I have the same feelings and experiences with guns shows for the most part. Gun raffles on the other hand are fantastic, especially if they have a good dinner.
I just went down to the sunshine state for a quick deer and hog hunt on public. Saw a few does on public and a nice buck while driving down a road. Definitely garnered a true appreciation how tough it is with all the vegetation.
I trim burger while processing. Steaks are frozen with silver skin on and trimmed before cooking. And any scrap meat without too much undesirable tissue is tossed into the summer sausage pile.
Fishing on a fairly big lake in Ontario and ran 45 minutes to a spot for the evening bite. My brother and I forgot the net in the fish shack and our old man was furious. My brother then proceeds to snag something on the bottom… reels up a perfectly good net. I think we used up a lifetime of luck...
I hope it goes well. FWIW I’ve never had a muzzleloader leave a good blood trail. I’ve had many deer run off and not bleed and be piled up within 100 yards with them things.
Rounds bales are a good option as stated above. If legal, a good set of decoys can help too. It can shift the focus from the blind to the new “deer” in the field.
I’ll have to find the link but growing deer tv has a nice video explaining some of the science behind jumping the string. Basically what I gained was it’s easier for them to jump the string when their head is down feeding. When they are alert it’s harder for them to jump it.