Johnsfolly

Maryland does not allow Sunday hunting throughout the archery and firearm seasons. So the seasons are broken up into separate sections. Currently the archery season now runs from the 13th to the 31st of Jan except no Sunday hunting. I got a chance to get out into the backyard blind making sure to be out prior to a front moving in. Deer showed up almost immediately. A single fawn at first. Very likely the fawn of the doe that Livie shot earlier in the season. I could see other deer deeper in the wood lot that looked hesitant to get closer. Finally a couple of does came in closer. I had to wait for a decent broadside shot. Finally one turned and gave me that shot at 35 to 38 yards. Found blood immediately at the site of the shot. Even with rain wetting the leaves it was not a difficult tracking job. Found her about 70 yards away. Double lung hit. Able to collect a unmarked heart as well . This hunt was really about harvesting a deer for the freezer and thus ended successfully. Still have a little more time to try for one more.

Fresh venison tenderloin with grilled onions and mushroom gravy. Jasmine rice and corn.

I feel that the saltwater fish eat better than most freshwater fish. But if you don't want to bother with rinsing gear then don't bother with saltwater.

@Mitch f We tried kimchee, but could not get the right Asian ingredients for the spices. Did not come out well. We need to find a decent Asian market here in Maryland. Once we do will try the kimchee again.

Little Patuxent River - MD Poplar Lick Creek - Maryland (with restablished native brookies) Gunpowder River - Maryland (filled with streambred browns) Fallfish and Tuckahoe Creek - Maryland (caught 15 species of fish in the creek and close to 400 total fish so far)

Picked up some pottery last time that we passed through Zanesville OH. We used this crock to make a simple sauerkraut recipe with caraway seeds. Fermented the cabbage for about a week and it was done. Pretty tasty. With good sauerkraut, just needed to find some dishes to use it. Love hotdogs with kraut. Picked up some pretzel rolls and caramelized some sweet onions to go with the dog. Spicy brown mustard finished the dog! Served with a side salad. (still having issue with phone camera - sorry).

We do cook them first but not fully. They don't typically overcook when prepared. We've not cooked the noodles before and I don't like the way that they get. Never seem to cook well enough for me.

Yesterday made spaghetti meat sauce. Started with 1.5 lbs ground beef and 1 lb italian sausage. Added almost 1/4 cup of dried oregano and another of basil and two tablespoons of dried thyme and garlic powder. Then a teaspoon or two of red pepper flakes. Then added 8 cloves of minced garlic. Diced one green and one red bell pepper and a large sweet onion. Cooked until onions were translucent. Added in three large cans of crushed tomatoes, four cans of tomato sauce, and two cans of tomato paste. Simmered for almost three hours. Had spaghetti when it was done. Wife made four meal sized lasagnas today that went into the freezer. Still have another meals worth of sauce in the fridge.

Tonight did a venison loin roast with montreal seasoning and garlic powder. Medium rare. Roasted new potatoes with provence herbs. Vegetable casserole.

Never made oxtail soup but love braised meats, especially shanks, short ribs, etc. Looks like a good soup in the making Mitch. We have Lodge dutch ovens.

Unlike most of the guys on this forum we are having warm weather here in MD. Decided to try to get my first fish of 2020. I went to the Indian River inlet in Delaware early this morning to catch the tide. I read some reports of a few tautogs and shad being caught in the inlet and dogfish in the surf. Those were my targets. Wind was whipping all day and made it difficult to feel any bites. I soaked a few crabs and drug many darts but nothing but rocks taking my baits in the inlet. Couple of hours past decided to go out on the jetty and try the beach side for dogfish. The algae covered rocks slick as snot. I used some strips of spot as bait. 20 mins holding the rod got a good tug. Not the dogfish but a skate. Once landed it acted weird. The fish stayed clenched and wouldn't flatten out much. Reminded me of the face hugging alien from the movie Alien. Still got a good enough photo for an id. A little skate was my first 2020 fish and a new lifelist fish. Just 11 more needed to meet my goals😀. Oh and I did fall on those slick rocks 😒. May not get to fish by myself if that becomes a habit.

Looks like a gem for sure👍! Glad that he caught the smallie bug on a beautiful creek😀.

My wife makes a great sticky toffee pudding. Looks a lot like @ness delicious pudding photo.

Heard so much about the ribeye of the sky that I would love to hunt and eat sandhills. 😀. I know a guy in SWMO that wants to hunt them too but is often too busy collecting jewelry during waterfowl season.

So did the crickets work well ?!?

Fog over the White River. Redeye bass fishing in Georgia! Lost one, but landed the second Barren Fork wild rainbow! One of my favorite Ozarks rivers - the Current! Hatch! Current river Black River below Johnson Shut-ins Pool teeming with fish like this one below!

@Seth building some great fishing Karma! Thanks for posting this story and for giving your time to help others! Teach a man to fish.....

Good Luck buddy. Looks like a fair amount of opportunities to fish in Illinois that are pretty close to you.

Here's what I would like to achieve in 2020. Catch a fish in 1 new state - I have 28 states already covered; so have to really travel to get just one more. Catch a MD native brook trout or stripers on fly rod (BH flies) Catch 12 Lifelist species - Including: New lifer darter and/or sculpin American Shad Northern Kingfish or Black Drum Three new sunfish sp. Two shark species including dogfish sp. Trips - White River/Norfork River - March/April - NJ/DE for Black Drum - May/June - Lake Erie - May - Chincoteague Island July-Sept - spadefish trip June-Aug - Flathead/Blue catfish in Potomac or Susquehanna - Pike or Musky trip

Great looking male rainbow! 98 to go and counting ! Good Luck!

Might be "Dead Meat" with Scott Leysath. That show highlighted lots of unusual critters being shot and eaten. I once had a conversation with Scott about a injectable mixture idea that I had to be used in a fawn leg roast. The meal turned out great!

Looks like a great way to spend a Sat morning Ness. Good for your son to get dad and the dogs out in the field. Hopefully a good pheasant dinner followed the hunt 👍.

Back to the original question. I fillet most fish. My daughter hated picking bones. Most of the fillets would get fried. I will keep some fish whole to bake or steam. Larger trout would typically get baked. Lately I have been making spicy asian pan roasted trout recipes with whole fish. Then she just had to deal with the bones.

Mitch that is my experience with farm raised tilapia - tastes terrible. I worked at the Univ. with a professor that raised tilapia for research. I would feed them when he was on vacation. The agreement was that I could have one or two. These were two to three lb. fish. They tasted good when I prepped them. Thinking back they had a good flow of clean water through their tanks and were not in a stagnant pond getting fed cheap fish feed or dog food. I won't buy or eat any farm raised tilapia or catfish.

Awesome stripers Dan! Congrats! Good to see you on the water again.