CLUB OFFICERS President:Steve Williamson(597-6917) Vice President:Dick Sousa(592-8045) Secretary:Tom Bockman(344-8019) Treasurer:Brent Simmerman(597-9497) Trustee:Ed Rebarich(345-7608) News Editor:Lee Pereksta(592-3856) Tournament Director: Mike Vandeman(332-4625) NBBC Event CoordinatorSteve Doty(850-7681) Indoor Range Coordinator: Mike Nickels(326-5779)
Indoor range phone (734-7272)
Key Dates to Remember
September 15—Opening of Nebraska deer season
October 3 — Startup of JOAD, 8:30 am
October 5 — Club meeting, indoor range 7pm
September Club Meeting The September meeting was held on August 31. There were 9 members in attendance. We discussed replacing the indoor range backstops, JOAD, and other items.
New Members We voted in one new member at the September meeting, Marv Niederhous; welcome Marv, to the Ahamo Archery Club.
Work Party to Replace Backstops:
The workparty to replace the backstops was held on August 22. The crew removed all of the old cardboard and built 3 sets of new backstops. We’re probably half done effort wise and have 1/3 of the backstops set up. Watch for an email and possibly a phone call asking for help as soon as Mike Nickels and Steve Williamson are able to obtain the rest of the materials needed and determine a date.
If you use the range, you’ll just need to share the available backstops with whoever else is there for now.
2009 Officers:
Mike Nickels has thrown his hat into the ring for one of the officer positions for next year. Mike will be running for Secretary—Thank you Mike. Brent will run for Treasurer again, and Lee for newsletter editor. The key elected positions still open include President and Vice President. If you think you can hold one of those positions in 2010, let me or one of the other club officers know.
If you do decide to run for President or Vice President, note that you will have the support of the past officers and several others that are always ready to help.
More Indoor Range News:
A couple of things to note. If you would like the old pop machine or know of someone that wants it, let Steve Williamson know. It has stopped working and we would like to get it out of the range.
If you have a line on one that is working and is cheap, or just something someone is getting rid of and is working, let us know as well.
Also, when you use the range, please leave it clean. Remove or toss out your trash, and if you make a mess on the floor by shooting into foam targets or something that leaves a mess, please sweep it up.
If you just notice the range is not in order and want to clean it up before you leave, that would be much appreciated also. Treat the range as you would your own home.
As a fyi, there’s a door directly next to the furnace that leads to a storage closet where we keep brooms and dust pans to help with the clean-up.
JOAD News:
Bill Arledge will be running our JOAD program again starting in October. He has changed jobs and needed to schedule the JOAD sessions based on his work schedule. JOAD will be held on Saturday mornings starting at 8:30 in the morning beginning on October 3.
JOAD stands for Junior Olympic Archery Development, and is a program for youth to learn the sport of Archery. Bill is an excellent instructor and teaches children to shoot the proper way.
If your youth already has equipment, they can bring that to shoot, or they can use the Genesys bows that the club has at the indoor range.
There is a fee for attending each class. I’m not sure what it is this year, you will need to attend the first class to find out from Bill what the cost will be.
Newsletter Items:
If you have a hunting picture or story, please send it to me, I’d like to put it in the newsletter. If you have an item for sale, send me the information to put in the newsletter as well.
Please email me anything you would like to add to the newsletter, or contact me for my mailing address. You can even give me your article at a club meeting.
Club Deer Awards:
As we do each year, archers that harvest a deer will be given a big game award at our annual banquet in January. If you harvest any game this season, let me know so I can add your name to the list of successful hunters and keep a record of your name for our annual deer awards. Ahamo gives out a nice plaque for your first deer harvested as a member and plates for it each year until your plaque is full.
We also have an annual big buck award for the member shooting a white tail buck with the largest rack. Racks are measured for this award without waiting for the normal drying period. The measurements are for Ahamo only and are not official for state or Pope and Young awards. Call or email me to arrange to meet me at the indoor range to measure your racks. The best time to do measurements is during club meetings so you can show off your rack and get it measured during the meeting time. You can contact me (Lee) at 592-3856 or hunterleep@cox.net.
As a final note, deer pictures can be emailed to me or printed and given to me at a club meeting so I can add them to newsletters and to our web site. I would also like any stories you have on your deer to put in the newsletter.
Past Big Buck Award Winners:
Here is a list of past Big Buck Award winners:
2008 Doug Schmidt 137 4/8 2001 Tom Riddle 128 3/8
2007 Gary Swigart 145 7/8 2000 Tom Riddle 138 4/8
2006 Dick Sousa 142 4/8 1999 Dick Sousa 144 2/8
2005 Steve Murphy 129 6/8 1998 Dick Sousa 146 5/8
2004 Steve Murphy 136 4/8 1997 Steve Murphy 133 0/8
2003 Dick Sousa 144 4/8 1996 Gary Brunberg 129 3/8
2002 Mark Seip 147 4/8
Hunting News:
Be sure to browse the Nebraska Game and Parks website from time to time to see if there’s any new rules or news in general regarding hunting and other outdoor activities. I put a number of items in the newsletter last month, and found the article that follows.
Starting this year, you can check your deer in by calling a special check-in phone number, or by visiting a web site. This year that feature is optional, and next year it is the only way bownunters will be able to check in deer.
Below is a description of the check-in process as found on the Game and Parks web site:
LINCOLN, Neb. – Many Nebraska hunters will have the option of checking their harvested deer electronically this fall, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
A new, free service will allow hunters to check their deer from the field or at home, by telephone or Internet beginning Sept. 15. Electronic checking will be available during all deer seasons except the November firearm season. Check stations remain available for all deer seasons, as in the past.
Kit Hams, big game program manager for the Commission, says electronic checking makes sense financially.
This is good for hunters because it will save time and fuel costs,” he said. “It is good for the Commission because we will get our data sooner and cheaper.”
Hams estimated participating hunters collectively would save $150,000 in fuel costs this year and $450,000 next year. He said the Commission, which pays check stations for deer checked, could save $10,000 this year and $30,000 next year.
To check deer electronically, hunters may either go to NEdeercheck.com or call toll-free (800) 405-7700 at any time. Hunters will provide the species, sex and age of deer, as well as hunting unit and permit numbers and time and county of kill. They then will receive a seal number and security code, both of which must be written on the permit. The permit acts as the seal and must be attached to the deer if the hunter is not with the deer. The code is used to ensure the hunter has completed the checking process.
Check stations will be available only for the November firearm season in 2010. All other deer must be checked electronically.
Field Dressing Your Deer
I have a field dressing article I have put in the newsletter in prior years - and here it is again. Hopefully it’s helpful to both experienced and new bowhunters. The better you take care of your deer immediately after harvesting it, the better it will taste when you cook it.
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 small saw, some water, rope, 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 all hunters should have a first aid kit with them. Mine isn’t big, but it at least has band aids, tape, gauze, and some first aid cream. I once cut my finger while field dressing a deer and had to use masking tape and folded up pieces of a paper towel to stop the bleeding before continuing with field dressing.
I also have some disposable rubber field dressing gloves that really help to keep your hands clean and to get a grip on the windpipe when you pull everything out of the body cavity.
Note that your knife does not need to be big. The smaller it is, the easier it is to work with it without getting cut. I use a 2 1/2 inch buck knife with a locking blade.
The important thing is that your knife must be very sharp. It will be easier to work with, and will do a much neater job.
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 where the broadhead is, open the deer up carefully during the field dressing process and use an arrow without a broadhead to poke around inside the cavity to try and locate the broadhead.
Tag your animal first - this is the law, and I always do this right away. With the 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
Cut around the anus first. Pull it out a little and cut around it as you pull it out. It is much easier to cut around the anus while the deer is on its side, before you spread its back legs out. I cut in about 3 inches or so deep. Game and Parks has a video that shows Dick Turpin field dressing a deer. In it, he cuts in a little deeper than I do, and makes extra care to angle his knife out to avoid the bladder. He then pulls it out a little and ties a string that is pre-tied with a slip knot around the anus so nothing leaks out, and pulls it back through the body cavity from the inside without cutting the pelvic bone. I don’t do this, but it’s something you can try if you’d like.
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. On a doe, you should cut around the udders.
5. Cut through the Pelvic bone with your saw
This is not necesary. One year I cut in around the anus deep enough that I could pull the anus and colon out from the inside. Because of CWD, the game and parks web page was recommending the bone not be cut just to be safe. However, as soon as I got to the butcher he cut it so he could be sure the inside was clean and so it would cool faster. The butcher still boned out the deer, but the only bone he cut was the pelvic bone. I went back to cutting it for that reason, it allows the deer to cool faster, and cutting the bone makes it easier to drag the deer out of the woods. When I cut 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. 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 use their knives for this, 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. I reach in with my left hand and grab the wind pipe. Then, with my finger along the back of the blade of my knife, I keep the blade away from the arm and hand inside the deer and reach in with my knife hand until it is past the hand holding the wind pipe. Cut through the wind pipe 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 have a small bottle of water I carry that has a small amount of white vinegar (a tsp. or so) in it. I also have the top of a Clean Shower spray bottle that I screw onto the water bottle when I need it. This works great to ‘mist’ the inside of the deer and then wipe it out. I wipe the carcass as clean as I can with paper towels and leave it to cool while I carry my gear back to my truck.
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.
