category.

Top ten states:

1. Kentucky
2. Kansas
3. Indiana
4. Iowa
5. Minnesota
6. Illinios
7. Mississippi
8. Nebraska
9. Ohio
10. Oklahoma

2013 Deer Season Report (M2)

This 2013 deer season was a warm, windy and at times rainy. Opening weekend of the Southern Zone firearms deer season left some hunters scrambling to get their deer to venison processors and others scratching their heads and wondering where the whitetails were. With temperatures climbing into the fifties, many hunters, some of whom would typically butcher their own deer, chose to take their deer to meat cutters. While the bow season was warmer and had worse weather that caused the total deer harvest go down by nine percent.  This deer season had many mixed reports coming in from the hunters. Some hunters got their usual number of deer and some also shot some big bucks, while most of the hunters struggled with warm temperatures. These warm temperatures slowed deer movement down to where hunters only seen four, five, and six pointers with a lot of does because all of the bigger bucks and most of the other deer kept their movement to at night only. The only positive that hunters said about the warm weather was that they were able to sit in the stand for a longer period of time. Which was an advantage for some hunters because they seen more deer than other hunters. These comments were made by hunters in the southern zone. Even though the numbers were down in the southern zone the rest of the state was having a record season. Because of this next year you will probably see more and more permits being sold. Even though I do not think that the deer population is as high as the DEC officials think it is. I also think that there should be a new law to manage the size of the bucks that people are allowed to kill so then we can have an opportunity to see and kill bigger bucks.

2013 Deer Season's Ending is Near (M1)

The 2013 deer season is almost over with. This past Sunday was the last day of the regular season. So this means that we are in the last week of the season where all we are allowed to use are either our muzzle loaders or our bows again. There are not many people that go out for this last season just because all the deer have been run around all over the woods and have been shot up by everyone that has pushed the woods with other hunters. The end of the season also means that you will have to put all of your guns away after you clean them and that you will have to be putting your clothes away. For me this means that I will be getting ready for the upcoming goose season that starts on December 28 and goes up to January 12. During this season you are allowed to kill 5 birds per person. For most people the end of deer season means that they are already thinking about next year while some people are already getting ready for next year. While some people will now be looking forward to this upcoming spring turkey season. Especially sense spring turkey season is much warmer and turkeys are much easier to hunt and kill. However first people should be preparing for the goose season that is about three weeks away. Not many people go out to hunt geese anymore just because it is colder outside. This is sad because it is a great experience to get out there and to try and kill these birds that are harder to shoot than most people will think. If you could purchase a blind then your life would get much easier and you would be able to kill a lot more birds. So this year scout those corn fields and get out there.

The SAFE ACT (L2)

Our New York State officials have been silent on the issue of having back ground checks on the people that want to purchase ammo. The deadline for this issue is January 15. Many people do not think there will be any requirements from the state by then. This is simply because the system is not read for something like this. The reason for the back ground checks is because of the trending issue of the New York State SAFE ACT. The SAFE ACT has been troubling hunters statewide and also many gun shop dealers. However all the dealers have heard virtually nothing from state officials about there being any back ground checks for people purchasing ammo. This is mainly because the system is not ready for it. The New York State SAFE ACT is an act that was created by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The SAFE ACT states that it will prevent criminals and dangerously mentally ill people from purchasing guns because of the back ground checks at the dealers. It will also increase the penalties that people would face for owning illegal guns. This act mandates life in prison without parole for anyone who murders a first responder. Finally it imposes the toughest assault weapons ban in the country.  Governor Cuomo says that this new law will protect and preserve hunters, sportsmen, and law abiding gun owner’s right to buy, sell, and own guns. I do not agree with that last statement what so ever. Any law against guns does not preserve our original rights with guns right now. I do however agree with a better back ground check for you to be able to purchase a gun. Therefor it will be harder for criminals and mentally dangerous people to be able to purchase a gun. The back ground checks alone would be fine.

Tips to cleaning muzzleloaders(L1)

Muzzle loading season is a favorite for many late season deer hunter. However having a muzzle loader is a lot of work and maintenance. The most important thing to do is to clean your muzzle loader after every shooting session. The method of soaking your muzzle loader in hot soapy water is not effective at all. The original frontiersmen did not have hot soapy water and their rifles still shot reliably and accurately. Therefor I do not believe in that technique. The technique that I do believe in is the regular maintenance and seasoning of the muzzle loader. For this all you have to do is clean the barrel and breach after you shoot the muzzle loader a couple of times. Then when you are going to put the gun away for the summer you can clean the muzzle loader and then put the TC bore butter in the barrel to keep it oiled up. This will prevent moisture getting into the barrel and creating rust. I usually clean my gun after every 5 to 10 shots but most people will wait and clean them after 25 shots. I usually clean my muzzle loader this soon because the 209 primers that I use will tend to put a thick layer of gunk on the breach. Also make sure that when you clean the breach that you take the breach out and clean both ends of the breach. Before you put the breach back in the barrel make sure you can blow air through the breach fairly easily. Another tip you can do is for a 50 caliber bore, instead of using a jag you should use a 45 caliber bronze cleaning brush and wrap a TC seasoning patch around it and clean the muzzle loader that way. If you season the barrel properly then you should have less misfires when you go and shoot the muzzle loader.