Venison II

The Savage Model 10 (.243 Winchester) made venison this morning. At 8:30 a.m. local, a young spike buck stepped out on the pipeline, about 140 yards from the stand. He was facing me, in a down-hill attitude and the first shot went high, hitting him in the left rear ham, knocking him down. I bolted the rifle, thinking that he might get up, and he did. I put the second shot in his ribs and he entered the woods.

My brother-in-law and I had already decided to make sausage from the next deer killed. I have some boston butt roasts in my freezer to add to the venison to make a 50/50 smoked link sausage. We had agreed that we'd filet the next deer we shot and take the meat to the processor, a guy named Keene, who has a shop in Jena, LA.

I waited about 20 minutes after the shot before trying to track the deer. As I was entering the woods, my brother-in-law called on the cell phone, asking if I had shot. I told him I was tracking the deer and expected to find him dead in just a few minutes. Sure enough, down the lane the buck lay about 60 yards from where I shot him. By the time I had walked back to get the Mule, I could see my BIL coming down the pipeline to help load the deer.

He was a smallish buck, probably a yearling, in good fat. A quick examination of the deer showed that the first shot went high, hitting the ham. The second shot in the ribs did the job. The spot where he laid down was covered in arterial blood, but I didn't have an exit wound.

We took him to the camp, skinned him and filet'd him. Brother-in-law has about 30 pounds of young, tender venison on ice and I'll get the pork to him on Monday. Sometime about Christmas, he and I should split about 50 pounds of venison sausage.

I've already validated the tag with the Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries. Now, it's time for a shower.