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What Did You Do Today?
Piddler:
Congratulations.
Now with the sinew harvesting, hide tanning and all else involved.
Piddler
Eric Krewson:
I don't save the hide but I do save the leg sinew, I have a pile of it from past deer that I can't use because old age and injuries have ended my bow making journey. The last batch I collected consisted of 26 backstrap sinew strips from a butcher shop, a guy traded me over 50 older broadheads both new and used for it.
Eric Krewson:
Today is the last day of deer season, it is going to be 70 degrees after weeks of freezing temps. I am done, I am pulling trial cams, washing a mountain of hunting clothes and putting up all my gear until next year, I have so much "stuff" this is usually a two day job.
I quartered my deer and took it to a processor to be made into burger, I could do it but I am giving most of this deer to a friend who doesn't have any. I am meticulous about cutting up my own deer but won't put that kind of effort into one that I am giving away. When I give away A deer I have it processed first, a cooler deer isn't that expensive to have cut up and makes a much better gift vacuum sealed and ready for the freezer.
Someone who isn't deer hunter doesn't know what to do with a whole deer. I gave a whole skinned deer to a friend at work once, he left it in a cooler so long that it spoiled, never again.
I have had good years where I am covered up with deer and other years like this year where I have a hard time killing anything with my selfbow in earlier years and lately with my flintlock. I have a group of friends who have given me hundreds of pounds of deer meat over the last 40 years when I came up short, some were whole deer, some was processed and packaged, they never charged me a penny for the packaged deer.
I know a partially disabled guy who loves deer meat but isn't a deer hunter, I need about 10# of burger from my latest deer, I am going to take him the rest packaged and ready to go. This is my way of paying it forward for all of the deer meat that people have given to me in the past.
Pappy:
Congrats on the deer Eric, wished our season went a little later, especially this year, it was a short season for me. Always looking forward to next year.
Pappy
Eric Krewson:
I have never seen a deer as fat as the one I killed last Sunday, it had 5 or 6# of intestinal fat and about the same amount on its back, hams and ribs.
I have heard that the intestinal fat is the best to render for tallow so I collected abut 3 1/2# when I dressed the deer to give rendering a try, I had never done it before.
I don't have any particular purpose planned for what I end up with, I think concocting a good patch lube for my flintlock loading will be first. I currently use a product called "mink oil" but the only producer of the real stuff had died or quit the business. There are plenty of companies marketing what they call mink oil but a look at the ingredients shows more petroleum products in them than anything else.
I boiled the fat down, strained it several times through cheese cloth and ended out with a very clear product. I did let the oil get a little hot at the end which turned the liquid slightly brown, the tallow turned white after it cooled.
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