Not counting tagging the buck, whats the first thing you do? I was taught from the first buck i shot at 7 years old to cut off his hocks and his testicles. However, i have been in a lot of hunting camps, and see a lot of pictures on the THF, with people who dont do this. So I am curious, who does this before moving the buck back to camp to clean?

Not me. I know folks who do but I think it's an old wives tail.

Never heard of this. What is the purpose?

Not me, pics first!

phone calls first to rub it in on folks who are at work.

pics are great, yes.

I do it for a few reasons. First, a mature buck stinks, and when moving them i dont want to get urine from the hocks all over me. Second, no back flow of anything from the testicles back into the body. Dont know if it affects anything or not, but i dont want to change it now. I know that on pronghorn, the faster you skin them, the better they taste, less of a sage taste. So, same should go for a rut crazed buck.

Who knows if it really matters, but the hocks for sure are just nasty.

Pics, then the above

True dat! I do that before I leave the stand.

tag then gut

Pray, then shoot again.




no no.. im kidding.. I usually wait about 20 minutes, drink a beer, get down, go over, kick the body (just to make sure you know), tag, start carving.

depends on the person, I've been known to call them up and put them on speakerphone so they hear the shot.

I thank the One who created the beautiful buckola and then I dance around it. Then I proceed to tag'm so that he's no longer the states property but mine all mine. Then I look around wishing some one was here to help me load the beast in the truck(since I only shoot big mature bucks).

where the heck do you guys hunt where you have cell service?

In the panhandle

I've done that..... that's fun.

East Tx, but only b/c the hill I'm on is 100' above everything else around...it's the only spot I have service. When I hunt riverbottom, I have to hold my hand up and away from the tree to get a signal.

I now do that to my bro since he dropped his lease and my nephew no longer has a steady place to hunt...chaps my rear and I rub it in every chance I get. I've got to get that little squirt hunting, but it would require his dad to sit at home while he hunts.

I do the same with the exception of first sending a text that I've got one down.

If it's a buck, I pray.............that it's legal.
JUST KIDDIN'!!!
or am I?

I usually answer all of the "Was that you that shot?" texts, then I take a pic and post it on Facebook with the Blackberry. I only get one bar out there but it goes through.

I never cut anything off right away and I process all of my own meat so I can make sure it stays clean and its actually the one that I shot. I also bleed them out with fresh ice for 3-4 days before processing. They all taste great. Just got though with another batch of jerky tonight.

x2

there is no reason to believe that urine from the deers bladder would have an impact on meat that it touches.
just wash it off...

ever accidentally peed on your hands while at the urinal.. (i havent of course.. :))
did your hands fall off or become infected with disease...

most every piece of meat we take off a deer is covered in a membrane of some kind,meaning you arent going to be marinating the meat in pee.. so wash it off, bleed it out on ice and they taste better anyway.

i guess if you dont have water at your place to rinse the carcass then i would get the argument. otherwise, i just gut them as soon as possible and get the deer on ice.

that's a sig line!

first thing i do.... take a pic with my phone and send it to all my friends.....


then i tag it, go get the truck, drive over there, and get it loaded.

Go back to the house and hang it from the tractor to skin it out....

Thank the Lord for sharing such an awesome creature then text my brothers to come help