Ontario Fat deer

John Y Cannuck

John Y Cannuck

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The Conservative part of Ontario
I've never seen deer as fat as i've seen this year.
Fat an inch thick under the hide, globs of it inside the body cavity, incredible.
All the northern deer we took were just like that, and last night I got a road kill call, that, being farm fed, was even fatter.
Anyone tried their venison from this year yet? Should be nice stuff!
We did up five hearts in the slow cooker at camp, they were nice and tender.
 
I don't know, I have no Ontario venison but Albertan this year.

A group of 4 I know they got 4 deers in BOQ area and all under 100lb:eek: :rolleyes:
 
Other than the buck my Dad got yesterday the other 4 we got were the fattest I have ever seen.

One of the deer was a really nice 8 point and even he ws fat as a hog.

Do they know something we dont or was it just a good feed summer.
 
Hmmm... yes all our deer were healthy & fat but not as much as a few years ago when we had a banner crop of oak nuts.

245lb won the buck pot but just had a reliable source tell me about a 265lber.
That's pretty big for non agricultureal area like ours!
 
The old timers would probably say we were in for a hard winter... but that is just crazy talk.:runaway:
The reality is an easy winter last year and a bumper mast crop in many areas up north have helped fatten the deer herd.
In the south the wet fall left the grain on late and the corn is still standing in many areas. This sure helps the deer out... alfalfa is the crop to watch when the snow starts. The deer down here are always fat... next week during the M/L late season the fawns will have gained another 20% and 80-100 pound fawns will be hard to tell from the does!:cool:
 
Mild winter last year, with lots of food available. They probably had a little bit of fat left on them in the spring unlike normally when they are starving too death!
 
fat deer this year

Yup,

Same here in Qc, accross the border, we got a doe and a buck, both were healthy and fat even if the weather was mild this fall, they packed some good reserve.

And they are so gooood and tasty :D .
 
The buck that I shot 1st day of BP season, middle of Oct, had almost 3 inches of fat on his rump . He was one of the best tasting deer that I can ever remember eating ....even the ribs were good .
 
I bow hunt on an island near Kingston, all agriculture, deer are always quite fat, this year the deer from the backwoods are just as fat. First time I have seen that, easy winter good eating in the earlier part of the year. Bet if the winter is not to bad a lot of the doe's will throw twins. Bumper crop for next year.
 
I helped cut up a dozen deer on the weekend and commented how lean they were. No fat on the backs hardly at all.

I don't find it makes any difference to the eating if they are fat or lean. The muscle doesn't marble up either way and I cut it all off.

BTW .... The proper way to dress a deer is to skin it ASAP, head down, wash with cold water inside and out, hang it for ten days in a cold non-humid environment, and have the butcher completey bone it out for you w/o using a band saw. :D :dancingbanana: :D


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Move back to Ontario SC, you'll get a lot of business.

As to skinning head down, I agree it has some advantages, but, as we hang head up and hide on outside, to shed the snow, (none of that this year) we don't bother turning it upside down to skin.
If you take the head off before you skin, you eliminate that hair generating factor, and there is little advantage to butt up skinning. (We hang the deer from stainless steel gambrells made by a machine shop camp member.
I certainly agree that washing/wiping the carcass down is a big plus in removing hair, and finding bits of crud you missed.
Boning out, well, if CWD comes to pass, it may be the only safe way to eat venison.
 
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Just as an after thought, after talking to some fellow hunters & even the local MNR was asking if the does were dry. Seems a lot more than usual does were dry this year??? Could the fawns be weaned yet?? I think not :confused:
Could it be a higher number of bears, I think that's a possiblility :mad:
 
John Y Cannuck said:
As to skinning head down, I agree it has some advantages, but, as we hang head up and hide on outside, to shed the snow, (none of that this year) we don't bother turning it upside down to skin.
If you take the head off before you skin, you eliminate that hair generating factor, and there is little advantage to butt up skinning. (We hang the deer from stainless steel gambrells made by a machine shop camp member.
I certainly agree that washing/wiping the carcass down is a big plus in removing hair, and finding bits of crud you missed.
Boning out, well, if CWD comes to pass, it may be the only safe way to eat venison.
Click to expand...
That portion of my comment was a razz directed at BIGREDD. :D

We have debated some of these points in the past. :p



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SuperCub said:
I helped cut up a dozen deer on the weekend and commented how lean they were. No fat on the backs hardly at all.

I don't find it makes any difference to the eating if they are fat or lean. The muscle doesn't marble up either way and I cut it all off.

BTW .... The proper way to dress a deer is to skin it ASAP, head down, wash with cold water inside and out, hang it for ten days in a cold non-humid environment, and have the butcher completey bone it out for you w/o using a band saw. :D :dancingbanana: :D


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Click to expand...

I am impervious to your taunts Super.... well at least I am used to them.;)

We used to hang and butcher all our deer... still have the whole works in the garage. Winch, Gambrels, Stainless tables and a Meat-Saw the only thing we do not have is a meat locker, we used freezers if it was warm.
We have used every method to cut our deer bone-in, bone-out, we have even used the gutless method to bone out a complete animal both hanging and on the ground. I have two butchers that hunt in our crew... the only time we use water is if the meat has been exposed to a contaminate like offal or dirt.
Now we hunt full time when each season is open and usually kill 20 deer per year and we don't have time to #### around with them at all... we field dress them only then load em up and take them 30km to the butcher each day.
He is a full time professional butcher and has a walk in meat locker that will hold 30 deer. He has the cleanest butcher shop I have ever seen anywhere and he makes top drawer sausage. He wants the deer to come to him with the hide on as soon as possible to be put in the locker.
He winches them out of the truck using a rib hook, skins the back legs down partially and installs a gambrell through the back leg tendons. They go on an overhead trolley and rolled into the meat locker hanging head down where they wait to be processed.
This butcher like every other competent wild game butcher I know bones out everything before cutting and will not use water on wild game meat except as a last resort! :p
Fat although it speaks to the health of the animal is just more work to remove (like bones or bone dust, fat should be removed) you really don't want this crap in your meat.
Sound familiar Super!:dancingbanana:
 
Actually, because of very high temps this year, I was forced to hang the deer we got in a butcher's cooler. I helped him cut a bunch of deer as "payment" for using his cooler and cutting room.

This year I did something different and left the bone in the loins and rib portions cutting them into 1" chops. They were excellent on the Q. I normally bone the loins and have had good luck in the past doing this. Oh well, even old farts can learn stuff ........ except BR, of course. :D


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BIGREDD said:
This butcher like every other competent wild game butcher I know bones out everything before cutting and will not use water on wild game meat except as a last resort! :p
Click to expand...

10 points to BR for that zinger ........ with 5 extra bonus points for using the "competent"! :D


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