doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hiding in the hills...

Prepare to be bored.
There are 6 sub species of sharptail grouse.
Each subspecies' morphology is subtley different.
The Colombian sharptail grouse developed on what is called the Columbia plateau, which is the hi grassland shrubland intersect West of the continental divide
They are a bit smaller than their cousins, with more contrast in their markings.
Named for the, you guessed it, the Columbia river system by Lewis & Clark.
Which is why I think they are cool.
The plains sharptail is east of the cd.

Many thanks, CZ.

It never ceases to amaze me how much good protein an average-sized cow elk produces. I've got easily 200 lbs of beautiful steaks, roasts, and ziplocked bags of trimmed meat (ready for the grinder). The other thing that I am once again vividly reminded of is how many hours (and days) at my kitchen table were spent in rendering all of that into my freezer and refrigerator. Just finished up a few hours ago, leaving me immensely grateful and not just a little exhausted. I've outsourced this job in the past and have never been as pleased with the results as when I do it myself...so I continue to do it. Just not sure how many more times I want to sign-up for it again. Bird hunting is so-much more tidy and easy to deal with.

Elk is my favorite venison.
I process all my own venison. I usually Skin the animal Then freeze The large muscle groups for future break down. But it depends on how much time I have.
When you shoot them four at a time,You have to plan out the butchery.I get too meticulous with the knife work, sometimes unnecessarily so, But it sure is nice having the products in the freezer ready to go.

Congrats on your success.

CZ, thankyou again. Grinding and wrapping burger today, near on close to 100 lbs. My back is killing me.

Absolutely. Counter height, how sharp your knife is, what kind of shoes you have on, all play a role when you�re breaking down deer.

I�m a big fan of putting trim into a big stainless bowl as you go along, and then every so often just bag it up in 2 pound packages squeeze the air out and put it in the freezer then just grind it when you want to use it, or if you like chunks in your chili, use it as is.

I also break down the quarters into the muscle groups, and freeze them without cutting them up.

All these things produce a better product for you when you want to cook them.

I was making raspberry jam this morning, and I remembered that I have a vacuum frozen red stag rump roast in the freezer . I think I�m going to take that out of the freezer and eat it this weekend.

It is a bunch of work cutting up an elk and the last one I cut up, I was kind of thinking the same thing about outsourcing the next one, but I'll probably end up (if I get one this year) cutting it up myself.

Every time I do cut up an elk, I try to think about the time I cut up 3 bull AK moose with a a couple of guys and then I think cutting an elk up isn't so bad!

Battery powered chainsaw.

1 down, 2 to go....

The way we use it, having it ready to go is preferable. Pull out a roll or 2 of meat (~2lbs.) and make burgers, or meatloaf, or chili, etc.

That�s a number 10 grinder, it works great. I think I have the same one. I almost hesitate to say that there was a moment when I knocked myself unconscious with it.