11/20/08 

8:30 PM.  The opening of Wisconsin's gun deer season is Saturday.  Imagine 600,000+ blaze orange-clad hunters heading into the woods in search of the elusive thirty point buck.

I'm already all tingly. Not just about the hunting prospects but also about the camaraderie and deer camp shenanigans that surround this event.  It's really quite social what with friends and family - the whole nine yards.

Here's the deal.  I'm already at our camp.  I snuck out of my day job this afternoon while nobody was looking.  The balance of the crew arrives tomorrow.  That includes Wench, Lawyer, Sid, Mennonite, Android and Braumeister - the usual suspects.

I'll be posting daily updates to this year's deer camp.  Pictures too.  Maybe some recipes of our starvation diet.

So check in from time-to-time and enjoy the fun and enjoy the hunt.  Vicariously as it were. 

By the way, since I started publishing these on-line hunting diaries I learned that our wives (and at least one girl friend) began checking this blog as a way of keeping tabs on their men-folk.  Ladies, you can count on me to make sure that only fair and balanced reporting of the facts ever finds its way on-line.  Nothing but the truth.  No outrageous tales like you might get from a fisherman.  You know me, I don't want any trouble.

On a serious note; for all of you hunters, good luck, shoot straight and be safe.

I'm going to put another log in the wood burner and return to my book.  More tomorrow.

Good night.

Tom

Oops.  Forgot to tell you that it is freak'n cold here.  20 degrees!  I went out earlier and turned the thermostat up on the hot tub.

11/21/08 - Get Ready.  Get set...

Everyone is here.

We're all settled-in and relaxing.

Dinner tonight featured deep fried Wisconsin crappies.

Fish tacos!

Accompanied by frijoles, slaw and really spicy chipotle-mayo sauce and cold beers.

Yum!

11/22/08 Go!

4:30 AM.  Daylight in the swamp boys.  Well, not quite anyway. It is dark - hardly any moon.  It is 8 degrees above zero.  I believe I have found the perfect breakfast for these conditions.

I looked everywhere trying to find the Heinemann's recipe for baked oatmeal.  No luck.

So, here's the bbest surrogatefor deer camp baked oatmeal.

1/3 c of butter.

2 eggs

3/4 c of brown sugar

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 1/2 t of vanilla extract

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1 c + 2 T milk

3 c oatmeal (quick or regular)

This serves 6 – so you need to at least double the recipe for your normal deer camp.

In our continuing tradition of surprises Braumeister just left for the hospital - seems he woke-up with what might be a detached retina.

Hoarfrost

9:30 AM  Coffee break. Braumeister is back and out hunting.  Something about floaters and a bad vitreous humor.  He had the entire ER to himself until the cops brought in the guy with multiple stab wounds.  Everyone has seen deer but nothing tagged yet.

5:15 PM.  For the first time ever our deer camp didn't tag a deer on opening day.  I am bummed yet optimistic.  Our visions of venison bourguignon have vaporized.  We have been reduced to eating chicken wings and bean soup tonight.  For now I am enjoying a Ketel One on the rocks (with twist) and King Oscar sardines.   

Bean soup:  Start with three smoked pork hocks from the local butcher shop.  Simmer in a pot to make the stock.  Remove.  Add two packages of navy beans, one sweet onion (chopped fine) and 1t of chopped garlic to the stock.  De-bone the hocks removing skin, fat and gristle.  Return meat to the pot.  Cook all day - low and slow.  Add salt to taste.  Put in the garage to set.  The next day remove the congealed fat on the top.  Reheat and serve with Caesar croûtons. Yum.   

9:30 PM.  Good night.

11/23/08

5 AM.  It is a balmy 24 degrees outside as the camp stirs to life.

11 AM  Post-breakfast report = nothing tagged.  Beer rhymes with deer and since I haven't any deer pictures to share - here is a beer picture.

Braumeister (incidentally a national home brewing champion) makes our deer camp beer.  This year a lager and an imperial stout

7:00 PM.  Hunted this afternoon with everyone's lack of success weighing heavy on our minds.  At least mine anyway.  The weather was positively fine.  36 degrees with a 10 MPH breeze out of the southwest - subsiding by 2 PM.

I covered a 15 acre wildlife opening adjacent to a cedar swamp and an impenetrable alder thicket.  I have my trusty Browning A-Bolt - 7mm magnum.  Big optics too.

At 3 PM a younger buck wanders out of the thicket and walks slowly in my direction - head-on.  At about 125 yards I put the cross hairs on his chest and... POW.

Deer down.

The skunk is out of the bag.

Awesome venison tacos tonight with authentic frijoles and garden salsa.  I am in a jolly mood.  Good Night.

11/24/08 

4:30 AM.  30 degrees and snow.

4:30 PM.  We got about 3 inches of the white stuff today and we all thought that the contrast might make hunting a bit easier; harder for those tree-munchers to sneak against the contrast of the snow.  We all came-in for breakfast after 10 AM without seeing  hide nor hair of a whitetail.  Things were quiet with only a couple of distant gun shots heard.  This has been some slow hunting.  Kind of like watching paint dry.  I did see several flocks of these little fellas.  They've arrived from further reaches to the north to winter here.  Wisconsin winters for them must be like Florida winters to people.  Anyway, they're fun to observe searching for seeds because they do it with both of their feet scratching simultaneously.

A word about tree stands and snow.  It scares the crap out of me.  Clunky boots, bulky clothing, rifle, pack, gloves - a wonderful combination for a slip and fall to the ground.  It's a pain to haul your stuff up on the end of a parachute cord but safer.  Same for climbing in and out - three out of four limbs in contact at all times. 

Nice view, eh?

The boys cleaned the place and we butchered, packaged and froze my deer. They've left and I'm puttering about doing laundry.  Ordinarily I'd have gone out and sat for the last couple of hours of daylight; but truthfully I'm pooped. I'm also beginning to feel a bit lonely.  Funny how that sensation materializes so quickly.

After chores tomorrow I'll head back to Tosa to attend to some day job stuff then return with my darling wife and Girlfriend.  Guests too for Thanksgiving.  It should be fun.

Good Night.

11/25/08

3 PM.  Back in good ol' Tosa - albeit temporarily.  I afforded myself the decadent pleasure of sleeping-in until 7 AM.  It was great.  On the drive home today I observed an interesting roadside curiosity.  A survey crew was working in a field along a county highway with transit, a GPS device on the end of a stick and the other usual contraptions.  They were all dressed in their blaze-orange bibs, coats and hats (a good idea during gun deer season).  They all also happened to have their back tags on. 

So here's the $1000 question - did they have guns in the back of their crew cab pick-up in case a deer popped into view? 

11/26/08

7 PM.  Back to the hunt.  It was a quiet afternoon - only one neighbor hunting along with me and it stinks.  Really. The farmer across the road has been spraying liquid manure on a freshly plowed 80 acre field.  This would not be the time to  be hanging laundry out to dry.  Whew!  Anyway, no deer and no shooting and aside from the obviously pungent atmosphere it was an altogether fine afternoon.  No need for scent control.

When you sit outdoors by yourself on a sunny 32 degree winter afternoon you have plenty of  time to think.  I spent most of my afternoon thinking about the Budget and Finance Committee meeting of last night.  Jill and I both attended.  Jill is a member of the Parks and Forestry Board and I am a simple citizen.  We both share a serious interest in the future of Hart Park.  I thought the comments by Alders Ewerdt, Purins, Krol and Maher (Committee Chair) were thoughtful and insightful. Donegan's email too.  Anyway, thanks to  those committee members that voted for the motion to proceed with the demolition and rebuilding of the athletic fields at the park.  Speaking for myself I want this investment in Tosan's quality of  life to move forward.  On to the full Council.

The mayor and I had a nice chat.  A sense of humor the mayor has.  Really.  But I digress.

More hunting tomorrow.  Family visiting too.  The critter that left this sign is on the menu.

Good night.

11/27/08

11 AM.  The house is beginning to fill with all sorts of wonderful smells.  Baked squash to make squash casserole.  In my view what is likely the world's best pumpkin pie.  From the Moosewood Cookbook - Mollie Katzen's No-Fault Pumpkin Pie.  I grew Connecticut field pumpkins in the garden this year.  I like to take what I call the eater size gourds - 9 to 10 inches in size - slice them in halves, scoop-out the seeds and bake them face down on a cookie sheet until they soften and collapse.  Scoop-out the cooked flesh and puree in a food processor.   Freeze in pie-size amounts.

Most of today's dinner came from the garden - squash, pumpkin, potatoes, corn and green beans.  The centerpiece is wild turkey - about as organic and free-range as it comes.   

Our neighbor's son-in-law just stopped by to ask if they could trail a deer that wandered over the line fence.  Hunting's been slow for them too.  

6:30 PM.  Wow.  The smells of good food cooking!  Family, a fire in the wood burner and dogs under foot.  What fun.  I have much to be thankful for.  There's the obvious stuff like a career that affords me all kinds of flexibility in my schedule.  Good health.  There is the great state I live in that is part of a great country.  But most of all it is the company of friends and the love amongst family that I am thankful and grateful for. 

I'm also thankful for the bounty of nature that seems to come my way. 

Once again this afternoon I recited my silent prayer of thanks. 

There is a doe hanging in the machine shed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

11/28/08

5:30 PM.  I did not hunt today.  Our guests departed late morning, Jill went to town  to pick-up a tractor part and brave the holiday shoppers.  I assumed my alter ego - Tom the Butcher.  That's like Joe the Plumber only I have this fantasy of having a snarky conversation with some lame politician while stropping a very sharp knife really close to his liar nose.  Anyway, I butchered my deer today.  That makes three for the year so far.

I'm really picky when it comes to butchering which is why I couldn't do it for a living.  I'm just too darn slow.  Nonetheless, others like my style because I'm one of the few people who can skin a deer and not get hair all over everything.  There is nothing worse than deer hair in your steaks or chops.  I'm also meticulous about trimming every last vestige of silver skin and fat from my meat.  That's the stuff that imparts a gamey flavor to venison.

The other way to make your venison taste bad is to cook it wrong.  Here's the deal.  Grill or sear it to medium rare.  Do it fast on an exceedingly hot grill or skillet.  This method is suited to steaks and chops and the better cuts of meat.  Otherwise cook it low and slow and very long until if falls apart at the touch of a fork.  Roasts in something like a crock pot are excellent.  Anything in between is guaranteed to be tough and not taste very good at all.

Some of the tougher cuts that come from the shoulders and hocks are really suited to grinding into hamburger.  If you do that be sure to add no less than 10% pork to the grinds so as to give the burger some fat for binding.

Some other tips.  After field dressing your kill get it cooled-down as quickly as possible.  For an early season bow kill I'm often stuffing the body cavity with bagged ice.  Also, do not split the pelvis.  Doing so exposes the hams to the air and possible contamination.  I see deer at the registration station in this condition all the time and it makes me nuts.  There's no good reason to do this so what's the point.  Leave all the hide intact until you're ready to skin the animal.  If you hang your deer hang it from the hind legs.  All the better cuts are in the hind quarters and you want those elevated above the animal's shoulders.

If any of you readers are carnivores be careful not to drool all over your keyboard.  This stuff is better than any fatty, feed lot raised, antibiotic-infused dead cow from the grocery store.

Venison kabobs tonight on the Smokey Joe.

Good night.

11/29/08

5:45 PM.  I completed everything on my list today. Made a trip to the town dump with a couple of barrels of recyclables, post office, grocery store, smoked a batch of pheasants (very popular during the upcoming holidays), scrubbed my cutting board and deer tarp, disposed of the deer carcass and sat for a couple of hours until dark in hopes of adding another deer to the tally.

Did you know that a small town dump is probably the best possible source of local information?  Think about it - a small town.  It is difficult to keep a secret in a small town.  Everyone has to go to the dump.  Aside from a place to dispose of garbage, recyclables and old appliances the dump is also a giant repository of secrets and information - both useful and otherwise.  Jill routinely asks me what I learned whenever I return.  Today all the talk was about how lousy the hunting has been.  Seems everyone was grousing about earn-a-buck rules or grumbling about not seeing deer.  Our total for the year is only three deer - about half of what we usually kill by this time.  But I've seen plenty of deer and have countless pictures of gangs of them from the trail camera.  Plus there's still more hunting opportunities remaining between now and early January.  So maybe these guys are sleeping in their stands or not spending enough time in the woods.

I have mixed feelings about deer numbers.  On one hand they're magnificent creatures and absolutely fun to watch in the wild.  On the other hand as a tree farmer I am constantly reminded of their impact when I see the damage they cause to young trees.  Visualize thousands of ten year old soft maples - knee high and sporting about three dozen branches.  Maple bushes I call them. They grow fast - but not until you can get one above the browse height of a whitetail. 

As further evidence of my theory about the dump being a veritable trove of information the local paper today said that deer registrations for opening weekend were off by 27% percent compared to last year.  So it will be interesting to see the final numbers after the DNR counts all the registrations after the seasons close.

Anyway, seeing as it's the season to be thankful for all things there is a deer in the woods tonight with much to be thankful for.  I doubt he has any personal knowledge of this fact.  I had him in my crosshairs for about a minute with fifteen minutes of daylight left.  A nubbin buck. I let him walk.  This old hunter is such a soft touch.  Sheesh. 

11/30/08

6:30 PM.  Last day of camp.  Woke-up to a sky the color of slate and the winds have picked-up.  This morning the weather guessers forecast bad weather.  A good day for soup.  So I located my largest stockpot and commenced to reduce the remnants of the Thanksgiving bird to soup stock.  Following that I fired-up the ATV and we fetched a bow blind, a stool from a deer stand and a Christmas tree.

The weather grew progressively worse.  About the time the Packers took the lead it was blowing like a gale and the snow made visibility close to nothing.  The weather guessers are calling this Winter Storm Andrew.  With the wind howling I figured any self-respecting deer would be hunkering down.  I stayed in and hunkered down to watch the Packers lose their game and started putting my stuff away. 

Two cartridges expended resulting in two deer.  A few comments about the business end of taking a deer with a firearm.

This season I hunted exclusively with my Browning A-Bolt - chambered for a 7mm Remington Magnum round.  I call it The Thunder Stick.  When fired the grass will lay flat and everyone knows that Tom got a deer.  The rifle is largely made of stainless steel with a composite stock.  It's ideally suited to hunting in foul conditions.  It is also equipped with a BOSS (a muzzle brake) that allows you to fine-tune the barrel harmonics to the rounds you are using.  The result is really tight shot groupings.  The BOSS significantly reduces the walloping recoil of the magnum load.  The rifle is topped with a Leupold 6.5X20 scope with a 300 yard zero.

Each round in the rifle is tipped with a 150 gr. Swift Scirocco boat tail Spitzer bullet.  With a muzzle velocity of about 3100 fps it imparts about 3200 ft/lbs of energy.  Using a bonded bullet results in complete expansion upon impact along with retention of most of the bullet's weight.  Here is the bullet I recovered from the deer I shot last Sunday-

Tonight I will lovingly clean my rifle of every last molecule of copper fouling, I'll anoint the bore and moving parts with a light coating of gun oil and then lock it in the safe with its brethren.  Treat your weapon well and it will serve you faithfully for your entire life.  Handle it with careful respect and understand its capabilities.

As for the soup the yield on an adult wild turkey is impressive.  I could probably serve my small collection of readers and still have leftovers.  We've been eating leftovers for days.  Turkey sandwiches.  Turkey with gravy. I have a vision of turkey salad when I get back to Tosa.  After cooking the stock for most of the day remove all of the bones and save any remaining meat.  Add a chopped sweet onion along with a big pile of cut carrots and celery.  Salt to taste.  Simmer.  Twenty minutes before serving add all the meat and a package of noodles. These are best.  Top with chopped parsley.  Now I have a humongous batch of leftover soup.

Gute Nacht.

Do you like Fish'n?

Smoked Coho Salmon-

Combine the following in a food-grade plastic bucket:

2 quarts water

1 cup Kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

2t seasoned salt

2t shrimp spice

(double or triple the brine recipe depending on the amount of fish to be smoked)

Add fish fillets, top with a ceramic plate to fully submerge the fillets, snap the lid on the  bucket and store in the garage for a day and a half.

Remove fillets, rinse and pat dry. 

Smoke over soaked apple wood chips for a couple of hours - recharging the chips halfway through the process.

This will freeze nicely for the holidays if you vacuum seal it with a FoodSaver.

Awesome!

Fall has arrived.

You're probably thinking - Doesn't this guy own a calendar to remind himself of when fall begins?

Let me explain.

It is more than just a date - it is a state of mind - a state of being. 

The colors in the tree canopy are spectacular - neon red for the maples, fluorescent yellow of the aspen, the brilliant gold of the tamaracks and deep maroon of the white oaks.

Skeins of migrating waterfowl have been filling the sky for weeks.

The cold evening heavens are alive with stars. 

You can see your breath when you go out at first light. 

Firewood has been stacked and the wood burner is getting daily use.

Today I had the game on the radio, a refreshing malt beverage on the work bench and I spent my Sunday afternoon in the machine shed cutting-up a deer.

In a man's world could it possibly get any better than that?

This weekend I learned that it can.

There is Man B Que.

Originating in Chicago - Man B Cue is a bar-b-cue for men only.  Rules are specific - meat eating and beer drinking are recommended.

For example there is Rule #6 - You must bring enough meat to share with MBQ attendees.  (Unless you killed it, then you can bring the one piece for yourself).

Don't take my word  for it - check it out.

Did you notice the Chicago MBQ Chapter's traveling trophy in the video clip?  Did you also notice that it doubles as a vessel for drinking shots?  Egad! 

Seems a member of our very own deer camp is now in possession of that sacred relic.

I am not making this up.

He's also our camp's youngest member and an accomplished marksman.

Seems he hosted a Chicago MBQ featuring grilled Wisconsin venison. 

I must admit that is quite a feather in his cap and a recognition deserving of mention - I would be talking about the trophy that you can apparently do shooters with - the marksmanship is a minimum requirement for deer camp admission.

Keep on grilling.

Tom

By the way - check out this pair of fellas that have been hanging around lately-

One of my fondest memories from childhood is of the big family garden behind our garage.

Dad built a cold frame and topped it with an old storm door.  He showed me how to sow the seeds for the garden while winter still threatened an icy blast.

Those seeds germinated into tiny plants which were subsequently transplanted into the garden.

Bernie - from up the block - owned a rototiller that all the neighbors were allowed to borrow for getting their gardens ready to plant.  I remember the first time I was allowed to use it - it took-off on me and ran across the yard like a thing possessed until dad chased it down.  Yeah.  Once the clutch was engaged off you went - without a kill switch.

After that I was entrusted with the vast responsibility of wielding a hoe much taller than me to keep the weeds at bay.

Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green beans, sweet corn and other truck were always on the family's summer table.

Summer turned to September - canning season.

A big production was made of driving to the farmer's stand on the corner of 76th Street and Good Hope Road (the northern edge of civilization back then) to purchase apples and pickling cucumbers.  The only other establishment was Claude Manning's simple tavern on the opposite corner.

I can still recall the steamy kitchen as dad sterilized glass jars, mom slicing pickles, me picking-thru and rinsing the dill and the smell of brine cooking on the stove top.  Dill pickles and bread and butter pickles were processed, canned and consumed until the ritual was repeated a year later.

Fall afternoons had Macintosh apples cooking with the smell of cinnamon and clove wafting through the house.  Cooked apples were turned through the grinder by hand to make homemade applesauce - the brown kind - not like the tasteless, pale, homogenized stuff you purchase in a grocery.

Sigh.  Mom is gone and dad isn't always himself lately.  We didn't even make picked beets together this year. 

But I digress.

It is pickle time. 

Pickling stuff allows for all sorts of creative expression.  Periodically I'll hand-select the largest and most handsome of garden green beans and pickle them in my secret garlic dill brine.  They are awesome in a Bloody Mary.  Besides, who doesn't appreciate receiving a home-canned curiosity at Christmastime?

Last year I made dill and Kosher dill along with sweet pickles.  The sweet pickles were tolerable - but not outstanding.  I've discarded what remained in favor of this new recipe. 

I have only a couple of humble pickle vines in the garden but they've been good producers.

Start with a big pile of cukes and allow yourself two to three days to complete everything.

Rinse and scrub.  Slice and soak in a food service pail (plastic or stainless - never aluminum) along with two gallons of water in which two cups of picking lime has been dissolved.  If you like - include a double handful of small sweet onions. 

Cover and store in a cool place for 24 hours.  Drain and rinse.  Soak in cold water and drain.  Do this two additional times.  Soak in cold water for three additional hours and drain.

Blend together in a large kettle the following:

2 quarts of vinegar

8 cups of sugar

1 T Kosher salt

1.5 oz (give or take) of pickling spice

Optional: a T of crushed hot peppers.

Heat the ingredients and stir until dissolved. 

Add the big pile of sliced pickles to the syrupy brine.  Cover and allow to sit for 5-6 hours or overnight.

Bring the pickle mixture to a slow boil for 35 minutes.  Stuff the jars with pickle slices and add the cooked brine leaving a half-inch of head space.  Seat the lids, screw-down the bands and heat in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Remove and allow to return to room temperature.  The lids will "pop" as they seal.

I ended-up with 15 pints and had to increase the brine and spices by 50%.

Interested in a bold serving suggestion?  Slap some of these zesty slices between the halves of an ordinary peanut butter or grilled cheese sandwich.  Yum.

Tom

Easy Salsa

Begin with the Secret Weapon.

I told you it was easy didn't I?  You can find this stuff at the grocery or Fleet Farm.

Start with approximately five pints of fresh garden tomatoes.

Scald tomatoes in boiling water for about thirty seconds and plunge into cold water.  Slip-off the skins and drain.

Coarsely chop the tomatoes and place in a stock pot.

Add Mrs. Wages Salsa mix along with a half-cup of white vinegar.

You can indulge your creative side by adding to the pot any or all of the following:

A couple of fresh green peppers - chopped medium

A couple of vidalia onions - chopped coarsely

A jalapeño pepper - chopped fine

A large carrot - chopped medium

A couple of garlic cloves - chopped fine

A tablespoon or so of crushed red pepper

A handful of fresh cilantro - chopped

Bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes

Fill pint jars with hot salsa mix.  Leave a half-inch of head space.  Wipe the glass rims clean and seat the lids.  Screw down the bands.  Place in a canning pot, cover with hot water, bring to a slow boil and cook for thirty minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.  The lids will "pop" as the jars seal.

You can also freeze the stuff although putting it-up a jar is shelf-stable and saves freezer space.

I got carried away with the tomatoes and along with the extra ingredients ended-up with eight pints. 

If you are entertaining mix a jar of this with a can of black beans (drained) and a cup of fresh-frozen sweet corn (see below) and serve with chips.

Frozen Sweet Corn

Start with a pile of freshly-picked garden sweet corn.

Shuck the corn and remove all the silk.  Start a big pot of water to boil.

Scald the corn in the boiling water and immediately plunge into icy water.  The ears must be cold before cutting and freezing.

Note:  If you are putting-up whole kernel corn you will want to scald the ears for four minutes.  If you are freezing whole ears then scald for seven minutes.  Try limiting four ears at a time to any one pot otherwise you'll lose your boil and the scalding will be all screwed-up. 

For whole kernel corn slice the nibblets off of the ear with a sharp knife. Periodically strop the knife on a steel to keep the edge sharp and the cutting easy.  Call your dog to the kitchen to Hoover-up the kernels that will inevitably fly to the floor (saves clean-up time).

Put the cut nibblets in a colander to drain.

Vacuum seal with a Food Saver in portions suited to personal use.  Freeze immediately.

Enjoy!

Tom

A bit late but worth the wait. 

Just-picked sweet corn along with a mess of Wisconsin pan fish and you have a formula for terrific eating.

But I digress.

The garden is producing record quantities of green beans.

The tomato infection was resolved by picking and discarding all of the sick fruit.  

So far, personal consumption has matched tomato production. 

BLTs. 

Tomato snacks. 

Omelets with tomatoes and Feta cheese. 

Tomatoes with baby mozzarella and basil.

You get the picture.

When the Roma plants kick it into high gear I'll be shifting into salsa and pasta sauce mode.

The pickle bin is filling

Cantaloupes are coming on-line.

There is even this psychedelic kale.

Tom

Ingredients:

Olive oil

3 lbs of large shrimp (shelled and deveined - reserve the shells)

3 carrots (diced <1/2 inch)

3 ribs of celery (diced <1/2 inch)

2 large sweet onions (diced <1/2 inch)

Salt and coarse ground pepper

1c brandy

4oz tomato paste

6 peppercorns

4 sprigs of fresh tarragon (strip and reserve the leaves)

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

3 garlic cloves (smashed) or 3t of chopped garlic out of the jar

2 bay leaves

14c of water

1 stick of butter

1/2c flour

4 cups of sweet corn (thaw if frozen)

1c heavy cream

Directions for preparing the stock:

In a stock pot, heat 3T olive oil.  Add the reserved shells and cook until pink. 

Add carrots, celery, 1/3 of the onions and season with salt and cracked pepper.  Cook until tender. 

Slowly add brandy and cook until liquid is reduced to about a 1/4 c.

Add the tomato paste and stir until vegetables and shells are fully coated.   

Add peppercorns, tarragon, thyme, garlic, bay leaves and water. Cover and simmer for three hours. Remove cover and cook until reduced to about 12 cups and the stock is rich and tasty.

Strain into a large bowl and discard the solids.

Finishing the bisque:

Add butter to clean stock pot and melt over medium heat.  Add the remaining onions.  Cook until softened.  Add corn.  Stir-in the flour, continuing to stir as you cook for a couple of minutes.  Return the strained stock to the pot and simmer on low about 15 minutes. 

Raise the heat and add the shrimp and cook about 3 minutes. Stir-in the cream and season to taste with salt and cracked pepper.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped tarragon leaves.

This is a big batch of bisque - serves 12

Makes a terrific first course or a meal if you include a salad and crusty sourdough bread.

Perfect for a dinner party - all the prep work can be completed ahead of time as the final cooking only takes about 15 minutes before serving.

Bon Appétit!

Tom

The weather has turned pleasant enough to drag the smoker out of the garage and make some really good food like smoked pheasant.

The process begins with the signature brine recipe:

2 quarts water

1c Kosher salt

1/2 c brown sugar

2t seasoned salt

2t pickling spice

Stir everything until dissolved

Add skinned pheasants.  Six pheasants calls for six quarts of brine in a food-grade plastic bucket.  Cover with a heavy plate to submerge the birds.  Snap the lid on the bucket and store in a cool place (basement, garage, fridge) for 24 hours. 

Remove birds, rinse and place in the smoker.  I use a gas smoker so I'll smoke the birds for about two and a half hours at 250 to 275 degrees over apple wood and a water-filled pan.  The wood chips have been soaking in water and are refilled after an hour. 

Finished product.

Refrigerate until used otherwise vacuum seal with a FoodSaver and freeze for future use.

This stuff is terrific when served with cheeses, fruit and wine to kick-off a party.  It is fantastic when incorporated in pasta or risotto recipes. 

For a fast meal - top a Boboli crust with baby mozzarella, smoked pheasant, sliced artichoke, fresh basil and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake.  Enjoy!

The signature brine can also be used with Great Lakes salmon or trout (either filleted or steaked) substitute shrimp spice if you care.

It's also fun to experiment with different woods like hickory or mesquite.

Since different smokers yield different results - or if you are doing this for the first time - do not experiment with some valuable game bird.  Work-out the bugs on some cheaper stuff like chickens.

Note - the small drumstick on a smoked pheasant is particularly tough to bother-with - too many tendons.  I debone them and chop the meat into pieces for dog treats - after all - Girlfriend earned it.

Tom

Tosa has been home to curling since 1920 - making the Wauwatosa Curling Club one of the oldest in Wisconsin.

Saturday marked the 49th Annual KrautSpiel. Here is the official award.

Starting the day with a Bloody Mary, hard-boiled eggs, followed by heading out on the ice with your friends is a good start.

It gets better.  Lunch is devoted to all manner of cabbage and pork products like spareribs, an array of sausages and homemade cabbage rolls.

Refreshing malt beverages from the Lakefront Brewery.  It doesn't get much better than that.

This guy is either the best of the wurst or the wurst of the worst. 

Terrific times with good friends on the ice - including all that cooked cabbage.

Somehow I think Tosa made its own unique contribution to global warming this weekend.

Good curling!

Tom

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Blogger's Note:  The name of this event is not supposed to be one word.  It seems the blogging tool recognizes the shortened derivative for sauerkraut as a really bad vulgarity.  Its publication is blocked.  If I attempt it - I get this:  *** Spiel.  Hmm.  I experimented with some even worse naughty words confirming there is a nanny in the software.  I figured-out that I could subvert the system by leaving out the space.  Don't tell the people at WauwatosaNOW.  Let's keep this our little secret.

The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters held their annual Conservation Lobby Day in Madison on Wednesday.

As an avid hunter, fisherman and conservationist this stuff is important so I took the day-off to become a citizen lobbyist.

No tassel-toed loafers or martini-infused parties.  No pay or pay-off.  

I met-up with a bunch of folks that were from the 5th Senate District and both the 13th and neighboring Assembly Districts.

This included many Tosans I've come to know over the years.  One new friend was a recently retired conservation warden.  We compared notes on Dakota pheasant hunting. 

I ran into friends from other parts of the state that were there representing various hunting, fishing and woodland organizations.  

What we have in common is we hunt, fish and vote.  It is refreshing to see so many people who care so much about Wisconsin's resources take a day out of their lives to drive-home that point.. 

The crowd included a mix of suits, business casual, cammo, boots and jeans.

I was looking forward to meeting with Senator Jim Sullivan and Representative David Cullen and the opportunity to share my views. 

The League had previously scheduled time for our group to meet with them.  Very cool.

A similar foray a couple of years ago was disappointing. 

My attempt to hold a conversation with the previous State Senator could be described as...er, let's just say it was akin to trying to carry-on a conversation with a stump - but I digress.

This year's attendance was lighter as the previous night's blizzard cut into the travel of attendees from the further reaches of the state.

There was the usual welcome and preliminaries.

The Lieutenant Governor, Barbara Lawton, stopped by to visit.

She claimed she knows how to pee in the woods just like the rest of us.

Discussion and strategy followed.

I was chosen to speak to legislators about the Hunter, Trapper, Angler Bill of Rights.

Over the past number of years management of Wisconsin's natural resources has become increasingly politicized.  A handful of examples include nonsense such as an attempt to allow the snowmobile lobby to dictate the Wisconsin deer season framework. The committee chair happened to be tight with their lobbyist.  Or legislators raiding the Stamp Fund accounts; plugging holes in the state budget by stealing segregated funds voluntarily paid by hunters and anglers for turkey, pheasant and great lakes fish.

That stinks.

So, I took the opportunity to lobby for the restoration of the appointment authority for the DNR Secretary to the Natural Resources Board (NRB)  - reconciliation of Senate Bill 15 and Assembly Bill 504 if it passes.

I asked for support of Senate Bill 422, requiring that the state Senate vote on NRB nominees within six months of their nomination.  Stop playing games with the nominees and allow them a straight up and down vote.

With a weakening economy, budget forecasts aren't very promising, so there's a good chance some legislator is going to be drooling with anticipation over the prospects of swiping funds for a pet project outdoors folks know nothing about.  I lobbied for the support of Assembly Joint Resolution 34 which would prohibit transfer of funds from sportsman's and sportswoman's stamp accounts.

On this matter - hunters and anglers had best be vigilant.

We had a satisfying visit with Senator Sullivan.

He knows his stuff and appeared supportive of issues we discussed.  (It is possible we ran over into the time alloted to the Beer Distributors - but that's OK - on he way out we assured them of our support for beer.)

Representative Cullen was absent and while he has a good voting record on these issues we were disappointed in having to meet with one of his aides.

The wrap-up included a wild game feed of bear, venison, raccoon, salmon and pheasant.

With my stomach growling I had to take a pass and get back to Tosa on other business.

I'll be following-up with Sullivan, Cullen and others on these and related issues.

Thanks to the more than 70 outdoor, wildlife and conservation groups that supported this event - especially the 15 organizations that sponsored the wild game feed. 

I'll be going back next year.

You might consider doing so yourself.

Tom

PS -

Contact your legislators and ask them to support adoption of the Great Lakes Compact.

If you wait until you hear the great sucking sound of our water going to the arid southwest it will be too late.

For Wisconsin it's an economic issue.

Cold.

17 degrees yesterday. Fingers stopped working.

Guests arrived and hunting was put on the back burner.

Cut a Christmas tree, bought a wreath, fetched some wonderfully scented pine and fir boughs.

Sat around and visited.

Made some really good food.

Venison loin medallions:

Wrapped in bacon and pan-seared:

Followed by the flambé - seems like a terrible waste of good Irish whiskey -but a spectacular display.

In case any of you want to try this at home, here are the recipes.  These came from an Irish cookbook purchased by our friends when bicycling across the Emerald Isle.

For the venison medallions (don't forget your juniper berries)  Receipe.pdf   

In case you want to get your presentation correct here is what the cookbook says it should look like  ReceipePicture.pdf

This is a really delicious potato side dish (it is not approved by the American Heart Association)  Champ.pdf

We did a side of garden green beans sautéed with some garlic, olive oil and slivered almonds.

Up before sunrise with the best of intentions.

A blast of cold and steady rain in the face convinced me to return to bed.

Errands today included dropping-off a big bag of venison scraps at the butcher shop for grinding into burger.  Then, off on an unsuccessful scavenger hunt for juniper berries.  Invited guests sent me an email this morning requesting, among other things, venison loin medallions prepared in a fashion that calls for juniper berries and a flambé of Irish whiskey.  The Jameson Whiskey was easy.  The berries a wild goose chase.  I'll have to improvise.

Out to hunt at 1:30.  The weather has been awful.  Winds out of the north at 17 with gusts to 27 miles an hour.  Temps in the mid to low 30's.

After an hour in a tree - more like an hour in a twirling crows nest - I radioed my wife to tell her I was getting down to find some way to hide from the wind.

I sought refuge in a bow hunting blind set-up along a trail. 

I wouldn't ordinarily recommend hunting on the ground, in a blind, during gun season.  Nonetheless, nobody appeared to be hunting (the conditions were so awful) and it was a secluded spot in the middle of private property.

Warm at last.

The only deer I saw was a nubbin buck that sauntered along the trail feeding.  I watched him and waited patiently to see if anyone else would come along.

Usually when there's one deer there are more deer.

After about 20 minutes of this observing nonsense, with no additional deer and about a minute or two of legal shooting time I shot him.

With my camera. 

If you look closely at the middle and bottom of the picture you will see the reflection of his eye in the flash.  To the left of the eye spot you might be able to see his right foreleg, outline of his body and tail.  He is broadside to the camera.  If you don't see him use your imagination.

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It is snowing!  Yes, the ground is white as can be and the forecast says "up to two inches of accumulation".

Good news.

Shoot straight and be safe.

Tom

Rain today.  Nothing moving - not even the chickadees or woodpeckers.  An altogether appropriate day to cut-up deer.

First things first.  Breakfast of fried bologna, eggs and toast.  Yum.

Our machine shed doubles as a butcher shop during the deer season.  This includes a game hoist, a cutting board for the workbench and a refrigerator for freezing and keeping refreshing adult beverages cold.

We do our own butchering so we can freeze everything in proper portions and be assured of safe handling and getting our own venison.

Me, Sees in the Dark and Lawyer.

The secret to excellent venison is proper handling.  That means everything from efficient field-dressing to clean butchering.  We trim every vestige of fat, tallow and silver skin from our meat.  No gamey venison for us.  The scraps go into a bag which I'll drop at the butcher shop in town for grinding into burger.  If you add 10% pork to the burger it isn't so dry.

The Wench and Mennonite are the designated skinners.

Braumeister is in charge of packaging.  The invention of the FoodSaver vacuum packaging has revolutionized the processing of fresh meats.  Excellent for freezing your garden vegetables too.

We processed four deer today and were finished and cleaned-up by 3:30 PM.  We broke for lunch after the third deer - enjoying a marvelous venison, barley and vegetable soup.

The boys have left for home and I'll follow shortly to return to Tosa and fetch my lovely bride.  We're coming right back to spend the balance of the season and the Thanksgiving holiday hunting and hanging out with friends.

Stay tuned.