BilletHead

Ah Ness you would like it with the homemade Blue cheese dressing . You big sissy. Next thing you know you will be telling me there isn't any rum in the fruitcake. BilletHead

Ha! Real neat when you could drive across the bridge. The think would creak and groan and the old boards rattled. The fishermen on the bridge would hold on to the railings and turn white as you went by. Come to think of it I did too when a vehicle passed. I as others in my youth have stood on the pillars outside of the railings with one foot hooked over the bottom rail and shot carp and gar with bows. Tons of fish have been caught there and hoisted up from the water. Larger fish by lowering a basket on a rope and pulled up. Oh the things I have witnessed over there over the years. Arguments , fights, and who could be there the earliest to get the best spots for the water conditions. People from all walks of life. Clean proper folks respecting the river to those who leave trash, cut shad left to rot on the bridge. Those who catch a rough fish that stomp them to death to either leave them for all to see or just kick them back into the water dead. Those who keep sub legal bass and Walleye and scurry off like a thief in the night but for one of those there were dozens who do the right thing. For anyone that has not seen the place it is nice to visit. Wish I knew more of the history of the old mill. I once worked with a guy that as a boy would make the trip for a day with a wagon of grain with his father to get the grain ground, spend the night and return home the next day. BilletHead

While Watching the river gauges today I noticed quite a spike in the two gauges below Stockton Dam. There is one creek that dumps not to far below the lake. Not sure if this is the culprit or maybe There was a generation release or they cracked the gates some. So we decided to drive over to Caplinger Mills and take a look. Highest I have ever seen it. Way over the mill dam. You can just barely see a sign of turbulence where the water crosses the dam itself. The Park on the east side of the river above the mill dam is underwater. There is a sign on one side of the river where there is depth marks below it. The marks are way below the sign. I Walked out a few feet on the bridge to shoot the pictures. It was scary to say the least. If you have ever fished below the bridge and seen the decayed concrete filled bridge pilings you would feel the same. Funny 38 years ago Mrs. BilletHead and I the first Winter after we were married we drove across that bridge in my 67 mustang. Soon after that the bridge was condemned. BilletHead BilleHead

Had another flush or bloom of oysters where we found some two weeks ago. This might be the last here for a spell it is going to be 17 degrees Thursday morning, BilletHead

Yummy looking spread there Mitch! The makings for some Buffalo chicken tacos. Even made the blue cheese dressing from scratch. Pretty darned tasty, BilletHead

Ok I can hear it now, Duck again? Yes it will be duck again. Fat day as I said earlier on this discussion. Rain, rain and more rain. Ask the Mrs. Hey want to go to town and see if we can find a rib eye and bring it home to grill and split it between us? No don't want to go to town lets have duck. So out comes a fat mallard breast to thaw and grill. She says I will do fried potatoes with onions in goose fat. Now we are talking. So I dig through the freezer and find some blackberries. This will be the makings for a sauce to top the meat. These are not any ordinary berries either . Last Winter we started a Blackberry Cordial. Took a large jar and added berries and sugar, filled the rest with vodka. Did a little mashing and stirring put on the lid and put in a dark cool place to get happy. If I thought about it I would give the jar a shake once and a while. This went on for several months. It says three months will do but longer is better. So we finally after the several months filtered the mix through a sieve lined with a towel. Our liquid was a pretty dark almost black shade of purple. I gave it a taste, Hummm it tasted like cough syrup . Now what am I going to do with this stuff? Well it went in a couple big mason jars for the future. The remaining berries went into a freezer bag and into the freezer. Note they won't freeze.solid ! So these berries hidden in the back of the freezer would become the sauce base. I put them in a pan. Mash them up real well and begin to heat them up. I notice there will not be enough juice to be had so I added some not so special blackberries, a little water bring to a boil and mash more. Run this through a fine sieve and return to the pan and stove, take a taste. A bit tart. Add some balsamic vinegar and again bring to a boil, turn down heat and let the sauce reduce. Fire up the grill and when coals ready add some pieces of peach wood salvaged from a downed tree. Taters going on the stove and on the grill goes the room temp duck lightly salted with course sea salt skin side down. As the duck fat drips onto the hot coals flames jump to the meat and on goes the lid. Flames out smoke comes from the grill vent. Getting happy now the meat and me. A little wait and off goes the lid. The dark coals begin to glow again and fire appears again. Flip them babies to the backside and repeat on goes the lid. Lid off and glowing coals again. Set breast pieces on their edge side, repeat again and then other edge do the same. One more flip on skin again to crisp up. Off the grill to a plate to rest. By now the sauce has thickened up to a syrup thickness . Meat rested and sliced then ladled with the sauce, big pile of fried taters beside. Salad too. Sauce ended up a sweet/tart flavor. Yep it was good! A bit more about the blackberry cordial. Been using it in a version of the Moscow mule. It works and not we don't have copper mugs, BilletHead

Yes I am Buck, I know that and treat landowners like friends.Well they are friends. It is going to be interesting next week. Access to wet fields will be tricky. I am thinking there might be a point where my ponds will freeze and hopefully birds will start using fields and they will freeze enough That access may happen so hopefully field hunting may happen finally, BilletHead

Kayser, Have baked them in dressing, fried, ingredient in fried rice and one we find pretty tasty is olive oil them and put on gas or charcoal grill and toast them up. A little S&P while doing that, BilletHead

I'm telling you goose fat is where it's at! The last batch I did I ended up with two and a half quarts. Put it in half pint jars so it could be frozen. RPS said to use it in baking too. Pat has done biscuits and potato rolls with it. Many other dishes too. Many thanks too for the fruitcake. Like I said I will never look at that stuff the same. The next big rain has started here. A good day to think about food and eat it too. Get fat day Billetead

Nice Pete! Seared wild Mallard for us. After reading your post I raided the fridge and my cheese stash. A snack of cheese and crackers with a few olives to hold me over until later BilletHead

Is that a blue cheese? Stilton, Gorgonzola maybe? I am a Blue cheese junkie. Love the stuff. BilletHead

Yep it is more than a fly shop, also a place where friends hang out. Just got off the phone with Jim wishing him and staff a Merry Christmas, BilletHead

Yes to this for all my friends and friends to be on this forum! The BilletHead's

Get your chin back up Joe. It is ok that some don't feel the music like you do. I for one found it hard to believe that I agree with you on this subject. This may be the only thing I will be on your side on. Merry Christmas Joe and I hope you find more than a lump of coal under your Christmas tree BilletHead

Movie was good. We seen the very first one shortly after we got married. Have not missed one since. I suppose as long as they keep making them and we are still living it will be a date for us. Now to the hunt. Again scouting can be the key to success. We are holding lots of geese. They will be here one day and not the next. Warm enough they don't really have to hit fields for energy. The field that they use off and on is a winter wheat/radish/turnip mix. Cow eaten down and hard to hide in. We picked one pond, it was on the "X" this time . Wind was supposed to be from the South East turning South in the early morning. We had planned on being on the West side planning on having the birds go from North to South in front of us. Well the wind turned out to be more out of the East blowing pretty hard. Well the plan was not as planned and we picked out kind of a point and turned our blinds to the North West so if the wind did change we would still be OK. Had a few ducks work early but no shots taken. Then from the West in come four little geese, I mean little geese wings set gliding in. The shooting commenced with the Mrs. dumping two with me whiffing. She shouted I got two. Yes it was going to be one of those days I thought. The little geese were cacklers and this was her first and second. What a gal. We had geese going every which way. Here and there with some of them giving us the stink eye and going on. Some even landing in the mixed greens field. Soon another group sail in going to my right landing way around on my bad side. By the time I sat up and twisted around for the shot, you guessed it I whiffed again. This time the Mrs. gave me the stink eye . A bit later more pitching in with me dropping two and Mrs. Taking he last one out.. Not long again a group in and one less bird for them and one more for me. Just like that we were done. Now for some shots with the camera. First the spread we worked with, The Mrs. doing a retrieve, Her and her little birds next to the daily take, Finally a head comparison of a cackler and a greater, A good day for us, The BilletHeads

The Billetheads had a great hunt this morning. Report later. Right now we are in the theatre getting ready to see star wars 3D. . You cant beat a date with your hunting partner.

Yes, Yes, Yes, yes, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! BilletHead

Mr. Bork, Unit three or four on four rivers. They are open units. Just paddle around until you find a place that suits your fancy and go to hunting. if you go very far watch the weather and I would not go if the wind is like it is today Good luck, BilletHead

Hey that will work! Greenwings need loving too. Actually one of the best tasting birds. Unlike thin skinned bluewings these teal have a thick white fat layer of skin. My favorite bird for charcoal grilling. Thanks for posting Mhowerton. BilletHead

Whoo Hoooo! The BilletHeads are so excited.Can I get one of these gadgets at the kitchen store? I once dated a girl that had teeth like that BilletHead

You got a good looking plate there Kayser. A nice medium rare to rare just like duck should be finished, well done young man! BilletHead

David, I shot two deer last season and two this season with a Titan Extreme by Ten Point. Bought at Bass Pro. Not top of the line by any means and if you go to the best of any brand prepare to spend some bucks. It is more than adequate but a bit on the heavy side to hold while shooting. They make them lighter but again they will cost more. I recommend you to go and shoot one. It came with a scope. BilletHead

I got mine too Chief! Most excellent and I will never look at fruitcake the same. All hail the fruitcake King Ness! BilletHead

Hey neat that is quite a variety there John. maybe these next couple of cooler nights will give you a few more to add to this bunch! BilletHead

That is a toy torch. Looks good ness but you need to get out the BernzOmatic next time for a ham that big! All hail the Fruitcake King Ness! BilletHead