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Hunting for Shed Deer Antlers

Hunters hunting for shed deer antlers has become a big event in recent years. People search for antler sheds for various reasons and some of those folks are not even hunters. Some want to find shed deer antlers to make various items out of… lamps, knives, etc. And then there are those that are serious about finding shed antlers for buck tracking and management purposes.

Hunting for Sheds

Finding shed antlers (especially both sides) allows the finder to rough-score the bucks to get a good idea of current and future quality. In addition, finding a particular buck’s antlers can let you know if he’s made it through the winter or if he’s still in the area. Also, finding numerous shed antlers over years on a particular piece of property allows you to gain knowledge regarding the areas that bucks are frequenting.

Finding a Buck’s Shed Antlers

So, where are the best places to look? The basics are simple. Look for shed antlers in winter food sources, in bedding areas and along trails in between these two areas. These are the best locations to run across a shed, but timing is of the greatest importance. Start too early in the season and you’ll find nothing. Starting too late means antlers will either be partially or entirely eaten by small mammals and other rodents or vegetation will be well-grown, making antlers even more difficult to find.

So when?

Of course, antler drop varies by region and even likely even within parts of your state. I recommend keeping an eye on the deer herd or using a game camera to document when bucks are losing their head-gear in your area. Then it’s just a matter of getting out there and putting in some time. Good luck!

Sausage Making: A Few Recipes for the Hunters

Ready to make some sausage are you? Congratulations, that means you managed to bag some sort of critter this hunting season! Well, you’ve put in the time and effort to bag your wild game, you took care of the animal in the field and got it home, and now it’s time to create a finished product.

Sounds great, so check out the following recipes:

Each year after we harvest a couple of deer, my family and I will get together and make sausage. This is an annual event, typically starting with a wood duck hunt in the early morning and then getting back to the house in short order to get to work making sausage.

We commonly make sausage out of deer and wild hogs, but you can do a lot of substitution when in comes to making sausage. Usually, our sausage mix is about 50% deer and 50% wild or store-bought pork. Sometimes when we don’t manage to bring porky home, we will also subsitute in beef brisket in place of the pork. This works quite well and what we end up adding to the sausage usually just comes down to what is on sale that week.

Sausage Making: A Few Recipes for the Hunters

You can be imaginative when it comes to sausage making, we’ve even used geese, ducks, and turkey – and they have all turned out great! Venison is lean, so you are definitely going to want to add some fat to give your sausage some moisture and make it better table fare. I recommend making a sausage that is about 85% meat and 15% fat.

The following recipe is one that we use and is based on 5 pound increments so that you can easily adapt it to fit the quantity of sausage that you are making. After mixing, stuffing, and tying, you are ready to smoke it.

Basic Sausage Recipe

–5 pounds boneless meat of your preference
–2 Tablespoons black pepper
–1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt
–1 Tablespoon garlic powder
–1 teaspoon modern cure

Sausage Making: A Few Recipes for the Hunters

Summer Sausage

The basic sausage recipe above can also be used to make summer sausage. The only difference is that you need to add at least one more ingredient to the mix. Add 3% nonfat dry milk (by weight) to the mix and this will make the sausage “gel.” If you are making 10 pounds of summer sausage, then you need to add 0.3 pounds of nonfat dry milk.

Also, you can add in other ingredients to kick it up, but this is best determined by personal preference. Whole black pepper, mustard seed, jalepenos, and cheese can be added to your summer sausage recipes to give them a kick. I usually just add whole black pepper and I do this until it “looks” right.

Breakfast-pan Sausage

This is a great pan sausage to eat for breakfast and even works great in chili. This can be made from your 50/50 deer and pork mix or from straight pork. Use the basic sausage recipe, but DO NOT use modern cure. In addition, add 2 Tablespoons of ground sage for every 5 pounds of meat and you are done. Simply grind and pack for the freezer!

Texas Deer Hunting – Harvest Essential

With the General Hunting Season in Texas at about the half-way point, many hunters have already filled the freezers and have focused on other activities. For those hunters that have yet to bag the big one, the recent cold front we received at the first part of December has created excellent hunting weather. For one East Texas hunter, we will refer to as Paul, the last weekend proved to be a dandy.

With approximatley 500,000 white-tailed deer harvested each year in Texas, it takes many days in the field to put that many deer on the ground. Hunting is not only a part of our natural heritage, but a means to keep Texas’ white-tailed deer population in check. Deer population numbers over much of Texas continue to exceed optimal deer densities. Keeping deer numbers in check with available habitat means better body conditions, better antler quality, and better fawn crops.

Proper Deer Harvest Rate?

However, harvesting deer and keeping numbers down is not as easy as you think. It takes time, money, and hard work. Each year, hunters pump millions of dollars into small town, local economies. Everything from gas, food, and hunting supplies keep many of these small town businesses up and running. Hunters help boost local business, help control deer numbers, and take home some good eating at the same time.

Paul, your above average, gung-ho, Texas hunter lives by the motto “bag ’em and tag ’em, sack ’em and stack ’em.” He realizes that his efforts to control deer numbers are all part of his overall management plan to improve the deer herd found on his hunting lease. “When I see bucks that I don’t want breeding back into the population, I take ’em out,” Paul stated to me in an exclusive interview.

Deer Herd Management

Paul and his hunting buddies do their best to manage the deer population found on their 650-acre hunting lease in Bell County, Texas. Managing all segments of the deer population is critical to their overall plan. This past Friday, Paul managed to remove a cull buck from the local population. “I saw this monstrous spike walk out that needed shootin’ and I had an itchy trigger finger, so I dropped the hammer,” Paul said after harvesting the spike.

By removing this spike, Paul ensured that the genes of this inferior yearling buck will not be passed on into the remaining population. However, the management plan on this Texas ranch also includes removing unwanted middle-aged bucks and some older, mature bucks. The overall buck management strategy on Paul’s lease includes removing bucks at least 3 1/2 years of age with 8 or fewer points and harvesting bucks with 9 or more points at 5 1/2 years of age. The plan also includes removing bucks, regardless of age, with unwanted antler characteristics.

Buck Harvest Rates

Under a quality buck management program, buck harvest should be limited to removing no more than 20 percent of the buck herd on a property in any one year. This ensures that mature bucks will be available to harvest in the future. However, as previously stated, this overall harvest number includes undesirable young bucks, middle-aged bucks, and, of course, mature bucks that have reached their overall genetic potential.

The Friday morning following Paul’s spike harvest, he also managed to bag a nice 9 point white-tailed buck. Paul said while cleaning the healthy buck, “I didn’t like the way the tines were arranged, and I don’t want those genes on my end of the lease, so I dropped the hammer.” The buck also ended up being the best buck that Paul had ever harvested.

Remember, it takes the harvest of a lot of undesirable bucks to get better bucks on your property. As mentioned, managing a deer population is not an easy job. Managing populations is done on a state level and county level in Texas with general hunting regulations, but what happens on your property is up to you. Deer management is done on the property level with hunters having options within the general regulations of what they actually want to harvest on their particular piece of property.

Management Means Harvest of Bucks… AND Does

The work doesn’t end after the shot. It’s not just a photo shoot. Actually, after the harvest is when most of the work begins. Make sure to take proper care of your game for best table fare. Immediately after his kills, Paul field dressed both of his bucks and made sure to cool them properly. Afterwords, since Paul chose not to process these particular animals himself, it was time to head to the local deer processing facility. Although Paul’s transportation method was not typical, it definitely did work. Of course, if you ever have the chance to meet Paul, you’ll soon realize he’s not your typical hunter.

Managing deer on your property is not just about shooting bucks. It also involves proper harvest of the doe segment of your population and maintaining deer numbers at the proper density for the habitat on your property. Paul has managed to bag two does already this season, and with one more left to harvest, you can bet he’ll be gaining weight this winter! Break out the steaks and some hot grease (no trans fat of course).

The Downside of Soybeans as a Food Plot

Soybeans are a good plant species for a food plot, but they are not perfect. Soybeans do have a couple of downsides. First, the growing point on the plant is above ground — and if deer, hogs, or turkey remove the top of the plant the two-leaf stage — it simply will not grow back. Thus, in areas with a high deer density, soybeans just are not feasible. Even in areas with low to moderate deer numbers, beans should be planted early enough to get past the deer while the does are fawning.

Another great option thanks to new technology: with the entrance of Round-Up Ready beans to the market you can drill seeds into residue and let the growing weeds “hide” your beans until the young plants are past the critical stage. Then, clean the food plot up by spraying the field and removing the competition.

Second, although soybeans are fairly drought tolerant, they do not yield as many tons of food per acre as alfalfa or even clover. In areas with lots of whitetail, the susceptible young plants combined with forage production could be a big limiting factor for your food plot.

Texas’ Largest Youth Super Hunt

Take a kid hunting!

Forty-nine young people from across Texas had an outstanding experience this past weekend in what organizers called the Texas’ largest youth deer hunt. Twelve ranches opened their gates for free to the 3rd annual Cave Creek Super Hunt near Stonewall in Gillespie County, sponsored by the Texas Youth Hunting Program (TYHP) in partnership with Austin Woods and Waters and the Cave Creek Wildlife Management Association. Cold, cloudy drizzle on Saturday did not dampen the spirits of the young participants, who harvested dozens of deer. Crisp, sunny conditions Sunday were more welcoming. Several Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees helped make the weekend a success.

A key goal of the Super Hunt is to promote wildlife management. Cave Creek WMA’s youth hunt program chairman Ronnie Ottmers said the youth hunt is important to help maintain a healthy deer population, and he hopes it will build positive relationships between landowners and young hunters. Providing a safe, affordable hunting experience is also a major focus, according to Doug DuBois of TYHP, who organized the hunt. “Our goal is to have parents and youth in the blinds, having that quiet time together and watching nature,” Dubois said. The Texas Youth Hunting Program is run by the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) in partnership with TPWD.

It is important to get youth involved in hunting and other outdoor activties. With the majority of young Americans now growing up in urban and suburban environements, unless kids are introduced to hunting at an early age, it can be diffcult for them to gain interest or comprehend the sport and management ascpects of hunting. Even is a “big” hunting state such as Texas, only about 7% of the total population hunts. This means the future of hunting lies in the future of America. So, wherever you are outdoors, take a kid with you and show them what it’s all about. Because if you don’t, who will? Have fun and be safe!