A rare sight indeed.

[thecfarm]

A hanging deer. One reason the weather. Most years now it's about 50°. People will steal them. And others have a fit to see one like that. We had a cold spell and it did not get above freezing for 2-3 days. If was very common to see a deer hanging from a tree when I was growing up. Bragging rights too.

[WDH]

I had a hog hanging Sunday night  .  It got down to 28 degrees.  Freezing cold  :D.

[thecfarm]

The glacier thickens.  :D

[WDH]

 :D :D

[WmFritz]

I had a hog hanging Sunday night  .  It got down to 28 degrees.  Freezing cold  :D.

Should've hung em in the kiln, Danny.  :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

A Kiln would make good Jerky.  ;D Bag it and sale it.

"Danny's Carport Georgia Jerky".  :D :D :D

[WmFritz]

A Kiln would make good Jerky.  ;D Bag it and sale it.

"Danny's Carport Georgia Jerky".  :D :D :D

Me thinks you should get a cut fer coming up with that name, Poston.  ;)

[SwampDonkey]

If you want photos of hanging deer, I have an album full. My grandfather would have as many as 6 or 8 hanging at the sporting camps. Once in awhile an albino to. ;D

[red oaks lumber]

28 degrees? man i cant wait for that warmup :D around our area tree deer were a common sight but, i think with so many places offering to process deer, why do it yourself?

[Woodcarver]

The first thing on the agenda this morning is a trip to the processor to pickup the vension from the deer I shot Saturday morning.  It did hang from Saturday until Monday morning.  With temperatures in the single digits at night and around twenty during the day the processor probably had to let it thaw a little before skinning it.  :D

[ely]

we used to hang deer a lot when I was a kid, lot colder then I guess. now we just quarter them and ice em down. my family has always processed our own animals... we have a room especially built for that.

many reasons not to take the deer to the processor
1. the meat can get mixed with other folks meat, meaning if you have 25 pounds of grinding meat, the processor will make sure you get 25 pounds of meat out of the batch he ground up.
2. all folks do not care for the animals they kill the same way I do, I do not want my 25 pounds of ground meat mixed in with the the guys deer meat that hanged in camp 4 days at 50 degrees, or rode around in the truck for 1/2 day,or was gut shot and not cleaned up properly.
3. number one reason I process my own meat, is the 100.00 dollar minimum they have at the processor to do a deer.

[Woodcarver]

We often process our own deer, too.  Wasn't in the schedule this year because of other committments.  We have a local processor who I trust--know the family from church.  The charge for processing the deer was $75.00. I suppose they get a couple of bucks for the hides, too.  There's another processor in the area who charges $65.00, but I don't know them and, consequently, don't have as much confidence in them. 

[m wood]

yes Ely, all your reasons are my reasons too.  I think I could get one processed here for around 50 or 60,  I have said it before, I am a cheapskate, i mean frugal fellow.  We lost the darn knife to my little old grinder the other day (turned the whole house upside down) so the wife gave me a early Christmas present...a stainless steel Nesco Professional meat grinder.  Her alterior motive was...she loves the burger more than any other venison in our freezer! We mix with about 30% of the cheapest fattiest pork we can find at the market.
mark

[m wood]

my Grandma always said, " leave them hang, the longer the better".  But that was in Sumpter Oregon with 3' of snow for beginning of season :D. 

[SwampDonkey]

This was already in my gallery, so might as well have something to look at. ;D



Serpentine Lake camps

[Peter Drouin]

We do all our meat too.

[Billbob]

That's an oldie!  Must have been back in the day when we could tag two deer on one license.  1950' or 60's?  I got skunked this year.  Not much deer sign around here.  Lots of moose and too many bear though.  Got them walking right into my barn yard!

[beenthere]

Nice pole-load of venison hanging there SD   8)

We had a meat pole at our hunting camp, but lost two deer one year to someone who felt they would fill their tags the easy way while we were hunting the second day.
After that, we hung them on the screened-in porch.
But I don't find the need to hang deer the same way there is a need to hang beef before butchering.
Once butchered a heifer that broke its leg like we butchered deer, and the heifer meat was not firm at all. Needed hanging to stiffen up, nothing like the venison which is easy to cut up even soon after a kill.

[terry f]

   M wood, your grandma was probably there when they filmed Paint Your Wagon in Sumpter.

[m wood]

terry,  my uncles would dring wiskey all night with lee marvin at the local hotel in Baker.  If I remember right, Clint wasn't too social in those circles.  That is still one of my all-time-favorite flicks ;D
mark

[SwampDonkey]

That's an oldie!  Must have been back in the day when we could tag two deer on one license.  1950' or 60's? 

Those deer were headed to the US. My grandfather was a guide outfitter. Probably a 60's photo as he sold those camps in 72 or 73. There was a lot of deer in those days. Herds of 50 or more. You could drive all over that place now for days and not see a deer.

[WDH]

In Georgia, you can only tag 12 deer on one license  .

[Billbob]

Same around here.  In the spring the deer yard up in the hay fields on Route 112.  Come hunting season you don't see a flag.

[SwampDonkey]

Serpentine Lake is on the divide between Miramichi and Tobique, the deer up in there migrated down the rivers before winter. My grandfather would go in to the camps in the winter to clean snow off roofs. There were no deer tracks in there in winter. Snow is too deep and it's colder. I have a photo of the 50's, cleaning off the roofs from snow. The camps were buried. They claim 2008 was a record snow around here, they never measured snow in at Serpentine I guess. :D

What I was getting at with the deer, is the population is way down in that region, not due to seasonal migration. Just ain't none. The winter habitat was all cut. All you have to do is follow the deer and what they eat. You cut their wintering ground and they aren't there next winter in a clear cut. The old guides knew these things and they didn't need PHD's. They were experts before there were 'experts'. Winter is a lot more tough in New Brunswick than in Virginia. ;)

[sprucebunny]

I haven't seen many deer being transported the last couple of years. But yesterday I saw one on the roof of an SUV. It was a very dark colored deer. Unusual. Will be a handsome hide.

[chain]

We have the telechek for checking in deer here. Was that we had to take deer in to a check-station, lots of folks would wait around just to see big bucks. But now, instant check-in, no one sees anything, most deer go to processors or  processed in the field. I've wondered how accurate the total deer kill is, not that it makes any difference, I tend to think of deer as an invasive critter nowadays.

[SwampDonkey]

I tend to think of deer as an invasive critter nowadays.

They are as far as New Brunswick wildlife goes. But ask DNR what wildlife management is and it's spelled DEER. : Only in New Brunswick is used the term 'Deer Wintering Area'. They do not single out any other species and call it their habitat management area delineated on a map.

[Billbob]

That's true SwampDonkey.  They seem to forget that there is more wildlife here than just deer.  The lack of 'management' has allowed the bear population to explode.  Got them everywhere, in the city, on the roads and in my manure pile.

[CX3]

I let one hang 4 days last week. Hide off. Warmest day was 45.

We tenderized the steaks and it was some good eating.

I'm with ely on the slaughter houses. I want my meat and that's it. The only way to ensure that is do it yourself

[Jamie_C]

I tend to think of deer as an invasive critter nowadays.

They are as far as New Brunswick wildlife goes. But ask DNR what wildlife management is and it's spelled DEER. : Only in New Brunswick is used the term 'Deer Wintering Area'. They do not single out any other species and call it their habitat management area delineated on a map.

Deer Wintering Area's are marked and somewhat protected down here as well, mostly depends if you are on crown or large industrial lands though. When i worked for a Wagner contractor we weren't allowed to cut deer wintering areas.

[SwampDonkey]

They've been cutting them here. We thinned a block beside one delineated area. The next winter they clear cut the DWA down. I think some areas, especially those heavy to balsam fir, have fallen down by now anyway. Fir falls down from old age, spruce then blows down and any mature birch dies off from scald.

[beenthere]

Another rare site. This one of two bucks caught with horns locked. One dead and been feeding some coyotes.

One is set free.  Brave guys, or drunk, but they did it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNSgr5xNYY0

[WmFritz]

BT, that's an interesting video!  I'm curious what killed the one buck?  Fatigue? Broken neck?
If it was fatigue, the live buck was still full of fight. Either way, he is one tough whitetail.
I'm glad those guys saved him from the coyotes.

[mesquite buckeye]

That is how coyotes and wolves attack large animals. Bite at the back end until it quits fighting. Lunch.

[SwampDonkey]

Deer chasers (what we call dogs let loose that often end up running down deer) do the same thing.

[coxy]

Deer chasers (what we call dogs let loose that often end up running down deer) do the same thing.

I shoot them all that I see running deer don't care what the DEC says its what I was told all the time growing up and some old timers said its the law of the land  keep your dogs tied up or they wont come home

[SwampDonkey]

Here, the game wardens would take care of it, if you didn't. ;) Most of the running dogs would be off reservations. Some are terrible for feral dogs running loose.

[WDH]

The company that I worked for had 750 hunting clubs in Georgia.  There were some rules.  The very first rule was:

DON"T SHOOT DOGS.  Period.  You would be amazed at how much major trouble we had with hunter's shooting the neighbor's dog. 

[thecfarm]

My little Boo Boo would chase deer. But about 20 minutes later he would be back. I think he would put on a big show with me and chase them out of my sight and than he would ramble aound for 15 minutes and than come back saying how good of a job he did. BUT he was still chasing deer ,even for 2 minutes is still illegal.
Something else he would do. He would sleep on the fornt steps for hours while I was working. I would get home at 7:20. As soon as my truck would come in view of the house,he would jump up and start barking and head it for the woods.  :  Just like some of the guys at work. See the boss and jump up and start working.  :

[Corley5]

Our Snowy Dog, German Shepherd/Husky 50/50 mix, will chase deer but not run them.  She comes back in a few minutes.  I've also seen her nose to nose with a deer and frolicking in the vineyard with another.  Both times when they saw me the chase was on   There's a big difference between chasing and running.  Some dogs just won't give up the chase.  They're the bad ones.

[WmFritz]

Our Snowy Dog, German Shepherd/Husky 50/50 mix, will chase deer but not run them.  She comes back in a few minutes.  I've also seen her nose to nose with a deer and frolicking in the vineyard with another.  Both times when they saw me the chase was on   There's a big difference between chasing and running.  Some dogs just won't give up the chase.  They're the bad ones.

I agree! I have a Lab who's the same way. He'll run off the deck and chase deer to the back of our 5 acres, then turn around and trot back to the house. He also chases squirrel's, turkey's, and our new pup. He really just wants to play, but if something wants to run, he'll follow it. No farther then our yard though.
I would never allow a dog to run deer and I don't allow him to even chase deer at our cabin. But, at home I see no harm letting him chase them a couple hundreds out of my yard.