Uncle Nicky

Mother/daughter tag-team combo.

Last time I had Spam was probably 25 years ago. I'd eat it again, but I would have to be pretty hungry, I still remember reading the book "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair when I was a kid.

52 going on 16 as my dear spouse would say. I've been hunting 40 years.

Beef pot roast, noodles, broccoli, and some heat-n-eat dinner rolls. Perfect snowy-day meal!! Pictures to follow.

By my estimate, 2 feet so far in the Philly suburbs, and it won't stop until tomorrow morning. Heading back out to shovel (3rd time).

I agree the seats on the newer turkey vests are not very comfortable. I bought the most comfortable cushion I could find, took the one off of my current vest. and sewed the nicer one to the vest. Problem solved.

I remember hearing this story and seeing a movie with a similar story years ago. I'm very interested in seeing this, but will probably wait until it comes out in Netflix.

This was lunch today. I have had boiled beef tongue before, but never cured one, it was delicious, as expected; reminded me of corned beef, but more tender. Served on rye with Swiss cheese, onions, and mustard, along with a garlic pickle, kettle cooked chips, and a cream soda to wash it all down. Life is good!

I rarely use decoys, since I don't hunt open fields much. But if I had access to a field that consistently drew birds, I would go with Dave Smith decoys, they seem to be the most realistic, I've seen hens come out & peck at them. A friend of mine has a full-strut decoy with a tail fan that he can move up and down with a string, he swears by it. I've never seen it in action but he kills a lot of birds over it.

I don't think any ethical hunter would approve of this. I won't shoot anything that I don't plan to eat or wear (except groundhogs, which I feed to the dogs). I know you should shoot every coyote on sight, but I just don't have it in me.

LOL...sounds like me. I drank some real swill when I was a younger guy and funds were tight.... To answer the question, any beer will work fine for beer batter, beer bread, or pot roast. I'd just use domestic, doesn't make much sense to cook with expensive micro-brews, that's more for drinking enjoyment. Same way most chefs don't cook with a $50 bottle of wine, they just use the jug of Carlo Rossi that's in the kitchen.

I have a 4X fixed on my Model 99. Shots are rarely more than 75 yards. I like the fixed scopes better myself, they don't seem to get knocked around as easily as the variable scopes do. I don't know about shots out past 200 yards, my eyes aren't that good, I'd have trouble picking up antlers.

You will probably get better results with a rifled barrel and sabot slugs, but there is no reason why you can't get good accuracy with a smoothbore barrel. I would stay away from a full choke. Unfortunately, most shotguns shoot slugs differently, so you will probably spend a lot of time and money trying to get the perfect choke/slug combination out of your gun. Good luck!

I have a Model 99 in .358 Winchester. I bought this gun when I was teen, used my paper route money to purchase it. I've killed probably 25 deer with this gun, a bear, a few hogs, even a turkey. It's become my go-to gun for deer season in PA & NY. My main gripe being I don't reload (yet), and shells are next to impossible to find. I hit the jackpot this year, found 2 boxes at a gun store last month, and a buddy was able to pick up 2 boxes for me at a gun show (for $45 ). This makes 6 boxes I have stockpiled, should last me until I reload or die, whichever comes first. I've had quite a few offers for this gun, but no interest in selling it.

Signed

Brains are not bad, they don't have the bloody taste that a lot of organ meat does. I used to keep them when I had my processing business (most guys wanted the skull cap sawed off of their deer anyway), they were pretty good fried in brown butter or cream sauce. Once I learned about CWD, that was the end for me. Still trying to wrap my head around stirring my soup or an Everclear and Kool Aid with a wanger bone....

I don't think so, I haven't seen one (a coyote) in this specific area yet, better chance of seeing a coyote where I was bowhunting or at my camp in NY. My theory is the woods wher I always squirrel hunted are changing, due to natural events (periodic flooding, denser foliage, different plant species emerging), bad acorn crop this year, and avian predators. Maybe I'm educating them by shooting at them all the time? Who really knows? I'll give it a couple more years and if things don't rebound, I'll move on to greener pastures.

Haven't shot at a squirrel all season, most years I kill about a dozen. Saw plenty during archery and NY rifle season, but they've all but disappeared from the woodlot behind my house where I've hunted them for the last 40 years...odd. I have an open invitation to hunt fox squirrels next year, but it will be a 4-hour drive. If I kill one I will get it mounted.

In all likelihood, if I'd found them, I would have handed the antlers over to the guy who claimed he shot the deer, provided I believed he was telling the truth, it means more to him than it would to me. But I would have probably taken his money. Just curious, is there some sort of cash value associated with a set of antlers like this?

I take them, but I feed them to the dogs. They taste OK, but a litlle bloody for me. Of course, just one man's opinion.

When I was in Canada and shot a male bear (boar), the outfitter told me that Canadians save the ivory bone in the boar's pecker, skin it, and dry it out for a swizzle stick for stirring mixed drinks. I told him I was a beer drinker only.

I'd probably try mountain oysters if someone else cooked them, but not really that interested in ever having the experience. Deer tongues are too small, but I've had beef & bison tongue a bunch of times..it's delicious. I have one in the freezer, I'm planning to brine it and cook it like tongue you get at kossher delis, serve it on rye with swiss, mustard, and onions. Bet it will be divine!!!

No fish or game tonight...grass-fed beef ribeye steak, shrimp scampi, baked potato, broccoli w/cheddar cheese, and carrot cake. Happy birthday to me.

The way I was taught in school was make a stock with bones and vegetable trimmings first, strain it, take all the fat off, then add meat and vegetables to make soup. But it really doesn't make a big difference. The most important factor is simmering (rather than boiling) the bones, and simmering for at least 4 hours. Good stock should be like jello once refrigerated.