Nebraska Trophy Whitetails - Nebraska Hunting

Nebraska Trophy Oufitters - Nebraska Trophy Whitetails



Nebraska Trophy Whitetails

Dark Goose Season - Canada Geese

Dark geese include Canada, brant and all other goose species, except white-fronted and
light geese.

Season Dates:
East Unit: Oct. 6-14 and Oct. 27 – Jan. 30, 2013
Niobrara Unit: Oct. 27 – Feb. 8, 2013
North Central Unit: Oct. 6 – Jan. 18, 2013
Panhandle Unit: Nov. 10 – Feb. 8, 2013
Platte River Unit: Oct. 27 – Feb. 8, 2013

Daily Bag Limit: 3
Possession Limit: 6

Shooting Hours: 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset

Open Area:
Dark Goose Units

Legal Methods of Take:

• Shotgun (10 gauge or smaller. All shotguns must be plugged. The combined capacity of the chamber and magazine is no more than three shells)
  
• Bow and Arrow
  
• Electronic calls are prohibited.

Shooting Hours:
30 minutes before sunrise to sunset

Requirements:
Resident (16 years or older):
Hunt permit
Habitat Stamp
Nebraska Waterfowl Stamp
Federal Migratory Bird Stamp
Harvest Information Program (HIP) registration
Hunter Education

Nonresident:
Hunt permit
Habitat Stamp
Nebraska Waterfowl Stamp
Federal Migratory Bird Stamp
Harvest Information Program (HIP) registration

Venison Pastrami - Goose, Wild Turkey, Pheasant

You can use about any cut of venison you’d like for this recipe, but I went with an eye of round because it was thinner and would require less curing time. Any roast cut from the round or even a blade steak from the front shoulder would do.


Ingredients
Cure:
- ¼ cup Tender Quick
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. onion powder
- 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. allspice

Rub:
- 3 Tbsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions
1. Mix cure ingredients and coat venison roast thoroughly. You really want to pack on the cure, leaving no surface uncovered. Place roast in gallon-size plastic bag and stick in the refrigerator.
2. Turn the roast once or twice a day. After a day or two, liquid will start to appear in the bottom of the bag. This is normal. Total curing time depends on the thickness of your roast, but consider five days the minimum.
3. At the end of the curing period, remove the roast from the bag and rinse thoroughly. Soak the roast in a bowl of cold water for a few hours or overnight. Remove roast from soaking water, rinse, and dry thoroughly.
4. Coat the roast with the rub and place in pre-heated smoker. Smoke to 150 degrees.
5. Place the roast on a sheet of tinfoil, splash with a little beef stock and seal foil tightly. Let this steam for about 30 minutes. Remove from tinfoil, slice and enjoy.

Venison Pastrami

How to make it

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• Mix everything except the meat and ice from the corning list and bring to a low boil.
• Add the ice, then add the meat.
• Let sit in the fridge for 10 days in a sealed bag making sure the meat remains submerged.
• Drain off the brine, then you have an option: if you smoke this as is it'll be salty, damned salty. It's not bad if you stick it on a sandwich at the end with a slice of swiss and some burn your sinuses German mustard, but will be a little much straight up. If you want to cut the salt I suggest at least half an hour soak in cold water before proceeding.
• For the next step, you'll need a rub and to put it on smoke (I used hickory, but applewood or mesquite could both work depending on taste [sweeter vs. southwestern]).
• Give it the first two hours fairly cold, around 130 F, then give it 2-3 hours at 210 F to cook the meat. When you get done you should have a smoke ring in the meat that comes in a third of the depth on both sides and leaves the meat fully cooked.
• Look for it to be tender, have some bark to it, then slice it thinly across the grain with a sharp knife

Ingredients

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• First of all, this is a first pass recipe, adjust as you see fit.                                             

 Corning:                                                 

• 2-2.5 lbs lean venison (I use an inside round, halved to 3/4 inch thickness)
• Quart of water
• half cup salt
• large handful brown sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2/3 t black mustard
• 2/3 t peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 4 allspice
• 6 juniper berries
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1 lb ice

For the rub before smoking:                                                 

• 1-2 T salt (depending on original salinity)                                                 
• 1.5 T paprika
• 2 T coriander
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 T pepper
• 2 T black mustard seed (crushed, and this can make it fairly hot, feel free to cut down some)                                                 
• 4 t garlic powder

Butchering and Freezing Venison

Venison is a healthy and delicious meat choice, but the road to a tasty meal requires care in the processing and preparation. If you’ve had gamy tasting venison before, chances are the offensive taste was obtained through processing or cooking. The meat’s quality is a result of the deer’s age, sex and diet. Older deer have tougher meat, while the meat of bucks in rut is stronger tasting from the stress of breeding season.
For nutritional value, venison is low in fat and calories and rich in protein. Use low-fat cooking techniques, such as broiling, grilling, baking or stewing instead of frying to keep the venison healthy.

Nutrient content of domestic and wild game meats
(cooked, 3-ounce serving, unless otherwise indicated)

Domestic	Calories	Protein	Iron	Total Fat	Saturated Fat	Cholesterol
Beef	184	25	3	8	3	73
Pork	180	25	1	8	3	73
Chicken (roasted, skin off)	161	25	1	8	2	76
Wild Meats
Deer	134	26	4	3	1	95
Turkey	121	26	_	1	_	55

All in all, just keep in mind the deer you are cooking and match it with the right cooking technique—roasting and stewing for tougher cuts and frying, broiling and grilling for more tender cuts.

Processing

For better venison, hang the deer before processing. Leave the skin on to prevent dehydration and keep the meat clean. A handy way to hang the carcass (and also remove scent glands) is illustrated below. Hang the deer to drain blood and cool to 50 degrees F within six hours of harvest. Freezing the venison more quickly will result in tougher meat.
Aging venison any longer is not necessary; but when stored at 34–40 degrees F for up to eight days, the taste and tenderness of venison cuts can be improved.
The following tools are needed for home processing: hand saw, cutting board or solid table, a flexible knife for boning, a stout knife for trimming fat and making larger cuts, a knife sharpener, freezer paper, plastic wrap, masking or freezer tape and a marker. To help sort meats for stewing and grinding, large plastic or metal tubs or bowls are handy.
There are many ways to process a deer and those experienced at processing often have their own special way of doing it. What we present are some general guidelines for the beginner. Remove the skin and take care to keep the hair side away from the carcass. Be sure to remove as much fat as possible (deer fat has a strong flavor). Trim any bruises or gunshot damage and wash the outside. After dripping dry, the carcass is ready to be cut.
There are two basic methods for cutting the carcass. The boneless method produces a milder flavor; all bone is removed and the more tender muscles are used for steaks, roasts and stew; the less tender muscles are ground. One point to remember is that young-of-the-year deer are so tender that the whole animal can be cut into steaks. You can also use the method similar to one used to cut up a beef carcass. This method results in popular cuts such as rib, T-bone, sirloin and round steaks. Combinations of the two methods may be used.
Regardless of method, use the chart on page 25 to produce wholesale cuts similar to those at a grocer. Start by removing the neck for boning and split the carcass by cutting down the center of the backbone. Then either bone or cut with the bone-in cutting method as used in beef cutting. Sawing through bone spreads the bone marrow across cuts of meat, sometimes creating a bad flavor. If you saw through cuts, be sure to scrape away any marrow or bone fragments. Also, carefully remove all animal hair.

Wholesale Cuts

Place the half carcass on a cutting table and remove the flank, breast and shank. Remove the shoulder by cutting between ribs 5 and 6 perpendicular to the backbone. Separate the rib from the loin behind the last rib and cut the loin from the sirloin in the middle of the last lumbar vertebra. The wholesale cuts of deer are neck, shoulder, rib or rack, loin, hind leg, foreshank, breast and flank.

Labeling

Label each package clearly with a permanent marker. Make the letters large enough for easy reading. Labels should include the owner’s name, address and Telecheck confirmation number; the name of the cut; the quantity; and the packaging date.

Freezer Storage Time

Venison can be stored in the home freezer at 6 degrees F or lower for about one year.

Field Dressing Whitetail Deer - Game Care

Make Sure The Deer is Dead

A deer down is not necessarily a deer dead. A wounded deer can hurt you, so reload and watch the deer from a short distance. If you do not detect movement for a few minutes, approach cautiously from behind the deer’s head. Set your firearm or bow aside only after you are certain the deer is dead. If the eye does not blink when touched with a stick, it’s yours. Now is the time to fix your deer transportation tag securely around the hind leg.

Field Dress Immediately

Field dress the deer immediately to ensure a rapid loss of body heat. Hang the animal head-up or lay it on a slope with the rump lower than shoulders.
Strong juices from the paunch will taint the meat and should be removed if the animal was gut shot or if you accidentally cut the paunch while field dressing the deer. A rag or bunches of leaves may be used to wipe out the juices, or they may be washed out with water. Some articles state the carcass should not be washed with water because of the potential to promote bacterial growth. However, thorough cleaning when the paunch has been punctured makes washing and then patting the cavity dry an appropriate procedure.

Wrap the Carcass Before You Drag it

A piece of cloth wrapped around the carcass will keep out flies and dirt as you drag it out of the woods or transport it.

Don't Carry the Carcass on Your Shoulders!

The carcass should be dragged or carted out of the woods and not carried on your shoulders. A deer on the shoulders could invite a shot by another hunter. The antlers of a buck make a good handle for dragging. Some hunters tie the front feet behind the head of the carcass to keep them from catching on brush. A strong stick between the hind hocks will provide a good handle for dragging does or fawns. There also are many commercially produced deer carts, which are used by an increasing number of hunters.

Keep the Carcass Cool

The deer should be kept as clean and as cool as possible during transport. A plastic bag full of ice placed inside the carcass will keep it cool if you have a long trip home.

Field Dressing Tips

1. Insert your knife point under the hide only and make one long, straight incision up the belly. The natural tautness of the hide will cause the skin and hair to pull away, giving you unobstructed access to the abdominal muscle tissues.

2. Using short, shallow, slicing strokes, open the body cavity by cutting the skin, fat and abdominal muscle tissue. As the tissue separates, use your fingers to enlarge the abdominal opening until you can fit your hands into the body cavity.

3. If you wish to have your deer head mounted, stop the incision at the bottom of the rib cage. Otherwise, continue the opening all the way to the fleshy, hollow junction of the neck and chest.

4. Using a saw, large knife or small axe and sledgehammer, open the chest cavity by separating the rib cage. This will allow easier removal of the heart and lungs.

5. Severing the windpipe will make it easier to remove the stomach and lungs.

6. Carefully sever the connective tissue holding the interior organs to the diaphragm, and pull the entire mass of organs back toward the pelvic opening.

7. Using a saw, large knife or small axe and sledgehammer, open the pelvis to ease removing the organs. Lay the bulk of the organs outside the carcass. Guide the lower intestine through the pelvic opening, then sever the anus and sphincter muscle from the carcass.
8. Prop body cavity open with sticks and cool quickly by hanging with head up in a shady, airy place. Let it hang this way for about an hour before moving it to camp or car.

EHD Striking Whitetails

A viral disease is killing deer along the Platte River and possibly over a much wider area, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. There have been reports of dead deer in and near the river in eastern Nebraska.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is a hemorrhagic disease caused by a virus. EHD is similar to bluetongue, another viral disease that can affect deer. It spreads from deer to deer by the bite of a small insect known as a midge. The disease quickly kills the deer through hemorrhaging within the body. A high fever may result, causing the deer to seek water to cool off. Dead deer usually are found in or near water. Deer may show bleeding from body openings, although they usually are in good body condition because of the quickness of the disease. EHD is not a threat to humans.
Nebraska Game and Parks is interested in determining the extent of the disease and its possible effects on the deer population. The public should report any deer deaths that may be attributed to this disease to their nearest Game and Parks office.