Deer Hunting Pictures plus Norlund Hatchet PIC HEAVY, CAUTION: Hunting pics

M3mphis

M3mphis

Joined
Jan 13, 2011
Messages
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Here's a little picture story of our deer hunting experience over the weekend in the Owyhee Mountains of Southwestern Idaho.

Saturday was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm with a gentle breeze.
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Lots of this to hike through.
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A view bought with sweat and burning quads.
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My cousin Tyler had the first harvest. This is a "forked horn only" hunt (meaning at least one side must have two points or less).
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After field dressing his deer, Tyler and my brother start packing it out. I took a walk to look over the next ridge. I sat for awhile and glassed two deer that I never ID'ed as does or bucks. After watching for awhile, I looked up to see that I was being watched by a sheep.
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I only brought a tiny pocket camera, so I tried to take some pics through my scope.
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It didn't work so well, but it was sure a beautiful sight. After watching the sheep for fifteen minutes or so, I decided to head back and catch up with the other guys. About 20 feet later, I spooked an eligible buck. Unfortunately, I shot poorly and wounded him (please don't rake me over the coals, I'm a very careful hunter and this is only the second deer in my life that I have not dropped on the spot). So I had to track him. By the time I found him and field dressed him, it was getting very close to nightfall.
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I used my new-to-me Norlund hatchet for part of the field dress and later part of the skinning. Also used it to make three fires over the weekend. I'd say it's a little soft to hold a great edge, but when I mistakenly hit a rock after chopping a dead piece of sage brush out of the ground, it only rolled slightly and was an easy repair.

I decided to leave him and hike back to the other guys. By the time I made it to them it had been pitch black for a good hour. In the mean time, my brother had also got a buck, dressed it, and loaded it in the truck. We decided to take a small road up to retrieve my deer. We crested a ridge and were able to get a call out on my cell since we were running later than planned with our families. Guess what? Tyler's wife was going in to labor! We decided to leave my deer and retrieve it in the morning. We got Tyler home by 11:30pm. His third daughter was born around 5am. :thumbup:

This morning (Sunday) my brother and I headed out to retrieve my buck. The weather was not so pleasant this time. On and off rain, lightening, thunder. Absolutely beautiful...and wet and muddy.
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All three deer are recovered and hanging. A great adventure, meat for the freezer, and enough hiking to give me quad cramps...quite a successful weekend.

Well friends of the axe, tomahawk, and hatchet forum, I hope you enjoyed the pics. Thanks.

Matt
 
Nice pictures and congratulation on the meat. Hope I do as well next week. Glad the Norlund is working up to your expectations.

Howard
 
thats awesome, nice work!
no luck here yet, but we have until the weekend after thanksgiving...
i mainly go for elk, but i did get my WT and muley tags this year too...
i'm planning on using my little norlund some on hunting trips as well.
thanks for the pics;)
 
I will put in my order for jerky now. Nice looking country, quite different from what I am used to, and hence nice to see.

Just how did you use the hatchet for field dressing? How did you like it for field dressing? Was it easy to use, good with bones, easy to remove hide with the poll, etc? Norlunds are popular, and I am wondering how it worked out. I have only used one very limited, and nothing with deer or game.

Awesome pics, new arrival also, and a good time overall it looks like. Well done. Now I must plan a trip there. Damn.
 
Thanks, guys. It's interesting country for sure. If you keep heading southwest from the pictured area you will climb into huge aspen groves, followed by evergreen forest.

Here's a spot from last year's elk hunt. Sadly, I don't think I will have time to go for elk this year. :(
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As for the Norlund. I used it to remove the scent glands and to open up the hide layer for gutting. I was running out of daylight so I pulled out my buck and finished the job. As for skinning, I tried using the poll to push the hide away. I didn't like it much for two reasons: First, I felt like I might push the bit right into my wrist especially with the way that the Hudson Bay pattern is bearded. Secondly, the square poll is a little bit awkward to push between the hide and body. I usually just pull the hide with one hand and use a knife to easily severed the fatty connecting tissue. The blade of the Norlund was fine for that. The hatchet makes quick work of the spine, but the legs are more difficult to chop. A saw seems easier on the legs. The hatchet is a little awkward for the finer work during gutting (like cutting around the anus). This was the first time I've tried using a hatchet to process game. I could use the Norlund to do the whole job, but I'm much more efficient with a skinning knife and hand saw. Maybe it's only because that's what I'm used to. A lot of guys don't like gut hooks, but the gut hook on my buck is razor sharp and opens deer hide like undoing a zipper. I'm not going to leave my knife behind, that's for sure. However, a guy could make do. That being said, I won't leave the hatchet behind either.

After I found the buck, I quickly made a big fire and threw a bunch of green willow branches on it. I thought the other guys would see my smoke and know where I was at. They never saw the smoke. Lessons: 1. willows make lousy smoke signals 2. a hatchet makes a fire much more expeditiously than a saw, yep, that's right saw guys, at least IMO.
 
bearhunter said:
thats awesome, nice work!
no luck here yet, but we have until the weekend after thanksgiving...
i mainly go for elk, but i did get my WT and muley tags this year too...
i'm planning on using my little norlund some on hunting trips as well.
thanks for the pics;)
Click to expand...

So, you can buy WT and muley tags (as in two deer per year)?
 
no not really. if you want the option to kill a muley, you have to apply for a special 'unlimited' mule deer permit for a certain district. you have to apply before june 1 of each year. if you do not apply you can not just buy one over the counter. not all districts have this option, the 'unlimited' permits in the district i hunt (where i live) has only been avaliable for 3 years or so.
the mule deer permit cost 5 bucks but has to be used with "a valid deer A permit".
so...you can only get 1 buck either a muley or WT, but you cant get the muley without the 'special permit'. i know, confusing...:)
you can also apply for 'limited' doe WT permits (i didn't get mine this year, but did 2 years ago) we use to be able to buy the doe tags OTC, but wolf predation along with a couple bad winters screwed that all up...
anyway, hope this makes sense...
 
bearhunter said:
no not really. if you want the option to kill a muley, you have to apply for a special 'unlimited' mule deer permit for a certain district. you have to apply before june 1 of each year. if you do not apply you can not just buy one over the counter. not all districts have this option, the 'unlimited' permits in the district i hunt (where i live) has only been avaliable for 3 years or so.
the mule deer permit cost 5 bucks but has to be used with "a valid deer A permit".
so...you can only get 1 buck either a muley or WT, but you cant get the muley without the 'special permit'. i know, confusing...:)
you can also apply for 'limited' doe WT permits (i didn't get mine this year, but did 2 years ago) we use to be able to buy the doe tags OTC, but wolf predation along with a couple bad winters screwed that all up...
anyway, hope this makes sense...
Click to expand...

I see. Don't get me started on the modern complications of buying tags...the elk hunting system in Idaho has become pretty bureaucratic. Maybe it is necessary, or maybe it just drives better revenue, or maybe it just helps to justify somebody's salary, I have no idea. But it sure ain't like it was even 10 years ago.
 
Man thats sweeet...Your deer hunt'n territory sure looks a lot different than mine...I know how your guys out west deer tag systems are..crazy...Congradulations..
 
Dang that looks like a lot of fun! Great story for your cousin to tell his little girl! Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

What type of rifle were you using if you don't mind me asking?

Also, your part of Idaho looks quite a bit like Northern California. Interesting stuff.
 
Thanks, Everyone.

Chris Pierce said:
Dang that looks like a lot of fun! Great story for your cousin to tell his little girl! Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

What type of rifle were you using if you don't mind me asking?

Also, your part of Idaho looks quite a bit like Northern California. Interesting stuff.
Click to expand...

My trusty old Rem model 700 ADL .270. I was using hand loads that my brother made for me as a groomsman's gift for being in his wedding a few months ago. Pretty cool.

EDIT TO ADD: No newfangled model 700 here, this baby was made in 1971.
 
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Nice thread. You always hear people saying it's possible to field dress animals with "just an axe." It's nice to see someone put that to the test.

I always carry a small, but sharp Fiskars hatchet when deer hunting because Francis Sell said to.:o


I was woodcutting in D8 yesterday. There are little raggedy ribbons of snow on the ground at 8,000' and you can finally hear people taking the occasional rifle shot at mulies. I better go play hookie and try to fill my tag. Time is running out.

We have reasonable quantities of quail and chukkar this year, in the Eastern Sierra. Not excessive numbers, but they are out there.
 
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