Category Archives: Hunting

Food Plots and Tracking Deer With Dogs

Each year I have the Georgia Forestry Service plow my food plot and fire breaks so I can plant winter browse for the wildlife. They provide this service at a reasonable hourly rate, using their bulldozer and a heavy harrow that really breaks up the ground.

I was a little late this year planting but it has been so dry I may have waited until the right time. Last Thursday Ken Parker harrowed for me and I got winter wheat, Austrian Winter Peas, Durana Clover and chicory planted. That night and the next morning I had an inch of rain on the newly planted seeds. They should sprout and provide good food in the cold months when other natural food sources are scarce.

Right now deer are eating acorns. It is amazing how many are falling in certain places this season. After the late freeze last spring wildlife biologists were worried about the acorn crop, and some trees aren’t producing, especially further north at higher elevations, but some oaks are producing bumper crops.

Deer fatten up on acorns to help survive the winter. They will eat them and ignore everything else. I put out corn in one corner of my field and deer have been feeding there all summer. But a week or so ago when acorns started falling they stopped eating it. They prefer acorns to corn.

The acorn crop can be a problem for deer hunters. With so many acorns falling from some trees deer won’t need to move much. Bucks may bed down in thickets near productive oak trees and not move far from bedding area to feeding area and back. Hunters might have a hard time finding them until the rut starts about the end of the first week in November and bucks lose their minds.

If you are lucky enough to get a shot at a deer but unlucky enough to make a bad shot, Ken Parker can help you out. Ken has tracking dogs and will help you find your deer for a small price. The day he plowed for me he had been out until 1:00 AM trying to find a deer shot by a bow hunter.

The call he got last Wednesday night was his ninth this year and he has been able to recover 4 of the deer he tracked. All too often a wounded deer will cross property lines and he can’t continue to track it without permission. That is the number one cause of not being able to find a deer.

The best thing you can do is make a good shot. No hunter wants to wound a deer but all of us can make a bad shot. If you do, call Ken at 770-468-5459. You can also see pictures of his dogs and read about tracking stories on his web site at http://www.hillockkennels.com/

When you shoot your deer field dress it quickly and get it to a good butcher. Venison is fantastic when the deer is processed right. Last weekend I got a deer roast out of the freezer, the last one from last season, and put it on my smoker. After four hours of hickory smoke flavoring the roast I put it in the crock pot for a few hours to make it tender. I don’t think anyone that eats meat would turn down a helping of it.

I love venison and cook it any way you cook beef. I like the ground meat fried in patties and put on a bun. I prefer frying them since grilling tends to dry them out too much, even though they have beef fat in them to help retain moisture.

Cubed steak floured and fried is hard to beat, too. Make some milk gravy to go with it and serve it with mashed potatoes and English peas and my eyes roll back it is so good. I just with I still had fresh tomatoes to go with that meal all winter long.

Another favorite of mine is to put cubed steak or chops, or both, in a crock pot with onions, peppers and tomatoes. Adding a can of tomato sauce makes a good thick sauce with it. Cook it until the meat is tender and serve it with rice, steamed cabbage and corn bread. My momma would be proud of my cooking when I fix it like that.

With a limit of 12 deer a year there is no need to ever run out of venison. Linda and I eat about three deer a year, depending on their size, so I try for that many each season. I don’t care about big bucks, preferring does since I think they have a better flavor. I also like younger deer since they are more tender.

No matter why you hunt treat the carcass right and you will enjoy great eating all year long.

What Is It Like To Be In A Deer Camp?

Deer Camp

Deer camp. Those two words can conjure up many different meanings for different people. You can really know what a deer camp is only if you have spent time in one. And not just a day or so, but days at a time, year after year for many years.

There are always a few workers that show up early and get things set up, clearing debris, cutting grass, stocking the cook tent and generally making things right for everyone. They are the ones you call on when you need something done because you know they are dependable and will do what needs to be done.

As the rest of the club members trickle in, there are time worn greetings, often repeated by the same people to the same people year after year. New members are greeted somewhat warily, with long-time members slowly testing them out to see how they fit in. It can be worse than a fraternity rush!

By mid-afternoon on opening day of camp there is a roaring fire going, a requirement of all deer camps. Never mind that it is 85 degrees and sunny, you gotta have a fire. And everyone sits around it, close if the weather is cool and way back if a typically hot Georgia weekend greets you.

One member of the club is responsible for the fire. Not an elected position, someone just assumes the job of stoking the fire and keeping it going. He will usually be one of the first ones up in the morning, adding firewood until a bright blaze greets the rest of the club. Sometime the job is formalized with a title, but usually it is just acknowledged by long standing habits.

The fireman’s job also involves keeping a kettle full of water boiling over the fire. Sometimes the hot water is used for washing dishes, but often it just boils way, only to be replenished to boil away again. Sometimes peanuts are added to the water for wonderful snacks for those sitting around the fire, but many times the boiling water is as useful as boiling water at a birth.

At some point the story telling starts. Members who have been in the club for years nod in anticipation of highlights because they have heard the same story every year. But everyone pays attention because something new is sometimes slipped in, but seldom will anyone argue a point, even if they were there and know the truth. Fishermen have nothing over hunters when it comes to tall tales about the size of the one that got away.

Good natured ribbing is always part of the conversation. Hunters shooting a small deer are repeatedly reminded of it by statements like “We searched and searched for that deer, and finally found it when we turned over a leaf” or “remember, he toted it out of the woods by the hind legs like a rabbit.” The object of the story always just grins and bears it, or the ribbing gets even worse.

Kids are an integral part of a good deer camp. After all, they are what it is all about. Without kids coming up to learn the traditions of the camp it will end at some point. Youngsters usually sit enthralled with the stories because they want to be like the adults and experience the excitement the story refreshes. And they haven’t heard the same story dozens of times.

Food is always fantastic in camp, partly because anything just tastes better when cooked and eaten out in the woods. But there is often one member of the club that is a good cook and takes care of the kitchen, making sure the roast is put on and taken off at the right times and bringing the chili to just the right temperature to cook and not burn.

Each member has his specialty for food, too. Everyone eagerly anticipates the unveiling of the carrot cake, a treat no one wants to miss. And the brownies are jealousy watched as they are passed around to make sure no one hoards them or gets more than his fair share.

Deer camp means tradition. It is the passing on of a way of life that people cherish and want to preserve, especially for their children. No matter how hectic and troubling the world gets, deer camp tradition means some sane part of what is important to you will always be there. It is a way to save what you value most.