I like to chef with my venison but it wasn’t till I hunted whitetails in Texas before I tried bacon wrapped Jalapeno poppers. My taste buds went absolutely crazy, when I ate one fresh off the grill or out of the oven. You use 1/2 seeded jalapeno with cream cheese, add a thin slice of marinated backstrap and wrap it in bacon and roast. It is not uncommon to stuff your popper with a taste of meat, and tender strips of venison backstrap is perfect. Below, I cooked these with jalepeno peppers, and for my wife I cooked with green bell peppers (no heat). Honestly, the heat in the jalapeno’s with seed removed is very mild and blends well with the saltiness of the bacon, cheese and venison. My wife’s comments were; “I could have these for dinner, they are so good!
I found this recipe below that ideally does justice to these poppers. I can taste them from here! If the jalapeno seeds are removed there is just a bit of heat but the crispy bacon, venison and smooth melted cream cheese comes through but be careful as they are addicting as all-get-out!
Key to the crispy bacon is to precook some that can still be wrapped around the poppers as the recipe suggests.
Of course you can add meat or not but it is the bacon, a bit of spice from the jalapeno and the melted creaminess of the cream cheese. I recently had some poppers with cream cheese and three cheese Mexican added to the cream cheese. It’s all good! I like a cold beer to chase it!
The sun was shining brightly as my plane touched down in San Angelo, Texas on November 11th, 2020. It was a glorious day, and I was on an exciting hunt!
I last hunted in the Lone Star State in 2018 and wanted a chance to see and maybe harvest an even larger buck than in 2018 which was already a huge 144 B&C buck.
At the baggage claim, I was greeted by Clayton Kibbe, 19 years old, in his new Blue 4×4 Jeep, later to be my guide.
Clayton, boastfully tells me of his bona fides, he was brought up in a serious hunting family around the famous 825,000 acre King Ranch in South Texas and its Legacy. He proved that time and again!
I arrived in camp and Ted the lead guide said I had the choice of any bunk. Nice! Camp is simple, and part of the Cargile Ranch, a house for bunks and bath, a large barn, and dining building, but very functional with a separate dining room for a dozen hunters or more.
Pictured below on the far end is Ted our lead guide, Clayton and hunter Brian who is getting married next month. Congrats! Yes, you can see the Covid social distancing here too!
On the hunt there were just 4 hunters in camp as the rut has just begun. The following week will see a dozen hunters. In the kitchen is Rhonda, Ted’s wife and the camp cook and teacher of 30 years now retired. Very knowledgeable and fun to talk to! Thanks so much! I teased her when I arrived! “Beach Boys “Help me Rhonda” she smiled. She is also a skilled hunter and a great shot, attested by her husband Ted on Huge Moose and Deer and Safari hunts! Hunters Skip, in the hat, and Sawyer, another young Texas hunter getting some dinner.
The Whitetails on this ranch are managed by Greg Simons of Wildlife System, Inc. The cattle ranch is around 24000 acres with dozens of hunting blinds set up in it. Most of the trees on the property are mesquite, large juniper with some live Oaks in the mix.
The hunting box blinds are slightly elevated, mostly hand made of plywood, with several highly elevated box blinds. Below view from one of the many blinds. These simple blinds are great! Just keep those hornets away, and they did.
Texas Wildlife folks say there is plenty of game here in the Edwards Plateau this year. But it has been a dry summer and hard on the deer, we discovered.
The ranch owner John Cargile showed up and we chatted about the deer health and dry weather. The Texas State folks mandate that the ranch should harvest 200 does this season to balance the herd. I hope they do as I saw near to 100 deer or more on my 3 days afield.
On November 12th just in the morning alone we counted 30 whitetails and ended the days count in the 50’s. That is more deer seen than in my lifetime in New Hampshire, many were 8 point bucks. I brought 2 rifles but chose the Weatherby in 6.5 Creedmoor as the shots may be longer.
Below is my new Tactacam video footage of my shot on a Texas 8 point buck. I had the Tactacam up near the muzzle and not quite level as the picture is quite a bit angled. I will have to fix that on the next hunt. Don’t get dizzy…
You can see the Weatherby rifle flash and the buck jumping 3 feet off the ground at the shot. It was an excellent shoulder hit with Nosler Trophy Grade 6.5 Creedmoor 140 grain AccuBonds as you will see in the later video Part 2. My Leupold VX-3 scope did it’s job with great clarity!
My Crazy Smile tells it all, for the buck I just harvested. A nice shot from my Weatherby and great buck! I was using a Leupold VX-3 scope. This buck did not come close to my other buck but he was mature and somehow I felt compelled to the shot. I had a great rest, and a steady aim!
Later my hunting friend Skip, who lives just outside of San Antonio, shot an even better buck. Well, actually he shot and supposedly missed one as he and guide Clayton found no hair or blood. He didn’t! We eventually found him after the coyotes started eating his back side the next day. A call to the office allowed him to take a second buck but had to pay an other sizable harvest fee. Skip didn’t hesitate on the extra fee and was rewarded with this nice buck. He offered me the buck deer meat and I accepted.
Below are the many Angus cattle, momma and calves in a protective munge. What’s goin’ on, they moo, as they are transfixed by us hunters.
I made it back home safe and sound with some 30 pounds of boned venison that I took on the plane in a wheeled cooler. I had Rhonda buy the cooler for me at the local Walmart for $24 bucks. Thanks Rhonda! I located a game processor in town that would ship the rest of the frozen boned venison back via ground. It was expensive but I love my wild game meat.
Here back in Plaistow, NH I began the process of butchering the boned meat. Below are backstraps that I have laid out to remove silver skin. I vacuum seal all of my game meat, it is essential to prevent freezer burn and can last a very long time in a freezer. I do have a large power meat grinder for making burger and sausage.
My wife and I enjoy cooking and chefing in our large kitchen and wild game is often on the menu. We have moose, boar and deer in the freezer. Since I have retired, I enjoy chefing a step above menu for when Sue gets home from her duties as microbiologist and medical technologist at a major hospital. Great to get the PPE off!
We love venison cooked in our blue Dutch oven below. Somehow the antlers just don’t seem to fit!!
But it creates a great finished product. OMG Sooo Good!
In all I harvested one buck and 2 does and will receive meat from Skip’s buck making 4 deer in the freezer. Should last us, along with other organic wild game a very long while indeed. I haven’t bought any beef burger all year.
Check out my Thanksgiving recipe for Venison Jalapeno Poppers!
From my experience, the rut has the largest effect on deer movement, so I recommend you hunt into the rut. Why? Bucks that are in search of a mate are more susceptible to be attracted to calls, rattles and scents. Bucks that have found a mate or does that found a buck are less likely to be attracted to sounds and smells.
Early aggressive buck behavior and receptive does, for mating begins here in the Northeast in very late October and peaks around November 20th or thereabouts. By late November nearly all does have neared completion of the first estrous cycle. As I said, bucks are harder to pull away from does as the rut progresses. Late November, Post rut, the bucks are looking but most does are bred, but now bucks can again be more susceptible to calls like a doe bleat. In the photo above, my brother and I filled our tags after Thanksgiving with two dandy New Hampshire bucks taken near the 13 mile woods above Berlin! My brother took his with a Ruger M77 in 300 Win Mag and my buck fell to a 338 Win Mag. Neither buck took a step!
Snow helps hunters see where the deer tracks are, and increases the ability for hunters to see deer. It is best to dress warm and stay still on a deer stand, eat a candy bar and hunker down. I learned this hunting near the 13 mile woods near Errol, NH when I took my first deer many years ago. I was “on stand” earlier than those in our hunting camp. I greeted them going out with my deer in tow as they were coming in.
My best times to call in a buck are the last week in October and first week in November. I have observed does at dusk moving toward buck bedding areas during the early rut. Below, this little buck was called in with a fawn bleat.
I like late October to first week November. If muzzleloader hunting, it is prime for getting a shot at a big buck moving normally that is not disturbed. He can be called with a grunt tube or rattled in. In the right wind, you can often smell tarsal gland, that means there is a buck in front of you! That happened to me, but I was too young to understand its implication. The buck slipped away.
Often these bucks are not far from does and waiting for them to come into estrous, constantly smelling them down wind. Or when bedded on a hill side, smelling the updraft in early morning. I took a dandy eight point during muzzleloader season by grunting and rattling. I saw a doe nearby so I played like two bucks vying for the chance to mate. The hidden buck came in for a fight. I shot him at 20 yards and he went down ker-plop.
I took another eight point by sneaking in his bedding area and used scents to create curiosity during the first day of Shotgun season. He came in looking from almost behind me. I thought it was a squirrel! I saw his antler first, then his head. My shotgun was pointed in the wrong direction, I gasped mentally. The buck new something was not quite right but curious to see my face. I kept hiding my face as I raised the shotgun in alignment with a tree so he could not see it. Finally at 20 yards I swung the shotgun to shoot. In less than a second he bolted but stopped broadside at 40 yards, still not sure what spooked him. A one ounce slug was on its way and struck his shoulder. A follow-up shot finished his curiosity. This particular hunt was my best ever because I got the drop on him in his bedroom.
Why does rifle season kill so many deer? There are lots of deer hunters looking and bumping deer into hunters.
Rattling and buck grunting is not as effective in late season so I would not include it in my tool bag for mid November.
Finding a vantage point for active deer trails that cross, with wind advantage are great places to take a stand, as are places you expect hunters to push deer in your direction.
There are several large deer studies that conclude that moon phase effects deer in a minor way. Perhaps the most deer movement related to the moon is when it nears a new moon phase where data and experience suggest there is slightly more daytime movement. Hunting the moon phase, based on the existing data, is not reliable but helps if your gonna hunt those days anyhow.
Being observant of the wind is your best friend. Keep the wind in your face if “still hunting”.
