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This is one of the more puzzling statements. Umm..... So you were afraid of getting your internal frame dirty? It's not like you are packing a moose, and a dink muley can't have more than 70lbs of meat, and that's if you scraped them bones. I'm guessing more around 45-50#? Do you have a rib/brisket meat salvage law?

I hope your just giving Jeff O schit about shooting a smaller buck because he is Jeff O. Nothing wrong with shooting a smaller buck not everyone is a trophy hunter. I understand the history here but it makes you all look like chest thumping dip schits.

On my first backpack hunt I didnt know what I was doing and it was a clusterphuck but I still took care of the meat. Jeff broke all of the rules my grandfather taught me about meat care and that is general hutning ethics. I guess I am not the one eating it....

We ate some last night. It was fine. I didn't expect otherwise, since I butchered it and was intimately acquainted with it <g>, but it was still good to see the fam scarf it down. If nothing else I'd read that "carp" deer are not generally as good eating so it was nice to taste otherwise.

The meat care part was indeed my weakness here. Now that being said I'm not completely bought in to the notion that leaving it skin-on for the night was a mistake, especially since, well, it worked. I got him gutted ASAP, split the pelvis, peeled back the inner thigh hide a bit, got him resting resting on his spine with a couple sticks underneath to let air flow, and propped open the gut cavity. And got him into deep shade. It was a dusty, fly-filled AO as well as being extremely dry; if I'd peeled him completely and put him in my Alaska sock I'd have had a carcass covered in fly eggs on the sock, and with a very dry skin.

It got just cold enough up there to save my butt. It was odd- up high I'm used to it getting cold fast, but it was staying relatively mild for the first part of the nights... by morning it'd be pretty cold (upper 30's? low 40's?) and that was enough as it turned out.

Higbean sent me a description of how he does it that I like a lot. I'll try it that way next time.

Anyway- yes I didn't do it the "best" way but thankfully it is ok.

Aside- where we elk hunt it's very common if someone gets an elk down, late in the day or at dusk, to leave it hide-on overnight as I described. And, I've waited until the next day to skin a couple blacktail with no ill effects. For better or worse I was drawing on that experience when I made my call.

Always great to learn what's "best", after the fact notwithstanding, and I appreciate it guys.

Hi Calvin. Thanks for the comments.

Yes, it's fair to say that I was afraid to get my internal frame pack dirty. It hadn't even occurred to me to pack in canvas sacks and use that pack to haul meat. I had my meat pack all set to go back at the rig. Another thing to possibly re-think.

I don't know what the meat weighed. He had decent body size. I worked pretty hard to get it all. My meat pack was H E A V Y with my light knives, small tarp, and 2L of water on it for the pack out. The first mile or so getting out of there was so steep it about kilt me.

Big W,

Sorry about your Huskies......

(my brother is one so I've always got to tease a little!)

My "shelf of shame" has a whole ton of fork-horn sets from blacktail. This buck will fit right in!

That being said next time I do this I'm setting a 3x3 minimum unless it's the last day or whatever. But not this time. This time I wasn't shooting a spike or one of those yearling forks you see. Other than that- game on!

Charlie, yes I was in heaven on the Blitzen! I was mostly fishing below the crossing, a mile or so down into that canyon.

My rig of choice will always be Panther Martins on 4# line and my relatively light setup. That's how we did it back in the day in NM and CO streams and rivers. This was very similar. However, I also had great luck with green/black and green/pink roostertails. The key was as always getting the right size for the water. Too light they want to skitter out of the water and too heavy and you get too many snags. I was wishing I had #5 PM's...

The fish were in the deeper slots exclusively. Not in the riffles at all.

The electricity of seeing the big flash under water as you get a fish on a spinner in a small river is my favorite type of fishing. These fish were very obliging.

Congrats Jeff.

I can�t say this thread is much of a surprise. Jeff posts and most guys are positive and some offer good advice.

Then the Jeff O posse starts with the passive aggressive BS. If you guys are so enthralled with Jeff just shoot him a PM with your �proposal�. Worst that can happen is he says NO.

Again, Congrats Jeff. Now I have to go find those directions for opening a Nosler box.

'Slave,

The game was neither lost nor wasted so you can rest your pretty little head. Sorry to cause you such consternation. Now GFY.

By the way temps in western Oregon are often quite moderate at night in deer season. I hang my deer in my shed and keep a close watch and cut when ready. I may have more experience than you with aging meat in those conditions...? I've never lost an ounce to heat spoilage.

Now pull up your big-boy panties and stop being such a dick.

Thanks John!

I think what amuses me most is when the mother hens show up and start clucking about how it's my [bleep] fault that they have to be dicks. In this case it was Ingwe and GregW doing the mother hen gig. I like both of those wankers but..... cluck cluck cluck....

I've had to give up on Noslers and either use something else, or find NOS boxes. It's a tragedy. Thank god those Hornady and Barnes boxes are idiot-proof!

Keep in mind the Berger boxes are also easy to open for those of us who suffer from �Nosler Box Syndrome�.

I still laugh everytime I properly open a box of Ballistic Tips cause I damn sure tore quite a few open before that thread.

Glad the meat was OK.

There's a lot of guys that tore those flaps open the first time John. Stupid fuggin' box....... grin.....

You still talkin' about bullets? Or another kind of box?

Lol... long story Mooner. The new Nosler box fooled me... I stepped in it pretty good.

I saw that debacle!

You were just talking about first experiences with a box, flaps, tearing.....

Never mind.

Perv!

It was

Just because you got lucky once doesn't make it a good idea to do it again.
Getting the hide off and slipping a game bag on is Numero Uno IMO.

As a hunter who has shot deer on both sides of Oregon, I would forget about what works in western Oregon when it comes to game care in Eastern Oregon during the warmer hunts. Forget heavy canvas bags or pilow cases when your backpacking too. A mesh bag or two is all you need, and they will keep the flies out.

Glad your hunt worked out, do you have a Willamette tag left?

This year I'm mainly shooting Bergs and not NBT's. Maybe the reason I shoot the NBT 2nds so much is I can sort out the zip lock they come in.....

JB and Jeff are both welcome in my camp anytime.

Dober

Yes!! Any deer, runs till February something, and includes my land in the unit boundary. I'm going to try a 120 TTSX in my 7-08 for that tag.

Also a Desolation bull elk tag in a couple weeks here. It was a good tag year. I'm going to do a backpack hunt for the elk tag too, weather permitting.

Thanks Mark. Back atcha buddy. Wish I could have you along on my elk hunt- I could use some mentoring from a master on those �!?%#! beasts.

Okay Jeff - Nice analysis. I wasn't trying to be a dick on purpose as I have no beef with you at all nor anyone else for that matter. But on your posts sometimes, it's hard not to be a dick in response (pun intended?)...grin...

But you really do go out of your way to attract attention to yourself on a public forum and then play victim. We've all learned things the hard way, me included, no doubt about that and some folks would have given you crap no matter what, as you correctly point out, but creating all sorts of posts leading up your deer hunt, discussing ballistic minutia that doesn't matter ad nauseum, posting cryptic photos and a play by play of bloody knives, fish, scenery, etc. and then saying well, I didn't get a picture of the deer and almost ruined my meat since I really didn't know what I was doing as I portray myself as on this forum.

All I'm saying is that if you wanted to limit the crap you are getting, you could have played your hand differently but you know that, you're a smart guy. Go hunt, take some pics, and tell a story with less drama and I highly suspect you'll get a better response.

Carry on with how you see fit my friend. Just some friendly observations worht about as much as you paid for it.

I've got some ideas on how to go about the camp/kill/pack/bag strategy that has worked for me on warm season hunts if you're interested. Send me a PM.