Recent hunting...

Nice work Ben, makes me dearly miss "England's green and pleasant land"!

Could you please explain the leaves on the carcass? Is that similar to the German tradition of placing foliage in the mouth as a mark of respect? LMP, perhaps you can please elaborate on that?

Ben is following hunting traditions which is a nice thing to do to show your respect for the animal that gave its life.
The twig you put into the animals mouth is the so called „last bite“
The twig you put on the wound is the so called „erleger bruch“ which is something like an honour for the shooter.
It should have some blood on it and the shooter if he is on his own will take the twig and put it on his hat.
On a group hunt another member of the party will present the twig to the shooter.
Twigs come usually from certain trees that are ment to be used for that purpose.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by littlemorepork

Ben is following hunting traditions which is a nice thing to do to show your respect for the animal that gave its life.
The twig you put into the animals mouth is the so called „last bite“
The twig you put on the wound is the so called „erleger bruch“ which is something like an honour for the shooter.
It should have some blood on it and the shooter if he is on his own will take the twig and put it on his hat.
On a group hunt another member of the party will present the twig to the shooter.
Twigs come usually from certain trees that are ment to be used for that purpose.

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What he said... :)
In former times the twig on the animal also indicated that is was touched and claimed by the hunter who harvested it.
We consider quarry to be free and not property until it is harvested.
With this gesture the free deer becomes venison and my property...
Of course, stuff without real legal relevance in todays world where transport is instantly available.
But I like to keep these small rituals alive.
And just for myself it is always a short brake to never forget what is acutally going on here.
Taking a life to nourish others.

Just my take on it.

Cheers
Ben

Yearling sambar stag. Was on the way back to camp on a run down farm shortly after sunset. Got one last trip too.
30.06 did the job.

Waidmannsheil 😉
This is going to be nice venison for sure! 👌🏻

Yep, hung in 3c over night. Butchered and on ice by about 11.30. Hanging in the beer fridge that evening (saturday) probably bag it up Wednesday.

What's best way to cook eye fillets?

This weekend I joined a small driven hunt with just a few dogs and friends...
Not too bad for two hours in the field.

I managed to secure two of the little ones myself.

Attachment 261942

So nice to enter this type of hunting season.
I really enjoy hunting solo but there is something about hunting with the dogs and friends for driven wild boar...

Cheers
Ben

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Yep, hung in 3c over night. Butchered and on ice by about 11.30. Hanging in the beer fridge that evening (saturday) probably bag it up Wednesday.

What's best way to cook eye fillets?

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Hot frypan,butter fat or oil ,quick fry them in one piece, slice when you think cooked.i like to slice one in half when think it's medium rare...then if want it cooked more slice n give quick 30 seconds or so moving in pan...if like it medium rare,just slice n serve. Beauty of cooking as a log...you get to slice into rings,steaks after its cooked.keeps moisture in meat and you can keep middle rings less cooked than the ends of log. Works well for backstrap too.

@Micky Duck
:redbullsmiley:
Back strap steaks were fantastic fried in butter. Thx :)

I recently tried your cooking method MD. A vast improvement on my previous method so thanks for sharing.

Hey folks...

Hunting has been a bit slow due to work load in the last weeks but I managed to look after geese now and then.
They are coming slowly but surely now and starting to do damage to the winter crop...
By now I secured five.

All with the trusty 308 as there is now way of getting close enough for a shot shell in the fields here.
Mighty small target @150 meters and out...

Attachment 263413

Also one of the reasons why I like my 308 to be sighted in with deforming copper solids and results around 0.5 MOA:
Attachment 263412
To me that looks better than a lot of geese that took a 17 HMR to the boiler room.

Cheers
Ben

Good shooting,geese are nice cooked right.We round up the flappers (none flying)here at Xmas time,nice eating.

For some time now I jumped on the "sous vide" train.
Especially if there already some "flight hours" on the bird... ;)

With wild geese I just pluck the breasts and legs.
Cut them out.
Maybe the heart.
No sense in doing the whole bird.
Just too lean.

Then I put these cuts in a vacuum bag and cook it slooooooooowly.
Well worth the time!
Super tender and yummy stuff.

Cheers
Ben

Alright...
It has been way too long since I posted here last time. :O_O:
I had an insane end of 2024 workwise and was abroad quite a bit.

BUT I managed to really follow through with my trip to New Zealand in February and March and hunt Tahr, Fallow, Pig and Wallaby.
Oh boy... I had a blast and New Zealand was nothing but amazing!
You guys have a true gem there and on the last evening after five weeks I just wanted to stay.
The country, the people, the wildlife...
Just gotta love it!

As this forum also contributed to my successful hunt by providing crucial contact information I had to post the result here:

Attachment 272113

Not a monster for most but a giant for me!
I literally waited years for this to happen and I got the hunt I always wanted.
Hunting with true "Kiwis" as they do it and in the mountains of the South Island.
I had an awesome time on the hunt, a proper stalk on my bull and saw quite a few more.
Super happy that we were able to retrieve the animal.
As I found out: That really is not a given!

Now I have only one problem:
Putting together the next trip to your beautiful country! :thumbsup:

Cheers
Ben

Plenty of Sika Deer up in the Russel state Forest in Nthland or used to be... there's a story !!! :-))