BilletHead

Two for frying, two for braising, Been a spell before getting back to squirrel hunting. Bunch of stuff keeping me busy. Waterfowl and staying out of the way of firearms deer hunters. Up this morning to bacon and eggs with English muffins and gooseberry jam I was feeling pretty good. Light wind before possible rain, ice and snow later in the day I decided to go for a walk. Grabbed the .25 marauder and headed into the woods. So skittish the first two that I seen. Constantly moving not providing a shot. Then I busted up some deer and as they stampeded through the timber it set off startled squirrels. Four barking in the distance. I headed that way and picked the closest one to try for. Took a seat on the forest floor and found him in the top of a massive oak checking out clusters of leaves for acorns. Again not stopping constantly moving not providing a shot he hit the ground and vanished in the underbrush and cedars. I moved to another place. Thick cedars with oaks and walnut towering above. Cedars so thick and close you have to stoop or crawl under the branches to move. Heard leaves in another oak shaking. In the top of that oak was three. A gray and two fox working the branches. Shot a fox and when I did the gray went from cedar to cedar over my head mere feet away. Too thick for a shot he was gone and scanning the oak again the other fox had vanished. I grabbed my prize and walked on. Soon two more fox chasing each other in another oak. Found a line of site clear and pulled the trigger. Whack I hit him He tumbled but landed on a thick limb he hung on. I waited for him to fall and i scanned for the other squirrel. Not to be found I shot the hanging on one again and out he went. As I walked to pick up this one in the distance were two small grays messing around in another oak. I set back down and focused on that tree. 35 yards away I adjusted the scope to focus just as one came to my side of the tree. Got him and his friend came around to see what happened to his buddy and whack I shot it too . Wind had picked up as I picked up those two I headed back to the house. Very happy. Cleaning commenced and the big foxes set aside to vac seal for a braise dish the two little young grays would be brunch, The Mrs. and I made the most of them. Tender and tasty. Glad I went for the walk as the next three nights in the 20s they will not be moving for awhile, BilletHead

Maybe the Simpsons thanksgiving picture was a bit harsh? But then again seeing the nesslings get together I don't feel so bad now . Remind me when we go to a dinner to wear pants where all the pockets have zipper closings, BilletHead

Nice John we did white chili with turkey leftovers. Really good today! BilletHead

Love you too man!

Nice! I think you will like it, BilletHead

It does not include the stream. You can park off site and go into the park for nothing. I talked to the owner across the road. He provides a place to park on his side and just asks to not tear it up and keep the parking area clean. He also says the new bridge as made the flooding worse than normal. BilletHead

I bet there are some full bellies by now or soon to be. Happy thanksgiving guys and gals. We had ours last Saturday with BilletHead Jr. and his family. So today as Mrs. BilletHead and I were sitting in the marsh hunting ducks we discussed what we would do for our meal today. We made a decision, I have decided if there was one meal that I could share and cook for you all it would be this. We had just done this not too long ago. A section of venison back loin roast. This time seasoned with smoked salt, pepper, sliced garlic, thyme and sage out of the garden and crushed juniper berries. This was sealed in the vacuum bag then immersed in sous vide bath at 127 for a couple hours. Later we made another pan of dressing and slid it into the oven. Love that stuff. As I heated a skillet of butter Mrs. BilletHead made some horseradish mashed potatoes. When butter was hot and beginning to brown in went the loin to sear, All the way around and on the ends were seared and caramelized. Back in the house the meat went and into the skillet some red zinfandel to the hot butter and scraped up the brown bits. A couple big spoonful's of gooseberry jam. All reduced to a thick sauce to put on the meat, Whole cranberry sauce too. I need to try this with one of the hindquarter roasts too. Venison is pretty traditional in my book for Thanksgiving. If we had the freezer space I would take out another deer or two , BilletHead

Do I recognize that smoker? BilletHead

Nice Buggers and nice move of the gift, Long way off for me too, BilletHead

Great glad he is doing OK ! Still playing hockey? Still have all his teeth? . Tell him hi, BilletHead

Great story and much MOJO in that necklace. I have not seen Marcus on here in some time. Didn't he hunt with you some? BilletHead

For some reason this is what I pictured goes on in the Ness household for thanksgiving , BilletHead

Very nice! BilletHead

@Hunter53, I concur with all on here on the great buck. I also say never say never because things I never dreamt could happen or ever happen again seem to show up, The BilletHead's

Yep and I avoid heavy tomato base dishes too in cast iron. BilletHead

Pretty easy John, If a hack like me can do this I am sure the scientist Folly can too . For sure! BilletHead

What a food coma looks like in the Billethead household , I said I am going to share this picture, she says I don't give a crap. Then she sees the picture and says I got to get up and do something! BilletHead

We had our thanksgiving with BilletHead Jr. and his family yesterday. Turkey and all the trimmings. Great meal as always. Plenty of leftovers too. Today though they are gone and I was ready for some red meat. Got a sous vide bath heating up and 127 was the target temperature. A section of venison back strap was seasoned with S&P , rosemary, thyme and sliced garlic. Sealed in a vacuum bag and slipped into the water bath. We knew we wanted a salad from the garden. Had enough lettuce for this meal and one more. Then I began to think about what else to have. A lone butternut squash was on the kitchen cabinet, that would work. Looked up what I could do with that and found a baked squash dish that incorporated maple syrup and toasted pecans. 45 minutes before the meat would be pulled from the sous vide Mrs. BilletHead and I peeled and chopped up the squash. It was S&P then drenched in maple syrup. Put into a baking dish and slices of butter on it and slipped into a 400 degree oven. I then toasted and chopped native pecans. Went outside and heated up a cast iron skillet with butter in it on the side burner of the gas grill. Meat out of the sous vide bag and into the butter as it began to brown. A sear on all sided and ends finished it up, Out it came and I added some red wine to the browned butter and scraped up the brown bits. I began to ponder what could I use to do to work up this sauce. It then hit me and I got the Mrs. Attention and asked her to bring me some gooseberry jam. Last week we made a batch. Two heaping tablespoons of the jam went into the skillet, With the venison resting and salad being plated I reduced the sauce. Into the house I went and sliced up the venison, Perfect! Plated up and sauce put on the meat it was time to dine , There will be no leftover venison this week so I suppose it will be back to turkey , BilletHead

Make me proud. A quick sear with red to pink centers. BilletHead

This can be done too . Will be breast fillets with nice fat skin, BilletHead

Depends on where you are traveling for any type of business. I am north of you towards KC and I think Terrierman is North East of you towards Springfield, BilletHead

Yes you are Rick, Part of our job while here on earth is to take care of each other, BilletHead

Yea but here is the deal. Although I would try anything RPS made I would gladly gift him some ground deer just so he could have it at his disposal for the dishes he fixes. BilletHead

That's a deal we could do also RPS. I live too far from other OAF members, BilletHead

Butternut soup fan. I will try that one soon. As far as not having the wild stuff at your household I am sure a hunter in your area would share. I for one would gift you what I harvest so you could do your spin on it. BilletHead