Getting ready for Deer Season

John

Active Member
Was just curious what was putting that much fat on your deer. Few small hay fields here but no ag. Deer here have to beat the bears and squirrels to the acorns. Deep snow can get pretty rough on them and the wolves work on them when they are yarded late winter. Numbers are coming back some now.
We have a lot of alfalfa and grass hay here. The winters are milder than Soda but we still get -30 just doesn't stay as long. Deer numbers are crazy, I can drive South this time of year and see 250+ deer in 30 miles from the road at dusk. Getting permission to hunt is a different task altogether though. I thought for a while it was Whitetail vs Mule deer but ours are thinner here as well. I think now much of it is genetics and knowing they will have snow cover from Nov to April there.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
they are weird in how they hold fat versus antlers too.
the 3x3 I shot 2 years ago was only a year older than the 4x5 I shot last year.
the 3x3 didn't look like he had much antler size and even hanging on the wall they don't look like much, but as soon as you take them down and hold them, or put them by other sets of antlers you realize the mass and length they have. [just no width]
the deer was the same way, he was real wide bodied but didn't look all that big from the side.
once he was hung up and skinned he was covered with close to 20 lbs of fat [inside and outside together] and internally you could pull out handfuls of the stuff from around the tenderloins.
lots of meat on him too.
the 4x5 was just rolling in fat and has a very symmetrical set of antlers with a good almost 25" outside spread.
once all the fat was cut away he started losing body mass real quick and I only got maybe 2/3rds the amount of meat off him.
 

Rally

NC Minnesota
That kind of stuff matters when casting bullets. Often we read posts of deer adventures and seldom are body weights brought up. There is a big difference, in my mind, when shooting a 80 lb deer and a 200 lb deer. I've often wondered what size hog you would load for when they range from 60-500 lbs?
 

Ian

Notorious member
Hogs, you load for the 600 pounder and don't care how much you tear up the smaller ones.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
Rally 1+ 2 blood trails are always easier.
An since the front shoulders don't have much meat. I don't mind trading 1 for a DRT.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I hate tearing up the front shoulder.
there isn't a lot of meat there but when your only getting 60 lbs or so, losing 5-6 of them kind of sucks.
 

Ian

Notorious member
High neck shots or head shots get your drt, but a 2" kill zone vs. an 8" kill zone makes that a hard choice in the field when quick offhand shots, poor angles, dim light, etc. factor in.
 

Hawk

North Central Texas
Agree with Ian, load for the 600 lb hog.
Biggest I've seen on our property was about 475 lbs, but u never know.
By the way, that big one had 6 inch tusks that were razor sharp!
 

Rally

NC Minnesota
Rally 1+ 2 blood trails are always easier.
An since the front shoulders don't have much meat. I don't mind trading 1 for a DRT.
Kevin,
I avoid shoulder shots. I’m kinda partial to shoulder roasts with carrots and taters. I used to shoot Nosler ballistic tips in my 06 just behind the shoulders, with most being drt. Any contact with major bone was ugly. I’m loading the Noe 195 FP now for my 06, which by the way looks alot like the bullet Ben picture here.
I’m a firm believer in two holes first then i can make the alloy perform to my expectation. The Noe dimple ponts really seem to shine in everything i’m shooting now up to 1850, but I’m leaving the 195 a fp and loading at 2100 now. Hope to find out what it does first week of November.