Also called a 'Long Bow" these are the ORIGINAL deer slayers. on a ReCurve there are no sites, the bow consists of crafted wood and a tight string that you put on yourself before venturing in the woods. most do this by bending the bow around their leg. When aiming a Long Bow, one must gauge the distance the animal is from their standing position and pull the bows string back to accommodate that distance.
I am currently in my second archery season, both with a compound bow. being a girl and not being able to pull quite the amount of weight YET) that the boys pull (they have their weights to around 65lbs while my current pull on the compound bow is 45lbs) my range is somewhat more limited. I am most comfortable shooting at a 25-30 yards and the most i should ever shoot and animal it is 35-POSSIBLY-40 yards in the right conditions. this is because the amount of weight you pull back the bow string directly correlates with the force of the arrow once the string is release. physics, amazing, right? so to get a deer into that vicinity of you, you need to be
A. Very still
B. Very quiet
C. VERY patient
and
D. (most likely) Very cold
that particular morning we left our house at 4am, arrived at our spot at 6am and stayed in the woods until 1pm. the weather was between 15 and 30 degrees and remember, you need to be VERY still, which leads the the very cold part. around 11am i began to fail and the C section on the list. i had accomplished A. B. and D. quite well but was still waiting to have a deer walk by. i was cursing the animals and trying to wiggle my toes in my boot without moving, when from the corner of my eye i spotted some movement and the flash of taupe-ish brown i had been waiting all morning for. slowly i turned my head and watched to deer emerge from the field above me. watching to make sure they did not see my movement, i place the clasp of my release on the bow string, raised my bow and drew the string.
i was ready to harvest my first deer during archery season. the deer where walking slowly in front of me about 15 yards (what luck!) and had no clue i was there. through my site i began to analyze the deer, at a glance i knew they were both bucks and had to check that they had at least 3 points on one of their antlers (this is a PA state law instituted in the last decade or so). NO the first deer, just flaunting itself in front of me, has 4 points altogether. i move my aim the the next deer slowly moseying by and see it only has one antler (they often lose antlers when fighting other deer) and the sole antler only hosts 2 points. BAH! the deer took their time and moved on, but not without being hit with a fair share of silent cursing from me. better luck in late season archery i suppose.
there was good news that day though. remember me going on and on about how hard is it to shoot a compound bow? the kind that my CIL P has been taking out for the last 8 years to harvest a deet with? well my talented cousin took an immaculate 65 yard shot at an eight point buck that day and hit it through both lungs. the shot was clean and the buck was harvested not far from where it was hit. my good luck this day was that the rest of my new family does not quite realize the virtues of a deer's internal organs and i was able to make off with the heart
calories 127
fat 3g
protein 25g!!!!
potassium 327mg
Those are pretty inpressive standings, not to mention that when you research beef heart (highly similar to deer heart, but not as lean and healthy), since deer heart stats are a little scarce, you see the massive amounts of iron, magnisuim and other vitamins that the heart contains. other then these key factors, here is the most important
DEER HEART ID DELICOUS
yes, the muscle is just that, pure muscle, and with very little cleaning it is just that, pure, tender muscle. the heart is one of the meatiest tasting parts of an animal. do you know how people describe a Rib-eye steak or short ribs as beefy, that is the flavor that a heart has, though in this case i suppose its...errr...deery?
I like to slice my heart into 3/4 inch thick slices, though if you intend to cube it (succulent in stir fries) i would recommend cutting the slice 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches thick and then cubing and cleaning the slices from there.
if you prefer your meat very well done i would recommend an extremely thin cut (1/2 to 1/4 inch) as heart is best cooked at a high temperature for a very short period of time. it is definitely best raw, but if you must cook it well at least cut it thin.
so once you've sliced and cleaned your meat you are ready to bread and fry, ka-bob, or my personal favorite, pepper both sides and lightly sear
enjoy my friends, i will have some deer heart recipes up soon <3