Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 17 of 17

Thread: Does anybody target smaller animals?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    6-09
    Posts
    1,217

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    I have had big animals that ate great, and younger ones that didnt. I shoot the first legal animal i see, my kids eat enough that i cant be picky

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    5,000

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    The other factor is a big moose is a lot of fricken work. Both of those moose were an all day event and then some to get hung up in the garage.
    If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    3,090

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    Quality wins over guantity..young tasty deer is my target..best tasting was bambi..20lb meet out if it.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Vancouver
    Posts
    3,912

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    My wife has a standing order for small to medium-size bars, preferably two or three years old. The one I got last September 11 was in that size range, and the tastiest most tender bear yet in 43 years black bear hunting. Bigger ones are fine, don't get me wrong, but it is just the difference between good and choice. For the size of the bear it provided a large amount of rendered down bear grease for cooking too. Not the nine gallons from my first bear in 1976 but still...

    I really try to maximize meat yield out of any animal as well. I save every bone for soup as Mrs. is very fond of bone broth for her daily soup at lunch.

    In 2018 I got a medium size blacktail and a mule deer. One wag on here made fun of me for shooting a "small" 4x4.

    Well I'll tell you, 15 months later, I still have enough deer meat from those two animals to see me until next October. So much for a small mule deer.

    We cut my animals up at home and there is virtually no waste. Like I said, every bone is saved, and one package of venison or bear bones will make a lunch soup for two days running. I save the ribs intact and just cut them into strips with a meat saw. Same with the brisket, I cut that up into two or four pieces, depending on the size of deer for North African-style couscous. Every little piece of useable trim with fat or bloodshot in it is carefully cut off to go in the grind, shanks are saved whole, and roasts and chops are made from the larger pieces as you'd expect.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Posts
    6,437

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    i took out one of my last roasts (actually more like a whole deboned upper leg) from my 2018 WT buck yesterday...gonna trim it up as i tend to leave a bit of trimming for just before cooking/eating (ill freeze it flattened and break bits off so my dog will have some meatcicles for awhile heheh)....

    ill make some stewing meat and make some ground (i have never had tough burger before heheheh ) with a choice bit for a roast-my buddy has an industrial grinder for big quantities but i have a little table top one that works great for smaller amounts...i did all my WT buck that needed grinding that year through my little grinder (maybe 20-25 pounds) and as long as you clean out the tendons when it gets loaded up, it works good enough.

    When i shot it, it was the smaller of the two bucks i saw (and both were smaller than the doe they were following -doe wasnt open yet) i did have time even at 70 yards to decide between the 2 and i did say to myself "he's big enough" as i pulled the trigger....hard to say if i would have gone for the bigger one if it had presented a better shot as it was facing me while the smaller one was just slightly quartering away...also my family here is small so filling the frezzer is less important than quality table fare and i think we can all agree younger is generally more tender all else equal....

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Antler Ridge
    Posts
    265

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    You guys need to invest in a slow cooker . Add potatoes, carrots, onions , leave all day . Add mushroom soup or a gravy . you well not pass up horns again !!

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Posts
    6,437

    Re: Does anybody target smaller animals?

    almost exactly what I made last night (potatoes separate as wifey is on a keto diet)...removed roast from slow cooker (about 6-8 hours cooking time previous night and 4 last night), drained juice, added can of mushroom soup to juice and a few gravy granules sliced up the roast and put it all back into the slow cooker with the drained veggies...served over potatoes and/or cauliflower...was awesome....Wife's comment was I really enjoyed it like this...I would not have enjoyed it as much if it was a steak or other "lump of meat" heheheh

    Quote Originally Posted by MOWITCH SLAYER View Post
    You guys need to invest in a slow cooker . Add potatoes, carrots, onions , leave all day . Add mushroom soup or a gravy . you well not pass up horns again !!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •