Cattail Roosters

[TARNATION !!!]

So, I experimented with Maple Butter Sharptail because of that annual "gotta clean the freezer" task. I found a forgotten sharptail and some frozen apples. Today was the actual dig it all out, put it outside (colder than the freezer), defrost, dry and re-load. I try to not have too much food in there for this task, but every year it seems there's more than enough. I guess we have yet to adjust life for just being two old folks in the household. I was really hoping to find more apples, they were just great. Anything picked off your own tree beats the commercial products hands down. Alas, no more apples. But, the back half of a rooster from Nov 13 2008 surfaced. Every year I vow to be more organized but every year I seem to find something interesting. I know this won't happen next year because I didn't have much time hunting this past season and didn't even end up with possession limit in the freezer. I have always rationed the possession limit through the winter and spring but my rationing days are over. I'll dine on upland like a ravenous coyote from here on in and when it's done, well I can always join Kay with store bought chicken

Now I was able to recall the sharptail flush, because I only take a few any given year, but roosters that far back are blended into a montage of memorable days afield. But, I was fairly active with the camera back then - not near as much now. Upon checking the date and viewing the images I now recall. It was a wonderful day for the time of year. A hunting buddy from the '80's had called and wondered if I still chase roosters. He had given up on the hunt because of all the bureaucracy surrounding gun ownership. He wondered if I might want some company for a day and he would just hike along. Now I'm a bit anal about the hunting regs and losing a gun, vehicle and priveleges over some infraction. He wouldn't be hunting in the sense we all consider hunting but he would fall within the wide definition of hunting "on the trail of, worrying wildlife etc" so I took the time to write to the department and get a written response that they would be fine with another old guy hiking along with a camera while I was hiking along with a shotgun. I have that letter tucked away with the guns and carry it along if I have a non-shooter potentially worrying wildlife. The day also included taking MORGAN, the neighbors pet golden retriever along, as at that time, I was dogless. We also ended up at the home of RIO the wonder dog, who joined us for an hour or so. Got some pictures of an old church undergoing renovation because we hit a chunk of metal on the grid road that took out the fender liner and sliced the tire sidewall. The church is about 1/2 mile from the scene of the tire carnage, which we only discovered when we stopped to take some pics. Roosters per pound price is never ever calculated for any reason

Here's some pics from that day.

MORGAN

RIO

THE CHURCH

JACK & MORGAN followed by the end of day sunlight near the location where the rooster was taken and a whitetail buck in search of the other half of his rack.
Cheers,
Jack

[Richard Flanders]

I fully understand the "fossilized meat in the freezer" issue Jack. A few days ago I found two unidentifiable vacuum-packed and somewhat freezer-burned blocks in my freezer that looked like they might be birds. After staring at them for a while, I recalled..."oh yeah, the Huntsman in Michigan about 2002, was it?? Or was it '98??". Oh well, might as well have a go at cooking them. One package contained two chukars. I put them still frozen into a small baking dish with water and potatoes and after a day of simmering away on the woodstove, had at them. Surprisingly, they were excellent! There was nothing left but small bone scraps when I was finished with them. The broth was so good that I made gravy of it and saved it in the frig. The next package was a rather nasty looking feather and pellet-ridden bloodshot pheasant. I tried the same treatment but it stunk up the house and absolutely refused to 'tenderize' one single bit after an entire long day on the woodstove; might as well have been simmering a piece of firewood. Eventually I gave up and ate all of one leg, which was fine, then part of the other, which was most definitely not so fine, and tossed the obviously fossilized Pteradactyl-like remains into the woodstove and ate the potatoes for dinner, without the smelly gravy from the pan. I have a very high tolerance for old stuff in the freezer and for bones in fish like pike; if I kill it, I eat it, all of it, even if I've been stupid enough to lose it in the freezer for a decade or more, but that pheasant was beyond my limits.....End of story. Not sure what the lesson is here beyond doing as Jack does and digging out the freezer on an annual basis. Now I'm left to wonder what else is hiding down there under all those bags of stuff in the freezer as I descend into the basement to reload another 5-gallon bucket of 12 ga target loads.....

[DDowner]

I just went threw my freezer and came up with 20 lbs. of venison burger, duck and geese all from 08-09 ordered up two sausage kits one a German sausage kit the other Chorizo direction called for pork butt to be added to wild game at about 50/50 now I have forty pounds... well I have a large grinder and sausage stuffer and split the two kinds in half so I could have smoked in both kinds... never again the day wasn't long enough for making four different batches everything has to weighed for right amount of spice and if your going to smoke you have to add a cure so you don't poison your self when smoking.
Got my smoked back today from neighbor who has butcher shop and smoke house... delicious can't wait to try the Chorizo in a Jambalaya or spaghetti sauce.
Will do it again but in smaller batches. Worked out good for a trade today a pound of sausage for a pound of Russian boar bacon.

[Blind Dog]

Hey, what are dogs for? Just leave them outside for a few hours so they can digest or reject.

[DDowner]

Don't even want to think what my Lab would smell like after eating a couple goose breast or a pound of venision burger.

[Dean Romig]

End freezer burned game forever. Put the meat into an appropriate size zip-loc bag and fill the bag with enough water to cover the meat. zip it up all but one inch and keep that opening at the upward-most position while you squeeze all of the air out. As water begins to escape from the opening zip it up the rest of the way and put it into the freezer. Your game meat will be preserved with no waste for far longer this way.

[TARNATION !!!]

The last rooster of this past season received your recommended treatment. Makes perfect sense. So, I could leave that one for a few years as a test or, maybe do it up while it is so fresh.
Cheers,
Jack

[DDowner]

I tried that for my phez this year Dean, If I have any amount I bring to neighbor and have him vacuum seal it, will last years.

[Autumn Daze]

I also have been using Dean's method. Works great!

[10 bore]

bob, duck and goose sausage, wow i have a freezer full of birds when do you want to come over to do mine. tell me what i need scott