We process all at home, but I do like spicy food so those sticks sound good. Took me 2 weeks to fill my 4 available archery tags until muzzleloader (just 1 buck allowed). My wife would not appreciate 4 deer hanging in the barn the same day since she is the field dresser and butcher. When I said "we" above, I meant her:)
I used to do it all at home, to include making summer sausage and sticks. Then came the day I had 16 slabs of pork spareribs in the smoker for a family BBQ and it went up in smoke. Literally. I let the water pan run run dry and it burned to the ground. It was a home-made thing and worked great, but it was 100% manual control and required constant attention.
Since then I do the butchering, but I have the sausage and sticks done at the locker plant. I could recoup the cost of a large commercial unit over three or four deer seasons, but the older I get the happier I am to trade some dead presidents for my time and the effort involved in making my own sausage. I have a Traeger pellet smoker that works really well for making jerky so I still do that myself.
I get the time versus cash thing. I do a lot less of those things that I do not enjoy these days too. I still do some of these things when its hard to find someone to do something well or the cost is really high. On this one, its my wife's call since she does the work.
Tagged out for the season with a doe during muzzleloader yesterday. Spent less time hunting this year than I have in past years due to recover from some minor surgery, so I think that I unconsciously stayed more focused on filling the freezer.
We have a massive acorn drop. I have glimpsed about 5 deer since October 1. Only one that I could have shot. It was a yearling doe.
Here in central MO we had some monstrous winds, 50 65 mph gusts with strong sustained winds for a couple of days, cleaned out the leaves and also acorns all at one time, our woods are about as empty as I remember ever seeing them, I have a huge oak in my front yard that usually hangs on to his leaves most of the winter, this year they all came down and out of the yard in one day,, very little cleanup, but also all the acorns fell at the same time, the ground was literally covered with them, have about 5 or 6 deer and squirrels eating on them just about all the time.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
Dave, I have to agree on the acorn drop this year. Hugh acorn drop at my place. Almost sounds like rain when in the woods. I let 3 8pt bucks walk last week. Had all of them within 20 yds of me and all within the first hr of the set. Problem is the first one I let walk and he wound up being the best of the 3. We are going through the rut right now and was seeing some good bucks but I've seen nothing my last two sets. I might need to change my plans on dropping only older bucks. Son dropped a nice 3 1/2 yr old 10 last week.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I believe I have pictures from last year at this time of the same deer. His summer range is 1/2 mile to the North, neighbors have pics of him in velvet the past 2 years. Here at my place he seems to show up after gun season, and always at night, never during the day.
Hunted Saturday and Sunday. Didn't hear a shot in the area. Worst deer season ever. I have 6 corn feeders on the 133 acres with cams at each. Hogs are eating the corn at night.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Dave, we stopped using corn feeders that throw the feed. Have moved to gravity feeders only. I thinks this helps to reduce the hog problems known around me here in NE Tx. Maybe not but we see fewer hogs after doing it.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
We dont have hogs here but Coons are a big problem, I try to cater more toward feeding turkey then deer, so I used to set my feeder to go off about an hr after daylight to discourage the deer and coons, but pretty much quit using a feeder, I just walk out and broadcast a gallon or two out real thin by hand whenever I get to it, a little more regular during times when their food source is covered with snow or ice.
All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
I wish otters would come to corn! Dave, what we did was we took our barrel type feeders and removed the solar panel, and spinner assembly. That left us with the barrel that had a 3" hole in the bottom of the barrel. Some were plastic type and others were metal drums. We then added the gravity type that consisted of a 3 or 4" tube with 3 and or 4 places where the deer could eat from. Worked so well that we cant use it year round because of all the feed they will go through. A hog can get to the feeder tube but pretty much has to stand on its back feet to get to the feed and that makes it a little harder than the hog just eating it off the ground. We also took a couple of the plastic drum feeders and added some pvc along with other stuff and made fish attractors and sunk them in the pond. That reduced some of my corn bill.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Ever made a pig pipe? 6 inch heavy duty pvc pipe. Cap off the ends but be sure they can be removed. Drill holes, a bunch of holes just big enough for corn to escape but not overly large. In one end cap install a bolt with a ring. Don’t know what you call the the bolts. Fill loosely with corn. Attach a piece of heavy wire or light chain to the ring. About 10 tp 12 feet long. Drive a metal rod into the ground and attach the other end of the wire/chain. Pigs and deer will roll it around in circles to get to the corn. They generally stay awhile.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
We did a 6" PVC pipe feeder but not like the one u described. We did have a cap at the top and a V shaped connection at the bottom. We then attached it to a tree where the deer could get to the corn. I am not sure whey we stopped using it other than we had to refill the pipe often. It is a simple set up.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Tracy, I built a couple of hanging feeders last year. I hung them one on a branch near the house and jammed a metal bucket on top. I figured the coons couldn’t bother it. Wrong! Cam showed 6 coon on an around it. I have no idea how they got the bucket off the top when I figured they couldn’t get any leverage. No deer or hog pics, just coons.
6 inch heavy duty pvc pipe. If I try it again I’ll have to figure out how to coon proof it.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
Dave, I agree the coons can be a pain in the arse. I had a friend invite me to eat some of the meat he was grilling. It looked good on the grill and I took a bite that he offered. It was pretty good. He smiled and told me one bite was Possum and the other bite was coon. He was one of those Deep East Texas type guys. Like deer, if the coons knew there was an opening day for coon season they might become hard to find.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.