Johnsfolly

Ollie - in PA we called these guys chicken mushrooms because they remain firm when cooked and have a chicken texture. The first time we ate them we made a chicken mushroom alfredo. It was really good. The part of the mushroom where it attached to the wood can be a bit woody. So you might want to trim off that section.

I have been looking hard for black trumpets and have not found any yet. They are one of my favorites to flavor soups or stews. Dry them and powder them with a spice mill. They have a great rich mushroom flavor.

BH - Tell Pat congrats on that awesome cutthroat! that was a great fish. One down for each of you!

BH - great report! Loved the play by play and those photos of the cottonmouth. The French fry looks great as well!

BH - I was finding several bushytails, but now may have trouble finding any fresh mushrooms.

It seems like these are very likely to be the end of our ripe large tomatoes. Neither my wife or myself remember the variety of the little orange tomato. Two lemon boys and not the bottom of the barrel, a Cherokee purple. Still have a few cherries that are ripening.

I finally got enough squirrels to make the mushroom and squirrel dish that I have been thinking about with the chanterelles I have found lately. I broke down the squirrel into serving pieces (four legs and a loin piece). I dredged the pieces in a seasoned flour (powdered garlic and a little curry seasoning).and browned them in a little olive oil in a dutch oven. I rehydrated a 1/3 - 1/2 cup of dried porcini mushrooms (store bought) in two cups of chicken stock. Into the microwave for a minute to speed up the process. Added the whole amount of stock and the mushrooms into the dutch oven. Also added 1/2 cup of dry white wine to the pot. I had peeled about 16 cloves of garlic and course chopped two yellow onions and added them to the pot. The liquid covered the squirrel pieces and most of the onion. I covered the dutch oven and added it to a 350 deg oven. Cooked it for about 2 3/4 - 3 hours and checked liquid level. Added water when it got too dry. After about 3 hours added four sliced carrots and 1 1/2 pounds of course cut chanterelles. Cooked for another 30-40 minutes. Served it over wide egg noodles. The meat falls off of the bone and the chanterelles hold their texture. Little salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Now I can't wait to get out for more bushytails. Since she helped with the squirrels and picking the mushrooms, Olivia took a picture of her dish.

Thanks for the information. Thought I saw a little prop on one of the baits, which must have been the pistol pete.

BH and your better half - Congrats on the 39th anniversary! That is fantastic and an inspiration. Still looking for some WY cutthroats. So get on with writing the next post.

It's been awhile since I have been on this thread. BH you definitely scored on the grilled figs. That sounds fantastic! I really like figs. They are hard to describe the taste. I think that dried figs taste a bit like dark brown sugar or molasses. Some folks think that the seeds are a bit offputting in terms of their texture.

I saw this IPA at our HyVee and just had to buy it. Just by the namesake, maybe Ham would even like this beer. However, It's a pretty hoppy IPA, which I do like. I also bought their Grunion Pale Ale. Haven't tried that one yet.

Maybe?!?

I saw this book at the MO state fair. Definitely was not our household this year. For us it might have been "Too many Mushrooms". Still it reminded me of someone. Maybe quite a few years younger than the couple on the cover and maybe a little less hair

Temperature is now feeling like fall. Got out this morning to try to get a couple more squirrels for the mushroom and squirrel meal. They were still hitting the hickory nuts pretty hard this morning. Got this young fox squirrel and a couple of nice grays. It was a great morning. I Also stayed away from a bunch of these guys as well. The rest of this story will be posted on the What's cooking thread.

Dan Looks like a great trip. Glad that you were able to get out with your wife and score.on some nice crappie. Especially on a new lake. Also the taco spread looks great.

Eric82 Nice bunch of bass. What were you using to catch them? Were you fishing a floating line?

The local common name is goggle-eye or rock bass. There are three species of goggle-eye in Missouri, the northern rock bass, shadow bass, and ozark bass. That is the ozark bass.

So sorry to hear about your cousin. We will keep him and your family in our prayers.

They were pretty small (4-8" fish) and pretty abundant in the streams that I fished in WY. Also they are not native to western streams nor as revered as the cutthroats. So that likely went into the limits.

Since I had a bunch of wild mushrooms from my last hunting trip and a few feed trees figured out, I went out again on Thursday afternoon. Having seen minnows in the stream on my last trip, I brought along my travel rod and some red worms on this trip. I also brought my daughter. She likes to fish, but also loves to catch frogs and crayfish as much as anything. She had a lot of opportunity on this trip. There were also lots of minnows and a few darters in this little creek. Olivia's first frog. My first two fish, a small creek chub and an orangethroat darter. Olivia caught a creek chub of her own. Done fishing now it's time to get on those bushytails. It wasn't until after 4 pm that we heard our first cutting up a hill from the creek. Thought we heard another one down the ridgeline. I had my daughter continue down the deer trail towards the possible second squirrel and I headed up the ridge. Once up the ridge there were definitely two and now saw another. Unfortunately the hillside was a bramble forest. No way of getting through this brush without making a bunch of noise and spooking the squirrels. One was heading towards me and then stopped in a high cedar tree. No shot, but pretty certain that it could see me. I moved slightly to try for a shot and it took off. Didn't get any on this stalk. Headed onto the top of the ridge to a hickory/oak flat and Olivia followed. Go on another couple on the ridge top. Couldn't get a clear shot. Tried a shot through several small branches when one was on a small cedar. Missed and spooked one of the others cutting the hickories. Time to look for some others. At this time Olivia is tired, hot, and disappointed. We finally ended up on a flat that I have seen squirrels over the years and had one in a hickory tree ahead of us. Took awhile to get into a good shooting position and finally a one shot kill. When I got to the squirrel, orange caught my eye and I picked the largest chanterelle that I have ever seen. It's almost the size of Olivia's head. I just had to pick this one. I also couldn't help myself and picked a few more fresh chanterelles all against my daughters admonishment. We didn't find any chicken mushrooms or black trumpets. We did find several old man of the woods mushrooms. Also kept kicking up a hen turkey. Sure that she didn't appreciate us spooking her a couple of times. Left at 6:30, a bit earlier than the prime time on a hot day, but being hot and tired trumped staking out a couple more hickory trees for another shot at a squirrel. Still had a great time. Will need one or two more for dinner. Got to go out again!

Small stream brookies, gotta to love those little fish! They look fantastic (purists look away) and they are delicious. I get the feeling that you have a lot more to tell. Keep those posts coming.

BH - I'm loving the reports! Of course I am with Ham on the trout versus other fish. I'm wondering on how many 4-6 inch rainbows I would have to land before I began rummaging around for a weighted nymph to catch some of those sculpins or if I could use a small piece of worm for any of the chubs in those creeks. Keep it coming! did you see any dippers? A small brown to black bird that creeps along the rocks and often dives under the water to catch invertebrates.

Al I hope that you are able to catch that brown trout. Would love to see a photo if you do catch it. Also very interested in hearing what may be the cause of the die off.

See now BH your getting into the nitty gritty with thermometers giving us conditions, action travel and sneaky wading shots, fishing regulations, and more actual fish reporting and photos. Plus a jousting reference. Can't wait for the next installment. Oh by the way the BSP is only 6 miles from my house. So I may be able to drive my hover round power chair to the store for work. By then they may have the Whopper Plopper 36 with 36 rotating blades and fins and a spot for your bait cloud fizzy balls all for just $369.95 guaranteed to catch fish (if you actually put one on one of the hooks yourself). I should get a good employee discount and shouldn't have to finance one of these lures.

Plop Plop Fizz fizz now I'm a fishing whiz! I wonder if it helps with the fishes indigestion or hangovers? An interesting way to chum/attract fish.