After a dismal 2012 campaign, our group decided to switch gears and abandon 2nd shotgun season in favor of the first season. Our thinking was we'd get to the deer before they'd been run back and forth between the gauntlets. Along with the season switch, we changed our luck by giving the group a name. Solon Whitetail Assault Team (S.W.A.T.) hit the fields, forests, and fencerows of NE Johnson County and we drummed up some business!
The switch to 2nd season proved a great idea as we filled 12 of our 14 tags in two days. The weather was bitterly cold though, with temps hovering just below and just above ZERO most of the time. We left the hides on 4 of the deer and took them to the meat locker, but the other 8 we skinned and deboned. On Monday morning we cut over 250 pounds of meat off those 8 deer. It was made into loin steaks, breakfast & Italian sausage, bacon burger and other protein filled creations.
The pictures that follow show the sport, fellowship, and carnage that ensued.
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| Reid with a couple big does he slayed on the first drive of the day. |
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| Rebecca with her big doe. |
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| Carl & Rebecca with an old buck & big doe. |
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| SWAT recapping a drive over a fallen buck. |
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| Toby's buck killed out of Moosehead on Sunday. |
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| Field dressing |
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| A couple bucks from the Moosehead drive. Deer were pouring out of this drive. |
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| Scott made a great shot on this HUGE doe with his muzzleloader while out still hunting by himself. |
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| Hangin' out at camp. |
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| What does the fox say? |
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| Playin' some cards. |
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| No deer camp would be complete without the Bragging Board. Here we tally booms and kills. The exact rules behind the delineation of these marks has evolved over the years and is now written in the SWAT by-laws and articles of incorporation! |
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| The group gathered around Iowa Eddie. |
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| Andy & Steve with a button buck taken from one drive. |
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| Monday morning, cutting up meat. |
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| Stuffing the grinder with one of the new recruits. |
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