I know I'm a bit late in putting this up, but just recently figured out my login info. after not having been real active lately. Both my sister and I drew mule deer doe tags here in ND for the 2017 rifle season. We settled in on a big doe with two fawns (by their size, I'm surprised they weren't running around on their own yet). We found these deer on a small piece of private land, then got permission to hunt it. They were laying down, facing upwind. From about 180 yards out, we got our crosshairs on fur about 20 minutes before the season opened, then decided to wait until the deer stood up for a clean shot. Well, season opened, and we waited. And waited. And waited. Twenty minutes feels like a lifetime when you haven't big-game hunted for more than five years, so we decided to make a little noise to get them to stand up. Whistling didn't get the job done, nor did doe bleats. Lip squeaks though, that's where it's at! The big doe stood up first to check things out, followed by the fawns. Within 30 seconds we had filled our tags and knives were cleaned within an hour of season opener!



After making deer sausage for the first time last weekend, I really wish that I would have held out for a bigger deer. Did end up getting about 50lbs. of ground meat, not including a roast or two and backstraps, off of my deer, but very easily could have gotten much more from a mature doe. All in all, this was a great hunt and was glad to be able to spend some time with family in the outdoors!

Very cool.

That's not a bad yeild as far as the meat goes


I do pretty much the same thing.
Once deboned and cold aged for 3 weeks in the fridge, I start cutting steaks. All my scrap trimmings (meat not fat) I run it through my grinder and add one of the Legg' sausage mixes to the ground. I avarage right around 65 lbs per Whitetail.

Glad for you both and a great hunt.

Those are pretty big deer to average 65 lbs per whitetail, although my wife will not allow any fat or silverskin in our meat. Her favorite deer is a nubbin buck that dresses out at about 65 lbs and all the packages from that deer gets an * on the package to denote good and tender for special meals.
Congrats to you on a great morning hunt Dakota Boy!

Zim

Wow! Nice job, DakotaBoy! Sounds like you did a really thorough job! It sounds like that sausage turned out great.

I've read that whitetail deer average 75 to 125 pounds after field dressing, and they yield less than half of that in lean meat. That would be about 37 to 62 pounds of lean meat per deer. I'm definitely at the lower end of that!

Zin,

Some big ones, and some average ones, and some pretty small ones too.
I am just a stickler for getting as much off them as possible, I like the sausage, so as tedious as it is, I work the neck, ribs, flank,tongue, heart, and smalls on the legs to the point of being somewhat obsessive.

Again, well done DakotaBoy.!