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I'll trade your access to highspeed internet for my access to retardedly friendly deer.

TexasComputerDude wrote:I prefer climate controlled environments. I do however, love venison.

I've been deer hunting, and I just don't care for it. I would like to try quail or pheasant, but I don't think I could use my .45 acp.

My BIL is an avid hunter,and works for the State of Texas as an endangered species and wildlife coordinator (I don't know his title). My wife and I would occasionally get some of the leftovers after his hunting trips, but regretfully we don't see him much anymore.

I do like the deer sausage, the duck gumbo and boar.

I love hunting, started at 8 yrs old bird hunting with uncle. I do it mostly for the good food (meat) and to get in the outdoors. I haven't been able to go out in 5 years, but have a chance at a new lease this year and will get on if the spot opens up. Then I will be able to deer, hog and bird hunt...oohh yeah!!

Even if I don't bag game for the freezer I still get good video and still pix of the land and wildlife.

BigBlueDodge wrote:I could care less about trophies and quite honestly I don't understand killing for trophies (I mean who eats bear meat? Why kill it just to kill it).

Actually, bear meat makes some of the world's best chili. It's a strong-flavored meat, so does best in strong-flavored recipes. My husband and I got most of the last black bear that my dad-in-law shot, right after we were married. No one else in the family liked it very much, but we enjoyed it. (bear meat and bean chili, with cornbread.... yummy.) You can actually spice and heat the chili as hot as you want, and the bear meat doesn't get "lost" as just another texture in the mix.

My choice in this poll would be "all of the above" - with the added "it's a great way to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often anymore."

Since you asked and I have never been accused of not saying what is rummaging around in my head.

I like (although I have not had the chance to do it lately):

Hunkering down in the goatweed and tall grass with the skeeters buzzing about as the first dove buzz the cut rice fields. the recoil of my Browning with the mechanical sound of the action as it cycles with either the sight of a dove folding and falling....or with the more common sight of the bird continuing on its merry way as the shot goes where the bird was.

Dogs working a pasture, going on point, and the bobwhites exploding.....

Chasing after the blue quail through the cactus wishing for a skillet shot because those things just will not flush.

Dropping a white tail deer on a cold morning in the Hill Country, or anytime in the Hill Country.

Calling up a jake, tom, or bearded hen and making a clean shot without being seen. Marveling at the magnificent coloring of a tom turkey's feathers.

Having a freezer full of:

Dove, quail, smoked sausage, smoked jalapeno sausage, summer sausage, chili meat, backstrap, steaks.

Jerked venison.

Busting up a herd of wild pigs and having wild pork cooking over mesquite coals. 60-100 lb piggy cooked for hours over the coals. Fall off the bone tender.

Sitting around the fire ring after supper in the Hill Country chill sipping my favorite beverage, telling hunting lies, looking at the stars, arm around Mrs. Anygun.

It just does not get any better.

Anygunanywhere

Well said anygun.

Almost makes me wish I enjoyed hunting.

Well, at the ripe old (?) age of 43, I've gone from the trophy as top priority with meat as a secondary benefit to the reverse. I really enjoy the meat, and have begun processing it from shot to plate on my own, and learned to make some pretty dang good sausage, if I do say so myself. Used to hunt on leases and now my parents bought a ranch in West Texas we hunt on. Only negative is that it's a MLD area, and we have a quota and sometimes have to take a lot more deer than I really want to. We donate the extras to needy families and such, but it starts looking a lot like work.

But probably the best now, even above the good healthy meat, is getting my kids (13 and 16) involved and interested in hunting. Tons of life lessons out there, along with the appreciation for an activity that doesn't require an electrical outlet nor battery to enjoy. My daughter took her first deer at age 11 or 12, and my son at about the same age. They are both decent shots and appreciate the practice and skills that it takes to make good clean kill shots. Many good times whispering in the blind, even if it does hurt the hunting. Hopefully memories for a lifetime, like I have with my dad and family.

Just today, my 16 yr old son was saying how he couldn't wait for winter and going out on a bone-chilling morning and sitting in a blind waiting for a deer to pop out of the brush... I'm so proud.

I hunt mainly for hogs. You get a 100 pounder and you can eat for a while or even donate it. Sometimes though I do want the bragging rights

I mainly dove hunt these days. I like deer meat but don't have a place to hunt deer. I dove hunt on public hunting lands. There are public lands for deer but they are archery only or you have to get in a drawing for a slot.