The Hunting Files

Everything Changes!!!!!

I’ve heard people say that change is good.  Well, I‘m not so sure about that always being true.  While working this past week (carpenter) I began to think “What if I had to cut all these rafters with a hand saw?"  Change is definitely good here!!  LOL

But what about the changes hunting has gone through?  This is where I start to have my doubts.  Sure I hunt with better guns and gear than I did as a kid………..we all do.  But is hunting better than it use to be?  Yes we have more deer and turkey than in the 60’s -70’s, not as many quail, squirrel, or rabbits, at least not around here. 

Do numbers alone make it better?  Not for me!

I miss the days when I could leave the house and hunt across my family's land and on to the neighbor's land and then on to his neighbor's and so on.  All without trespassing because you were welcome on their land just as they were welcome on yours.

No one owned the game, and just as the game moved from one piece of land to the next, so too could the hunter.  Full days spent in the field chasing whatever game you were after, crossing fences, ditches, or fields that were a neighbor's property line.  Some days running into Mr. Jones and hunting with him the rest of the day.

Then on the occasions when there would be a “group” hunt (several folks from the community), it was an honor for the hunt to start on your place!  I can’t once remember anyone voicing a concern that “ya’ll will kill all the birds, squirrels, or rabbits on my place,  let’s go somewhere else."  Game just wasn’t looked at in terms of mine or yours. 

It just seems to me that there is more emphasis on ME now a days.  I guess that to a certain point I understand why.  People pay big bucks to own or lease land, invest even more for food plots, put up gates and fences and posted signs.  All necessary  to have a place to hunt!

So …………. Is change always good?

rifle-man

The Game Gourmet System

There is only one thing I like almost as much as being in the field hunting wild game. And that’s cooking, eating, and serving the game I harvest to family and friends.

As my full-time job, I coordinate, write and edit Product Test Review articles on hunting & fishing gear for North American Hunter and North American Fisherman magazines. Every so often, I’ll post a product-related article on THE HUNTING FILES, because I really like it. This time, I’d like to talk about Game Gourmet’s complete cooking systems.

Last week, my Dad came over to visit and I made a pheasant stew for him using the Upland Game recipe from Game Gourmet. Then, last night my cousin came over for a visit and I made the Roasts & Stews recipe with some venison steaks I got last deer season. Both meals turned out awesome. The meat was moist, tender and delicious! My friends and family agreed.

The Game Gourmet system is super easy with NO messy pots or pans to clean up. The bake-in-the-bag products include a simple recipe, all of the spices and a nifty oven cooking bag. You simply add the wild game meat, some vegetables and water to the bag and cook the bag (using a roasting pan) in the oven for 3 hours. The meat comes out moist and tender and without any “wild” taste.

Currently there are four products to choose from: Upland Game, Ducks and Geese, Soups and Stews, and Roasts and Steaks. Each packet offers a basic recipe, plus three additional creative recipes for variety.

I think every hunter should try this product. It’s only 5-10 minutes of prep time and 3 hours in the oven. Plus, the system mess-free, and tastes great.

Contact: Game Gourmet at: (800) 237-7583; www.gamegourmet.com.

Click on Thumbnail photo to see full-sized photo:

By JJ Reich

Outdoor Writer, and Author of Kampp Tales™ Hunting Books for Kids

www.kampptales.com

1/2 Box Of 22 Shells and Paw-Paw's Game Bag

I’m sure this is a sign that I’m now officially an “ old fart” but today I started remembering special things from my childhood.

Hunting was right at the top of the list .  I still remember my Dad and Paw-Paw letting me tag along with them until they were sure, at the ripe old age of 7, I would be ok on my own.

The First Great Hunt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got out of bed just before 4 : 30 and had all my stuff laid out from the night before.( I didn’t seem to need as much gear back then .) Blue jeans, my favorite flannel shirt, red and black of course, boots and socks, cap, ½ box of 22 long rifle shells , and a Remington bolt-action single-shot . I almost forgot the game bag that  Paw-Paw carried , it was homemade out of what was once a feather pillow ( ticking ). Although it was large enough to hold at least 10 fox squirrels ( I had seen my Paw- Paw come home with that many before ) I just knew it wasn’t gonna be big enough for today’s hunt !

After swallowing 2 fried eggs and some sausage and biscuits as fast as I could , out the door I went . It was just light enough to find my way up the trail that ran from in front of the house up into the woods . I knew where the squirrels were gonna be feeding - in a big hickory-nut tree over on the second ridge from the house . This was where the massacre would take place !

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting with my back against an old cotton-wood tree about 25 yards from the big hickory with all the cuttings under it . I had carefully and quietly pushed the fall leaves back far enough that if I had to  shift or stand up I wouldn’t make a sound . Now in the early light I slid the bolt back and reached into the box of shells placed just to the right of me on the ground . (This was a trick that I had learned from my Dad , put your shells at arms length so ya don’t have to take your eyes off of the squirrel to reload) I closed the bolt and checked the safety , DEATH was at the  ready !

Just as I could start making out the leaves that were still  in the tops of the trees , I saw a limb bounce way down the ridge . Then another limb a little closer , then nothing…….. where did he go ? Minutes passed ( seemed like hours) then from out of nowhere a gray appeared on the trunk of an oak about 10 yards on the other side of the hickory. The little Remington came up , settled the bead in the rear notch , safety off , right behind the shoulder , breathe , let half the breath out , squeeze . The little gray clung by a claw for just a second and then fell to the ground with a mighty thump !

In my excitement , I jumped to my feet but then remembered  what Dad had said “ just sit there and wait for the next one, that one ain’t going nowhere “.  It took all I had to sit back down . It seemed like an hour passed before I saw another squirrel as he jumped from limb to limb headed my way from down in the hollow. I raised the rifle but he was still too far. He was in a hurry though, and he was in the top of the hickory in no time. I could hear him cutting and the bits falling in the leaves, but I couldn’t see him . After straining my eyes for a few minutes I saw him sitting on one of the top limbs chewing on a hickory nut. The little rifle spoke again and he hit the ground with a  thud not 15 yards in front of me.

MORE than this kid could stand !!!!!!!  I went and picked him up and after looking him over good went to the first one and got him . Then it hit me , I had messed up , I slipped back to my spot as quietly as I could and sat down . I didn’t see anymore squirrels that morning but that could have been because I was too busy admiring the two on the ground at my feet .

As I headed home, the game bag that I thought would be too small seemed full with just the two squirrels .

I can’t seem to remember what I did this past Fri. but I think when I forget this hunt……………… my days will be over !

Rifle-Man  www.gutpilestyle.com Squirrel Hunting

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The Stick Incident..... Part II

When we left off, the squirrels has spiked my beer, causing me to puke and dry heave, in turn giving me an umbillical hernia.  After having it fixed, and not being able to go back to work, I was ready for retribution!

I got down to the farm early on a Friday afternoon and headed into the woods.  This was mid August, so it was HOT!  I rode the 4 wheeler up to the top of the hill in the woods and took off walking.  I could hear a squirrel cutting, off down in a hollow, so I maneuvered around to where I could find it and get a shot.  I finally found the squirrel and shot.  That's 1 squirrel for the pot.  As I was going to pick that one up, I saw another jump onto another limb.  I found that one in the scope, putting the crosshairs on his little fuzzy head and let him have it.  There's two for the pot!  I picked up the first squirrel and went down to get the 2nd (which had fallen in the very bottom of the hollow.  As I was going to get that one, I saw another, but couldn't get a shot at it.

So now, I'm in the very bottom of this hollow, trying to figure out just "how" I'm going to get out of there.  The hills are dang near too steep to climb, and I really didn't want to walk down the hollow because that's going to take me out of the woods.  I saw a little small tree that had fallen, angling down the hill.  I thought, "If I can make it to that tree, I can walk on the high side of it, up the hill and out of here.  I clawed my way up to the tree and went to put a foot on the log.  Just as my foot touched the log and I put some weight on it, it slipped (lesson - always have boots with good tread!) and I fell sideways, toward the uphill side, catching myself with a hand.  You know how it feels when someone hits you in the nose, with your nose tingling and your eyes watering?  That's what if felt like.  Then I could feel my nose start bleeding.  I sat down on the log, hanging my head over to let the blood drip for a bit while I figured out what had happened.  I carry a bandana with me to wipe sweat when it's hot.  I got the bandana out and started to wipe the blood away.  As I was wiping the blood away, I could feel something in the edge of my nose.  I couldn't tell what it was, but I couldn't get ahold of it either with the blood making everything slick.  I decided to walk back to the 4 wheeler and then go down to Bob's house (my step-dad) and see if he could get whatever it was out.

I started up the hill, having to stop every so often and rest, the whole time holding the bandana up to my nose to catch the blood.  About 3/4 of the way up, I almost puked because I was so hot.  As I was sitting there resting, I saw 2 squirrels down the hill from where I had just come.  I started once to shoot them but then thought, "If I shoot them, then I have to go down the hill and then back up to where I'm now."  I decided to give the squirrels a break and continued working my way up the hill.  Once I was back to the 4 wheeler, I got on it and rode down the hill to Bob's house.

Just as I was getting to the cabin, my mother pulled up at the cabin.  She saw me with the bandana up to my nose and asked if I had a nose bleed.  "Not exactly....."  I gave her a brief run down of what happened and then asked her if Bob was up at the house because I was going to have him pull whatever it was out.  I tilted my head back a little for her to see what it was.  She gave a shudder and said, "No, you're going to the hospital!"  Lovely!  I hate hospitals!!

My mother is not the best driver under normal conditions.  You add a little "excitement" such as this, and I was hanging on for dear life, telling her to watch the road and slow down!  We get to the hospital and eventually get checked in and in a room.  The doctor finally comes in and asks why I'm there.  "I've got a stick up my nose."  To which the doctor replied, "And, how old are you?"  LOL!!!  He looks at it a little and then sends me for x-rays.  After he looked at the x-rays, he came back in and said that the x-rays were negative, so he was just going to go up in there and get it.  "Slow down there doc!  What do you mean the x-rays were negative, and what do you mean you're just going to go up in there and get it?"  He said that he ordered the x-rays to find out how far up in my sinuses the stick had gone and if there would be any danger by pulling it out.  The only way to get it out was going to be to pull it out.  So I laid back on the bed and put a towel over my eyes to shield them from that big bright light he had in my face.  I couldn't see anything that he was doing, but could feel it, with it driving me nuts every time he even touched the stick.  I found out from my mother that he had to leave the room and get a bigger pair of forcepts because the pair he had wasn't big enough to get a bite on the stick.  When he finally got ahold of the stick and pulled it out, there was some SEVERE pain involved with it!  I've got a pretty high pain tolerance, but that freaking HURT!!!  After he got it out, he cleaned it up a little and gave it to me, along with a couple of perscriptions for pain medicine and an antibiotic.  He also said that when I got back home to make an appointment with an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist to make sure there wasn't anything else up there and to assess the damage after some of the swelling had had a chance to go down.

All of this was on a Friday afternoon/evening.  Saturday morning, I was back out hunting.  I hunted Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning, going back home on Sunday afternoon.  On Sunday morning I was finally able to blow my nose, blowing out pieces of bark when I did.  Monday I made an appointment with the ENT for Wednesday.  Once I got into see him, I gave him a run down on what had happened.  He looked up in there and said that everything looked OK and it was healing well.  Just to be on the safe side, he put a scope up my nose to see if there was anything else.  "By George, there is something else up there."  Great, just what I wanted to hear!  He tried to get it out, but wasn't able to.  "OK, we're going to have to schedule you for surgery to knock you out and go up in there and get it."  "Well, here's the dilema doc.  I'm off work right now because of a recent hernia surgery.  I'm scheduled to go back to work next Monday.  Is there any way that you can schedule this for this week some time?"  He goes to check and comes back to tell me that he's got me scheduled for 6:00 AM the next morning.

So now I've got another issue.  My wife was out of town.  I could drive myself to the hospital for the surgery, but I had to have someone come and pick me up afterwards.  They wouldn't let you check yourself out and drive home.  I called my wife and we finally found someone who could come and sign me out after everything was said and done.

6:00 AM the next morning (Thursday), I'm sitting in the hospital getting ready to be knocked out yet again for yet another surgery.  The doctor goes in and gets the piece that was up in there and gives it to me to add to my "collection".  On a follow up visit to the doctor a few days later, I told him that my nose was really sore up in there.  "Yeah, I figured that it would be.  I went in there and got the piece and started pulling it out, but it got hung and I couldn't get it out.  I had to let it go to get a better grip on it.  When I did, it fell further back in there, and I really had to go digging then to get it out."  Just my luck.  No wonder I was so sore!

So all totaled, the first piece of stick that was pulled out was 1 and 1/8" long, with the end that was furthest up in my nose being 3/8" wide (it was the bud end of a small limb).  The second piece was only about 1/2" long and was just straight without bulging on the end.  Because of "the squirrels", I literally puked my guts out, got a hernia, had to have surgery for that, got a stick lodged up my nose, had to make a trip to the emergency room, and ultimately yet another surgery.  Thus the reasoning for my extreme HATRED for squirrels!

Since "The Stick Incident", whenever I'm in the woods I wear safety glasses and boots with good tread on the bottoms.  When I fell, that stick could had just as easily gone in my eye instead of my nose.  It was a 1 in a million shot.  There's probably no way that it could ever happen again like that.  All I know is that the .17 HMR will take a squirrel's head clean off, which is very satisfying when I go to pick them up..........  Especially considering everything that I've been through in regards to squirrel hunting.

Big58cal

Squirrel Dogs - Try'em, You Might Like'em!

This is for anyone who has never squirrel hunted with a dog. I’m not going to tell you that it is the best or only way to squirrel hunt, but I will tell you it is the most fun way to hunt ‘em!  I’ve still hunted, stalked, and sat and waited at many a food sources in my younger days.  All of those methods work and all have their place. But for sheer fun and excitement, ya can’t beat a dog that loves to hunt squirrel.

From seeing the excitement in a dog’s eyes when you drop the tailgate, to hearing that hard bark that says, “here he is, up this one”, to watching him follow the squirrel to the ground once you shoot him out, man it’s action packed!  It’s a great way to introduce young hunters to the sport.  They don’t have to sit real still or be quite and they get to move through the woods - they just plain have fun. As a bonus, a young hunter will have a better chance for a shot at a motionless squirrel. Once treed, the squirrel will flatten out and freeze . Getting the young ones to see the squirrel can be a chore sometimes but with some patience and practice, it doesn’t take long. When the squirrels aren’t moving much, I still enjoy watching the dog do what thousands of years of instinct has taught her to do - hunt ! 

There are folks, just about everywhere there are squirrels, that hunt with a dog. If you don’t know anyone, check with your state fish and game, ask other hunters, or maybe put an ad in a local paper . I would almost guarantee that there is a squirrel-dog hunter within reasonable driving distance that would welcome the chance to introduce you to the sport!

While you may not think it’s for you, it could very well be JUST the thing for you.  Give it a try ……………… and be sure to bring that little one along.

Rifle-Man  www.gutpilestyle.com  Squirrel Hunting!

The Stick Incident..... Part I

My hatred for squirrels started about 3 years ago.  Prior to that, I liked squirrel hunting, but I wasn't obsessed with it like I am now.  What makes it even more fun now is that I hunt with a Marlin 17VS in .17 HMR.  There's something particularly satisfying about picking up a squirrel with 1/2 to 3/4 of it's head missing.  But I digress.....

In June of that year, our spring squirrel season came in.  I had been looking forward to it, and it just so happened that my nephew was in from out of state, so he and I were going to go squirrel hunting on opening morning.  I used to drink a little, so when we were in the cabin the night before opening morning shooting the bull and getting our stuff ready, I had 2-3 beers and then fell asleep for the night.  Along about 3:00 AM, I woke up sick at my stomach.  I went outside and started throwing up.  As is usually the case when you're really sick, I emptied my stomach and then had dry heaves since there wasn't anything left to throw up.  I finally stopped and went back inside the cabin and went back to sleep.  A few hours later the alarm went off, so Alex and I got up, got dressed, and headed out to the woods.  Before leaving the cabin though, I was outside dry heaving again.  Once we got up in the woods, I sent Alex in one direction and I went another.  After spending about half an hour puking more and dry heaving, I decided that it just wasn't much fun, so I found Alex and told him I was going back to the cabin.  After puking once more at the cabin, I started to feel a little better.

A day or so later, I had decided that the squirrels had spiked my beer with something to make me sick and keep me out of the woods because they knew what I was going to do to them!  LOL!!!  In reality, I must have had some kind of virus that caused it all.

One morning after this though, while I was taking a shower, I noticed that I had a little area sticking out at the bottom part of my belly button.  This was weird......  I hadn't noticed that before.  I had a doctor's appointment in about a week for something else, so when I went in I mentioned the little protrusion to the Dr.  He looked at it and suspected that it was an umbilical hernia so he sent me to a surgeon to have him look at it.  Once I got into see this guy, he confirmed that it was an umbilical hernia.  We started trying to figure out then how I had gotten it.  He asked me if I had recently been throwing up pretty hard.  "Uh, yeah I was about 2 weeks ago."  "More than likely then, that's what caused it."  OK, now not only had the squirrels spiked my beer with something, but they had caused me to get a hernia from the puking!  VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE!!!

I scheduled the surgery and had it fixed.  Since I had to be released back to work to be able to lift 30 lbs., the Dr. kept me off work for 6 weeks.  After 3 weeks though, I was ready to go nuts in the house.  On a follow up visit after 3 weeks, the Dr. told me that I still couldn't lift anything over 10 lbs.  When I asked him about walking though, he said I could walk as much as I wanted.  AAHH HA!!!  Squirrel season opened in a couple of weeks, so since the rifle is less than 10 lbs and he told me I could walk as much as I wanted.............  I was going to exact some revenge on the squirrels for doing this to me!!!  Since I didn't have to work, I was going to go after them full bore!

I'll pick this up tomorrow and give everyone "The Rest of the Story".

Big58cal

http://www.gutpilestyle.com

Silly Whitetails.....Decoys are for kids

I think everyone will agree the future of our sport is the "utes" (see the movie "My Cousin Vinny") of this country. Getting kids involved and keeping them interested in hunting can be a real challenge. I know a lot of anxious fathers cannot wait for "Jr" to reach that age when they can go with them on a hunt. These guys are so excited they actually sap the fun out of the experience.

I have a friend John (name changed to protect me!) who could not wait for his son to be old enough to join him in the field. On Jr.’s first hunt, an excited John hauled his son (7) out of bed at 4am on a very cold, windy morning. They stumbled through the dark (and scary) woods for 30 minutes and climbed into a two-person ladder stand for almost 4 hours. Needless to say, it was difficult for Jr to sit that long with cold feet, an empty stomach, and his father fussing at him every few minutes to be still. To this day, John cannot understand why Jr. does not want to venture along again.

Remember, kids growing up these days have more entertainment and recreational opportunities than we did while growing up. Skate boards, video games, I-pods, My-Space, text messaging, soccer, etc. are all competing with hunting for your kid’s entertainment activities. And the worst part is most of these other forms of entertainment give instant feedback.... unlike sitting in a freezing cold deer stand all morning and not seeing an animal.

I think if we make the sport a relaxing, enjoyable experience, we can keep the kids interested. I'll give you an example. I am blessed with three girls. Believe it or not, there was actually a time before shopping, driver's licenses, cars, and boyfriends, that they actually liked spending time with me. I would take them on an afternoon hunt to one of the Sportsman's Condos on the property. I would pack them a snack, let them bring their Game Boys (set on silent!) and would have a set of binoculars for each of them. I planned our afternoon hunts to arrive about 1 hour before dark. They were comfortable and entertained. When a squirrel or a Redbird would appear, they stopped playing their Game Boys and we looked through the binoculars and we talked about what we saw. They would ask questions about where it came from, where it lived, what it ate, etc. Lots of times I would see an animal and not say anything.....you should have heard the excitement when they spotted it before Dad did!

But my biggest secret was using a deer decoy. I would put it out in the field 50 yards or so in front of us and run a fishing line to the cloth tail I had made. When a deer stepped out into the field, I would let them take turns twitching the fishing line to make the tail move. I designated the "non-tail wagger" to be the scout and give us a description of what the "live" deer was doing. At the supper table that night they would give their mother a recap of the afternoon events. I have some great memories of the time spent together before the "Dad I need $20 for gas" years.

Bottom line? Don't rush them, and make it fun.

And by-the-way.....silly whitetails.........decoys are for kids.

Mark Bernegger

www.sportsmanscondo.com

How To Skin / Clean A Bull Frog

Whether you hand catch, gig, shoot, or fish for bullfrogs you’re going to need something to put them in.  I try to hand catch as many as possible and then gig the rest, not killing them at the time.  It’s usually late at night (or very early in the morning) when you get done, and I usually don’t feel like cleaning them right then.  It’s much easier to clean them the next morning when it’s daylight.  That being said, we take the bottom part of the leg from an old pair of blue jeans, sew up one end, and then sew some kind of cord or rope into the other end to be used as a draw string.  It costs next to nothing, is simple to make, and you don’t have to worry about the frogs getting out of it.

This series shows how to clean the WHOLE frog.  Some people will just cut the back legs off and throw the rest away.  That’s a waste of good meat.  Especially on larger frogs, there’s quite a bit of meat on the upper half of a frog, so why waste it?  Even if it’s a small to medium sized frog, it still shouldn’t be wasted.  It doesn’t take anytime extra really to clean, so utilize as much of the animal as possible. Now, you’ll need a frog (or several if you were lucky enough to get them).

The next step is to kill the frog.  I don’t want an animal to be alive when it’s being cleaned, so I’ll usually take care of this in the easiest way possible.  In the picture below, you’ll notice that I’m holding the frog with it’s belly up, over the top of a pretty good sized rock.  While holding the frog like this, you’re going to smack the frog’s head on the rock pretty hard, with a glancing blow.  Usually, 1 good hard lick is enough to take care of them, but I usually hit them 3-4 times just to make sure.  When you’re done, the frog’s tongue will probably be sticking out.

Start cutting right behind the ear (the round spot behind each eye).  Make a cut all of the way around the frog in this area.

After you’ve got the skin cut all the way around behind the head, stick your thumb under the edge of the skin at the throat.  You’re getting it loose right here to grab it with a pair of pliers.  You don’t have to use pliers, but it does make it easier and quicker getting the skin off.

Hold the frog up by the head (behind the jaws) and grab the skin with the pliers and pull back toward the back legs.  You may have to rotate between pulling on the belly side and the back side.  Pull the skin off to the front feet.  You can either cut the feet off now, or wait until later.  I usually wait so that I don’t have to switch between the pliers and knife.

Once you get the skin to the top of the back legs, there’s a point where the skin is  a little more difficult to get off.  Alternate between the front and back, working the skin a little at a time, and continue to pull the skin all of the way off of the back feet.

You should now have the skin completely off of the frog.

Now take your fingers and bend the tip of the front foot/leg (sorry for the blurry picture).  Where the foot bends at the tip (the wrist area), take your knife and cut the foot off, cutting from the side right in the joint.

Complete again for the other foot.  You should now have both front feet cut off.

Time for the back feet now.  The process is the same as the front feet.  Bend the foot, and find the first joint and cut through the joint from the side.

The picture below shows the joint of the back foot after you’ve cut it off.

Time to get rid of the head now.  Cut all of the way around behind the head with your knife.

Once you’ve cut around the head, grab the head and twist it around until it come off.  Pull the head off and any of the entrails that come with it.

Now split the rib cage.  Stick the tip of your knife in just above the back legs and cut all of the way up to split skin and ribs.

Once you get up to the ribs, hold on either side of the frog and apply a little pressure to the knife to get it to cut up through the breast bone.

Once you’ve got it opened up, spread out the frog and pick out any pieces of the guts that are left, and then rinse the frog off with water to remove anything else.

You’re done now!  Roll in some seasoned flour, fry, and enjoy some good frog legs!!!

Big58cal

For more "Critter Cleaning" visit www.gutpilestyle.com