Shiver me timbers etc. :)

The 4:15 AM alarm call was most unwelcome, but up I got and was heading down the M3 to be down to my mentor's grounds by 6:00. Not sure what the temp was there but at home it was -1 Celcius when I was getting ready.

We were in the high seat by 6:30, sitting on my gun case and with a blanket over the legs, but that wind was cutting. Shortly after 7:00 we saw a few Roe does, too near the boundary though. Soon after that a couple of Fallow does ran at full pelt across the clearing. By 7:45 nothing else had showed and it was as light as it was going to get, so we decided to explore other options.

Driving around the estate we saw more Roe does, a nice Fallow buck and a pair of Muntjac, but none were safe shots.

Finally a Roe doe was walking along a fence line away from us, I got out of the Landie and set the bipod on the bonnet. She carried on walking away, my mentor was whistling a bit but she appeared to ignore the sound. Eventually she turned broadside and I took the shot. She took a couple steps forward, turned and leapt over the fence into the wood!

We gave it a few minutes, then went in pursuit. We crossed the fence and went one way for a few minutes, then decided to turn and head the other way. After a few minutes I saw her there on the ground and was happy that I had got my first Roe.

We gralloched the beast back at the barn and by shortly after 9:00 I was on my way home to join all the traffic!

Had the kidneys for lunch with thick brown bread & butter, it'll be liver/bacon and onions for dinner tonight, and I'll butcher the rest in a few days.

Somehow I forgot all about the cold.
smile.gif


 
The 4:15 AM alarm call was most unwelcome, but up I got and was heading down the M3 to be down to my mentor's grounds by 6:00. Not sure what the temp was there but at home it was -1 Celcius when I was getting ready.

We were in the high seat by 6:30, sitting on my gun case and with a blanket over the legs, but that wind was cutting. Shortly after 7:00 we saw a few Roe does, too near the boundary though. Soon after that a couple of Fallow does ran at full pelt across the clearing. By 7:45 nothing else had showed and it was as light as it was going to get, so we decided to explore other options.

Driving around the estate we saw more Roe does, a nice Fallow buck and a pair of Muntjac, but none were safe shots.

Finally a Roe doe was walking along a fence line away from us, I got out of the Landie and set the bipod on the bonnet. She carried on walking away, my mentor was whistling a bit but she appeared to ignore the sound. Eventually she turned broadside and I took the shot. She took a couple steps forward, turned and leapt over the fence into the wood!

We gave it a few minutes, then went in pursuit. We crossed the fence and went one way for a few minutes, then decided to turn and head the other way. After a few minutes I saw her there on the ground and was happy that I had got my first Roe.

We gralloched the beast back at the barn and by shortly after 9:00 I was on my way home to join all the traffic!

Had the kidneys for lunch with thick brown bread & butter, it'll be liver/bacon and onions for dinner tonight, and I'll butcher the rest in a few days.

Somehow I forgot all about the cold.
smile.gif



well done you !

ive been out nearly all week and it is strange , that when you get a result the sub zero temperatures do seem to disapear !

may many more mornings like that come your way .

well done

cheers lee
 
Well done mate.
Shot my first roe buck this year too, only an old buck with a poor head, but will never forget it.
I am sure you enjoyed the "stalkers perks" too, eh.
May you have many more!!!!!:D

atb
Nick
 
Congrats! but really, the kidneys and liver?? The things you guys eat! :p ~Muir

I feel the same, well done on the deer, but as far as i'm concerned the all kidneys and livers are for the neighbours dog, as I don't have one.

Neil. :)
 
Congrats! but really, the kidneys and liver?? The things you guys eat! :p ~Muir

Hornet 6 said:
I feel the same, well done on the deer, but as far as i'm concerned the all kidneys and livers are for the neighbours dog, as I don't have one.

Harrumph, Harumph and Harrruuummmph!

I am just finishing a 2 lb pate' of moose liver, caribou fat, and bacon. MMMmmm, mmmmm, good. Ate the heart and tongue last week for sandwiches.

Paul
 
Sick, man. Really sick...

I on the other hand, just came from butchering my deer and two bull elk. During which time we dined on a venison haunch, brined in salt and maple sugar, wrapped in cheese cloth and smoked whole for 10 hours. With fresh baked bread and churned butter it was a meal fit for a king.~Muir

(no beans, Hannibal)
 
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Congrats! but really, the kidneys and liver?? The things you guys eat! :p ~Muir
They taste good because they have not been manipulated like beef is with hormone additions, I saw that being done while I was in New Mexico. Really they only eat the best forage during their lives.
I tried to do a steak and kidney pudding once using pronghorn antelope kidneys I had shot in NM and it was to be truthfull disgusting, antelope eat sagebrush in the desert so it"s what you eat is what you are. Just look at the average brit or yank.
I have just come back from India and I saw almost no tubbys, just happy and thin well nourished young people. It was an eye opener for me.
We must destroy PRINGLES/SMITHS CRISPS.
all the best
Martin
 
Thanks for the comments chaps. :)

This was my fifth ever deer, so far I have had two Muntjac, two Fallow bucks and now the Roe. As for eating offal, I love it. I have made venison steak & kidney pies, though I cubed the heart as well as you don't get a lot of meat on those little kidneys. Turned out really good if you like that sort of thing.
 
They taste good because they have not been manipulated like beef is with hormone additions, I saw that being done while I was in New Mexico. Really they only eat the best forage during their lives.
I tried to do a steak and kidney pudding once using pronghorn antelope kidneys I had shot in NM and it was to be truthfull disgusting, antelope eat sagebrush in the desert so it"s what you eat is what you are. Just look at the average brit or yank.
I have just come back from India and I saw almost no tubbys, just happy and thin well nourished young people. It was an eye opener for me.
We must destroy PRINGLES/SMITHS CRISPS.
all the best
Martin

I've eaten venison all of my life, including liver and kidneys. I just can't take them. Let me put it this way: If I was going to eat an automobile I'd start at the upholstery, not the oil or tranny fluid filters!:p~Muir

(PS: I will admit that I once found that raw buffalo kidneys, warm from the carcass, were pretty tasty when I was hungry.... weird, eh?)
 
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As far as I'm concerned, each to their own with regard to most things. Up here, one has to be careful eating moose and caribou livers. Animals that are older than a year usually have liver flukes. While cooking easily kills them, they are thoroughly disgusting. I eat liver less often because of this but I've never seen a young-of-the-year animal with liver flukes. Of course black bear flesh is always a risk for trichina. I don't eat ANY black bear meat that isn't pressure cooked first. I mentioned tongue and the tongue is one of the 'hot-spots' for trichina, but tongue gets pressure-cooked regardless. While there are heart worms "out there", I've never heard of an occurrence in Alaska. Until chronic wasting disease reared its ugly head, I ate brain occasionally.

As for pronghorn antleope... when my wife and I hunted them in Montana, we heard a lot about how bad "speed goat" tasted. To me they are one of the best-tasting game animals. I love them. In fact, once I tasted pronghorn meat on that hunt, I told all the other hunters there that I would take all the meat they didn't want. My wife and I shot one buck and one doe each, but took home 450 lbs of pronghorn meat. :)

It's much the same with caribou. Most people refer to caribou as "gamey". I, on the other hand, consider it the among the best-tasting game in Alaska. Of course nothing gets close to wild sheep in my opinion (and nothing tastes worse than domestic sheep). Barley-fed buffalo is difficult to beat as is Sitka black-tailed deer. Actually, the only game meat I don't care much for is moose. It tastes too much like beef for my tastes - what most hunters up here seem to strive for. If I wanted beef, I could go to the grocery store.

Game meat is so difficult to acquire, that I eat every little part I can get as long as there isn't any health risk involved. Trying to raise my kids on game-meat-only was a challenge, but both my kids made it to adult-hood living primarily on wild fish and game. Now that they are off at college, they relish the 'Care packages' that come from home containing fish or game. HOWEVER, I must add that they do NOT like heart, liver, kidney, or tongue. They are their mother's daughter's in that regard.

Paul
 
What?, no Fava beans????:eek:

That could be forgiven.

Forgetting the Chianti, however, is unforgiveable.

Nice write-up John. Well done. Now you need to sample the ultimate cervine culinary treat - Chinese Water Deer.

(I know, not cervine according to taxanomic standards, but I've yet to hear anybody refer to them as hydropotine)
 
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