March 2015 Newsletter
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Jim's Doings
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I attended the annual
National Wild Turkey Federation Convention
in Nashville in the middle of last month, and as usual, it was a
delight to see old friends and make some new ones. I left a day
earlier than I had originally intended because of a winter storm
moving into the area. I didn’t want to drive home in that mess.
There were multiple high points to the convention and I’ll highlight a
few of them in passing.
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I saw my good friend Larry Proffitt, one of the true turkey men of
the old school, and we got to talk a bit. I’ll be hunting with him
come spring and it’s always a joy to spend time with someone who
shares my obsession to the nth degree.
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I enjoyed a fine conversation with a fellow I see at most
conventions, Bob Fulcher. He’s a highly skilled callmaker (check out
(check out his Shadetree
Callers operation)
with a knack for new angles and innovation when it comes to crafting
calls. I came away with a paddle box call of unusual design Bob
calls the Stepside Longbox. It’s beautifully made, as is typical of
his calls, and I look forward to giving it a try in the woods this
spring.
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Thanks to a longtime reader of this newsletter suggesting it, I had
a fine “shake and howdy” session with a talented wingbone call
maker, Mark Sharpe from Claxton, Ga. Those who have followed my
literary meanderings on turkeys over the years know I’m a wingbone
yelper fanatic, and as I write these words I’m looking at a dandy
Mark made.
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The massive collection of turkey calls formed by the late Earl
Mickel and then passed through two owners after his death was on
display and sale at the convention. Luckily I got there in time to
acquire a wingbone yelper made by my mentor, Parker Whedon. It could
be the twin of what has long been my “go to” call that Parker made
using bones from the first fall hen and the first spring gobbler I
ever killed all those many decades ago. I’m glad I bought it because
not long afterward an anonymous buyer purchased the entire
collection.
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Saw lots of good friends in the callmaking and call collecting
world—Ralph Permar, Bob Harwell, Marlin Watkins, Don Bald, Herb
Hornstra (had a nice chat with him about his relationship with
Parker Whedon), Howard Harlan, Chris McDonald, Michael Marks – and a
host of others.
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Enjoyed dinner with a bunch of outdoor writer friends, a real
highlight combining camaraderie with culinary delight.
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Special of the Month
Some years ago
the late Les Adams, a man with a great love of literature who
was the conceptual genius behind a number of beautifully done
series of books (Lefty’s Little Library of fishing books, The
Firearms Classics series I edit, and The Theodore Roosevelt
Collection I helped with and completed of TR’s “lost classics”
entitled Forgotten Tales and Vanished Trails) approached
me with a suggestion that I compile a primer for folks
shooting rifles and pistols.
The idea was to
bring together writings from some of the leading marksmanship
authorities from yesterday and today into a single volume which
would give any serious shooter excellent advice.
Out of this
came a work I edited entitled The Marksmanship Primer.
It contains almost 500 pages of hard information from the likes
of Jack O’Connor, Townsend Whelen, Charles Askins, Sr. and
Charles Askins, Jr., Jeff Cooper, Bryce Towsley, Wayne Van Zwoll,
and a bunch of others.
I’ve got some
spare copies and am offering them for $11, postpaid, as this
month’s special.
Order online now by using the "Add
to Cart" button above, or
send a check to me c/o 1250 Yorkdale Drive, Rock Hill, SC
29730.
Tel.: 803-329-4354
E-mail: jc@jimcasadaoutdoors.com |
Looking ahead rather than back, while I was away at the National Wild
Turkey Federation, I got a phone call from a great-grandson of Archibald
Rutledge. He invited me to join him at Hampton Plantation (the
plantation home was sold to the state during Rutledge’s lifetime but the
family retained hundreds of acres nearby for hunting) for a spring
turkey hunt. I’m really looking forward to walking what, for any turkey
hunter, is sacred ground.
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Mastering March Madness
If I suggested March was one of my favorite months, I’d be playing fast
and loose with the truth. Indeed, it is probably the month I care the
least about. After all, hunting of any kind is over until the spring
gobbler season opens a few weeks down the road, the weather can be
unpredictable at best and plain nasty at worst (I’m looking out the
window at dense fog following a week that mixed two skiffs of snow,
several hours of freezing rain, lots of clouds, and but a single day of
sunshine), and in my part of the world, never mind that it is time to
get early spring plantings in the ground, garden soil is invariably far
too wet to plow. Indeed, I ventured out in the garden yesterday to pull
up the last two heads of cabbage remaining from fall plantings (both had
a bit of “frostbite” but were salvageable), and sank in a good inch with
every step.
Confronted with such circumstances, my Grandpa Joe would just shake his
head in dismay and mutter: “What’s a body to do?” Mind you, he always
had not one but several answers, and over time I’ve figured out plenty
to do in March as well. Maybe running through some of these means of
mastering the madness of March will give you an idea or two about how
you can make it to the welcome embrace of April and the return of the
greening-up time of spring.
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Cook a fine meal of squirrel. A common and most welcome item on the
family table when I was a boy, squirrel seems to be almost the
forgotten wild game of today. Yet bushytails remain plentiful, are
fun to hunt, and provide splendid table fare. I’ve included a couple
of recipes below.
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Look through seed catalogs or go to your local feed and seed store
and get the things you need for planting once the weather gives you
the break you need.
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Clean up your yard and garden. Right now I’ve got a bunch of
prunings from my muscadine vines needing to be gathered up, and the
ice storm left limbs scattered all over the three acres I try to
keep in good shape.
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Even if it’s too wet to plow or plant seed crops, you can put plants
in the ground. Right now I’ve got some muscadines I rooted which
need to be moved along with some thornless blackberries where I let
the vines run out too long and they tip-rooted.
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Go for a walk in the woods and look (and listen) for the first signs
of coming spring. On a warm day you might hear peepers giving voice,
and you will certainly hear birds singing. This morning as I ate
breakfast both redbirds and jorees (what mountain folks have always
called the bird you’ll find listed as a towhee in the books) were
singing as if we were going to have bright sunshine any moment.
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Speaking of birds giving voice, probably my favorite March activity
is getting into the woods before daylight on a clear, crisp morning
to listen for gobbling turkeys. Over the weekend, on the one decent
day of the week, a buddy and I completed arrangements on land we
lease for turkey hunting and did a bit of walking on the property.
Seeing gobbler tracks in a muddy road is one of the surest ways to
lift my spirits, and there were plenty of them.
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Looking at the flowers of early spring. Already some of the more
adventurous daffodils in those planted around the place have lifted
their heads, although they got rewarded for their precociousness
with a coating of ice that broke a good many stems. Some crocus have
bloomed and just a few days ago I noticed sap oozing down the side
of a maple tree to such an extent it had much of the trunk wet.
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Watching the tips of maple limbs swell and take on a reddish tinge
as they prepare to “break out” in celebration come the first spell
of warmth.
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Starting to think about my favorite spots for morel mushrooms. They
usually “pop” here sometime between April 1-10, but I’m always
looking by late March. Occasionally, if we get a spate of
unseasonable warmth, they’ll actually appear before the month is
out.
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For this March, at least, I’ll be devoting a great deal of time to a
new book, “Profiles in Mountain Character.” It will contain close to
40 detailed profiles of old-time mountain folks—those included will
be noteworthy individuals, some who were decidedly notorious, and a
number of so-called nonentities who loomed large in my life. Anyone
who reads this regularly has met my Grandpa Joe, and a chapter
devoted to him will open the book. There will be one on a wonderful
old black lady who lived close to us named Aunt Mag (I’ve written
here of her as well), a convicted murderer who taught me the finer
points of catching catfish, a couple of notorious moonshiners,
several key figures in creating the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park, the finest trout fisherman I ever knew, the funniest man I’ve
ever been around, a woman guilty of infanticide, the man known as
the “Squire of Hazel Creek,” and more. I’m well past the halfway
mark already. If you wonder what has happened to Archibald Rutledge,
fear not. I had an enforced hiatus thanks to the Caroliniana Library
being closed for a number of weeks to rearrange holdings and the
like, but I’ll get back to that effort once the archives reopen.
Meanwhile, I’m starting to make a list of those who want the book on
the mountains. It will be the first in a projected trilogy under the
general title of “Portals of Paradise.” This first volume, “Profiles
in Mountain Character,” will be followed by ones dealing with
mountain places and mountain folkways.
Just let me know on both this and the Rutledge book and I’ll be sure
you are notified once the books appear. I would note that there will
be a new reprint of a Rutledge piece out in May, the second in a
series of five chapbooks for which I wrote the Introduction. I’ll
let you know the details as soon as the book, The Doom of
Ravenswood, appears.
I reckon I’ve got enough to keep me busy in March and hope you will as
well. Just remember that gobbling turkeys, the first hints of pink from
redbuds and white from dogwoods, and buds a-swelling lie but a few weeks
distant. That should help you ward off the misery that can be March.
Now, let’s turn to some fine table fixin’s, and as I write this the
smell of cabbage patch soup is wafting in from the kitchen. It’s might
fillin’ and fittin’ for a nasty day.
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Recipes for March
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BAKED SQUIRREL
Mom often fixed fried squirrel, and when served with side dishes
of biscuits, milk gravy made with the drippings from the
squirrel, sweet potatoes, and turnip greens, it was among my
favorite meals. However, I liked her baked squirrel even better,
and the recipe below will work just as well for rabbit, a young
‘coon, or muskrat. I realize some folks might turn up a dainty
nose at the latter two, but let me assure you both are
exceptionally clean animals that can make mighty fine fare.
2 (or more) squirrels, dressed
Cold water to cover
1 teaspoon of baking soda
(more if you have more than 2 squirrels)
1 tablespoon butter per squirrel
Cover the squirrel with cold water in a large saucepan. Add the
baking soda and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, pour off the
water, and rinse thoroughly under running water to remove any
baking soda. Return to the pan and cover with fresh water. Bring
to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and continue until
tender.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer squirrels to a baking
dish, dot with the butter and bake until brown and crusty.
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There’s no finer way to put squirrel on the table
than by
hunting with a good squirrel dog. |
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SQUIRREL POT PIE |
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1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 stalk celery, chopped coarsely
1 large garlic clove, minced
4 cups beef broth
Freshly ground black pepper
1 squirrel, cleaned
Pastry for two-crust pie
1 (12-ounce) can Mexican-style mixed vegetables
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Preheat oven to 340 degrees. Combine the onion, celery, garlic,
beef broth, pepper and squirrel in a large pot and bring to a
boil; simmer until he meat is quite ender and easily removed
from the bones. Debone the meat and set aside.
Measure out 1 cup of the cooking liquid and reserve. Fit the
bottom crust into a pie pan.
Combine the meat, vegetables, reserved broth and cornstarch in a
large bowl and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the pie shell.
Top with the second crust, press the edges to seal and cut
several vents in the top for steam to escape. Bake until the
crust is brown, about an hour. |
Hunting squirrels with a dog is productive
and a fine way to get
a youngster started in hunting. |
VENISON CHILI
It’s hard to beat a steaming bowl of chili, especially if flanked with a
fine chunk of cornbread or a plate of corn dodgers, on a cold March day.
Here’s a recipe to use some of that ground venison you hopefully put in
the freezer back in deer season.
1 pound lean ground venison
1 (10- to 15-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, drained
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 (16-ounce) can pinto or kidney beans
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (4-ounce) can mushrooms, drained, or a cup of fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Cook the venison in a large skillet, stirring to break up the meat,
until brown and crumbly. Combine with the other ingredients in a large
pot. Simmer for an hour or longer (longer is better).
VENISON STEW
2 to 3 pound venison stew meat or roast
1 (10 ½ ounce) can beef broth
1 ½ to 2 pounds potatoes, cubed
3 or 4 onions, quartered
8 ounces baby carrots
Salt and pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
If roast is used cut into one-inch cubes Combine meat in a Dutch oven
with the beef broth. Simmer until the meat is nearly tender.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the potatoes, onions, and carrots to
the pan and season with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Cover
and bake for an hour or until the vegetables are tender.
BERRY CRISP
I’ve always had a sweet tooth, and few things in the dessert world
tickle my fancy more than those featuring berries. You can use about any
kind of berries with this recipe.
1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
¼ to ½ cup chopped nuts (black walnuts, English walnuts, or pecans)
½ cup cold butter
3 cups fresh or frozen berries
½ cup white sugar, or to taste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the oats, flour and brown sugar.
Add the nuts. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or in a food
processor. Place half the crumb mixture on the bottom of a well-greased
8-inch baking pan. Combine the berries and sugar and pour over the base.
Top with the remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until
brown and bubbly. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
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Jim Casada Outdoors
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Feel free to contact Jim with your comments, questions
or suggestions at jc@jimcasadaoutdoors.com.
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