Delmar HokeFrom the Delmar Hoke channel on YouTube

For the man who hunts by himself now

The Deer Is Down. Now the Clock Starts.

Everything after the shot, in order, the way a 71-year-old Pennsylvania hunter does it alone: the tag, the knife, the drag with nobody on the other rope, the hanging, the cutting and the supper. In large print, and read aloud.

$39$29The large-print book and the audiobook together. One payment.

Get the Book and Audiobook · $29

Pay once In your email in a minute 30-day money back

162,000+views on Del's video What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

176 pagesin 18-point type, one method to a page

2 h 49 minread aloud, in 16 tracks

Why I wrote it down

The hard part starts when he drops

He runs forty yards and folds up in the laurel, and the woods go quiet again. The light is going. The truck is on the ridge road, four hundred yards up the hill. For most of my life there were two of us on this part. Carl took one rope and I took the other. Carl has been gone eleven seasons.

Nobody tells you about this part. The books stop at the shot. But this is where a good deer gets lost. Most of the meat I ever threw away, I lost between the woods and home: a warm truck, a long stop and a tarp.

It is also where an old man gets hurt. Doctors put heart monitors on 25 hunters and sent them into deer season. In the woods, 22 of them pushed their hearts past 85 percent of what they had reached on a treadmill, and 10 went past the treadmill number altogether. The American Journal of Cardiology printed that in 2007.

So I wrote down how I do it now, by myself. One thing, then the next thing, with nothing in between you have to remember.

What is in the book

From the shot to the supper table, in the order you do it

Why the first thing to do after the shot is sit down for ten minutes, and what it does for your heart. Chapter 1
The tag before you touch him: ballpoint pen, the ear and not the antler, and the 10 days Pennsylvania gives you to report. Chapter 2
The small kit that does the whole job, and what stays in the truck. Chapter 3
Field dressing one cut at a time, written for cold hands and bad light. Chapter 4
The gutless method: how a doe came 400 yards up out of the hollow in two trips in a pack, and the four cases where I reach for it. Chapter 5
The drag alone: rope, sled or cart, getting him into the truck bed without lifting him, and when the deer waits until morning. Chapters 6 and 7
The cheapest thing in my shed that matters, and what to do when November turns warm. Chapter 8
The kitchen-table butcher: a board, two knives, freezer paper and a pan of bleach water. Every cut and where it goes. Chapter 10
The last 30 minutes of the work, which decide how the next 8 months of suppers taste. Chapter 12
Twelve suppers, each with its safe temperature, and the backstrap I ruined so you don't have to. Chapter 13
Nothing wasted: the heart, the hide, the bones, and how to give a deer to a family that needs it. Chapter 14

A look at the pages

18-point type, one method to a page, so it reads on a phone at the tailgate or printed at the kitchen table.

What changes on the hill

The way most of us learned it

With the book

You stand up the second he drops, with your heart still going.

You sit ten minutes first, and you know why.

You guess at the tag and the report.

Ballpoint pen, on the ear, before he moves. Reported inside 10 days.

You drag him whole and uphill, because that is how it was always done.

You know the four cases where you bone him out where he fell.

He rides home under a tarp, with a stop on the way.

He rides home cold, and you know the number you are after: 35 to 40°F.

You pay a man to cut him.

You cut him yourself at the kitchen table, one piece at a time.

Gray, dry packages in March that nobody wants to cook.

Tight, labeled, one-pound packages that still taste like the deer.

Who it is for

This book is for you if

You hunt by yourself now, or mostly by yourself.
You have always taken your deer to the processor and wonder if you could do it yourself.
Your eyes want large print, or you would sooner listen in the truck.
You are buying it for the man who taught you to hunt.

It is not for you if

You want a book on finding and shooting deer. This one starts after the shot.
You want a paper book in the mail. This one is digital, and you can print it.
You want tricks and gadgets. This is the plain way, with the sources named.

The offer

The book, the audiobook and the six cards

The large-print book: 176 pages, 18-point type, a PDF for any screen or printer	$19 alone
The audiobook: the whole book read aloud, 16 tracks, 2 hours 49 minutes	$19 alone
Six quick cards: the gut, the drag, the hang, the cut, the temperatures and the tag. One page each, made to print	included
Bought one at a time	$38
Together	$29

Launch price. It goes to $39 after December 13.

Get the Book and Audiobook · $29

Pay once In your email in a minute 30-day money back

This is a digital book and audiobook. You read or listen on your phone, tablet or computer, or print it at home. Nothing is mailed.

Only want the large-print book? It is $19.

How it works

Pay onceWith a card, through Gumroad. Nothing monthly, and nothing is mailed.

It is in your email in a minuteThe receipt has your link. It opens on a phone, tablet or computer. Nothing to install.

Read it, print it, or press playPrint the six cards before the season and put the gut card in your coat pocket.

Who is in the woods with Del

“82 yrs and still climbing and hunting by myself, most times, in Pa. God is good. So thankful.”Under What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

“I'm 63 and on my 48th traditional bowseason... A lot of these lessons I learned the hard way..didn't have anyone to teach me.…”Under What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

“48 years old, Dauphin County PA, don’t have to be “old” to benefit from excellent information. Thanks for the education.…”Under What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

“67 and hunt by myself. Mainly hunt the evenings use the wind to my advantage.”Under What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

“68 years, I stay on the ground now. Upstate new york. You would love my ground blind.”Under What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

“South Central Pa here! New to hunting! Thanks for the information”Under What Deer Smell When You Walk In Before Light

Real comments left under Del's videos on YouTube, copied as written. They are about the videos, not the book. Long ones are cut where you see “…”.

30day
money back

Read it first. If it is not for you, you get your money back.

Reply to your receipt email inside 30 days and every dollar comes back. No questions asked.

A word from Del

Fifty-eight deer seasons in Pennsylvania, and the last eleven by myself. Nobody showed me how to do the back half of a hunt alone. I had to work it out again, one job at a time, after there was nobody on the other rope.

This is that, written down in big type so you can read it at the tailgate, and read aloud so you can hear it on the drive to camp. If it gets one deer home cold and one old man home safe, it did its job.

Del

Delmar Hoke is a fictional presenter, the narrator of the Delmar Hoke channel on YouTube, and the camp stories are his. The methods come from the Pennsylvania Game Commission's 2026-27 digest, Penn State Extension, the CDC and the USDA, each named in the sentence where it is used. The audiobook voice is AI-generated.

Questions people ask

Is this a paper book?

No. It is a digital book and audiobook. You get a link by email the moment you pay, and you can read it on a phone, tablet or computer, or print the pages at home.

I am not good with computers. Will I manage?

If you can open an email, you can open this book. Press the link in your receipt and it opens. There is nothing to install.

Will I be charged again?

No. It is one payment. There is no subscription and nothing monthly.

Can I print it?

Yes. The book is set in large type so it prints clean on ordinary paper. The six quick cards are one page each.

What if I lose the file?

Keep your receipt email. The link in it works as many times as you like.

Is it only for Pennsylvania?

The tagging chapter uses Pennsylvania's 2026-27 rules. Everything else, from the knife to the freezer, works in any state. Pull your own state's digest for the rules.

Why is this not just in the videos?

The videos are about how deer behave. The book is the work after the shot, in order, with the numbers. It is made to be open on the tailgate with a knife in your other hand.

What if I don't like it?

Reply to the receipt email within 30 days and you get your money back. No questions.

Something else, or trouble with your download? Write to del@delmarhoke.com.

The book, the audiobook and the six cards

The large-print book: 176 pages, 18-point type, a PDF for any screen or printer	$19 alone
The audiobook: the whole book read aloud, 16 tracks, 2 hours 49 minutes	$19 alone
Six quick cards: the gut, the drag, the hang, the cut, the temperatures and the tag. One page each, made to print	included
Bought one at a time	$38
Together	$29

Launch price. It goes to $39 after December 13.

Get the Book and Audiobook · $29

Pay once In your email in a minute 30-day money back

This is a digital book and audiobook. You read or listen on your phone, tablet or computer, or print it at home. Nothing is mailed.

Only want the large-print book? It is $19.