Please don't shoot the messenger... just passing along this information.

For those interested in deer hunting on the ridge, here is the one-stop information website for forms, maps, guidelines, etc., for Minnewaska State Park, Sam's Point, and the Mohonk Preserve:
Gunks Deer Program

Lack of predators have helped the deer population to swell above sustainable levels for the ridge's forest undercover. Anyone applying for a hunting (bow and/or gun) permit from any (or all!) of these three organizations gets a doe permit.

If you don't like venison, you can donate your deer to help feed the hungry. This processor will butcher your venison for free and give it to the needy.

Please don't shoot the messenger

Unless he has antlers.

Or not - the DMP of the ridge gives everyone who applies a doe permit. If you get a doe, you can apply for another permit. And then another. As long as their quotas are not met, they'll give you a permit...

I bet yorick could come up with some deer management...

Since we won't be seeing big cats here any time soon, trade your rack for a recurve.

Mini guns! "Peace through fire superiority."

Hey Mim,

The link goes to the Venison Donation Coalition site, which lists one processor in Ulster and two in Dutchess. Do you know of others in Ulster that donate?

Yeah it's called the Ranger Rob chest freezer fund. It goes to feed all those needy climbers that show up at chili parties.

[The link goes to the Venison Donation Coalition site, which lists one processor in Ulster and two in Dutchess. Do you know of others in Ulster that donate? [/quote]

That is all I know... but I'll ask around.

What about 'hunting' the ones in my yard? What are the restrictions? Not really sport, they just stand there. Vegetarian, so not my thing, just asking.

In my area, guns may not be fired within something like 250 or 500 ft of a house (or road). But a bow and arrow, maybe, dunno...I am not a hunter.

I understand you only need homeowner's permission. I'm not sure of the road rule. Here in Orange Cty I see lots of deer stands well within that distance when I travel the local roads. Come the season, the bright orange hunkered down in the stands is so obvious.

Must be more than 500' from a dwellingm unless you have that person's permission, or so I've heard.

Ian, I just wanted to touch on something you brought up. Managing a deer population goes beyond the "sport" of fair killing. Honestly I never really understood what that meant. If it were fair the hunters would be naked as jay birds and not armed. Anything more than that is not playing by fair means. I personally don't see anything wrong with shooting a deer from the window of your house if you are legally allowed to do so. The aim is to reduce the overall population back to a number that is compatible with the landscape.

I suppose the same management argument could be made for people too...hmmm.....

Mim = 1
Deer = 0

Nice work! Don't take it to a cutter to cut it up. Way too expensive for something that is not that hard to do yourself. I can show you how easily enough.

My mentor, bow-hunter extraordinaire and self-proclaimed red neck, Frank, who towers over me by a foot, showed me how to do it. Dressed it all by myself, dragged it out, skinned and butchered it. From his (button buck) last breath to my freezer: five hours.

The meat is unbelievable... truly.

I saw two bucks on MP land this morning, while I was out taking photos. Then I went back to the land (private) of my successful hunt and saw 14 does. 14 !! In three minutes... And no, I didn't count any of them twice. More venison is on the way... :-)

Bow season is the time to get your tags filled. Trust me, come opening day of regular season, they get scarce.

Here's a video -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kTWBDtDRP8

Back country Quebecois.... music to my ears...

If anyone get's lucky, you can donate the deer hide to a company in Montgomery that will turn it into leather. Just dump the hide on their front steps either
- the same day of the kill
- salted (don't ask me how much - call them) as a preservative
- frozen (or salted and frozen)

They'll be very happy.

Permagena 845-649-5806
11 Factory Street
Montgomery

It's an awesome way to use one more part of the animal.

Good luck!

Anyone got an estimate on local deer density? To cut Lyme transmission cycles would need <8 per sq mile. Seems unlikely given that they seem to be everywhere.

Deer aside, was sitting around late pm a couple of weeks ago and a 200+lb black bear walks past my window not 10ft away. Apparently its the baby.

The guy managing the SWIG grant says 30-40/square mile on the ridge.

The DEC's new forest management plan cites 6-7/square mile where ecosystem damage begins to occur.

Mim i have not done the hide but the skull and antlers. We just used table salt a lot of salt on the skull and let it sit for a few days. One time my Dad and i were sawing the top of the skull off so we could hang the antlers. the brains fell on the ground and our dog came up and ate the brains right up.

Thanks, I just hurled all over my office.

at least you didn't hurl up deer brains. I hear they taste worse coming back up then they do going down.

Great story, Talus!

Yes. When it comes to his dog eating deer brain -- waste not, want not. The dog got good nourishment and there was one less body part to dispose of.

You're forgetting the risk that the dog might contract mad deer disease.

did the dog get smarter as a result?

he bit my ass after that so i would say he did get smarter

Just click here for Deer brain and deer eyeball tempura recipes.

Here's a line from the above recipe that the late George Carlin took to task:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

Why not write, "Heat the oven to 350F"?

Because Carlin was too dumb to realize they mean different things.

For those interested in short stories, here are my first two years of hunting... Year Three - Bow Hunting, is in the works and will be posted at the end of the hunting season, in December.

The Chronicles of Sheena, Years One & Two

Had the best shoulder venison stew last night.... so tender, I'd forgo eating beef for the rest of my life if I had enough venison to sustain the family throughout the year, every year. Really stunningly amazingly delicious...

Huh? Are there recipies written where you put your food in a cold oven? I'm no chef, but I'm pretty sure every recipe I've ever seen called for putting the food into an oven that's at cooking temperature, not something that's still warming up.

Yes, there are, in particular certain types of baking. There are also some cooking vessels that cannot handle the stress of going into a hot oven. For example, I would not want to put my pizza stone into a 500F oven, but I'd certainly want to put my pizza on a pre-heated stone in a pre-heated oven.

That makes sense. I've only used pyrex and metal, and I guess cookbooks I've seen assume that's what most people are going to use.

Gosh, some don't get the point. What's the difference between a heated oven and a preheated oven?

I can see the difference between a heated oven and a preheated oven..vaguely. What I have never been able to figure out is why they use term near miss for a airplane accident that ALMOST happened. A near miss, by definition, is a hit.

Mim, I tried to get some hunters together after last season for a venison stew cook off. Maybe we'll have to try to arrange that this year, what with you and Yorick vowing to take multiple stags each! Personally, I think mine will win, but I would love to try others.

I'm thinking four or five different recipes, and each contestant is allowed to bring in three friends for blind tasting. They all vote on the best, and the winner takes the prize, whatever that might be.

Vowing? I've spent 20 hours (30 preseason scouting) so far out there without a shot. 40 hours to go, right Rob?

Stags? Saw four bucks yesterday. Had a long broadside look at one, 15 yards with the recurve. Didn't take it. Strictly a lady's man.

A pre-heated oven that's just reached 350 isn't the same as an oven that's been at 350 for 20 minutes. Because the pre-heated oven is running hotter as it's still losing heat to the rest of the stove and to the surrounding kitchen. Once the surroundings have heated up, the stove "settles in" and thus you get a consistent cooking temp.

Glad the thread almost got back on track... I was going to suggest to Evan to move it to the "Cooking" section.(On the other hand, maybe this thread belongs in the "Hunting" section...)

This morning, after two hours of sitting still and being really proud of myself for doing so, I got bored and picked up my phone to email a hunting friend to tell him how eerily quiet the woods were, when half-way through getting it written, a really healthy four pointer was sniffing at the doe estrus juice I has sprayed on a log ten yards away from me. The perfect shot. He never saw me. As I was putting my phone down, with too much sudden adrenaline flowing through my body, I clunked it on my range finder hanging on my side, like an idiot. Obviously, he heard that noise and looked straight up at me, then trotted away, while I watched, in utter disbelief.

You can't make this shit up.

Later, he came back and was flirting with a doe at 60 yards. It was very fun scene to watch. She displayed no interest and kept stumping her foot down as soon as he'd try to get closer. Two other does where at 50 yards, in the other direction. Eventually, they all left.

Another half hour passed and I decided to shoot a tree stump for practice (and to relieve some of the pent up tension for my major mistake) before heading out. I changed my arrow, took my shot, and then noticed that behind me, ten yards away, were two does watching me. There I was, staring at them back, with no arrow on my bow.

Again, you can't make this shit up as nobody would believe it.
It's hard to be a rookie sometimes...

RR: I'm all for a venison cooking contest (even if I'm not the cook, my better half is). So, what's the big prize?

I think the up-to-date score is now:

Mim = 1
Deer = 9

for all the misses of the season...

Later, he came back and was flirting with a doe at 60 yards. It was very fun scene to watch. She displayed no interest and kept stumping her foot down as soon as he'd try to get closer.

So you weren't the only loser in your story. Every guy sympathizes with that buck.

have people read the piece by Claude Suhl on bowhunting in vulgarian digest #2? I read that many years ago and was deeply impressed. it's poignant, moving and profound in a philosophical way, adressing the primal relationship between hunter and the deer that has existed for countless ages.

Oeno, I was that buck for a long time! Mim, I don't know what the prize should be. A nice gender nuetral cooking apron maybe? I would suggest a good 6 quart Le Creuset dutch oven, but that is one hell of a prize. Maybe the prize can simply be praise from fellow friends for well made stew.

Crock Pots could be a more affordable alternative, makes the venison melt for me.

First, we need the venison... more than a button buck worth of venison. We won't have enough for the winter, at this rate... so from our end, we'd need to get another one before Dec. 20 (end of bow season).

Second, we need a few blind test tasters - although that shouldn't be too difficult - I volunteer! (since I'm not the cook).

Third, participants can pool, say, $5 bucks each (or per dish?) and the winner gets the dough (after all, they got the best doe!) and spends it on whatever they need, whether it's a quiver, a crock pot or blaze orange Under Armor underwear from Cabella's.

How have you done it in the past, RR?

Wed to Sun: been out every morning and rotated from my friend's land to MP and Minnewaska and haven't seen anything and haven't heard any shots (although saw plenty of hunters) - sort of weird...

Has anyone been lucky this week?

Has anyone been lucky this week?

Maybe the deer?

I will be out this week Mim. Limited mobility has hampered my hunting, but I have a choice dreiveway to set up in now We'll discuss this weekend at the gathering.

I heard shots several times on Saturday while in the Trapps.

At this rate, this could be ME !

LOL!

Someone arrest those Moose for open containers in a vehicle!

Well, things could be worse ... if you're a buck!

Thanks, Mim, now my staff thinks I'm doing something really weird back in my office due to all the snickering and guffaws!

my brother bagged this 7 pointer earlier this week.

this from Supertopo about the Claude Suhl piece:
"Brings back memories of the Vulgarian Digest

"The Bow-hunting Way of Knowledge"

so I'm not imagining it: but it was pointed out to me it's not in VD #2 and it's the only one I have. Claude is a brilliant writer and that's his best I've seen. it's about when he bags his first deer. Which issue #1 or #3 was it in?

Which issue #1 or #3 was it in?

I've got all three issues and I can assure you there's no such article in any of them.

NY had a some dumb law this year that the buck had to have at least 3 points on 1 side of the rack in order to kill. My family has 1 law if it moves we shoot it!

That's just in a coule of WMU's John. Essentially it had to be a six pointer. The idea is that it will allow some of the bucks to grow larger, and encourage the shooting of more does, which will control the population better. Those were the reasons, one could debate the merits. I would like to see a reversal of the current system, where a hunter would hasve to successfully bag a does before they get a antlered deer tag. One antlered, and as many anterless as you can get..legally of course.

I do think it's funny that the old antiquated hunting notion of only shooting bucks still lingers on. That was from a time when the population was really low, and people were trying to encourage repopulation by protecing the does. It's pretty obvious to anyone who lives in the Shwangunk region that situation is no longer the case.

Yes does are good to eat just like bucks. I have never had buck fever but my Dad and brother get it. One time i was in Rocky mountain national park with my dad and we came across some big mule deer bucks. My Dad started to shake I said whats wrong he just said we have to go i want to kill them lol. I guess killing big bucks is like climbing for some people some want to bag that big buck like climbers want to push the levels of climbing.

Finally got to sit down and finish my bow hunting season story.

Here it is.

Enjoy,

I would think a bow hunter must be more practiced than a rifle hunter, since marksmanship is easier for the latter. It is inhumane to leave a deer to bound away with a wound that's not rapidly fatal. An imbedded arrowhead is much worse than an imbedded bullet.

Hmmm... From this side of the fence, having heard horrible stories from bad gun shot wounds, I think it can happen either way. (I'm even tempted to think that it most likely happens way more with gun shots than with arrows, given the disparity in the ratio (100 to 1?) of gun hunters VS bow hunters.)

There is a cultural belief that bow hunters (like muzzle loaders) are more careful with their shot as they only have one chance. Moreover, most bow-killed deer are within 10-20 yards, but the range in gun hunting can be up to 300 yards (in New York State, this range may be to 100 yards only because of forest density).

Anyways... ethically, it doesn't matter which weapon you use... each require a set of skills that need to be polished, as in any activity.

congrats on your kill! next year the deer should be big due to the mild winter and the deer able to eat all winter long. Just keep the phone off

Mim = 1
Deer = 0

40 lbs of venison in the freezer... a good start.

We never got to do the venison meal last season, anyone interested this year?

Mim = 1
Deer = 0

If it were the other way around, might the deer post that result?

I've put very good signage this year, so they're easy to get.


Just change the deer crossing signs!

Deer have a lot of catching up to do

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/deer-vs-car-crashes-rise-wildlife-hits-road-205600315.html

Anyone ever see the video of the guy getting his ass kicked by a buck standing up on it's hind legs? Friggin hilarious!