wolc123

Largemouth bass are my favorite, but it is imperative that they be handled correctly. If the fillets are still twitching when removed, they taste great. That means keeping them alive and cool, with plenty of oxygen. Those who say they taste bad most often have no clue how to properly care for the meat. If allowed to die naturally on a stringer or in a cooler, they take on a rotten, strong fishy flavor. If you keep them alive and in top condition, knock them unconscious, and remove the meat before they know what hit them, they taste great. If you dry the fillets with paper towels and then vacuum seal, they taste great after up to a year in the freezer. Also, bass have too much oil in them for frying, but that is the least healthy way to cook fish and fish oil is very good for you. Bass have just the right amount of oil in them, to stay moist during the healthier cooking processes, like grilling, broiling, or baking. My favorite way to eat their fillets is dipped in flour, then egg, then panko crumbs. Then sear quickly in a frying pan with hot virgin olive oil, remove quickly, then bake in oven at 400 F for 20 or so minutes. Tastes better than any beer battered fried fish and way better for you. Smallmouth bass are almost as good to eat that way, but a little harder to fillet. They do fight more than twice as hard, for pound though, making them hands-down my favorite fish.

Boiled in apple cider vinegar.

Moose tongue is #1, Corn/clover fed Whitetail button buck liver is #2, and Ruffed grouse breast is #3.

Grampa’s old 16 ga J. Stevens Springfield, choked I/C & mod does a fine job on them, with # 6’s:

I’ve always just cooked them in the crockpot on low with cream of mushroom soup, the same as I do squirrels. Wild cottontails are ok that way, but grey squirrel is considerably better. Starting next weekend; I’ll be getting out after them. I’ve never had tame rabbit, but I suppose I’d cook them up the tame (same) way. Maybe they would rival the wild squirrels a little more than the wild rabbits do.

I’d save those for the range.

Here is a real classy joint in central VA, where I stopped for gas last year. It reminded me of Cooter Davenport’s. I’ll have to check if there any gun shops in that neighborhood next time.

That’s why you got to drive a little further to find the best deals. Just north of the MD border is where the bargains are.

Will do. Last summers trip to Gettysburg, just in time for the barley harvest was great, now it’s looking like this years is going to be better. Maybe I will take our 3/4 ton pickup, so I can haul back a little more ammo.

Who are we to complain about this ? NY has always been one of the richest states in the Country. Tis better to give than to receive. I am thankful that our governor has given us this golden opportunity to spread some of our hard-earned wealth amoung some of the less financially fortunate states. I’m really looking forward to visiting some of those little mom and pop gun shops in southern PA, MD, and VA over the next few years. At the same time, she has made it more difficult for criminals here to get ammunition for their guns. She should consider running for national office. The country is badly in need of such a forward thinking leader with a proven track record of results.

No problem reusing the sabots and bullets that you pushed thru. The ramrod doesn’t hurt them like the powder charge does when it goes off.

No rain in the forecast until noon today so I switched back to my favorite gutting knife: Still no deer in legal hours though. Must be too hot for then yet. They have definitely been working over the turnips pretty good back here in the middle of the night:

Last Holiday season, wet powder cost me a doe. My neighbor was out hunting the same blizzard that morning and it cost him the biggest buck he ever saw on New Year’s Day. He still brings that up almost every time I see him.

See prior post

Depends, do you feel lucky ? If you have a removable breech plug, I would recommend removing that and pushing them out. You can save them for later use on the target range. For hunting, I would prefer to know that my powder charge has not been compromised, with any moisture.

The knife was a Christmas present from my brother in law. He’s the main reason I’m still hunting so hard. I’ve got enough meat in our freezer for my own immediate family, but I’d love to get another one mostly for him. He makes the best jerky from grind using 1/2 venison and 1/2 beef. He does not hunt but he does raise beef cattle. I feel especially obligated to try and get him some more ground venison because he also gave me about 5 pounds of that premium 50/50 mix jerky as a birthday present. That likely used up most of the (6) packs of grind that I gave him earlier this year, to try and pay him back for the fresh “leftover” rr corn seed he recently gave me. I haven’t got to try much of that yet, but our (2) daughters have been devouring it. The hunting has been tough for me so far this Holiday season, mostly because of my lack of standing corn, warm conditions, and full moon. All of that seems to make the deer most active in the middle of the night. I’m trying to minimize the pressure on the approximate 100 acres of family land that I have sole access to hunt. There are a total of (11) stand locations so I’ll have to do at least (3) “repeat” hunts. I am only (4) hunts into the (14) I had planned for the week and no repeats yet. I’m hoping the heavy rains of the current stretch will wash away any traces of my presence in a few of those stands, so the later “repeat” hunts might be a little more effective than they would have been without the rain. I thought I was going to be able to avoid any “repeat” hunts this week, because I had planned on (3) down at my buddies southern tier camp. Those plans fell thru, when his aunt died and the wake got scheduled for the day we were to go. He also informed me that his rr corn crop also failed this year (my own old seed went bad -taking out mine), so those (3) hunts likely would not have been productive. He has not seen a deer on his place since opening day of gun when he was able to fill his only doe tag.

To prevent condensation issues, I would recommend leaving your ML outside in an unheated area, maybe locked in your garage or barn. Lots of hot/cold cycling is asking for problems. I leave mine out in my unheated pole barn and transport it in the unheated bed of my truck under the fiberglass cap. I can lock it up in both of those spots. I loaded on the first day of the earlier ML season, and I am confident it will fire on New Year’s Day. That process worked perfect for me on our first Holiday season two years ago. New Year’s Day hunt, 2022: As far as the finger condom goes, don’t take it off until you shoot it off. I learned that lesson the hard way last year. It works for snow also. I hunted the Christmas blizzard of 22 without it, and snow got into my muzzle. That melted inside the barrel and dampened my powder charge, saving the life of a big doe on December 26.

I got to use that knife tonight, but not in the way I wanted to. My hands got cold and I used it to open up a pack and get a fresh hand warmer.

No, not one bit. There are no laws against it.

I was just the slightest bit relieved that no deer showed up today. I’d prefer not to have to fire up my deer fridge in late December to properly age a carcass. The forecast is showing no more 50’s in the forecast after today. It looks like good, skin-on hanging weather, in our insulated garage, for the rest of the Holiday season.

We usually take at least one out of state road trip a year. I’ve got plenty of deer ammo now, but I’m planning on stocking up my .22 rimfire and .410 shotgun ammo supplies, down in southern PA, next summer. The further you get from the NY border, the better deals you can find.

I love the Woolrich outfit. My grandfather (on my mom’s side) was a pretty small guy. His old one fit me ok, until I outgrew it in my later teens. For 40 some years, I have been struggling with various other modern material bibs and jackets. All of them were bad, compared to the old Woolrich. I didn’t realize just how bad that modern stuff was, until I tried out this one that my wife got me from a friend of hers from work, whose father had recently passed away. Besides no longer fitting me, my grandpas old Woolrich stuff was very well used, when I inherited it. This “new” one seems to have been hardly used and it fits me just right (size 50 jacket while grandpas old one is a 40). All the button holes in grandpas were badly worn and most of the pockets had holes in them. I still have grandpas old one and maybe, if our daughters ever have boys, I’ll give it to one of them. It’s also a little moth-chewed along the lower edges of the jacket. I cut the sleeves off of another old one that my wife had found for me at an antique store (about size 45). It was a little too tight on the arms for me, but now works ok, as a vest. I used that wool vest, under my modern-material outer jackets, when it was rainy out. I’ll get her to patch the lower edge of grandpas old one, with that cutoff sleeve material from it(which I saved), if any grandkids ever want to wear it. She could probably also sew up the worn out button holes and holey pockets while she is at it. I grabbed that big knife today because it was new and stainless. I’m sure I’ll be missing my Shrade Sharpfinger and its little notched “belly opener”, if I need to gut one with it. As big as it is, it’s still lighter to carry than my other stainless Gerber hunting knife. I’ll probably change out to that one for the rest of the rainy days this week. I don’t like its heft, but it has a waterproof nylon sheath, and a belly opener notch.

The new binocular harness is pretty sweet. Hopefully, I’ll get to try out one of my other Christmas/birthday presents later today. Now this is a Knife:

There’s no need for that, He’s just got to learn to work that lever a little faster on the original and maybe replace the oem one with a “big-loop” upgrade:

Mayden voyage for it tomorrow on opening day of Holliday ML season. My brother in law got me a big old Bowie style knife that I’m going to bring along too.