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Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
#7610431
09/19/19 01:45 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 15,693
603Country
OP
THF Celebrity
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OP
THF Celebrity
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 15,693 |
While thinking about the upcoming deer season, my thoughts drifted back to the ‘old days’. Deer hunting and skinning were a family deal back then. We’d all go to the woods (Dad, me, brothers, BiL, cousin, and later, a couple of nephews), and if someone got a deer, we’d take it to the brother’s place nearby - in the country. My brother had a good winch for hanging the deer, and I usually got the duty of doing the skinning, since Dad was retired from skinning (so he said) and I was the only person with a sharp knife usually. The brother’s wife would make coffee and hot chocolate. Dad had ‘his chair’ and everybody would sit around on other chairs and benches and talk about what they had seen and on which stand. Bald faced lies were occasionally told. Comments were made on bullet placement and lively disagreement was had on what calibers were worthwhile (dad and I shot 270’s) and why the 243 was pitiful and useless. Somebody always had a 243 and did well with it, but had to defend it. As I skinned and then dismantled the deer, I’d throw big chunks of meat and bone to the brother’s big old fat dogs, and they’d bury the bones all over the yard. The brother’s big old mangled ear tomcat would sneak in and lap up blood under the hanging deer while blood dripped on his head.
If the skinning was in the evening, the coffee would be replaced by bourbon and water.
I can close my eyes and see it. Lord knows how many times we had those sessions. Maybe a hundred or so.
Thanks for listening.
Not my monkeys, not my circus...
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: 603Country]
#7610448
09/19/19 02:08 PM
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Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 175
jadkins
Woodsman
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Woodsman
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 175 |
Amen brother. Some of the best memories at the ranch are at the skinning rack. Can't wait for Sept. 28th. 3 generations will be gathered!
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: 603Country]
#7610449
09/19/19 02:10 PM
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 25,231
Creekrunner
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 25,231 |
Very well written and remembered! Thanks. My first memories of hunting were at my grandfather's home, way out Vance Jackson, a little north of Wurzbach. (Vance Jackson dead ended at Huebner.) My grandfather was a bit squeamish, so my step-grandmother always gutted and skinned any deer killed. She was as crazy as a loon, but useful (at times).
...and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. 1:28
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: 603Country]
#7610500
09/19/19 03:11 PM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,574
Leonardo
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 5,574 |
This is why we do it! The fact that its been commercialized and everyone searching and selling their souls for the next big deer doesn't come close to replacing moments like this.
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: 603Country]
#7610600
09/19/19 04:44 PM
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 6,135
landsurveyor
THF Trophy Hunter
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THF Trophy Hunter
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 6,135 |
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: 603Country]
#7610602
09/19/19 04:45 PM
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 60,296
stxranchman
Obie Juan Kenobi
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Obie Juan Kenobi
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 60,296 |
I can remember hunting family when I killed my few bucks my first 5 yrs of hunting. I never gutted a buck out of those as someone else always did it for me. I was the same on many other family and friends first deer thru the years. Later on in life after my Dad was injured in a oilfield accident and developed very bad allergies(deer hair especially), I was delegated to gutting and skinning all of his deer kills. I would break the carcass down and he and my mother would do all the cutting and wrapping.
Are idiots multiplying faster than normal people?
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: Creekrunner]
#7610628
09/19/19 05:17 PM
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 31,897
txtrophy85
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 31,897 |
Very well written and remembered! Thanks. My first memories of hunting were at my grandfather's home, way out Vance Jackson, a little north of Wurzbach. (Vance Jackson dead ended at Huebner.) My grandfather was a bit squeamish, so my step-grandmother always gutted and skinned any deer killed. She was as crazy as a loon, but useful (at times). Did they have land out on Vance Jackson and huebner? Dang, that’s in the middle of town now
For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: txtrophy85]
#7610670
09/19/19 05:58 PM
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 25,231
Creekrunner
THF Celebrity
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THF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 25,231 |
Very well written and remembered! Thanks. My first memories of hunting were at my grandfather's home, way out Vance Jackson, a little north of Wurzbach. (Vance Jackson dead ended at Huebner.) My grandfather was a bit squeamish, so my step-grandmother always gutted and skinned any deer killed. She was as crazy as a loon, but useful (at times). Did they have land out on Vance Jackson and huebner? Dang, that’s in the middle of town now Mission Trace condominiums was his land; 50 acres or so, down to the RR tracks. Mission Trace got its name from his tile roof. They were crazy about anything Mexico, we had family friends in Monterrey.
...and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. 1:28
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: stxranchman]
#7611207
09/20/19 02:31 AM
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,219
jnd59
Pro Tracker
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Pro Tracker
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,219 |
I can remember hunting family when I killed my few bucks my first 5 yrs of hunting. I never gutted a buck out of those as someone else always did it for me. I was the same on many other family and friends first deer thru the years. Later on in life after my Dad was injured in a oilfield accident and developed very bad allergies(deer hair especially), I was delegated to gutting and skinning all of his deer kills. I would break the carcass down and he and my mother would do all the cutting and wrapping. My allergies to deer hair have gotten worse as I've gotten older. Now I load up on benedryl and use a mask. I may try to quarter in the field and see if that improves things. We hunted on the same lease for 40 years. Same families. We'd argue about so and so's deer being a little runty or antler puny. No matter the size of the horns we'd find something not up to standard. First one to shoot would get razzed for not waiting. We argued over the 243 as well. My dad and I shot 243s. Others would constantly say it was inadequate and sooner or later we'd wound one. We just kept hanging deer. Tried my first chewing tobacco at the lease. We had a hanging pole. The actual skinning was a solitary affair. Very much different from a hog Killin.
No matter how high a duck flies a hammer still breaks a window.
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Re: Throwback Thursday - deer skinning
[Re: 603Country]
#7612678
09/22/19 01:54 AM
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 2,411
crash700
Veteran Tracker
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Veteran Tracker
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 2,411 |
I usually volunteer to clean the deer if someone else will make coffee and breakfast.
Si Vis Pacem Parabellum
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