Hunting deer

 

Where we were on the South End the deer had big bodies but the antlers were not all that big.  I figure some and maybe all of the deer weighed over 200 pounds, and from just 6 deer we brought back 600 pounds of bone-in meat. We ended up with 260 pounds of packaged meat.

The antlers weren't big by trophy deer hunter standards but they were very thick and big in their own way.  They had the characteristics of old deer.  Big old guys whose antlers were in decline.  A couple of the deer were just huge forks without eye guards.  I've noticed that old deer tend to lack eye guards and often have slightly palmated antlers (like a moose).  One of the big boys we harvested had a heavily scarred neck from fighting with other bucks.

On the north end of the island old bucks tend to die during harsh winters.  They expend all their energy reserves during the rut and most of them die when it gets cold.  The fact that we saw so many old bucks indicates that the winters down on the south end are relatively mild.  There is good winter survival.

Last night we cooked up a stir fry with some of the backstrap, and I noticed that the meat was marbled with fat - like beef cow meat! Usually deer meat is very lean.  The marbled fat in the meat made it very tasty in the stir fry.  The kids and I gobbled it all up.  When getting seconds I noticed them selectively choosing pieces of meat out of the stir fry and avoiding the vegetables.  Not the greatest form food etiquette wise - but a big compliment to the taste of the meat.

Patrick

This old boy had the biggest body of all and a scarred neck from fighting - note lack of eye guards