Colder here. What's your temp? What ya burnin?

They are Muleys. They’re just young, so they are small like White Tail.

 

The coldest I ever experience here in PA was -25 or so back in the mid 1990's. Employed by DCNR-Forestry and went to get in the truck to go to work (almost), the vinyl seats cracked and split when I got in, and of course the truck did not start.

 

OK, I did not think that was whitetail country, although I was surprised when traveling out west where I was seeing whitetails.

 

Lots of White Tail in eastern CO. Never seen one up here though. I wish we had them up here. Good eatin!

 

The coldest I remember was -34ish and I think it was in 1993. My neighbor down the road worked for the same company at a location about a mile from where I worked. The plan was whoever got a vehicle to start would take both of us. Neighbor's car wouldn't start. My truck wouldn't start. My deceased grandmother's 1976 Vega was in my garage. It started. The creaking noises it made going down the road were eerie, but it got the job done.

 

We have a nice whitetail herd at our place. I usually take 1 or 2 per year. And yes, great eating. Pure protein.

I leave the turkeys alone, not my favorite and theyre in decline.

 

It was also -6° here this morning when I got up, I guess it got down to -7°. Here is what we are currently at and what the house temp is.
I'm burning almost 8 year old red and white oak (split/stacked March '17). I just tested a re-split last week and it tested between 12-15% between three different moisture meters.

 

2PM and the temp outside is -2, and that could be the daytime high temp.

 

-10 for the moment. Wind has let up enough for shoveling/plowing.

 

cold here heating on all day

 

-20c/-4f here this morning with larch in the stove. Its warmed up a bit since then. Ive got some meatloaf Im going to put on the smoker shortly. Its a bit cool out today so I took the pup out for a 2 hour hike yesterday. It was -11c/12f while we were out.

 

10F this morning with 18 mph sustained wind. Low tonight is 1F with 10-15 mph wind.

I'm burning a bunch of hedge I scrounged up over a year ago. It's been bucked up and stacked in round form till 4 days ago. Youngest and I split a face cord to get us through this cold snap. Wood stove can get the house to 72F with a long burn. The wind died down for a short but last night and the house got up to 76F. I had to open a window and choke the fire so I could sleep. First world problems.

 

I've heard that muleys are not as good tasting as white tail deer.
I've never hunted or had mule deer . I'll have to change that.

Then again I've heard that pronghorn Antelope isn't good eating either, but I've had pronghorn hot dogs from a neighbor that went muley/ antelope hunting years ago. They only got antelope , and these were honestly the best hot dogs I've ever had.

 

I think it just depends. Overall I’d say I like white tail better to eat. But I’m sure it’s because the eastern Colorado white tail are all corn fed, due to the enormous amount of corn grown out there. I’ve had good mule deer. But I’ve also had mule deer that was really tough and “sage-y”

On another note. I had also heard that antelope wasn’t good eating. But my dad got one in northern Colorado last year. It was absolutely fabulous. Not the least bit gamey.

 

Heck whitetail down here in crop country ( corn, soybeans, etc) typically taste better, so they say, than deer from the northern forests where I hunt deer. I wasn't able to get a doe here in crop country southeastern WI between Christmas and New Year's like I planned. That's hunting I guess. Anyway that buck I got a couple years ago was delicious from the northern forests of Wi. The deer didn't run, dropped like a sack of potatoes, and it was cold so it was immediately dressed and cooled. All important factors in making venison taste great, and it did.

I like sage. I like the smell of sagebrush. I think that's part of it. Apparently elk don't eat sagebrush? I had Colorado elk from my buddy this fall. It was excellent, but I went through every step to make that roast as good as it could be.

 

34 and dropping towards the low teens, with snow quickly piling up. White oak and cherry going at the moment. Plenty of wood staged up for this cold snap.

 

10 with a stout north wind makes if feel -10.

Lots of Ash in the boiler.

 

20/72 have some big splits of cherry and maple choochin. White oak and ash or maple for overnight by the stove. Had the wife load the stove at lunch to make sure she is comfortable doing it when I am at work during the cold spell. She doesn't usually mess with the stove as I load it in the morning and draw it back for the day usually. She did great.

 

0F out
70F in
small no bark elm rounds that are hard as bricks

I remember when and where I cut them as the sparks they were a flying

 

-14 and dropping since the sky cleared and presented a wonderful sunset.


But, clear skies mean cold temps!