Still Waiting



Most of our deer hunting group



Minnesota's Deer Hunting opener started out with a bang (sorry for the lame pun) for our ragtag hunting group.  Sam shot the first buck, followed by a smaller buck, a nice doe that Brett nailed on Saturday while Brennen shot 2 nice does on Sunday to give us a total of 5 deer for the first weekend.  Sam is in the front row on the left and Brennen is the guy just to his right, in the brown shirt, both younger hunters and it's always great to see them successful.  Of course the hardest thing is to get them to actually gut the deer, something they just expect the "elders" to take care of.  Well, not in this group!  You shoot it, you clean it.  These are good lessons in life and it was a blast having them in our deer camp.   One thing that is fun with the kids is their reaction to my traditional Steak ala Kienitz, which I make on Friday night.  Their thoughts about eating a tender steak covered with Tabasco Sauce, Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce, and Pace Hot Salsa was less than enthusiastic.  Once grilled to a tender state of medium rare, one taste changed their minds.  As always, our Friday night steak feast was great success.  Along with our group we have a number if guys that stop by to share in the excitement of the upcoming hunt.


Hanging meat!



Having a full schedule at work meant coming home on Sunday night.  My plans for Monday was to stop by my neighbor Pete's and get his take on the local mayor and city council races for the election on Tuesday.  Stopping at his shed and opening the door, he had a nice buck already skinned and with his brother Tim were starting to butcher it.  Never one to back off from a good session of cutting up deer, I volunteered to come back with my cutting boards, knives, and vacuum packer and help finish the job.  I do enjoy cutting deer and was rewarded by a few packages of tender steaks.   Within 2 hours we had it cut up, steaked out, vacuum packed, including 30 pounds of grind meat.  I am sure that they appreciated the help and I was glad to oblige.  I also met with my friend Mark Applen who was hunting 30 miles east of me and they had 5 deer for 8.  They have a good system, Sunday afternoon is slated for a big butchering party, they skin, butcher, and grind everything before splitting it up amongst the party.  Mark gave me about 5 pounds of grind meat and I will probably make some deer sticks out of my gift. 

I am heading back up this weekend to hunt, it's suppose to be 55 on Saturday before the bottom is to fall out of the temperature with snow and below freezing temperatures.   I get the pleasure of picking up Jack's son Ben Taylor and having him ride up with me.  He's 8 years old and had to make a decision, hunt with dad this weekend or go to a friends birthday party on Saturday.  He wants to be with the big boys, something that we certainly can accommodate!  Ice fishing can't be far away as I'm hoping that this year will not be a repeat of last year's crazy weather.  Dick, the guy who is fixing my tractor, called and confirmed that all of the parts finally came in and it should be close to finishing it up.  It's taken a while but I'm sure it will be well worth the wait.  Things just seem like they are traveling a million miles an hour!