Hard H2O

You can have it tanned and use it or what most of the hunter I know do is donate them. Look near your local sporting goods or big game registration stations. Someone will have a Hides for Habitat box. Sometimes they will give you gloves for your hide. I do not know if anyone is doing that any more. Here is a link for the Hides for Habitat: Hides for Habitat

A real good trap is a variation on the 5 gallon bucket trap mentioned previous. You run a rod throught the top onto which you have put some sort of cylinder that will revolve. A pill bottle works. Bait the cylinder with the peanut butter. Run a ram or other device to allow the critter to get up to the rod. They run across the rod to get the treat and roll into the bucket and reach a watery grave at the bottom. Mousetrap

Here is my b-i-ls buck he got opening morning this year. Here is the knife I used to field dress it for him. It is the custom with the red micarta handle. The other is my Buck #103 skinner. Both of these work great for skinning and gutting deer. We used to process ourselves. It is hard to get everyone together to do the job so we take them in to Jordan's in Woodbury now. Skinning is easy. Once you get them started they pretty much slip out of the skin themselves. Some get it started and then tie a galf ball in for a knob and pull the skin off. Here is a good thread from an outdoors site about the subject: Butchering a deer Here is another interesting link. Notice he is using a Chicago Cutlery parer for skinning. Any sharp knife will work. It doesn't need to be big just sharp. We always used a torch to burn off any stray hair. Good luck.

Cabela's sells a Quaducant. "The Quaducant is a six-pound mixture of quail medallions, duck breast and Creole pork sausage, all stuffed inside a bare-boned pheasant." Quadducant

Didn't they have something like that on Dinner Impossible?

Cabela's has two offerings. One is a smaller one that uses the breast instead of the whole birds. Cabela's Turducken Cabela's Turducken Roll

This thread is a great read. I do not have any horror stories to share. I am not unhappy about that. Like a few I do not have any meals that I have eaten in another's home that I would characterize as bad. I will forgive many "from a box" meals. I am thankful that friends who can't cook have turned to catering or potluck as the answer. What amazes me is that I assume that these people are putting out their best effort for their guests. I know I do when I entertain. If these are their best effort than what do they eat regularly when cooking for themselves? I know a lot have said that the host eats many meals out but I still wonder. My wife and I would joke that my mother was Mrs. Flax. Everything was appetizers. Most stuff sat out too long or sat in the oven or on the stove "keeping warm". We spent a few holiday evenings in search of someplace to get a real meal. I witnessed my nieces making the mashed potatoes one Christmas Eve. They tasted with their fingers, mashed and stirred and then retasted. I warned the wife to stay away from the potatoes and we kept them off our kids plates. I dreaded the meals when I knew my brother's kids would be around. I knew things would be tasted, fingered, molested... My brother is a trained chef. You would think his sanitation and methods would be better. I am sure his kids learned their kitchen habits from him and his ex. I have my mother to thank for ensuring that I wouldn't be picky and that I would try new things. I have probably forgotten a lot of what went on in her kitchen. A lot of the weird concoctions were probably the result something similar to what was posted about the week before payday being tight. In retrospect, being an adult, I can see why she served the food she did.

Google red velvet bubble room: Bubble Room Red Velvet

Try the red velvet from the Bubble Room on Captiva Island, FL. It is the best cake I have ever had. It is a bit heavy but far from dry. I made one once. It was someone's recipe that they recited from memory over the phone. It was the worst cake I have ever had. The recipe seemed a bit odd. In looking at some recipes later there were some major errors in memory and in my trust that lead to that travesty. It has turned into a running family joke. I bragged up this cake to my in-laws. So I called up my friend's mother and she told me the recipe. I made it and served it to the in-laws. My father-in-law took a bite and said "That's not to bad. It's not to good either but it's not to bad." My wife is going to get a recipe from the sister-in-law. I will have to steer her here to avoid andy problems.

Good luck with those grouse. They make great table fare. We did a mess of game birds for Thaksgiving one year. Wild rice stuffing, grouse and pheasants. hard to top.

Don't play with your food.

What's a crawler harness? I'm still looking forward to first time I try a plate of sunnies. Basswood is the ideal wood for carving - one could make a lot of nice bowls with a tree like that. When I look at your list I see a really good brunch with eggs benny, florentine, etc. Mmmm. ← A crawler harness is a rig that is generally used for walleyes. It usually has two hooks, sometimes three, snelled and sometimes some beads and spinners. If it has one hook then it is a minnow rig. You hook a night crawler in the nose on the first hook and somewhere in the middle on the second. You can buy them pretied or you can roll your own. Google it and you will see how easy they are to tie up. A snell knot is a basic knot for fishing that every angler should know. They are fun to tie, easy to customize with different size, color, configuration, length... The basic components are cheap. I tie my own. A variation is the quick strike rig that is tied up for use with pike. As with the crawler and minnow rig the quick strike rig can be tied in several variations. I tie mine with wire. I read in an earlier post in this thread that perch were being tossed back because of the worms. Were those the little white worms in the flesh? No need to worry about consuming those. Just fillet and cook them up. You won't even notice them and they will not harm you or cause any intestinal distress.

Flicker's in White Bear is a good start. Jordan's in Woodbury is also good. They process our deer. Morreli's is nice. Nadeau's Market in Hugo used to do our beef. Braham Meat Locker does our beef now.

What kind of pull throughs are those? Are they carbide scrapers or ceramic? I have seen the ceramics as wheels or sticks. The carbide type literally scrapes material from the edge shortening the life of the blade. I would never subject any of my cutlery to the carbide scraper type. The ceramic type is better. There is one, I forget the name, that comes as a set with 3 different grits of ceramic. I have read a few favorable reviews of the ceramic pull throughs. The Spyderco Sharpmaker is great for maintaining an already sharp edge. It is not that great at bring back a dulled edge or at rebeveling and changing edge angles. The Edge Pro, From what I have read, is great at sharpening and rebeveling and can be used for maintenance with the right stones and compounds. I use a GATCO professional kit to which I have added their two finest finishing hones. The GATCO is a rod guided system that is similar in theory to the Edge Pro. I polish and refine using leather strops loaded with Sears polishing compound. I strop when maintenance is needed. I am a big fan of the rod guided systems. I am also a big fan of stropping.

Dollar stores are great. We research locations prior to traveling. They are great for cheap leave behind types of gear or for gear we will only use once.

Those worked great for me this summer up at the cabin we rented. I remembered the knives but I assumed there would be a cutting board of some sort. Of course I was wrong. The local grocery store had a great dollar aisle. I was able to score a couple of two packs of nice sized cutting mats. I used two and left two for the next tenants.

In cleaning out the mother-in-law's she had a freezer full of that stuff. From a family that hunts and fishes she had 5 year old cool whip containers of fish. No month label. They were just labeled with the year. We tried to throw it all out but my brother-in-law beat us to it and just took it all up to his place. I am sure it will turn into 10 year old fish. He lives alone. He doesn't cook yet he still buys things in bulk. Imagine 10 lbs of buggy pasta... He travels a lot for work. He still insists on planting a garden. It becomes a weed infested mess by the end of the season. Instead of bringing us fresh stuff he brings us the stuff he picked a week earlier and has begun to rot. The fresh stuff rots on the vine. Then he gets mad that we do not take more. I buy what I can use and use what I buy from the farmers market. He needs to stop or use some himself. I think he is suffering because of the loss of his mom and dad's home. His dad is in a seniors apartment. Dad always had a big garden and mom would cook fresh and can the extra from the garden. I think the b-i-l would like to hang on to that tradition but he doesn't cook and he doesn't have a spouse to do it.

This thread brought a tear to my eye thinking about cleaning out my mom's house and my mother-in-law's. When we would go to my mom's for Christmas eve we would call it a Mrs. Flax Christmas. It would be all appetizers. We would be driving around later in the evening looking for anyplace we could get a bite to eat. When you discover something lacking in a loved one's kitchen it becomes an opportunity for a gift. We did this for my wife's uncle. The first time we visited we snuck out to Menards and bought him a grill. We used it whenever we visited but each time it became apparent that he didn't maintain it and it became a chore to use the thing. He claimed he cooked and he had a lot of gear in the kitchen but we could tell that he really didn't cook much. I do not care for his cooking or for his sanitation. He tends to leave things on the stove overnight and expects to serve it the next day. We tend now to treat him to meals out and take out. My brother-in-law bought a new grill prior to our visit this summer. He knows we like to grill and he wanted to entertain us. If I had known what he was getting I would have told him to wait for me and we would pick one out and gift it to him. He bought a cheap little gas grill that had the flame inches below the cooking grid. It was horrible to work with. We made spiedini. They turned out good. You have to constantly watch food on that grill or you will have a crispy dinner. My son and I snuck out and bought him a set of grilling tools. Between the flame-ups and his repurposing his short kitchen tongs I didn't have muck hair left on my arms. I would have bought him a real grill if I wasn't leary of insulting him. We went up to Finn & Feather on Lake Andrusia near Cass Lake, MN this summer. We stayed in Cabin 1. Apart from reaquainting myself with an electric stove the kitchen was tiny. It was pretty well equipped. I am glad we overpacked. There was nobody to insult so I brought along some non-stick pans, my knives, splatter screen (we fried a lot of fish), and various assorted spoons, spatulas, and turners. I wish we had brought along a few bowls. The hardest part was doing dishes manually. I was longing for a dishwasher. A single sink right next to the fridge made cleanup a bit annoying. Up at Camp Croix near Danbury, WI they have an interesting situation. They have a big, cluttered kitchen with four stoves and a bunch of gear. It is all donated so only a two of the stoves work and only one of the ovens. I am glad I packed my two burner Coleman. We had a bunch of people to feed and we needed the extra burners.

I do not know if more or less time would affect the taste. I do know that it tastes great. It would be interesting to test but I a bit leary.

When pickling I tend to not fool with recipes. I know this is a cold pickle and is not meant for long term storage but it works. Besides, it is my mother's recipe. I will not sully my late mother's name by implying that there is something wrong with her recipe.

You eat it. Put it on a cracker with a bit of the onion. It is a snack or a hors d'oeuvre.

Heinz is the only way to go. They make a vinegar that is exclusively used in there ketchup. It is a tomato sauce. I do not understand why it is so vilified. It has it's place. Do not ask for it at my table when I have presented you with a nicely grilled steak however. I will give you grief if you ask for steak sauce as well.

Here is a recipe that always turns out great. On Monday I brought 2 quarts to work and set them up in the break room at morning break. They were both gone in no time. Three 2 or 3 pound pike yielded 2 quarts and 1 pint jar. I ate the pint myself. It takes two weeks and four days from start to end so plan accordingly. For the batch I did I needed two batches of brine. Pickled Fish Cut fish into bite size pieces 1. Cover fish with solution of 1 cup pickling salt to 1 quart water. Let stand in fridge for 48 hours. No longer. 2. Drain. Cover with white vinegar. Let stand in fridge for 48 hours. No longer. 3. Drain. Layer alternately fish and sliced onion. Cover with brine. Let stand in fridge 2 weeks. Brine: 2 cups white vinegar 1 ½ cups sugar 1 tsp whole peppercorns 1 tsp allspice 1 tsp whole cloves 2 tsp mustard seed 4 bay leaves I have had it done with sunfish, bass, pike and walleye.

I guess my mom did not know how to cook liver. I hated it. There was still blood coming out. It was still a bit pink in the middle. I fall into the rare steak camp. Cold pink center.

I do not like liver. I have tried it many times. I tend to retry food that I find distasteful because you never know with a different cook, recipe, seasoning I might be turned around. With Andrew Zimmern eating odd stuff and loving it, it might just be me that is off and not the food. We get a half a beef cow every year. We still have three packs in the freezer from last year's and just took delivery on this year's. My buddy at work said that he would take it all. I decided to try to cook some myself. I researched a few recipes and decided on a simple approach. I rinsed the heck out of it and soaked it in milk. Meanwhile I prepared flour seasoned with salt and pepper for a dredge. While the liver was soaking I fried some bacon and then threw in a sliced onion. After the bacon was rendered out I set aside the onions and bacon. I tok the liver straight from the milk bath to the flour and breaded up the whole batch. I fried it in the bacon drippings until it the coating was crispy. the fried liver went onto the bed of onions and bacon. I tucked in and it was absolutely delicious. I be on the lookout for liver on menus and I will have to keep trying it to see if I can duplicate my eforts.