It was spectacular! The afternoon sun literally glistened through the big timber canopy into my sacred freedom domain, casting sparkle and shadows as far as the eye could see.
If I were any more relaxed and happy, I may just float up, up and away into the heavens!
My Mathews bow hung at my side 16 feet up in my favorite pine tree, and in spite of the very ugly worldly conditions otherwise, my little deerhunting paradise could not have been more perfect and wonderful.
As always, the nonstop bird and squirrel activity kept me more than entertained, and the distant turkeys gave me increased hope for a Thanksgiving thunderchicken kill in the not too distant future.
I had dragged in some fresh cut green leafy maple branches and a dozen cornstalks along with a pile here and there of Big Tine critter attractant bait into the ideal broadside shot killzone 25 yards yonder, and my backstrap dreams rumbled eagerly in my belly.
Lo and behold, if not an hour hence did a big, fat Michigan swampdonkey saunter into view from the distant marshlands, and as if on a mission from God, the crazy alert she-deer and my two blade Cold Steel BoneSaw broadhead did converge as if one to the juncture of life, and all that was left to do was celebrate and say a prayer for the wildthings.
Thank God this beautiful, glorious series of traditional fall huntseason events will unfold many, many times again this year, and each and every encounter and hopeful kill will surely ignite a firestorm of spiritual joy and heartfelt appreciation deep within my soul.
The pre-season rituals of diligent archery range time, habitat scouting and enhancement, foodplot sweat equity and ambush stand strategizing and setups are all as fascinating and as much fun as any moment of truth killshot, but probably more dynamic than all that intensity prior to animal recovery is the prime responsibility of carcass care for the table.
In those early days of deerhunting trial and error back in the 1950s and 60s, we pretty much fumbled along with the woodland gutting, tedious dragging, then delivering to the local deer processor, not really focusing on the critical importance of sacred flesh handling and respecting.
Horror of horrors was the discovery that our reverentially handled deer carcass was more often than not added to a random pile of deer carcasses that God only knows how were mishandled and mistreated, thereby delivering some pretty nasty tainted venison that created the standard and inexcusable myth that venison was gamey.
Yuk!
For more than 40 some odd years now Tribe Nuge has literally perfected the respectful treatment of our venison from kill to butchering to dinnertable by adhering to some glaringly basic and obvious steps to insure the most delicious venison possible.
Much has been written and shared regarding the proper handling of our hard-earned deer carcasses, and as we unleash another soulcleansing huntseason celebration, it is always important to review delicious venison 101 rules of engagement.
Rule#1-Know thy butcher!
Right up there with choosing a trustworthy doctor and dentist is the importance of choosing a trustworthy butcher. Though we ultimately cut up a number of our deer ourselves each season, sometimes the whacking and stacking gets so fast and furious that we have to call in the meat cutting calvary and hire our master of the knives friends.
Our butchers at JJs in Horton and Jeromes Meat Market in Jerome, Michigan, along with Rob Fortsons in Waco, Texas, we are assured that we get back meat from our perfectly handled deer, never being mixed in with any of those terribly mishandled carcasses.
Yum vs yuk!
Rule#2-Kill ’em cleanly!
Dedication to perfect shot placement is surely Job 1 for dedicated hunting ethics, but also is pivotal for ultimate quality tablefare.
When killed cleanly with a good hit, no unwanted body fluids or adrenalin essence will taint the meat. Conversely, when guts are nicked, increased care must be made to cut away any flesh that has been thusly impacted.
RULE#3-Clean and cold ASAP!
In those early days of big timber rough and tumble field dressing, and oftentimes long, arduous drags back to the truck, it usually caused dirt and debris to impact the carcass.
With the wonderful advent of ATVs, it is not uncommon these days to drive right up to or at least damn close to our kills for easy, cleaner transport.
With the amazing Ox Rack unit installed on my Polaris, I can easily hoist any big game animal straight up and away from the killsite effortlessly and bring the un-gutted deer back to our cleaning shed where full control of perfectly efficient gutting, hanging, hosing and draining can assure perfectly clean meat.
We made up this simple and effected angled stainless-steel trough that, under bright lights, we can open up our deer and carefully eviscerate the animal to ensure untainted venison.
Carefully hosing down the gutted, bloody carcass washing away all blood and fat, the meat is instantly cooled down then hoisted up to drain thoroughly.
RULE#4-Age that meat!
Once drained, with the skin still on, we then hang our deer by the head in our Polar King walk-in cooler set at 35-40 degrees to further drain and age for a week or two. With the pelvic bone split and channeled there is no better way for complete drainage.
At some point during the aging process, we occasionally begin to skin the animal from the head down to extract pieces of neck meat, backstrap and tenderloins for ongoing consumption.
Dining year round on this ultimate, organic, natural, healthy, deeeeelicious personally procured and handled flesh is the foundation of the smartest, best, most fun diet available to mankind.
Go that extra mile this season to insure the best venison possible. To my way of thinking, such diligent, careful handling is as much fun as the hunting and killing.
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