So, trim the fat off. Unlike beef, venison doesn't have fat throughout the muscle fiber. It is on the outside of the muscle and can easily be removed during the butchering process if you cut your own meat, like I do. Venison by its very nature is a lean meat no matter how big or old the deer it comes off of is.

I'm a meat hunter myself but I'd take the buck in that picture if he offered me a shot. I don't care about the antlers, but that is a lot of meat walking away and that deer would probably feed me and the wife for most of a year. BOOM! Get the skinning knife out!

I just got in to bear hunting this year/season...I would shoot a 700+lb bear and figure out how to get it out of the wood later...like others said...I have yet to see a "BIG" bear here...maybe next season...

The buck in that pic or a huge bear would be a shoot now and figure it out later proposition for me.

Flags: I know you're looking at that buck as an eater...and so am I, but that thing would make an amazing shoulder mount. On a caribou form.

And the antlers are bigger than they look. Like a Canadian buck, the rack looks small on a huge deer.

Agreed. It is a really good buck. But even it it had a busted rack or a set of spikes, I'm shooting because with that body he represents an awful lot of protein on the hoof. I've got all the racks I need collecting dust. To me antlers merely stir the stew and it is the stew I'm after now. I wasn't always this way, when I was younger I was after the big buck but with over 100 deer already to my credit, I've changed my viewpoint.

Very slowly...Hope there is snow on the ground and get a lot of friends. Ropes on each leg at least one guy per rope, and one guy manning the head to lift it over logs. Also a few other buddies to carry guns and clear a path helps. We took a 530 lber out this way a few years back about a half a mile to the road. Luckily it was a downhill drag

I took a quick look at the rules, the only stipulation I see is that Bears should be field-dressed before being brought to a check station, as Game Commission personnel do not need to examine reproductive tracts. I don't specifically see that you cannot skin the bear & bring it in in quarters, wonder if this has ever been tried before?

As far as hunting bear with dogs, I'd love to give it a try. That was the preferred method back at the time of the settlers, why not sample a little slice of tradition?

its not like it used to be, its still exciting but it reminds me more of a video game anymore.
RR

The thing I like about the dog hunts is that they're shorter. You can go on a 3 day hunt. Fall hunts are tough to take a kid on because of school.

For the people that have shot black bear before.I shot a nice size bear with my bow 3 days ago at 20 yrds.I shot him behind the shoulder and bout 10 inchs up.My arrow had blood all the way down it.I had a good trail for about 70 yrds.We pushed him after about an hour wait and backed out.The next day I tracked blood bout 30 more yrds and found a big puddle of blood where he layed but the blood stopped there.I have looked for probably 15 hours in the last few days with no luck.What's peoples thoughts on what happen,and has anyone else had this happen.I can't imagine him not being dead.The blood was dark and he stop twice from running within the first 50 yrds.

From my limited experiance on bear hunting id say look for the nastiest thickest cover near by or any place he can crawl into without being in veiw.but thats just my limited experiances with trailing bears.