Well my big yearly meat hunt trip has concluded and all processing is done!
We brought back 10 deer and 1 little hog.
The Deer
We shot 8 does an 1 really messed up horned cull buck.
The meat of a trophy buck was given to us by another hunter on the ranch who only wanted the animal for mounting.
We hunted on a Texas MLD-3 property which means we use the property's tags rather than our own. They are regulated differently than an average joe hunting in TX so we get to use whatever tags they allow for us to use. This is how we got to bring back so many deer.
In TX hogs are not considered game so you can hunt them year around with no real restrictions... if you want to hunt them with the bumper of your truck or a rifle or any other means then it's basically fair game lol.
I don't have a pic of the 4 does I shot.
Here are the pics of the 6 animals taken before I got in on the action (Top). The picture on the bottom is of our first time hunter and the 4 deer she took. I am very proud of her first hunting effort and how well she did. She took 3 does and 1 funky horned cull buck.
Processing
10 deer, and 1 hog (about 40 pounds) yielded just over 205 pounds of meat that was ready for grinding or vac sealing.
Each hunter (3 of us) had 68 pounds of good clean meat a piece!
The exceptions for our processing are that we don't debone shanks but instead leave them intact with the heal muscle for braised style dishes. We also left about 35 of about 45 pounds of backstraps untrimmed/uncleaned as I give them to my brother in trade for equal amounts of other meat. I like to have a lot more grind and sausage and I don't fry up too much food where he lives on a diet of like 90% fried food so the trade works for both of use... since fried backstrap is the best :D
Processing this year went:
Most of it fit into my 5.8 cubic stand up freezer (top), the rest fit in 3 shelves of my inside fridge freezer:
Processing and clean up took all of 6 days, about 9 hours a day, with about 1 3/4 people doing the work. My brother was the 3/4 help as he was drinking the entire time so his productivity wasn't always as good as it could have been lol :)
Conclusion
I'm proud of the ol' Lady on her first ever hunting success and the time I got to spend hunting with her and my brother.
The processing is always a beat down and I think no matter what I'm drawing a hard 10 animal limit on processing in one go from now on.
I'm happy it's over with. We produce a FAR SUPERIOR product compared to any wild game processing outfits I've ever encountered (though Wild Game Processing in Lindsay, TX does a damn fine job) so in hind sight it's always worth the effort.
I'm blessed to have these experiences and opportunities and that I get to share them with all of you! :D
Best of luck to all of you hunters and processors out there right now and be safe. :)
We brought back 10 deer and 1 little hog.
The Deer
We shot 8 does an 1 really messed up horned cull buck.
The meat of a trophy buck was given to us by another hunter on the ranch who only wanted the animal for mounting.
We hunted on a Texas MLD-3 property which means we use the property's tags rather than our own. They are regulated differently than an average joe hunting in TX so we get to use whatever tags they allow for us to use. This is how we got to bring back so many deer.
In TX hogs are not considered game so you can hunt them year around with no real restrictions... if you want to hunt them with the bumper of your truck or a rifle or any other means then it's basically fair game lol.
I don't have a pic of the 4 does I shot.
Here are the pics of the 6 animals taken before I got in on the action (Top). The picture on the bottom is of our first time hunter and the 4 deer she took. I am very proud of her first hunting effort and how well she did. She took 3 does and 1 funky horned cull buck.
Processing
10 deer, and 1 hog (about 40 pounds) yielded just over 205 pounds of meat that was ready for grinding or vac sealing.
Each hunter (3 of us) had 68 pounds of good clean meat a piece!
The exceptions for our processing are that we don't debone shanks but instead leave them intact with the heal muscle for braised style dishes. We also left about 35 of about 45 pounds of backstraps untrimmed/uncleaned as I give them to my brother in trade for equal amounts of other meat. I like to have a lot more grind and sausage and I don't fry up too much food where he lives on a diet of like 90% fried food so the trade works for both of use... since fried backstrap is the best :D
Processing this year went:
- My Brother
- 44 pounds Venison backstrap
- 24.5 pounds Venison grind for Hot Breakfast Sausage, Hot Italian Sausage, and Sweet Italian Sausage (30.5'ish pounds of sausage once we added store bought Pork Back Fat to his Venison grind meat)
- Me and the ol' Lady
- Totaling just over 136 pounds of meat total
- 10 pounds Wild Pork (he was a liiiiiiittle porker)
- 126 pounds Venison
- 10 pounds of Wild Pork meat (5 pounds pure grind, 3 pounds shanks, 2 pounds ribs)
- 32 pounds Venison Grind for Brats (pork fat added for 40 pounds V. Brats)
- 24 pounds Venison Grind for Pastrami (Beef fat added for 30 pounds V. Pastrami)
- 25 pounds Venison Grind for pure burger (no fat added)
- 8 pounds Venison Breakfast Sausage (pork fat added for 10 pounds V. B.Sausage)
- 8 pounds Venison Kabob meat (cubed up roast meat we forgot to grind hahaha)
- 5 pounds Venison Back strap
- 24 pounds Venison Shanks
- Each year I make Pork Franks and again this year I had to buy pork meat so:
- 10 pounds Wild'ish Pork Franks - 5 pounds Wild Pork + 4 pound Pork Butt, 1 pound extra pork fat (online frank seasoning recipe - meh on the flavor)
- 30 pounds Farm Raised Pork Franks - (30 pounds pork butt and LEM Backwoods Pork Frank seasoning - best ever!)
- 40 pounds Pork Franks total
- Venison Brats were stuffed in natural Hog Casings
- Wild Pork Franks were 90% in Sheep casings and the rest in Hog casings (used up what was left of a hog casing on the tube from brat stuffing)
- Farmed Pork Franks were 50/50 Sheep Casings and Hog casings (ran out of sheep casings and no crying from me as hog casings are so much easier to work with)
- Venison Reg & Hot Breakfast and Hot and Sweet Italian sausage were all bagged in 1 pound grind bags
- Venison Burger (pure) grind was also in 1 pound grind bags
- Venison Pastrami is ground but not mixed with ground beef fat or seasoning yet and are all stored in gallon freezer bags and fat in vac seal bags
- Everything else is stored in vac sealed bags if it hasn't already been eaten!
Most of it fit into my 5.8 cubic stand up freezer (top), the rest fit in 3 shelves of my inside fridge freezer:
Processing and clean up took all of 6 days, about 9 hours a day, with about 1 3/4 people doing the work. My brother was the 3/4 help as he was drinking the entire time so his productivity wasn't always as good as it could have been lol :)
Conclusion
I'm proud of the ol' Lady on her first ever hunting success and the time I got to spend hunting with her and my brother.
The processing is always a beat down and I think no matter what I'm drawing a hard 10 animal limit on processing in one go from now on.
I'm happy it's over with. We produce a FAR SUPERIOR product compared to any wild game processing outfits I've ever encountered (though Wild Game Processing in Lindsay, TX does a damn fine job) so in hind sight it's always worth the effort.
I'm blessed to have these experiences and opportunities and that I get to share them with all of you! :D
Best of luck to all of you hunters and processors out there right now and be safe. :)