AHAMO ARCHERY CLUB September 15, 2000 September 2000 Newsletter CLUB OFFICERS President: Bill Rhoades (932-0417) Vice President: Bill Lewis (498-9364) Secretary: Dave Wise (498-0186) Treasurer: Dave Holthouse (291-0211) Trustees: Bill Arledge (393-5371) Ed Rebarich (345-7608) Sergeant at Arms: Mike Vandeman (332-4625) News Editor: Lee Pereksta (592-3856) 3D Coordinator: Dustin White (402 235-2646) Indoor range phone (734-7272)
Key Dates to Remember
Sept 12 Start of indoor leagues Indoor Range 7:00 PM Sept 15 Opening of Archery Deer Season Oct 2 Club Meeting - Indoor Range
September 11 Club Meeting
Club Meeting Highlights
The September meeting was attended my 17 members. We discussed a workparty to clean the indoor range and re-stack cardboard, leagues, keeping the indoor range clean, and voted in three new members. Dick Sousa won the incentive drawing for $21.00.
New Members
There were three new members voted in at the club meeting. New members are: Jeremy Wood, Mark and Rhonda Seip, and Ron and Tami Perez.
Welcome to the Ahamo Archery Club.
Indoor Leagues
Indoor leagues Started on September 12. If you missed the first night there is still time to join. Just be there on Tuesday and ask to join the league. You can also shoot along with the league without joining if you would like. Leagues are a lot of fun and they allow you to pick up a lot of pointers and equipment tips. If you want to improve your overall archery knowledge and skills, shoot in a league.
Big Buck Contest
Like last year, Ahamo will be giving an award for the buck with the largest rack. If you get a buck this year and want to enter it in the big buck contest just bring it down to a club meeting. Lee Pereksta will measure it for the club award. The measurement will be ‘unofficial’ and there is no need to wait for the ‘drying’ period.
Big Game Awards
Ahamo awards all members with big game awards at our annual banquet in January. If you get a deer, just notify Lee Pereksta so he can add your name to the list of those that harvest game. Ahamo awards a very nice plaque to members that shoot a deer, then awards plates to attach to the plaque for deer shot in following years.
Keep Your Range Clean!
Members have been complaining about cleaning up the trash of others. At a bare minimum, please leave the range as you find it. Put your pop cans in the trash cans, pick up the papers you toss aside when you tune your bow, and throw out any fast food trash when you finish. If you want to do a little extra, then try leaving the range just a little cleaner than you find it.
Newsletter Items
If you are a club member and have an item for sale, please send me the information and I’ll put it in the newsletter. I also welcome newsletter articles. My Email address is:
hunterlee@msn.com
Targets for Sale
There are some used 3D targets available for sale from the club. If you would like to purchase some decent 3D targets at a reasonable price, please contact Mike Vandeman. Mike will arrange to meet you at the range and will open up the back room where the used targets are. Mike’s number is 332-4625.
Field Dressing Your Deer
In 30 plus years of hunting I’ve watched quite a few people field dress their animals and have dressed almost 40 deer myself. There are several techniques that can be followed and the best is always what works for you. The following is the method I use.
1. Field dressing kit.
All you really need is a sharp knife, but there are some things that you may also want on hand. My kit consists of a small knife, a small towel, several paper towels, a sharp game saw, some water, rope, string to attach the tag, and a plastic bag for the heart. I also carry a small bottle of water with a little vinegar to help wash out the blood when I’m through.
Note that your knife does not need to be big. When I first started hunting I used a large buck knife with a 6 inch blade. That was much too large. Most hunters use a folding knife with a 3 inch locking blade. I now use a very small buck knife with only a 2 inch blade. I once watched someone use the blade of a Gerber tool to field dress a deer. The key is that it must be very sharp.
2. Preparing to field dress your deer
Be certain your broadhead is not inside the body cavity. Make every effort to find your arrow. If you can’t locate the broadhead, check to see if there is an entry and an exit point in the carcass. If you are not certain the broadhead is not in the carcass you should open the deer up carefully during the field dressing process and use an arrow without a broadhead to poke around inside the cavity until you locate the broadhead.
Tag your animal first - this is the law, and I always do this right away. With the new paper tags, you will at least need to punch your holes indicating the date of the kill. Next, drag the deer to where you want to field dress it. I always look for a flat area with two small trees on each side of the deer. I also lay my towel next to the deer and lay out everything I will be using, on or next to the towel.
3. Make your first cut
The first cut should e around the anus. It is much easier to cut around the anus while the deer is on its side, before you spread its back legs out. Cut around the anus first. Pull it out a little and cut around it as you pull it out. I cut in about 3 inches or so deep.
4. Spread out the hind legs and cut from the breastbone
I use two pieces of rope to spread the legs out, stretching them out between two small trees. You can also have someone hold them apart.
Begin cutting at the breastbone. I pull up on the hair and cut into the hide right at the breastbone. Once started, I cut into the hide (including the belly muscle), insert two fingers and pull up as I cut.
Keep pulling and cutting until you get to the sex organs. Pull up on these and cut around them. There is a long tube running from the sex organs to the anus on a buck. Cut into the meat and along side of this as you pull up on it. When I get to the anus, I cut this off and toss it aside. I’m not sure what others do, but I cut around the nipples of a doe just in case there is milk present.
5. Cut through the Pelvic bone with your saw
This is not necessary. Some people cut deeper than I do when cutting around the anus, and pull the anus back out from the inside. I prefer to split the bone. I cut through the meat straight down to the bone with my knife, then use my saw to cut through the pelvic bone. I pull back on the intestines from the inside to prevent cutting the bladder. When I am almost all of the way through, I lean on each side of the back legs to pop the bone open.
6. Cut through the diaphragm
The diaphragm is a thin piece of tissue separating the stomach and chest cavity. To get to the heart and lungs you must cut through this tissue. I cut around the entire cavity, through the diaphragm. I also pull the stomach to one side, then the other while cutting through whatever tissue is attached between the stomach and the body cavity. This will make it easier to pull out the stomach.
7. Pull everything out of the body cavity
To do this, some people split the breast bone first. Some will also use their knives, which can be very dangerous. It is very easy to have a knife slip and cut yourself or someone else while cutting through the breast bone. If you want to split the breast bone, cut through the hide first, then use a saw to cut the bone.
I leave the bone in-tact and reach in up to my elbows. Keeping the knife in one hand, reach in with your knife hand ahead of the other, and reach in until your trailing hand can grasp the wind pipe as far in as possible. Cut through it with your knife, and carefully pull your knife out turning it away from your hand that is inside the deer. Toss the knife onto your towel and reach back in to pull the wind pipe. At this point, everything should pull out, all the way and over the back legs.
8. Final steps
After pulling everything out, I always hang my deer in a tree and spread the legs to let it drain. I have a rope and pulley system I use for this, but you can pull it up without pulley’s or elevate it a little on a log or hill. The important thing is to drain the blood out as best as you can. I also wipe the carcass as clean as I can with paper towels and also use a vinegar and water wash to help cut through the blood and clean it out a little better. Clean it as well as possible and let it hang until you’re ready to start dragging.
If you leave your deer while you carry your equipment out, note that Nebraska requires that you roll your tag up and tie it to the inside of the deer’s ear.
Be sure to clean up your paper towels, and to cut out and save the heart. If you don’t like the heart, you’re missing out on a treat. My wife makes a great pate with my deer heart that is always a hit over the holidays.
If anyone does anything different when field dressing their deer, please send me a note and I’ll add it to the next newsletter. I also welcome any articles you would like to write on deer hunting. If there is room in the next newsletter I’ll write an article on getting your deer out of the woods, and how to take care of it until you get to the butcher.
Would you like to form a league?
Leagues are currently run on Tuesday nights. At the club meeting, Bill Rhoades mentioned that we are not committed to that night alone. If anyone in the club wants to run any kind of a league they are welcome to hold one on any open night. Just contact a board member to request a night and he will clear it with the rest of the board. You are free to make up any kind of league you want.
Work Party Teams
Below are the current Work Party teams. Note the team you are on and be sure to help out at the shoots your team is responsible for.
TEAM 1. Team Leader Bill Rhoades Team Members Ed Rebarich Steve Murphy Dick Glaseman Bill Arledge Ervin Huffman Roy Canterbury Rich Stone Wayne Hale John Swinarski Mary Wagner Jesus (Jesse) Gonzalez Scott Baily Mike Stanner Bobbi Boze Marvin Tippery James Chandler John Biller Ed Kratz Dan Cady Pat Thomas Jeff Micek Mark Seip Tom Riddle TEAM 2. Team Leader Rich Chandler Team Members Dave Holthouse John Gregory Jack White Bill Lewis Greg Thomas Dave Wise Jack Nelson Lee Pereksta Brian Whitacre Ron Taylor Kit Secord Mike Anzalone Ryan Jardine John Terfone Bob Gregory Scott Long Dick Sousa Steve Sharp Tony Joy Steve Chedester Harry Thompson Jeremy Wead Ron Perez
Bowhunter Education
The State of Nebraska requires that everyone born after Jan 1, 1977 take a bowhunter education course in order to hunt with a bow and arrow. Also, students must reach his or her 11th birthday in the year the class is being taken in order to be a certified graduate of Bowhunter Education.
You can call Game and Parks at (402) 332-3901 to inquire about available classes. Note also that the Ahamo Web Page has a link to the Game and Parks web page. The web page contains a list of classes scheduled and a lot of good information about deer hunting. If you’ve never visited the Nebraska Game and Parks web page it would be worth your while to do so. It contains a lot of good outdoors information about our State.
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