March 9

Venison Steak Kabobs

One of my favorite ways to prepare venison is to make Venison Steak Kabobs.  This is a very easy and simple recipe that even the pickiest wild game eater will be sure to enjoy.

I start off with two 4-6 oz. venison backstrap steaks.  Cut the steaks into 1"x1" cubes (approximately 8 cubes per kabob)

Tip: I find it easier to cut the steaks into cubes if they are still slightly frozen

Marinate the steak for an hour.  I use a marinade that a friend gave me a while ago which is my favorite marinade for venison (see below), although Italian dressing could work well too.

Venison Marinade:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary

I then make my kabobs with our favorite vegetables: red onion, zucchini, red and green peppers, and mushrooms.  Cut the vegetables in 1" x 1/2" cubes. I alternate vegetable, steak, vegetable, steak, etc. This helps to keep the meat from getting over cooked and is aesthetically pleasing.

Cook the kabobs on the grill at medium to medium high heat (350-400F), turning once or twice, until the vegetables are cooked roughly 10-15 minutes total cooking time.  Be careful not to over cook the meat 

Tip: Use metal skewers helps to cook the meat internally as kabobs sometimes can burn on the outside and be left rare on the inside, especially on thicker cuts of meat.

Enjoy!

KK  
      

January 5

Minnesota Archery Season-Final Hunt

Hunt 22 December 31

Temp 26F Wind W 15mph Barometric Pressure 29.69 (Steady) Moon Waxing Crescent

The final day of the Minnesota archery season.  I decided to sit on the Big-N-Beasty food plot at the Oak Flat stand.  There was a tremendous amount of sign and tracks and the brassicas had been hit hard.  I was very hopeful for my final sit.  There was constant action with over 30 turkeys feeding around my stand most of the afternoon.  With 30 minutes of shooting time remaining I saw my first deer across the big ditch heading for my other food plot at the Oak Ridge stand.  Every 5 minutes for the next half hour there was constant deer movement as a total of 9 antlerless deer made their way to my other stand.  I chose the wrong stand this time, but it was satisfying to see the deer using my food plots.  A great final hunt to an exciting season!-KK

November 24

Thanksgiving Reflection-Rut Recap

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from Corn Belt Outdoors!

Rut Recap

Hunt 18 November 19 Location Iowa

Temp 27F Wind NW 20mph Barometric Pressure 30.32 (Rising) Moon Waning Gibbous

I sat in a new stand for the first time this year.  This stand is on the edge of a thick, narrow, travel corridor where two brushy fence lines meet.  While I was walking to my stand, 3 antlerless deer ran out of the brush towards me.  I thought this was a little odd that these deer were running at me, but I then suspected that something might be chasing them.  As I got closer to my stand, I saw a wide, tall, white racked buck pushing some does in the picked bean field behind my stand.  I can only assume that this buck was the reason the does were running out of the thicket.  This was easily the biggest buck I had seen so far this hunting season.  I got settled into my stand, in hopes that this buck would return and pass by my stand.  As the evening progressed, I saw another solid 10 point buck approximately 500 yards away but he never made his way any closer.  There were several other antlerless deer feeding in a nearby picked cornfield.  With about 30 minutes left of legal shooting time, a doe appeared out of the thick cover and started walking on a trail to the cornfield.  The trail led her right into one of my shooting lanes for a 17 yard broadside shot.  My arrow was true and the doe only made it 10 yards before she died right on a fresh scrape.  I was able to recover the deer quickly and quietly, leaving the woods relatively undisturbed in hopes of another hunt for those 2 big bucks that I saw earlier in the evening.

Hunt 19 November 20 Location Iowa

Temp 26F Wind ENE 5mph Barometric Pressure 30.34 (Steady) Moon Waning Gibbous

After seeing those 2 big bucks the night before I was in the same stand in hopes one of them would offer me a shot.  It was a beautiful calm, cool morning and I saw deer movement right away at first light.  I was watching several deer 1/4 mile away that were coming out of the cover of an overgrown field water-way.  While I was watching those deer I heard grass rustling behind me.  As I slowly turned to see where this noise came from, a thick-racked mature buck was starring directly up at me in the stand.  He quickly took two big leaps and he was gone.  I was dejected.  My plan to hunt one of these two big bucks was over in seconds.  The encounter was exciting, but I was disappointed in the lost opportunity.  Not more than 20 minutes later, I heard a buck grunt in the thick cover to my right.  I then saw 2 does sneaking through the brush and looking back to where the sound had come from.  I then saw the wide, tall, perfect 10 point rack.  He was on the does, but stopped at the sound of my grunt call.  He surveyed the situation, but didn't come any closer and continued to pursue the does.  A very exciting encounter!  The deer movement slowed, and I got down from my stand at 11 am as I wanted to butcher my doe from the night before.  Before I left the farm, I checked a trail camera at the wood lot funnel stand. 

A busted up 10 pointer had walked right past my stand that same morning.  This looked like the 10 pointer I had passed 2 weeks earlier, now with his left side broken.  

I quickly butchered the doe and then headed back to the stand for the evening hunt.  I saw and heard a few does getting chased, but I never saw the buck through the thick cover.  With an hour left of legal shooting light remaining, I heard brush breaking and knew a deer was coming on the trail in front of my stand.  When the deer came out, I quickly noticed it was the broken 10 pointer that I had a picture of from earlier in the day at my other stand.  (My other stand is over a half-mile away from this travel corridor stand)  I came to full draw and gave a grunt with the buck stopping in a shooting lane at 25 yards.  I released the arrow, and saw my arrow miss low, just under the belly of the deer.  The buck stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, but I was able to nock another arrow in hopes of getting another shot.  The buck started to investigate a scrape on the trail (the scrape that my doe had died on from my hunt the previous night) and ended up moving into another narrow shooting lane.  I aimed higher to compensate for my prior miss and for the fact the deer had now moved slightly away to 30 yards.  I shot and saw my arrow hit the buck high and back with poor arrow penetration.  I carefully watched the buck head to thick cover and I could see the bright colored fletching of my arrow moving very slightly in the timber.  Ten minutes after the shot, I lost sight of the buck, but heard crashing sound in the thick brush.  After the poor shot placement I was glad to hear that crashing sound.  

As light was fading, I got down from my stand and walked to my truck.  I drove around the section to give the buck a little more time to expire and to make sure he did not make it out of the thick cover from where I had last seen him.  I approached the timber from where I heard the crashing sound from the opposite direction slowly, scanning the area with my binoculars.  When I was about 50 yards from the woods, a buck jumped up and ran back into the brushy fence line.  I did not see a broken rack or an arrow sticking out of the deer so I assumed that it was a different buck, possibly the buck that had been chasing the does in that same area early in the hunt.  I carefully checked the area for my buck as I knew there would be little blood with the high hit.  As darkness set in, there were no signs of the deer and my headlamp was losing power.  I was just about to head back to my truck when I looked down and found a half-dollar size spot of blood.  With such little sign and no light I made the decision to head home and come back in the morning in hopes to recover the deer.

I returned in the morning to search with the help of my dad and good family friend.  We found the blood from the night before and then a few more spots.  The direction of the newly found blood quickly made me realize that the buck I jumped the night before was the buck that I had shot.  I was losing hope that we would recover the deer.  We found more blood, and then a significant amount of blood shortly after the buck re-entered the brush.  Hope was beginning to return until it left again when we completely lost the blood trail.  As we were looking for blood on the path that the deer was on, my friend found my buck in a thick sumac thicket!  I had my Iowa buck!  This was not one of the two big bucks that were roaming the farm but this deer is special to me because my dad and friend were along to help with the recovery.  It is also special because I was able to harvest it on my grandmother's farm just outside of the small Iowa town where both my grandma and grandpa grew up.  A great ending to my Iowa archery season.-KK

November 17 

Rut Recap

This November has been very mild with above average temperatures almost every day.  This weather has been a factor to what has been a difficult rut in my opinion.  In speaking with several other hunters, rut activity has been fairly strong in the mornings with the cooler temperatures, but the majority of the activity has been small bucks chasing does.  A few hunters have had some big buck encounters, but they have been few and far between.  There is a major weather system hitting the Midwest tomorrow which will bring cooler temperatures.  Hopefully this cool down and bucks trying to find the last few receptive does will provide some late November action the next 7-10 days.

Hunt 16 November 12 Location Iowa

Temp 50F Wind SSW 10 mph Barometric Pressure 30.17 (falling) Moon Waxing Gibbous

I was back in the wood lot funnel stand for the evening hunt.  After a 36 hour bout of the stomach flu, I was finally feeling well enough to get back in the stand.  At about 3:45 I saw a buck slowly working his way through the woods from the south.  It was the 8 pointer with the crooked right G2.  He was walking in my direction when all of a sudden about 100 yards from my stand he bedded down.  I contemplated calling to him with a grunt call, but ultimately determined to let him move naturally.  I still was not certain that this was the buck that I wanted to harvest.  I had set a goal of harvesting a Pope and Young whitetail this year, and this buck was not going to meet that goal.  As I watched the buck while he was bedded I decided that I would shoot if he presented me a shot.  After being bedded for 30 minutes, the buck rose and continued to work his way closer to me.  Next came the moment of truth.  The buck slowly walked through my shooting lanes at 23 yards.  I was already at full draw from when he previously passed behind a large oak tree.  I placed the pin just behind the front shoulder for a heart shot and released the arrow.  The arrow did not find its mark.  I hit the buck low and forward, high in the upper leg.  The buck started walking away while examining the cut in his leg.  I frantically knocked another arrow in hopes to get a follow up shot.  The buck moved off into some thick brush, not presenting me another shot.  For the next 45 minutes I watched the buck lick his wound and then bed down on the edge of the woods.  When he bedded down again, I was hopeful that the arrow may have deflected into the body cavity, but that was not the case.  At sunset, he got up from his bed and walked across the county road into the other small wood lot.  I did not find any blood when I climbed down from my stand, and my arrow only had a little blood and white hair on it.  Wounding and losing an animal is a bowhunter's nightmare.  The feeling is terrible, but I am confident that in this case the deer will survive as this was barely even a flesh wound.

Hunt 17 November 13 Location Iowa/Minnesota

MN Firearm season tag soup

Temp 50F Wind SW 10mph Barometric Pressure 29.87 (steady) Moon Waxing Gibbous 

I went back to the same wood lot for the morning hunt.  The plan was to hunt the bedding area stand in hopes that the buck I hit from the night before would be working his way back to his bed.  I had early action with a small buck chasing a doe and fawn at sunrise.  An hour later another small buck chased another doe into the bedding area's thick brush.  After the action slowed, I checked the area where I hit the buck the night before for blood.  I only found a couple of tufts of white hair.  It was back to Minnesota for the evening to sit in the Oak Flat stand for the final hours of the Minnesota firearm season.  Deer movement was non-existent, a common theme for the past 10 days in Minnesota.

KK