Castin' and Blastin' in the New Year

Decided to literally start the new year off with a bang. On Jan 1 went over by Comanche to help a guy thin his does down and to fill my freezer. Mama said we need sausage meat and who am I to deprive the Missus of what she desires. Took this tasty little lady about 4 in the afternoon with a single round from my 9.3x62 Mauser.



Had a DRs appt for Jan 2 so that day was a bust, besides I had a deer to butcher, But on Jan 3 I took the float tube over to Lake Hawkins to see if I could get some chain pickerel. The lake was really pretty but don't let the pic fool you, it was only about 30 degrees out.



I spent about 3 hrs in th tube before the cold finally drove me from the water. I tossed Rapalas, jigs, spinners, soft plastics and spoons and never even got a pickerel to follow my lures. But I did get a couple of these to hit so I got to have some fun.



Yesterday on Jan 4 I headed to my trout spot in Chandler. It was a little chilly and the wind was blowing so it was kind of slow. I put one rod out baited with FireBalls and tossed lures with the other. Started out with a gold kastmaster and wasn't getting any hits so I switched to a silver super duper and was surprised to get this on the first cast with it. This is the first bass I ever caught there.



After being there about an hour the trout began hitting. I ended up with a limit of rainbows. 3 of them went for FireBalls and 2 hit the super duper. Smallest trout was about 7 inches and took bait clear down so I had to keep it. Biggest trout was just at 12 inches.



This was a good way to kick off the new year.

Cheers Y'all!

You, Sir, have started off the year right! Great job!

I bet that Lake Hawkins water was a little bit chilly....

Flags you Sir are living the dream! GREAT post. Nice deer and some super fish. Good job.




Side Note: Some "Super Good" eating right there!

Wtg! Surf n turf or more like field n stream

Great way to start the New Year! Good job Flags.





Side Note: Do you make any sausage from your deer? If so do you make it yourself?

Yep to both. I do my own butchering and make my own sausage. On this deer I kept the loins, backstraps, liver and 6 roasts and made the rest into 4 different types of sausage. when I make sausage I get a couple pork roasts with a lot of fat on them and chunk those up and grind it with the venison (you need to have some fat for sausage) and I use the seasoning packets from LEM that make 5 lbs per packet. On this doe I made sweet italian, hot italian, maple breakfast and regular breakfast. LEM makes really good sausage seasoning mixes.

That sounds GOOD! A friend of mine also butchers and processes his own deer! He has a large smoker and he makes some of the best deer jerky I have ever ate. He also makes a pretty good hot pan sausage.


Side Note: I also tried some Turkey Jerky he made and it was simply awesome!

What is the rescipe for Sweet Italian?

Plus #1. I have ate plenty of deer sausage over the years and this is the first time I have heard of Sweet Italian! I bet it is really good!



Side Note: Great post Flags and a great start to the New Year! Looking forward to reading your post in 2018.