My season

[DBinNY]

It started with a small 7 point with the bow back in October and ended with a crotch horn on Saturday. I ended up getting 4 with the MLs; 2 with the Rem-Pac and 2 with the Sav-Pac. All were under 100 yards and all with 63 gr H4198 and the 195BX and smooth blue harvester. No tracking required. All pass throughs.

I got a very large doe on the opening day of our firearms season. This was an almost identical shot to one that I made on an 8-point a few years ago with the .50 and a 250 gr SST (67 gr R7). Both deer were quartering on and I hit them on the point of the shoulder. Shots were 40 (doe) and 60 (buck) yards. Both shots shattered the bottom of the scapula where it narrows down just above the ball joint. The 250 SST from the .50 blew up, did not exit and was lost somewhere internally. This deer made it about 100 yards and finally dropped after stopping and flicking its tail a couple of times. The 195 BX from the .45 blew right through the chest and the opposite rib cage. This deer made it about 50 yards and did a plow job with its nose and crashed in the leaves. I think these nearly identical shots demonstrated the performance difference in these 2 bullets and is typical of what many of you have reported.

The greatest highlight of the season came from a deer that a friend of mine got. This young lady grew up next door to me and decided that she wanted to take up deer hunting a few years ago. I taught her how to shoot and the safety stuff, helped her set up her stand etc. She now has a total of 6 deer including some yearling bucks and this monster (at least for our neighborhood). She got it with a shotgun (Ithaca M87) that I "loaned" her. I've been pestering her to shoot the MLs but we haven't gotten around to it yet. She seems pretty attached to the shotgun (I can't imagine why?) and seems to enjoy recoil as much as Wilms. I can't express the level of pride and joy we got from her getting this deer. She is very persistent and deserves it. She does have an annoying habit of getting deer on the same day that I get one. This results in marathon cutting jobs!

[Deleted]

Sounds like you and your neighbors had a good season...You've taught her well.
Zen

[ET]

DBinNY

Congrats to all and happy to hear it was a good season.
Obviously you taught your pupil well in the art of deer hunting and shooting.

Know what you mean about multiple kills occurring at the same time. It seems when deer are on the move they move all over the place at the same time.
I guess the next evolution in learning for your pupil is the art of proper evisceration and knife handling.
Good Luck.


Ed

[wilmsmeyer]

Have you taught her the fine art of field dressing yet?

Glad you guys had a good season and I know what you mean in calling that deer a monster. Back when I grew up in the Catskills, anything with more then 4 points was called a monster....and everyone agreed!

I assume you are SOLD on the .45's now. I don't blame you.

[tar12]

Sounds like a wonderful season!

[Dave W]

Congrats to you and your protege Dan on a fine season!

[edwardamason]

Awesome season. Congrats.

[jims]

Nice write-up.

[dans]

Hey that's a nice buck. Congrats to the young lady.

[DBinNY]

Thanks for the kind words guys. You don't really think I would short her of the entire experience do you? Here she is with her first kill of the year. She also helps with the butchering!

[ET]

DBinNY

Come-on, no knife in her hands or nearby seen.
Then that innocent gleeful expression with the way the hands are postured doesn’t convey she did the deed. And a bloodied kneecap just says she was in a nearby kneeling position.
Now what am I supposed to believe? ;D


Ed

[wilmsmeyer]

ET

You stole my thunder ;D

[nwtflogan]

fantastic.....love to see a young women get into the sport!! way to pass it on!! That smile is priceless in any gender or age!!!

[DBinNY]

Thank you nwtflogan. As for ET and Wilms, shame on you guys for doubting that she fully participated in the deed. I have personally shown her how to trim one side of the diaphragm and then had her do the other. I also taught her how to ring bungs and cut wind pipes. I even gave her a "butt-out" for Christmas one year ;D. I also tried a butt-out but quickly concluded that the tool is for amateurs. I can assure you that she is not afraid to get her hands dirty.

[zakjak221]

DB,

Congrats on your season and well done--gettin that gal involved!
Great pics and story, thanks for sharing it & enjoy the venison.
I'm sure glad nobody taught my wife to hunt....ummm too much quality time already--don't ya know.
Tell her congrats from the guys on the board.

Mark

[nwtflogan]

sorry but the knee is a dead giveaway!!!!!!! she was soooo gutting it...lol.... no way around that telltale sign! lol

[lundy]

Congratulations on a great season and I really think it is great that you have gotten that young lady involved in the sport.

I fully believe that she did the entire deed.

This is my daughter-in-law with her first ever deer two years ago and my son, not her husband he doesn't hunt, teaching her what to do. She didn't even hesitate, jumped right in.

[wilmsmeyer]

I agree that the Butt-out is not that great a tool. I saw one used before and the idea of ramming something into that area and twisting it...then pulling it gave me the heebeegeebee's. I wonder how you do this with a doe....twice?

Without giving a lot of details, DB indicated the perfect way to disembowel a deer. Very little cutting involved and a sharp knife should get the job done for the whole season.

I've seen guys make a horrible mess out of perfectly shot deer....cutting single organs out at a time, slashing stomachs and intestines......it sure helps to demonstrate the ease of this task to someone their first time.

Ring the bung, small incision in belly, ring the diaphram, reach way up and cut windpipe and jugular and put your knife away. Everything else can be gently torn free...intact.

[DBinNY]

That's great Lundy and an outstanding deer. Congratulations to her. One other thing about the deed Wilms. I'm right handed so I reach up in and grab the windpipe with my left hand and cut it by plunging the knife into the side of the brisket in the deer's armpit (obviously from the outside) with the sharp side of the blade facing straight up. Much easier, less messy and safer than reaching up in there with both hands and a knife.

[iowamuzzleloader]

Im going to reluctantly disagree with Wilms. I used to cut the pubic bone, then started ringing the "food waste dispenser" and bought a "butt out" tool a few years ago. Sometimes you get a bad "set" and pull, but I really like that tool once you get the hang of it. Soooooo much faster and easier. What used to take 5 or 10 minutes, takes almost seconds now. Just a slick deal. Butt out.... bad name... good product IMO.

[ukwildcat]

Nice

[wilmsmeyer]

Iowa,

5-10 minutes? It's like a 1 minute job with a sharp knife....but who's counting? I never split the pelvic bone....I expose as little flesh to air as possible or I will just be doing extra trimming later.

If the butt-out works for someone I have nothing against it....just don't see a need for it myself.

One thing I see is guys using a knife that's too big. My gutting knife is a long handled, short bladed, Cutco paring knife

[iowamuzzleloader]

yeah probably doesnt take 5-10. just tonight I shot a doe and used the butt out, it tore. so I went to traditional method and only took a minute or so. exposing rear quarter meat. I used to ring em all the time and like that method. You are right, too big of knife makes it harder. Butt, the butt out is faster and slicker, only when it works properly. Tonight I used it with this conversation in mind and it failed me. Oh well. Skinned the cat with one of the other ways to do it. Once the butt out fails, you have little option except to cut the pubic bone, unfortunately. I think I am going back to ringing the bung again. Less tools involved and pretty high success rate.

[wilmsmeyer]

Probably the most important and most botched job during filed dressing is ringing the butt area. Here is my method:

Use a very thin very short blade. Score the skin around the butt and then sink the knife just enough to detach the surface muscles that hold everything intact. Then put your knife down close by. Using one hand to hold the sphinkter taught, use 2 fingers to wedge your way down as deep as possible all around the colon. In a buck, the bladder is barely in reach here but you can work on disconnecting that with fingers as well. May need the knife here and there to snip a few testy connections but not very many. Once disconnected well, use both hands to firmly get a grip on the last 3-4 inches of the colon. Give a few very forceful, aggressive tugs and you'll drag the colon right out....sometimes the bladder will try and follow.

Then do everything else, again with a very small knife.....small belly incision, diaphram-ectomy, disconnect windpipe & jugular and put the knife away. Grip the windpipe and tear downwards. When you get to the diaphram (I leave it barely attached at the spine) use both hands to peel downward. This will disconnect most of the other organs. Roll the guts all out and then reach into the pelvic area and grab the upper end of the colon and pull. The butt and usually the bladder will come right out.

This leaves NO exposed meat to get "air-burned".

The whole process should take 3-5 minutes max with very little knife work.

[hunter]

I use wilms method, but I usually ring the bung hole and then make the incision in the stomach up to the breast bone, Then with the butt up the hill revove the paunch from the rear to expose the bladder and pull it out first. If you have a string you can tie around the bung to keep the urine, ect from contaminating the meat when you pull the bladder, ect thru the pelvic area. Kind of backwards but it works for me.

[foxgrape]

+1 hunter

[DBinNY]

I thank you gentlemen for discussing this seemingly simply, yet oft-neglected aspect of our sport. A step that is critical to obtaining the best possible end product. One other step I take is to remove those nasty (especially on bucks) tufted glands in the Achilles tendon area which also facilitates hanging by the rears which is my preferred method. Few things in life are as satisfying as watching steam billowing out of a cleaner than a whistle bung hole housing (my terminology for the pelvic girdle) and the ventral incision as the deer is hoisted on a gambrel in this manner.

I can't tell you how many people I've served this stuff to that said "This doesn't taste gamey". I assure them that it is not supposed to.