Nov. 13-19, 2022

Weather | 11/13, 26°, 37° | 11/14, 19°, 43° | 11/15, 2" snow or 0.21" moisture, 30°, 37° | 11/16, flurries, 20°, 29° | 11/17, 17°, 37° | 11/18, 15°, 27° | 11/19, snow flurries, 16°, 29° |

• Sunday, 11/13: Processing Venison
  
  • Last night, on a final check of the deer hanging in the machine shed, I heard something scratching up the trunk of the maple tree at the northeast corner of the machine shed. It moved as I moved around the tree. I saw something small leap to a branch. I think it was a flying squirrel, since regular squirrels aren't out after dark, but flying squirrels are nocturnal.
    
  • We got a late start in the morning, since we were tired from previous days of firewood splitting and yesterday evening's deer field dressing activity.
  • I sharpened 5 knives. Mary taped plastic down on the kitchen table.
  • I skinned the button buck deer hanging in the machine shed. For the first time, ever, I didn't use the Herter's knife with WGM engraved in its handle. The initials stand for Willis G. Melvin. My grandfather put his initials on the knife years ago. Instead of that knife, I used a skinning knife made by Old Timer. It has a curved blade and is excellent when used for removing the pelt. My only problem involved cold fingers while working with a hide cooled to 26°. I had to go inside 3 times to warm my hands over the woodstove.
  • After eating lunch, we processed the deer. Mary cleans fat off the outside of animal portions. I separate muscle groups and give meat chunks back to Mary. She removes silver skin, which is thick heavy skin across the meat. If not removed, silver skin contracts and makes the meat very tough. She then cuts the meat into half-pound pieces. Once we're done with a section, such as the hind quarters, Mary rinses the meat off with tap water, wraps the meat in plastic wrap. Two wrapped pieces go into a zippered freezer bag. Each bag is marked with my name, the date I shot the deer, the Missouri Dept. of Conservation deer tag confirmation number, our address, and what kind of meat is in the package, such as roast, stew, or loin. We got 31 pieces of venison out of this deer, which is surprising, since the bullet wrecked both shoulders. It was a deer with a long body, and as such, it produced more meat.
  • Mary cleaned up inside as I did outside. We finished evening chores partway through the last of our butchering. I finished the last bit of chores as darkness fell.
  • We watched 4 episodes of Keeping Up Appearances. It was fun.
    
    
• Monday, 11/14: A Missed Shot
  
  • A cool 19° with a steady southeast wind blowing made me glad I didn't venture out deer hunting this morning. I'm sure my cohort at field dressing a deer, Mary, would have told me to go right back out there and do it myself if I'd have asked her for help after shooting a deer this morning. So, I stayed in bed at 4 a.m., instead.
  • Mary washed furniture covers, a set of curtains, and some clothes.
  • After taking blankets off this morning, which were covering the winter greens, we covered the winter greens this afternoon with a sheet of plastic and weighed it down with bricks. The plastic is more appropriate with 2-4 inches of snow predicted overnight.
  • I went deer hunting at the first deer blind I created this fall, the Cherry Deer Blind. I sat down inside the blind at 2:52 p.m. An east southeast wind blew into my face. 
  • At 4:12 p.m., a coyote, about the size of a large dog, walked up the line of cedar trees to my right. It stopped about 8 feet away and stared at the bottom of the blind for several seconds. It looked up at me, but I don't think it really saw me. I'm wearing a dark gray knitted face mask to cover most of my face. It helps to disguise me. So far, deer, turkeys, and a coyote look my way, but don't run once they look at me. The coyote walked by the front of the blind, then turned and headed northwest through a cut in the line of cedar trees. Once the coyote was downwind of me, he caught my scent and bolted out across the field on a dead run.
  • Just before 5 p.m., I saw the hind leg of a deer to the north of me. All of a sudden it ran back where it came from and looked in my direction. I'm sure it caught my scent. I tried a right-handed shot through cedar branches. Immediately after shooting, I saw cedar branches close to me waving around. Obviously the bullet hit them and they diverted the shot, because the deer trotted off, casually, to the northeast. I waited 10 minutes, then walked north, in case I wounded the deer. I didn't. I just missed with my shot. The lesson I learned today was that even though .30-30 bullets are known to be brush cutters, it's a better idea to wait for an open shot, free from cedar branches, before pulling the trigger. Mary was very happy that I missed, so instead of holding deer legs while I gutted a deer, we stayed inside a warm house and ate vegetable soup tonight.
  • While I was hunting, Mary raked maple leaves in the north yard and filled the compost bin to give the bin some organic matter.
    
    
• Tuesday, 11/15: Mom's 88th Birthday
  
  • We woke to 2" of wet snow on the ground and on all tree branches. Snow-covered cedar trees made us want to sing Christmas carols. Most of the snow was melted by afternoon.
  • I updated the checkbook and balanced it.
    
  • I made waffles for our midday meal.
    
  • I hunted in the afternoon from the Bobcat Deer Blind. Around 4:20 p.m., I heard footsteps, but couldn't determine the animal's location. I stood up to look north, down a gully, and promptly heard a snort from behind me. A deer was walking down my trail to that deer blind, saw me move, and ran southwest to near the west field, where it snorted at me for about 10-15 minutes. It finally ran west. I didn't hear shots from the west, which means nobody is in that tree stand just beyond our property line. I only saw 2 squirrels. In past years that location was messy with squirrels. I decided I'm not wearing the woven face mask in wide open locations, such as Bobcat, where I need uncovered ears to determine footstep locations.
    
  • While I was out hunting, Mary rearranged and dusted books in the living room. She's finding lots of Asian ladybugs nesting on book edges. They end up in the shop vacuum. She's also putting books of similar subjects together and eliminating some so we don't have books stacked ahead of other books on the shelves.
    
  • I called Mom to wish her a happy 88th birthday. She had a good day. Mom's been calling bingo at the Circle Senior Center's weekly lunch events. Today, someone else insisted that Mom play, instead of calling the game. She won 2 games and then won the end-of-the-day pot of money. Her hip is much better. Mom hasn't used a cane for 2-3 weeks. Hank couldn't make it down from Glasgow, MT, due to poor road conditions. Winter set in with a vengeance, giving eastern MT about a foot of snow that is settling. Mom said she had a nice visit with Katie last month.
    
  • I made 2 big bowls of popcorn after Mary finished the living room library work.
  • We stayed up and watched the launch of Artemis I to the moon on NASA TV. Bill and Mary texted a few times after the rockets lifted off. I bet it was loud where Karen and Lynn once lived in Titusville, FL.
    
    
• Wednesday, 11/16: Quiet Day
  
  • Cool temperatures with northwest gusty winds means I stayed indoors instead of hunting today.
  • Mary made flour tortillas and then chimichangas for our midday meal.
  • Mary created a month-long meal menu, then a shopping list.
  • I stuck used corks into washed wine bottles that dried over the past several days. The corks keep dust out of the bottles. I moved several bottles that need cleaning out of the west room closet and replaced them with these clean bottles.
  • I refrained from racking the Kieffer pear wine for the second time, since all airlocks I own are in use. I'll wait until an order I placed a couple days ago arrives with 3 more airlocks. It shipped today from Ozark, MO, which is on the other side of the state.
  • Mary and I put blankets over the winter greens that are already covered with plastic. Predicted low temperatures are in the teens for the next four nights.
    
    
• Thursday, 11/17: Shopping & Second Deer
  
  • While walking dogs in the morning, we heard a trumpeter swan and saw 5 big ducks. In the morning light, details were hard to see, but we're quite sure they were mallards.
    
  • We went shopping in Quincy, IL, today and so did the entire population. All stores were packed with people. Mary found 70 American Heritage hardcover magazines at the Quincy Library bookstore for free. We dropped off books and got a planter, jeans, and a purse for Mary at the Salvation Army. Then, we bought food supplies.
  • We returned home at 2:30 p.m. I helped unload the pickup, then dressed and went deer hunting at the Wood Duck Deer Blind. With cold temperatures predicted the next several days, I wanted to give it a go this afternoon, since it was a few degrees above freezing.
    
  • I got to the blind at 3:36 p.m. A west-northwest wind, gusts to 22 mph, was blowing onto my left cheek as I sat there. These blinds block a lot of the wind, making them much warmer than a deer stand, where you're out in the open, up a tree. 
  • Soon after sitting down, I saw several turkeys walk to the edge of Wood Duck Pond. Then, I saw just a glimpse of a buck west of me. Next, I noticed a deer walk to the edge of the pond. I kept watching and that deer headed north to south, opposite the dry creek bed from me. I followed it while looking through the gun's scope. I saw no antlers, so when it got directly opposite of me, I shot. It instantly went down. It's another button buck, another yearling deer (see photo, below). I never heard shots from any other hunters, so I guess I was the only one hunting within this area.
    
  • Mary, who was hauling in the last load of kindling, heard the shot, waited for a text from me, and got it while she was feeding pets. She walked to the deer while I fueled then drove the tractor to the bottom of Bramble Hill. We field dressed the deer, then hauled it to the tractor. This button buck (named this, because yearling bucks only grow a small button of an antler, instead of a full set of antlers) is heavier than the last deer I shot. We hauled it home in the tractor, washed it out thoroughly, then hung it in the machine shed. Temperatures are cool for perfect conditions for hanging venison outdoors. We'll butcher it tomorrow.
  • We watched the 2015 movie, The Intern, which we really like.

  

  Another button buck, our 2nd deer of the season.

• Friday, 11/18: Our Venison Supply Is Full, As Is Our Freezer
  
  • We processed the second deer today and put 32 packages of venison in the freezer. It was pretty good, considering both shoulders were damaged from the bullet. This deer ate well and had quite a bit of fat. It was also quite hairy, with long black hair on its chest and back. There is a strain of white-tailed deer around here with black winter hair. The immense hair blocked the visibility of entry and exit wounds until I skinned the button buck. My shot hit the base of the left neck and exited the point of the right shoulder. The meat was very cold, due to sub-freezing temperatures. We finished butchering after sunset and I drove the remains to the middle of the north woods, where the remains of the deer we butchered on Sunday, 11/13 were completely gone. All that was left behind was coyote scat and the white excrement from an owl or a hawk. We now have 73 venison packages in the freezer, so we're set for the year. I won't be sitting in a blind with a rifle until next fall. I used 6 bullets this deer season...3 to sight in the rifle, 2 to harvest 2 deer, and only 1 missed shot.
    
  • Strong west winds blew all day. We kept the chickens inside the coop. Fortunately, the machine shed protected me from the gusts, even though I went inside a few times to warm up my hands.
    
  • We texted with Bill, who is bringing us metal shelving that was destined for the dump from his place of work. He also has plywood, but cannot fit it into his car. I'll make a trip in the pickup in the near future to get it.
  • We watched the 1958 movie, Auntie Mame.
  • We also went through several issues of American Heritage magazines.
    
    
• Saturday, 11/19: A Cleaning Day
  
  • It was another cold day with temperatures never getting above freezing.
  • At noon while Mary was giving new water to chickens in the coop, she heard a scream, looked up, and saw a red-tailed hawk chasing a Cooper's hawk. The Cooper's hawk performed a sharp turn to the east while the red-tailed hawk took a rest in the McIntosh apple tree.
  • Mary and I both did several house cleaning chores. Mary swept the whole house, then mopped our bedroom floor. New throw rugs we've slowly picked up over the past several months went down in the bedroom. They're really nice. She dusted all DVDs and put away books that were off shelves. I vacuumed bugs, rugs, and cleaned sinks, then did some Christmas present wrapping.
    
  • We did some reading in the evening.