Carving it as much an art as hunting it

CAUTION: If you're queasy about looking at animals being cut up, quit reading now.

We cut up the deer at Jim's garage Tuesday evening. It was a great big stag party with Keith, Jim, Matt, Mike, and I hacking away with pop and beer for company. Oh, and there was Chuck the Unlucky Buck.

Here's Keith with his 7-point prize, his biggest and first with bow and arrow


We started with something like this


and ended up with something like this


Under the careful guidance of expert carver Jim, newbies like me learned the delicate art of slicing, sawing, cleaving, chopping, and packing the meat. The deer yielded about 40 pounds of meat, portions of which will be used to make jerky, bacon, hamburgers, and steaks. Here's Jim and Keith totally engrossed in extracting another pound of flesh


Mike drove from out of town to help with the butchering. And Matt's always a fun guy to have around. He's a smart aleck who pulled quite a few legs, except the deer's. Here's Mike at work with Matt for company


Chuck, RIP.