Deer Hunting Weather History
November 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pm by Terri DeBoer under Weather
Saturday morning is the morning deer hunters have been waiting for all year; the opening day of Firearm Deer Hunting Season! Every year, November 15th kicks off the 2 ½ week long “Blaze Orange Invasion”. Of course, November can be one of our most tumultuous months of weather, even featuring some of our biggest snowstorms.
With the potential for weather chaos, you may be wondering about the weather history for opening day. Recent climate records show the 15th to feature generally uneventful weather. I searched back through the past 15 years, and found only one year with even 1” of snow.
Most of the years showed either trace amounts of precipitation, or completely dry conditions. The 15th has also featured relatively mild weather for hunters. In 2005, the high was 58 degrees, with the mercury spiking to 61 degrees in 2001.
I'm a Storm Team 8 Meteorologist. I'm on the morning shift, giving weather information during 24 Hour News 8 Daybreak every weekday morning.
loves this time of year the other half is gone for a few days
Check the weather for opening day, 1982.
bang bang bang yee ha. here we go
The other half probably loves this time of the year even more, for the same reason!!
I remember opening day in Greenville in 2005, chilly and pouring rain. No deer that day, they were probably holed up in the heavy brush trying to stay dry.
Jes,
The “official” climate statistics we use are for the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids (located near the airport in Kentwood). It’s certainly very likely neighboring communities had more precipitation on “Opening Days”, but my report used the official government stats from that reporting station.
Terri
P.S. My daughters and I stopped by a friend’s house after church this morning, to find a 7-point buck hanging in the front yard. It was a great opening day for them!! (Full Freezer from Day 1)
How do you really cook deer meat? Honestly it smells horrible and taste disgusting or at least when I have cooked it. I have had it prepared by other people and it was pretty good if you can get over the gamey taste.
When you cook venison, use liquid coffee. Use whatever you have left over in your pot. 1 to 2 cups will do. Pour over the meat, best when slow cooked. This is how I prepare it every time. My kids love it. If you marinate the meat use any marinate you want and add some coffee to it. It really does work.
Marainade the venison in italian dressing over night and put on the grill. Make sure all the fat is off the meat. You can also use a little liquid smoke. Deer in lower Michigan taste much better than deer from the U.P. do to their diet.
The taste of venison varies quite a bit from animal to animal and from region to region, depending on their diet, as well as the care taken in dressing and butchering the animal. Another big factor in the taste of venison is how long it took the animal to die after it was shot. This is because when the deer is shot, adrenaline (sp?) gets pumping through its system and stays in the meat after it dies. I’ve found quite a bit of difference in taste in deer that were from the same geographical area and were of similar age but having significant differences in the amount of time between being shot and dying. In most cases, they taste considerably less “gamey” when they die quickly. Just one more reason to pick your shot well, take as much time as you can to aim and drop the deer as quickly as possible, even if you need to shoot it twice. Sorry if I grossed anyone out but if you’re reading this, you’re probably a hunter or maybe someone close to a hunter…in which case you’re probably not grossed out easily anyway.