Noland and Gogators, awesome stuff! I went out pheasant hunting on Saturday with a couple buddies and we flushed one damn rooster, and it was well out of range by the time I figured out it wasn't a hen. Oh well. Watching my lab work flawlessly with my buddies codgery old brittany spaniel was well worth the effort. I love seeing hunting dogs just do their thing. I'm headed back to my hometown tonight and will take a day trip with Buck to explore some more public land in SW Minnesota. Yeah, my thought is just to improve our coolers with something more portageable than the heavy 'ol bastards we've brought in. It is a nice luxury to have but a pain in the ass that I, as the young guy with a good back, get stuck with hauling. On that note... Might I suggest visiting our Northern border in addition to that in May or October for another great fishing experience. Spoiler Much more exciting than ice fishing.
I'll have to add that to the list as well. Theres so many species of fish that I don't have access to in southern louisiana. It will definitely be a journey to catch them!
This happened to my uncle and his friends when they went fishing last week at a private pond. I'm pretty sure that's not how you catch fish.
The dorado wanted to die today so we obliged them, funky weather in Cabo right now, no marlin around but lots of mahi.
Fished for 3 days in Cabo on the Pacific side a mile or 2 off the beach, lots of dorado and wahoo around, the wahoo kept clipping our jigs but we go a few to stick. We saw only 1 marlin in 3 days of fishing but still came back with 100 pounds of filets for my buddy and I.
Went beach fishing yesterday after work with a couple of mates. The sunset was spectacular and there was an electrical storm to the North that made for quite a nice setting for a few hours of fishing and beers with some mates. Some times I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world! We only caught three Tailor (called Bluefish eslewhere i think) which was enough for dinner (just), so pretty happy in the end. Cooked them up whole in foil pouches on the BBQ with some butter, lemon, bay leaves, fresh herbs, salt+Pepper and they were fucking delicious!
Drop on back of deer from tree stand, harvest backstrap with Bowie knife that you held in your teeth. Transport home as a bloody slab of meet over your shoulder. Rinse off and pat dry. Pan sear it nice and brown in a little bit of a very high temp oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then put it in the oven at 325 until almost done (time depends on thickness). Then pull out of oven, cover in tinfoil and a towel for 20 minutes, and it's ready to serve. Be sure to slice it against the grain for maximum enjoyment. Serve with twice baked potatoes and a nice chalotte/mushroom side and a deep wine/port reduction. Pair with a killer shiraz or 3. #LikeABoy
Yeah Ive turned to Alton Browns pan seared oven finished steak method when Im doing back strap steaks. Shit is deeelisous. Basically what Nett said.
Speaking of Alton, I've always wanted to try this: I can't help but think that back strap would be a perfect candidate.
I like to cut them into foot long sections, season with salt and pepper, and wrap with bacon. Then I grill it over high heat til the bacon is done. I immediately put them on a warm plate and cover with foil to rest before slicing into medallions and serving. The ultimate is putting a reduction of red wine, butter, and morels on top. Pan cooking basically like Nett says there is a close second and I'll probably end up doing some that way next weekend for a Valentine's day surf and turf with lobster (will try oven roasting it too). I'll do a Potatoes Anna and some veggies of some sort on the side and will be harassing my dad to get a bit from the stash of dried morels he has. Individual trifles with berries and angel food cake were requested for dessert- fine by me. I've learned that cooking wild game nicely like that and treating it well is a good way to further rationalize hunting excursions to my girlfriend. Not sure if I've posted it here or not but I got the book Afield by Jesse Griffiths for Christmas and it has what appears to be some fantastic recipes.
I like to smoke deer backstrap. I stuff it with cream cheese, peppers and onions, then wrap it in a bacon basket weave. Cook @ 250 degrees until it reaches 140-ish internal temp or the bacon is done.
Awesome ideas, thank you! I loaned a rifle to a buddy. I told him if he killed a deer with it, he had to give me some backstrap. He didn't. But his wife did. Score.
My backstrap recipe: - cut strap into foot long sections - marinate in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic (2-3 tablespoons), and fresh rosemary (2-3 sprigs, stripped) for two hours in the fridge (For the marinade, use about a .75:1 ratio of balsamic to olive oil. Also, I use the gallon ziplock bags so I can roll everything around a few times while marinating) - before cooking, pull the straps out and let them get close to room temperature - sear the straps on a grill or hot cast iron pan for 1 minute on each side at high heat - reduce grill heat to Med. or have oven set to 380 deg. F and cook for another 3 min on each side (Depending on the thickness of the strap, you may have to go longer. I always just go by feel) - let it sit for 10-15 min before cutting - slice thin, at an angle Most important thing is to not over cook them. Venison can go from delicious to shoe leather in only a couple minutes. Enjoy.
My first and hopefully not last Boundary Waters trip for the year is scheduled for June 3rd. We're headed to a lake that is historically a hotbed for smallmouth bass and I am overjoyed at the prospect of provoking them with topwaters and spinners for a few days. One of my cousins is into fishing for trout in Wisconsin's driftless area and last year he requested that I saved some feathers and fur from critters I kill. I sent him a package full of different stuff and he has gone to work tying flies with it that we can use this year. I like seeing more of what I bring home going to use, and what could be better than fishing lures? This is a bead head made with rabbit and pheasant I'd sent him.
"He has seen an adult bear. The only question is where it will appear when it comes up the ridge. This could be very exciting." Exciting? I would have personally chosen "pants-shitting-terrifying."