Wild Game Cooking

I am proud to introduce yet another facet to my man-blog: Dean's adventures in the world of Wild Game Cooking.

Tonight's meal was a product of our recent upland bird hunt at Riverbend, and boy was it delicious. Bacon-wrapped Fingerville Quail on Mushroom Rice Pilaf, with Soy-sauteed Sugar Snap Peas. Served Family style with a Fat Tire Ale. Mmmm..

We started out with a little food prep - only had to take three spent shot out of the birds. Once I got them all cleaned up, they looked pretty good!

The plan was to wrap the birds in bacon..

roast until cooked throughout and nicely browned..

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and serve over a mushroom rice pilaf with sauteed sugar snap peas on the side, family style.

Damn, that turned out well!

Hunting Video #1

Stephen takes a quail over Dean's point, steady to fall.

Whaler Project: We Got Seats!

Check out the brand new Tempress All-Weather Boat Seats in Marine White:

It's time to start putting this thing together! (if only the sun will come out..)

Whaler Project: Console

I have spent quite a bit of time shopping around for a suitable after-market console for the 15' Super Sport, but I couldn't find anything under $500. The best I found was the Todd Helmsman, which came with a windshield and grab rail, but it was still not cheap. I decided to troll EBay, and was fortunate enough a few weeks ago to find this steal for $175 with shipping:

Awesome. Can't wait to get this guy installed. I am thinking it will stay on the right side, same as the existing mahogany OEM console. I am getting a quote for a windshield - I think I can find a nice little Lexan job for not too much. This should handle the steering wheel, depthfinder, compass, GPS and gauges without any trouble. Oh, and a beer holder for the Cap'n..

Goose Dog

Ah, Thanksgiving. Good food, family, and duck season. Finally.

We took Dean out this weekend for his first waterfowl trip to Whitney Pond. As usual, the ducks were scarce but the Canadas were thick as thieves. Between Bill, Dad and I, two salvos of No. 2 brought down 2 geese from 2 separate flights. Dean promptly went after each one with unexpected vigor given the near-freezing temperature of the water. I think he was a little surprised at how big the birds were - once he had a little fun shaking the remaining life out of them, he paddled on back to the blind. So much fir his natural retrieving instinct.

Quail Shot Over Dean's Point, Riverbend SC 2010

Just a Bird Dog Kind of Day

Dean, Jim, Bill and I brought home 31 of 48 birds today - not bad for a rookie and a coupla has-beens. Not that any of the misses were Dean's fault - I don't think we lost a downed bird the whole day. Although this trip did highlight hte fact that although his ball-retrieving remains excellent, his desire to bring back a dead bird stops right after he playfully shakes it a few times. I guess it's time to get in the backyard with a wing-covered tennis ball for some retriveing work. Thanks to Ralph and Hank for a solid hunt. And thank God it wasn't snowing - the sunshine sure was nice!

Dean locks up on a nice point. Demise of 2 quail immediately follows.

(impressive action videos to follow)