Sausage Run

Dawn patrol for sausage meat

 Last weekend we ground up the season's burger.  But no sausage.  Usually we grind up mountain goat meat to make italian sausage.  This year it looks like there will be no goat, so yesterday Adelia, Brooks and I took a boat off the road system to harvest the next best thing for sausage - deer.

Deer hunting near our house on the Kodiak road system is closed. So at this time of year one has to take a boat to the more remote parts of the island.  Cold weather, and short days can make this a brutal hunt.  And with the recent return to a cold weather cycle I had a feeling this was our last chance for an off road system hunt.  By next weekend the harbor where we start these hunts could well be frozen over.

At this time of year hunting time is limited and we had to hike quickly up to the alpine where the deer are still hanging out.  I was worried that all we'd find would be a big rutting buck.  With the rut on mature bucks smell VERY badly and are inedible.  Often hiking along I'd catch a whiff of the rutting deer smell and would know that a buck was hiding nearby.  We wanted to harvest only does and immature male deer.

We finally did find the 'nursery' and harvest a spike and doe.  We could have harvested more but our time was limited.  As it was, by the time we got back to the harbor and the boat ramp it was already sunset.  We drove home in the dark.

This year we will have italian deer sausage in the freezer!

Patrick

Frozen waterfall - look closely and you can see me crossing above it

Homeward bound with meat

Ice!  It is now winter

Searching for deer

Brooks LOVES alders - at one point he turned around and to show his love for an alder repeatedly whacked it with his ski pole (the alder did not respond)

Hopefully Patrick knows a trail out of here