Author’s note: I have been experimenting with calling techniques this bowhunting season as usual. In this blog I’ll describe an experience I had on Saturday, October 25, 2008 while using a device called the “Treestand Rattl’r” made by Brushwolf Gear in St. Cloud Minnesota.
YOU CAN RATTLE BUCKS!
By: Ray Hansen
The big eight-point buck slipped around the edges of the small clearing, trying to catch some scent. Hunting partner Duane Deno and I had this deer convinced that two other bucks had entered his territory. We figured he would show himself in order to drive these intruders away. Weather and atmospheric conditions however, were making it tough. Wind had gone as flat as yesterday’s soufflé and without anything to blow it away, fog built up and around our stands making it tough to see very far. Well… this was the day we had chosen to work this spot so we just had to make the best of it.
So how did we set up this strategy and the buck encounter? Actually, it was a combination of strategies – especially the careful use of sound – that culminated in the buck’s arrival.
Part of the equation was the lay of the land. We set up on a “hogback” ridge of higher ground that bisected a tag alder jungle. The ridge had maple, oak, ash, spruce, and a scattering of old apple trees that still produced fruit. Bucks generally stayed back in the alders, but would sometimes come out during the day if they thought some does were on the ridge. No trees large enough to hold treestands could be found in the jungle, so we had to set up on the ridge. Besides, that was the only place you could see far enough to tell when a deer was approaching.
We set out rut scent as part of the plan. When a light, steady breeze is present, the enticing smell swirls and streams downwind like the waters of a small brook. Under optimum conditions, deer many hundreds of yards away can detect it. We wanted them to think a “ready doe” was up on the ridge.
To make the bucks focus on a specific target in a specific spot – one that would provide a good shooting opportunity for us – we set up decoys twenty yards from our stands. The easiest I have found to use and transport are Renzo’s folding style decoys. These are photo-realistic units that fold flat about the size of a newspaper and set up in seconds. I have had bucks walk in circles around them, so I know they work. We used the “Feeder Doe” models.
The final factor was sound. To simulate two bucks sparring, I used a rattling bag called the “Treestand Rattl’r” made by Brushwolf Gear in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This is a tough, weatherproof bag that can be rolled between your hands or pounded with one hand to simulate the sounds made by bucks clashing their antlers together. The idea is to sound like two younger bucks fighting over a doe so that a larger, dominant buck might barge in to chase them away from the prize he wants to claim. The Treestand Rattl’r takes this strategy one step farther however. It is sold with a long, strong cord so that the hunter can lower it beneath his treestand and make the sound come from ground level. In that way, the arriving buck should be focusing on the lower source of the sound, not the treestand the hunter is in. This is a solid advantage the hunter needs when trying to fool an animal who spends his life out there, outwitting hunters.
So how did this hunt turn out? Well, the eight pointer I mentioned showed himself but the calm, foggy conditions made it hard to gauge his reactions since Duane could not see him too well. At the time the buck was approaching Duane’s stand, I had a doe slip out of the tag alders on my side. She cautiously circled my set-up, and when a shot became available, I took it.
The 2 ½ year-old deer was in prime condition, and I processed the venison myself. When she made a death run back into the jungle, the buck slipped away. Nevertheless, I considered the hunt a success. The buck definitely responded to our tactics and I took a very good antlerless deer. The season runs until the end of December here in Michigan and I’ll be out lots more.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
Showing posts with label venison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label venison. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
PROCESSING VENISON AT HOME - Final Part
Author’s Note: This is the last installment of the two-part series detailing some of the processing I did on the deer I killed while bowhunting recently. I’ve been seeing lots if deer exhibiting the early stages of the rut season in the past few days, and I’m set to spend some more time in a tree hoping to bring a nice buck into range.
THE BUMP AND GRIND
The grinding and stuffing we do is for the purpose of making sausage, bratwurst, and hamburger. We first determine how much hamburger we want. This time it was twenty pounds. That being the case, we bought ten pounds of beef hamburger and two pounds of pork suet. The mix is 50% venison, 50% beef, with an occasional pellet of suet tossed into the mix as it runs through the grinder.
For bratwurst, we mix equal parts of venison and pork roast, along with a pre-measured packet of dried seasonings. We soak some real pork casings (bought from a butcher) for an hour or so, then rinse them internally with clear, cold water. The seasoning is hand-mixed into the ground pork/venison mix then run through the grinder a second time with a tube attachment that holds the casing. As the casing fills it is twisted at six inch intervals to create a string of ‘brats.
FREEZE THE BRATS
Both the hamburger and brats are placed in ZipVac bags. A pound of ‘burger in a bag is about right. Duane likes to make three-quarter pound flat burger patties while I like one and one-quarter pound round portions. This meat is used for spaghetti sauce, hamburgers, chili-mac, or any dish normally requiring ground beef. The brats are packaged three to six in a bag.
The final chore is making sausage. This meat is ground in the same 50-50 pork/venison ratio, but Duane mixes dry seasonings and Liquid Smoke flavoring according to his own recipe.
Certain secrets will never be shared by a true “Yooper” (the name residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula use for themselves) and knowledge of the exact ingredients in Duane’s sausage mix is probably something he’ll take to the grave. I do know it contains things like mustard seed, garlic powder, curing salt, “soul” seasoning, onion flakes, small cubes of pepperjack cheese, and much more. Store-bought dry seasoning is also available pre-mixed, but I recommend getting creative with your own choices. If you are going to try something like this for the first time, try two radically different batches. Next time, fine tune the one you like best.
CASE CLOSED
The casings we use for sausage are dry and about two inches in diameter. They measure about three feet in length, and are stuffed using the grinder as for bratwurst, except that different blades are inserted into the machine and a larger outflow tube is used. They weigh about six pounds apiece when filled. These are cooked at a low temperature of 165 – 170 degrees for about six hours. Duane has cooked them in his home oven on past trips, but this time we dropped them off at a local butcher for cooking in his smokehouse.
Once again, we package the finished sausage into the vacuum-pack bags for longer term freezer storage after cutting them into six-inch lengths. I wrap each short piece in a “cling” type semi-clear film, press this film tightly across the cut ends, then bag and vacuum seal them.
So our 2008 hunt got off to a great start, and we had hands-on involvement with the entire process from “deer down” to stuffing the final sausage. This tradition is something we look forward to each year. New changes creep into the experience, like “tweaking” the seasonings and trying new gear. The biggest change this year was the addition of the ZipVac system and it was welcome discovery. It will be a standard item on future hunts. Check their website, www.zipvac.net for more details.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
THE BUMP AND GRIND
The grinding and stuffing we do is for the purpose of making sausage, bratwurst, and hamburger. We first determine how much hamburger we want. This time it was twenty pounds. That being the case, we bought ten pounds of beef hamburger and two pounds of pork suet. The mix is 50% venison, 50% beef, with an occasional pellet of suet tossed into the mix as it runs through the grinder.
For bratwurst, we mix equal parts of venison and pork roast, along with a pre-measured packet of dried seasonings. We soak some real pork casings (bought from a butcher) for an hour or so, then rinse them internally with clear, cold water. The seasoning is hand-mixed into the ground pork/venison mix then run through the grinder a second time with a tube attachment that holds the casing. As the casing fills it is twisted at six inch intervals to create a string of ‘brats.
FREEZE THE BRATS
Both the hamburger and brats are placed in ZipVac bags. A pound of ‘burger in a bag is about right. Duane likes to make three-quarter pound flat burger patties while I like one and one-quarter pound round portions. This meat is used for spaghetti sauce, hamburgers, chili-mac, or any dish normally requiring ground beef. The brats are packaged three to six in a bag.
The final chore is making sausage. This meat is ground in the same 50-50 pork/venison ratio, but Duane mixes dry seasonings and Liquid Smoke flavoring according to his own recipe.
Certain secrets will never be shared by a true “Yooper” (the name residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula use for themselves) and knowledge of the exact ingredients in Duane’s sausage mix is probably something he’ll take to the grave. I do know it contains things like mustard seed, garlic powder, curing salt, “soul” seasoning, onion flakes, small cubes of pepperjack cheese, and much more. Store-bought dry seasoning is also available pre-mixed, but I recommend getting creative with your own choices. If you are going to try something like this for the first time, try two radically different batches. Next time, fine tune the one you like best.
CASE CLOSED
The casings we use for sausage are dry and about two inches in diameter. They measure about three feet in length, and are stuffed using the grinder as for bratwurst, except that different blades are inserted into the machine and a larger outflow tube is used. They weigh about six pounds apiece when filled. These are cooked at a low temperature of 165 – 170 degrees for about six hours. Duane has cooked them in his home oven on past trips, but this time we dropped them off at a local butcher for cooking in his smokehouse.
Once again, we package the finished sausage into the vacuum-pack bags for longer term freezer storage after cutting them into six-inch lengths. I wrap each short piece in a “cling” type semi-clear film, press this film tightly across the cut ends, then bag and vacuum seal them.
So our 2008 hunt got off to a great start, and we had hands-on involvement with the entire process from “deer down” to stuffing the final sausage. This tradition is something we look forward to each year. New changes creep into the experience, like “tweaking” the seasonings and trying new gear. The biggest change this year was the addition of the ZipVac system and it was welcome discovery. It will be a standard item on future hunts. Check their website, www.zipvac.net for more details.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
PROCESSING VENISON AT HOME - Part one
Author’s Note: This two-part series will detail some of the processing I did on the deer I killed while bowhunting recently. Part two will run tomorrow.
TRIMMING, GRINDING, AND STUFFING
By: Ray Hansen
Cutting, trimming, grinding, and stuffing. Razor-sharp knives in experienced hands, slicing down to the bone. An entire deer that slowly becomes a skeleton before your eyes. Sounds like the plot for a Halloween horror classic, but it’s nothing macabre.
It’s all about turning venison on the deer into steaks that will sizzle, sensational smoked sausage, hearty hamburger, simmering slumgullion, a bounty of bratwurst, and a few other fine cuts that will warm the coming winter nights. Life-long friend Duane Deno of Gladstone, Michigan and I recently spent a couple days in an unheated pole barn doing just that. For us it is all part of the hunt – a part we choose to do ourselves rather than bringing the meat to a commercial processor.
I have nothing against bringing a deer in to have a butcher trim and package it. I’ve done it. Not all hunters however, have the knowledge, time, or equipment to handle this chore alone. Duane and I however – at least for the first deer we take in any season – like to process them ourselves.
So, on Monday and Wednesday of last week we went to work on the two big does we killed while bowhunting the week prior. It was a pleasure to tackle this chore.
HANG ‘EM HIGH
Step one is hauling the deer to the pole barn and hanging them to let the muscles relax and give the meat a little time to age. If tempertures remain around forty degrees we may let the deer hang several days. On this October hunt in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we skinned the deer immediately to get faster cooling since temperatures were borderline. After two days we started processing Duane’s 3 ½ year-old, 125 pound doe.
We work with four-inch and six-inch fillet knives just like those used on fish. Our goal is to cut meat cleanly away from the bone, one quarter at a time. Each slab is laid on a clean cutting surface where we trim away all fat, connecting tissues, membrane, and “silver skin” which is found on the surface of some of the muscles.
After initial trimming, we begin cutting steaks from the hindquarters, and building a side pile of smaller chunks of lean venison that will become stew meat or will be ground up. The steaks are cut across the grain, and shaping them is a matter of personal taste. Duane likes his thin and flat like a rib-eye. I like mine round and thicker like filet mignon. We have plenty of meat to work with so each gets his quota of preferred cuts.
DEEP FREEZE
This year we are trying a new approach to packaging meat, using the “ZipVac” system. This is a very simple yet effective way to handle venison, fish, or anything that benefits from vacuum-packing. Put the cut into the appropriate sized bag, zip the seal closed using finger pressure, then place a small hand-held vacuum pump over a valve built into the bag and remove the air. In a few seconds the bag collapses tightly around the meat and stays that way. Twist the valve a quarter turn to lock it and the venison is freezer ready. It sure beats the other methods I’ve used such as freezer paper.
As a side note, campers, travelers, backpackers, hunters, and others could use this style vacuum packing for anything they wanted to keep fresh or stay dry like granola, matches, scents used when hunting, and many, many other things.
Check this blog tomorrow for the final part of today’s blog. See you here!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
TRIMMING, GRINDING, AND STUFFING
By: Ray Hansen
Cutting, trimming, grinding, and stuffing. Razor-sharp knives in experienced hands, slicing down to the bone. An entire deer that slowly becomes a skeleton before your eyes. Sounds like the plot for a Halloween horror classic, but it’s nothing macabre.
It’s all about turning venison on the deer into steaks that will sizzle, sensational smoked sausage, hearty hamburger, simmering slumgullion, a bounty of bratwurst, and a few other fine cuts that will warm the coming winter nights. Life-long friend Duane Deno of Gladstone, Michigan and I recently spent a couple days in an unheated pole barn doing just that. For us it is all part of the hunt – a part we choose to do ourselves rather than bringing the meat to a commercial processor.
I have nothing against bringing a deer in to have a butcher trim and package it. I’ve done it. Not all hunters however, have the knowledge, time, or equipment to handle this chore alone. Duane and I however – at least for the first deer we take in any season – like to process them ourselves.
So, on Monday and Wednesday of last week we went to work on the two big does we killed while bowhunting the week prior. It was a pleasure to tackle this chore.
HANG ‘EM HIGH
Step one is hauling the deer to the pole barn and hanging them to let the muscles relax and give the meat a little time to age. If tempertures remain around forty degrees we may let the deer hang several days. On this October hunt in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we skinned the deer immediately to get faster cooling since temperatures were borderline. After two days we started processing Duane’s 3 ½ year-old, 125 pound doe.
We work with four-inch and six-inch fillet knives just like those used on fish. Our goal is to cut meat cleanly away from the bone, one quarter at a time. Each slab is laid on a clean cutting surface where we trim away all fat, connecting tissues, membrane, and “silver skin” which is found on the surface of some of the muscles.
After initial trimming, we begin cutting steaks from the hindquarters, and building a side pile of smaller chunks of lean venison that will become stew meat or will be ground up. The steaks are cut across the grain, and shaping them is a matter of personal taste. Duane likes his thin and flat like a rib-eye. I like mine round and thicker like filet mignon. We have plenty of meat to work with so each gets his quota of preferred cuts.
DEEP FREEZE
This year we are trying a new approach to packaging meat, using the “ZipVac” system. This is a very simple yet effective way to handle venison, fish, or anything that benefits from vacuum-packing. Put the cut into the appropriate sized bag, zip the seal closed using finger pressure, then place a small hand-held vacuum pump over a valve built into the bag and remove the air. In a few seconds the bag collapses tightly around the meat and stays that way. Twist the valve a quarter turn to lock it and the venison is freezer ready. It sure beats the other methods I’ve used such as freezer paper.
As a side note, campers, travelers, backpackers, hunters, and others could use this style vacuum packing for anything they wanted to keep fresh or stay dry like granola, matches, scents used when hunting, and many, many other things.
Check this blog tomorrow for the final part of today’s blog. See you here!
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008
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