November 27, 2006

• Rain, Hail, & Snow

  I left on the 19th to set up my camp for this past week.  After a couple hours of driving, and another couple of hours of getting a truck unstuck from the mud, I got to set up.  Two more hours of set up and it started to rain.  Then came the hail.  And you guessed it, then came the snow.  But I was in my tent by then and it was okay!

  It snowed through the night.  I woke up once hearing a couple of coyotes trying to find each other.  The larger tent made it really nice to move around; plenty of room for standing, walking, and staying cooler than the smaller tent.  Even with my high setting on my Buddy heater, I could still see my breath at all times.  It wasn't unbearably cold, or else I would have stayed in my sleeping bag that's rated to 0°F.  I guess to some, you really got to like being out to do that, and I'm one of those that really like it!

  No Pics

  I took my digital camcorder and my digital camera.  However, it was so wet on Monday and Tuesday that I didn't even take them out.  I saw lots of wildlife since they don't have a house to stay in when it's bad weather.  Yeah, the squirrels may stay in, but I still saw a few of them along with the other animals.  I did get some pics of my tent when I was breaking down to come home on Thursday.  We were going to come home on Friday, but the forecast said it was going to be in the mid 60sF and that's just a little too warm to leave the still clothed deer hanging.

  Pulling the trigger is just the start...

  You may think that pulling the trigger is all there is to the hunt.  Pulling the trigger is just the start when it comes to large animals, probably for any game.  Then there's the field dressing, the dragging to the camp, then the finished field dressing, hanging, checking in, then taking home and processing.

  My brother's buck dropped off the bank it was standing on into a hollow that was about 100' deep.  That would have been okay if the sides had not been almost straight up and down.  With all the wet weather, we could slide to the bottom but couldn't get back up out of it, especially when trying to drag his buck.  He called on the radio and I came to help, bring my rope, which we proceeded to use to bring the deer out.  I tied the rope to a tree so he could get himself up to me (after tieing it to the deer, of course).  Then it was a two man hand-over-hand and around the tree to get it even with us.  We did this about 5 or 6 times and got it where we could drag it to an old logging road.  Then it was time for my Mule to pull it to where we could load it.

  At least my deer dropped within 30 yards of a trail and there wasn't much dragging; I did all that by myself.
  
  Processing

  My uncle was a butcher before he passed away several years ago, and my brother and I bought all his work shop.  I had worked for him and another butcher that is a close friend for several years, so I've learned a trade that is helpful when it comes to processing the deer.  I've also learned that processing beef is very different than processing deer.  We used to knuckle off the hides (better money when selling them), but we now have a pulley system that we designed to do all the knuckle work.  It does as well as the old way, but even if it didn't, there's not much money in the hides now and we usually give them away.

  Dad, my Brother, and I all have our separate parts that we do when we process.  After skinning and quartering, John or I will run the bandsaw.  Then we both will fillet the meat (we leave very little bones in the cuts).  I specialize on the backstraps/tenderloin while John specializes on the legs.  I also run the grinder for burger.  Dad's speciality is the sorting, wrapping, and marking.  This year I had bought a FoodSaver vacuum packer and my oldest son and Dad vacuum packed all the meat.  That not only makes it easier to stack in the freezer, but it will keep it longer and makes it look nicer.

  With all the deer we did, it was pretty much an all day job considering that we had a couple of noobs to help, and considering the cleanup at the end.  The meat bandsaw takes about an hour to clean up, the grinder about 1/2 hour to an hour, and the floor, tables, pans, etc. take another hour.  We each do our own certain jobs, like me with the bandsaw and grinder, and my brother with the rest.  He supervises the last part since this is his area and it needs to be spotless of meat that would otherwise become rancid if not cleaned up.

  Maybe that's a little more detail than most wanted, but I can definitely give more detail on field dressing and processing that would help the deer huner to save more meat and get better tasting meat.

  My Mule

  We noticed Thursday that my Mule was making a clicking sound in the rear driver side wheel.  It's probably a CV joint getting ready to go out.  Also, a rocker arm is jumping off way to often and I need two new, heavier springs to fix that.  So, Saturday I took it to the local Kawasaki dealer that I know and put the ol' Mule in the shop.  It's time for a general checkup and fix the little problems.  I'm thinking of getting some more aggressive tires than the knobbies that I have on it, too.  But we'll have to see how much the rest is going to cost me.

  I WAS Well

  Seems like Friday I picked up something, maybe the cold or flu, from my oldest son.  Saturday night I was well, but got really sick Sunday.  Today is worse.  The nice thing is that I have two doctor appointments today.  One for my health check up and the other about the ulnar nerver "thing".  However, even with that, I'm surviving.

  The FogWalker starts to get ready for the appointments....he's sick....and hurting....

  • 9:07 am
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