Johnsfolly

Well the small game season has ended. I did get out a couple of more times before the season ended. I got out with Jeremiah (my daughter's boyfriend) and Herbie (brother in-law) and hunted Davisdale CA in Howard county. We went out the first weekend of February. It was very windy and I decided to hit this property since there is good population of rabbits. With the wind, I felt that the squirrels would be less than active and that we might be able to get a rabbit or two. We hunted several draws and tried to stay out of the wind, but we just weren't finding any squirrels. We busted through several briar patches and brushy areas but only kicked up one rabbit and did not get a shot. After pushing the brush above a draw we set up along a creek. I was next to a couple of large oaks. I looked in the notch of one of the trees and saw what I thought was hair. It turned out to be a sleeping raccoon. Of course this was a couple of days after the end of the furbearer season. When I headed back to Herbie, I saw him pull up his shotgun and he shot twice. Jeremiah got down into the creek bottom and he shot once apparently for the killing shot on the only squirrel that we would get on this trip. As we were heading back to the vehicle, we saw a herd of deer off in the distance. We saw at least 25 deer in total with four bucks. Two of them had really nice antlers. The wind really affected our hunt, but it still was a memorable day. The last hunt that we did this year was just Herbie and I on the last Saturday of the season. We went to a local piece of the Mark Twain national forest land. Herbie went along one split of the creek branch and I went into a cedar thicket on the other side of the creek branch. I immediately saw several squirrels when I entered the thicket. No shots. I eased up to a large cedar and waited for more activity. I had one get down on the ground about 30 yards from me. I was able to sneak about 10 or 15 yards closer and got a good shot. I picked up the squirrel and moved deeper into the thicket. I knelt down next to another thick cedar and saw a couple of squirrels chasing each other about 80 yards away. I hunkered down to see if I could get a chance at either one of these guys. As I was watching them, I saw movement to my right and saw a doe enter the cedars. Then one of her fawns then another. The last one was only 35 yards away when It noticed something not right at the base of my cedar tree. She spooked and took the other two does with her. As they left the cedars, they met up with another six deer that were getting ready to enter the cedars. Fortunately they might have spooked the squirrels towards me. I had one in the tree just above me and I shot that one and saw the other 20 yards to my left, but no shot. So far within 250 minutes I had two shots and two squirrels on the ground. Herbie took a long shot and missed one before I met up with him to move to another timbered creek bottom. We both got a couple more shots and I ended up with another squirrel and Herbie lost one and got one. We only hunted until about 10 am when the squirrels just get back to their nests. So we ended up with four total. three grays and one young fox squirrel. I have them in the freezer and will have to find a good day to get them cooked up. I have the idea that I might make a Sichuan squirrel dish ala Hank Shaw. I didn't get out again do to travel for work. I never did pull the trigger on my release on the yard rabbit or any of the local squirrels. I enjoyed this year and hope that I will be able to get back on them in May.

My wife asked me to pull something from the freezer. I pulled out four chicken thighs. With the protein in place I scoured the pantry and found some containers of Thai coconut tomato soup. So I got the idea for a thai style cacciatore. I told my wife what I was thinking and while I was still at work, she skinned the thighs and browned them in a little oil. She then added sliced onions, ginger, and garlic. Once the onions were translucent she added the thai coconut tomato soup and braised the chicken at 350 deg until the meat fell off of the bone - about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. She served the chicken over rice and with drop biscuits.

I remember your photos with the gobbler posing in front of the glass doors. that would make me laugh and cry .

Put in at 5:40 this evening for bank fishing off the dam near one of the fish attractor piles. The air temp was mid 60's. No wind and the surface was like glass. I had on a black and green 1/64 oz jig under a float. I made my first cast to the offshore side of the fish attractor brush pile and had a quick hit and I missed the hook set. I typically fish a pull and stop cadence which gives that little jig motion and that tantalizing drop. Another hit closer to the brush, snag the pile and break my 2# P-line. I retie and get another jig out and fish a little further from the brush and get hooked up on my first Feb white crappie. Looked good against the setting sun. The crappie from the bank really don't have the size that I can catch in other lakes, but they make it up in sheer numbers of eager biters. I fished until it was too dark to see my float. I ended up landing 9 all from 6.5 to 8.5" in length and lost three others by horsing them and pulling the hooks. It felt like the April bite just a little slower. I left at 6:30 pm. I didn't think that I would be pulling in crappie from the bank in February. May have to get out a couple more times before it cools off again.

Great photos and report! That pickerel didn't have a white zig jig in its mouth? If you are near the boat access, I had one just cut me off right there the last time I fished the 11 pt.

As I go into work I pass a cut bean field that often has turkeys. I will see toms and hens regularly throughout the year. Usually up to a week before the season then they disappear until late May. However, I haven't been regularly seeing birds there this winter. But this morning there was a flock of 12 to 15 birds. That was not too remarkable except that four toms were in full strut. This is the earliest that I have seen strutting toms. I've seen them in March before, but not in mid February. On one hand I'm getting excited about turkey season. On the other I can't help but wonder if it is too soon and that if they do breed earlier are the young at risk of a late cold spell. We haven't had great hatches the last couple of years. So it would be nice to have a real good one this year. They definitely got me thinking about getting out the mouth calls or chalking up my boxcalls. Anyone else seeing strutting birds this year?

Great report. Glad that your son caught a nice smallmouth. Hopefully he enjoyed the day fishing with dad and you have a fishing buddy for life.

When My oldest daughter was much younger, I let her pick our her own plastic worms. She chose bubblegum. So those were her special worms. That is until I found that the one private lake that I get out to fish every so often had bass that just could not leave the bubblegum alone. I can't recall how many "replacement" bags of her bubblegum worms I had purchased since she was 6 (she's now 20 going on 21 in June). On that lake bubblegum worms and flukes catch bass all year long.

BH Awesome bass on the fly rod! That's bigger than those that I used to catch in Florida. What a pig!

I couldn't upload more than one photo at the event yesterday. Here are the two beers with the Creme de la Hops on the left and the Cameron Crooked Nose scotch ale on the right. We also tried a few of the home brews from the guys brewing the Altbier. The two best were a blueberry Kolsch and a Coffee stout. It was a good time. Still not convinced to invest in all the equipment needed to homebrew.

Sitting at Bur Oak Brewery for a home brewing competition with brewers making an Altbier. Enjoying a Bur Oak Cameron's Crooked Nose Scotch ale and my betterhalf is having a Creme de la Hops.

Some more fish like those may get to be hard to keep the blue/black hi def craw on the shelves in St Clair .

Great looking bass Hogwally! I've never fished for bass in Feb., but have seen guys catching pigs like yours on blue or black and blue jigs or creature baits. Looked like a great day on the river! To think that I'm sitting in a Hampton Inn in Maryland and not in MO fishing. That sucks!

Dan Those are awesome looking stripers! Do you ever take tag alongs!? I would love to be in the boat to watch those pigs get in the boat. Great job in using your journal to find fish and the techniques to catch them. That validates putting in the time over the years to get on quality fish.

Went simple tonight with a baked hormel pork loin with honey mustard marinade. Tried a hyvee mixed grain called black pearl medley with rice, black barley, and daikon radish seeds. Added fresh green beans with garlic powder and S&P.

I agree with you on these points Dan. We could live in a state where the game commissions don't have the budget to be able to even do half of the work that was done before these regulations were implemented. As a result we could be looking at creel limits of 6 fish over 12" per day in our rivers and lakes like many other states.

Any of our flood control reservoirs could end up like this situation. The Taum Sauk collapse here in MO is an example just on a smaller scale. So far no loss of life has occurred in CA fortunately. I do imagine that this could be a fairly big ecological disaster with the continued high flow rates during this emergency draw down of the lake. We'll have to see what can be learned from this situation.

BH Great information. I really don't know much about stone points. So I appreciate the lesson. Do you know when a point would have been made of quartz and whom would have used quartz? I found a quartz point when I lived in Connecticut. My brother was the last person that had it. I'm pretty sure that your lady would appreciate seeing a ton of chert making its way back to a creek near Billetheadville.

Never did go over what we prepared for the super bowl. This was an all day and evening event and not a single sit down. Started with a mexican queso dip made with cheese, rotel diced tomato, cilantro, lime, green chiles, mixed with browned venison burger (may be the last of the charity venison at our house). Served with corn tortilla chips. Also had a cream cheese and onion dip for standard potato chips. Then it was two styles of fried chicken wings. One was coated with a homemade teriyaki sauce (ala Hank Shaw recipe). The other was coated with my homemade buffalo wing sauce that is a mixture of hot sauce, butter, brown sugar, and hickory smoke BBQ sauce. Seems that the hot sauce I use has gotten spicier iber the years. Makes them hotter than they used to be. I am a sucker for smoky, sweet and spicy dishes. I usually coat the wings and put them in a 200 to 250 deg oven to set the sauce. Then continue to add more wings and sauce as the batches get done frying. So usually the older batches get more sauce and are spicier. All served with celery sticks and bleu cheese or ranch dressing. Then there was the stuffed baked trout. I prepred the stuffing with chopped cooked bacon, sauted diced green onions, garlic, tarragon, S&P, toasted bread cubed bread (purchased from an amish baker). I cooked the stuffing to incorporate the flavors and get the herbs to get more flavorful. I scored the skin and slighty into the flesh with diagonal cuts and rub the fish with a mixture of garlic powder, S&P, and galena spice mix. I laid the fish on sliced lemons placed on foil then stuffed the cavity, and added lemon slices on top and closed the foil. Baked for 30 to 40 minutes at 350. My daughter made a light Japanese styled cheescake. Turned out more like a thicker souffle with a hint of the cream cheese flavor than a traditional cheese cake. Most ate this without any topping. We had fresh strawberries. So it seemed natural to make a strawberry sauce. I sliced a bunch and macerated them with sugar on medium heat then added about a tablespoon of grenadine (pomegranite syrup for those that don't know what grenadine is). Made a nice topping for this cheescake. We were pretty content with the food. Can't say the same for the game. Sorry not a fan of the Pats or Shanahan's play calls in the fourth.

This morning it was rolled oats with chopped black mission figs and walnuts. Earl gray tea made with loose tea leaves from the Charleston tea plantation in SC.

I would have been happy with just a fishing report. Great job on the stone points! Those are gret finds!

Pretty cool! congrats on a great trip. I'm pretty excited to hear that you caught a Bonneville as well as the more common snake river subspecies. Would love to have one in the net. We'll see how thing turn out, but would love to get back down the Norfork to catch some more cutthroats as well as get redemption on the brookies.

Congrats on your trip with your daughter. Sound like you had a great trip. She looks like she was having a great time! Looks like she is becoming a fishing buddy for life.

I was thinking how hard it is in our house not to get a chipped plate. With three kids they are hard on the china. Also not uncommon to be drinking a fine libation out of one of the shrek glasses.

I find that this happens to me more when I bring home some critter from the field. After I get it home, cleaned, butchered, and prepped for eating I will just put it in the fridge for at least a day before I cook it. I do this even after filleting fish. It's still fresh when I do cook it, but typically just not the day I caught it. Now venison is a bit different since I prefer to hang the carcass for at least 3 and up to 4 or 5 days before I break it down and wrap the meat. We will usually have the tenderloins or some backstrap medallions the day that we break down the deer. I will normally cut out the tenderloins the day that I hang the deer so that they don't dry out. Maybe that not so different after all. When I have a long prep time for a meal, especially when the house is full of the smells, I'm usually salivating too much not to eat it as soon as it's ready.