Found on my Trail Cam today. .

[Dick Dastardly]

Just waiting for the season opener.  I'll take him with my Thompson Center front stuffer.

DD-MDA

[hellgate]

Definitely something to look forward to. Sweet dreams til then.

[Dick Dastardly]

I'm thinkn' he's the old herd bull.  If I take him, it will be with my muzzle loader.  He deserves one well placed shot and a quick transition to my freezer.

DD-MDA

[Coffinmaker]

And here I am ........ contemplating a Ham and Cheese sandwich.  Sheesh 

Coffinmaker

[Dick Dastardly]

Deer hunting is a Wisconsin tradition.  Wolves have taken many of our northern county deer.  I live in southern Wisconsin and we don't have wolves.  We should import some for the Dane County Liberals.  It would be fun to hear them squeal when their "Fluffy" went missing.

Anyway, Myself, Pukin' Dog, Rotten Redeye Randy and perhaps will make an assault on the rampant deer herd here.

BOOM, Thud, down.  Now, on line registration and a deer skinning party. . .

DD-MDA

[Professor Marvel]

My Dear Dick -

Nice looking buck, and great fodder! none o' those pine-needle-eating ruminants for you!
Good luck and good hunting.

yhs
prof marvel

[Dick Dastardly]

From the camera to the hunter to my table.

DD-MDA

[hellgate]

Nice whitetail. We only see mulies or blacktails where I hunt (Oregon).
T

[john boy]

Different buck?  6 pointer & 8 pointer in the pictures

[Dick Dastardly]

Yup JB,

Cam shot a nice buck but not the big one seen on my trail cam photo.  Right now, my ground blind is set up and rifle season opens on Saturday.  I'll be shooting my 45-70 Remington Rolling Block with black powder pushing my 500 grain semi spitzer Big Lube bullets.  I was going to use my front stuffer but decided to save that for muzzle loading season.  Wish me luck.

DD-MDA

[john boy]

Wish me luck.

Hang the Big One Dick!

[hellgate]

I hereby wish you not only good luck but fabulous luck. Deck 'im.
Hellgate

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

From the camera to the hunter to my table.

DD-MDA

  Nice buck. Hope you get a chance at the big one!

  I've spent several morning and evenings in my brush/ground blind with a 130 year old 1873 Winchester 38-40 at hand. Sadly, no legal bucks (13 1/2" inside)  have passed by. I did get to shoot a large black boar at dusk last week, but never found him in the vast 20,000 acres of waist-high broomweed and mesquites next door. Load was 2.2cc of Swiss 3Fg and a 192 gr. RNFP from an RCBS 40-180 mould.

[Dick Dastardly]

If luck is with us and God wills.  Prize game comes to our table.  When this happens, we celebrate and also respect our game.  I had venison on my table tonight.  Delicious, and my bride prepared it with regard and respect learned from her family.  Tomorrow I shall try my best to kill the bug buck that's been haunting my property.  Should I win, God bless me.  Should I hot win, God bless the stag.  I'll feed him this winter and hunt him next season.  In the meantime, he'll bread well and we'll have a good number of fawns.

Ok, so I'm soft.  Soft, but well fed. . .

DD-MDA

[Professor Marvel]

My Dear Monsieur Dastardly -

nay sir, you are not soft.
you are respectful of the gift, and understand the balance.

yhs
prof marvel

[Dick Dastardly]

Well Prof,

We did successfully dig some wild parsnips.  They put up a brave fight, but we bagged a bucket full of them.  Had some last night with our venison for dinner.

DD-MDA

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

If luck is with us and God wills.  Prize game comes to our table.  When this happens, we celebrate and also respect our game.  I had venison on my table tonight.  Delicious, and my bride prepared it with regard and respect learned from her family.  Tomorrow I shall try my best to kill the bug buck that's been haunting my property.  Should I win, God bless me.  Should I hot win, God bless the stag.  I'll feed him this winter and hunt him next season.  In the meantime, he'll bread well and we'll have a good number of fawns.

Ok, so I'm soft.  Soft, but well fed. . .

DD-MDA

Totally agree. We eat venison weekly and my wife does a great job preparing it. My hands-down favorite is backstrap cooked rare to medium rare in a skillet with olive oil and crushed garlic. To. Die. For! She also make carne guisada out of venison stew meat that likewise is delicious.

I think I'm softening a bit too. Last week in West Texas I stopped my fencing work early enough to hunt. I stood behind a mesquite tree at the edge of an uncut hay field waiting for dusk. Two does came out with two fawns frolicking behind them. They all passed me about 50 yds. out and I settled the silver front sight of the old Winchester just behind the lead does shoulder. "Awww", I thought..."maybe a buck will show up in a bit.", and let them go choosing to watch them pull the tops off of the haystalks until dark. The buck never showed up...

CHT

[Dick Dastardly]

Then Cholla Hill Tirador, you had a successful hunt.  It's not about killing, unless you need the meat.  It's about getting out there and experiencing the outdoors.  Wisconsin White Tail deer are world class.  I prefer to bag a young buck if possible.  I've had the really big guy and damn near had to skin him with a chainsaw. .  The dog wouldn't eat the sausage.  I'll stick to the younger more tender ones.  My bride agrees. . .

DD-MDA

P.S.  The deer we've taken with cast bullets and black powder died promptly without a lot of tissue damage.  I recovered several bullets and they weighed in at over 90% of their cast weight.  So much for high velocity magnums and White Tail deer. .

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

  Well...actually it is about meat.   We're down to a few packages of stew meat and hamburger and I've really gotten to the point of preferring venison over beef. I love walking in the house to the aroma of venison in the skillet. Right now there's a pot of soup in the refrigerator that began with a pound of ground venison.

 That last few years I've put off taking deer until December when high temps tend to stay in the 50's. I then hang them in the shop for 5 days to a week before taking them to my neighbor who processes and packages them. Even then I ask him to put the deer in the back of the cooler and if possible not process it for at least another week. So handled, even tough old bucks are always very tender.

 I agree with the cast bullets. Unless I'm really in a bind for meat and MUST have a deer no matter what, I hunt with an 1873 SA .44 Special and have yet to lose a single deer. I started my oldest daughter hunting with a little .308 bolt rifle running 182 gr. cast RNHP's around 1800 fps. Worked every time and I used the same set up to take a few myself.

 I really hope to get to use the old 38-40 and its black powder load this year.

CHT

[Ol Gabe]

D.D., Kind Sir...
Regarding the above pic of a duly-harvested and praised ruminant, bless you for honoring the animal and harvesting in a traditional way.
Now, jist for the sake of praise and the hobby, nice 'gun cart' the Buck is strapped on!
Best regards and good shooting!
'Ol Gabe
P.S. I'm what gives them, there 4-legged wonders a frightful day when treading heavily in the crunchy, Iowa snow this Winter. It'll be me with a handmade stick and string, Turkey feather fletched arrows and a bunch of other gear rumbling on my old walker to the ground stand. That'll teach'em to rub the bark off of all my trees!