I was just going to say "corn-fed" and not necessarily done willingly by the hunter. Dang things can be devastating to small farm fields typical to the Northeast, foothills or mountainous regions.
I probably live in one of the best places on the planet as far as whitetail food availabilty and I really don't think fat content is driven by that, at least not entirely. Last year I shot an early season (late October) mature doe and she didn't have any, and I mean none, backfat. I'm used to seeing at least an inch on those deer. This year I shot a rutting buck. He had been running hard and hadn't eaten in days (stomach was completely empty) and he had more fat on him than any deer I've ever shot. Usually they are down to nothing toward the end of the rut. I just think it depends on the deer and the year.
I used to cut the back and rump fat off as well as the belly tallow and put it in my suet feeder for the birds. They seemed to like it far more than the commercial stuff. Good eats you got there!
Waste not, want not. We always have the hides from our slaughter sheep tanned - shout out to Bucks County Fur Products. This year I threw in a 2022 deer hid. it came out nice. .
I haven't been on the forum much as of late, catching up over the last few weeks. This was my buck taken opening day this year out of my side field. Worked late that day, had to run errands, I wasn't planning on hunting, then the wife thought someone was road hunting across the street from my house, turns out they were watching this guy (I couldn't see from the house). Either way, I made him mine. Took a doe at my parents farm a few days later, and embarrassingly missed another doe at my house too.... (that is a story for another time about scope/barrel clearance) I process all my own, cut out the loins and big roasts, double wrap in saran wrap, then freezer paper, everything else goes in gallon zip locks to be ground 10-15# at a time as the year goes on.
We sent hides that were very recently sheared for the most part. We fleshed them and salted then cleaned up and packaged for shipment..I don’t remember the cost but I’m sure that deer hides are less.
I got the age results back on my archery buck from oct. He was 5.5yrs old. These days I'm always thrilled to take an older buck regardless of rack size. I watched this guy in the binos for a couple minutes before he came in to bow range. I drew on him twice and wasn't quite sure but i just knew he looked mature and let the arrow fly. Congrats gwoods71! Great buck and awesome pic with the kids!
What do you have to do prep wise to ship them a fur? I have a one in a freezer still I never did anything with that I'd like to.
Basically, just remove flesh and salt until dry. They have really good instructions on their website and are always good at answering questions over the phone. Bucks County Fur Products
Here’s my 2023 buck. First with my muzzleloader and first out of state trip meeting up with a buddy that makes 3rd generation friends.
