small game pairings

[ddoyle]

Did not want to clutter the other small game thread but I wanted to throw out an idea that has worked very well for my family and helps keep the reward component up and the menu interesting.

We quit hunting upland small game. Yep never ever leave the house thinking you are going hunting. Instead you leave the house for a blueberry picking day (and end up with a bag of ruffed grouse) or a day of cranberry raking (and end up with a bag of spruce grouse) or a day of mushroom picking and end up with a brace of hares and winters supply of morels, or a day of trolling a spoon behind a canoe, or a day of shed picking, deer scouting, xmas tree cutting, wreath bough picking, gold panning, fire wood cutting, crab apple pciking........ of course you bring your favorite musket/fowler.

In short find a gathering reason to be in the bush and the small game will follow.

What do y'all collect when your potting squirrels in Arcadia? Is there a ginseng and small game season somewhere? How about a crappie/perch/sunfish/catfish and mallard season? Be keen to hear what is collected as you hunt in other places.

[Majorjoel]

It really sounds good and makes a lot of sense but around my neck of the woods the legal seasons do not coincide with all of the outdoor activities.  Well, there are a few exceptions but for the most part, I never seem to have my shooting gear close by to take advantage.

I'll have to start thinking more about this during those rare occasions. 

[Mike Brooks]

All I collect when catfishing is a sunburn. Maybe I'll start raking cranberries here in Iowa, maybe  then I'll find a bag of spruce grouse...if we had spruce....or grouse....or cranberries.....

[OldMtnMan]

My only thought when I leave the house with a gun is filling the freezer.

[Mike Brooks]

My only thought when I leave the house with a gun is filling the freezer.

I have found the most economical way to do that is to buy a beef or a hog and butcher it. Last hog I got was free....

[OldMtnMan]

Have you seen the price of beef lately? I can't afford much of that. A cow elk tag cost me $49 and is good for 200lbs of sweet lean meat. Plus, the hunt is way more fun than going to the market.


Off topic...sorry.

[ddoyle]

oldmtman, not to mention that 200 pounds of elk has the eatin value of at least 500 pounds of beef. So what do you gather when elk hunting? (blisters or something more interesting)

[OldMtnMan]

oldmtman, not to mention that 200 pounds of elk has the eatin value of at least 500 pounds of beef. So what do you gather when elk hunting? (blisters or something more interesting)

No blisters, because I wear my hunting boots year round. I do get lot's of sore muscles though.

[WKevinD]

I love deer hunting but recently the coyotes have been more active than me. I usually take one per year and give half of it away. Rabbits and squirrels are hunted but mostly for the time in the woods and mushrooms. For meat I butcher two steers per year and sell one and a half that gives us a cut wrapped & froze half for free and do the same with a pair of pigs. They all fertilize the garden and get rid of the stuff we pull and give to them.
The flintlocks are mostly for long walks and social shooting.
Being retired allows for time to get stuff done so we can do it without money.
Kevin

[trentOH]

All I collect when catfishing is a sunburn. Maybe I'll start raking cranberries here in Iowa, maybe  then I'll find a bag of spruce grouse...if we had spruce....or grouse....or cranberries.....

It seems I gotta teach everybody everything. In Iowa ripe cranberries are the preferred food of unicorns, so it only makes sense to have your unicorn rifle with you harvesting wild cranberries. And if you rarely find cranberries, well obviously that's because the unicorns have gotten them all.

[OldMtnMan]

When is unicorn season?

[Elnathan]

DDoyle,

I've never been hunting, but that sounds like a fun concept. In a similar vein, it occurred to me recently that while modern deer hunting doesn't really lend itself to recreating a longhunter camp, a group of enterprising reenactors probably could go out for a week long hunting trip, set up a base camp, and spend a week hide hunting live game by substituting squirrels for deer. Long seasons, generous bag limits, and abundant (and often ignored) game could make for a really fun trip.

[ddoyle]

Yeah that is the heart of it eh, figuring out an excuse to go tramping about in a nice place and get something for the stew. I am pretty sure that every 'long hunter' that ever was carried a forage bag of some nature and made efforts to fill it with yummies.

[silly goose]

ddoyle, I really like your mindset. I love to be in the woods and fields, but could care less if I kill something. When I hunt I usually bring a book, whittling supplies and my fire kit. I totally enjoy my time outside wether I see game or not. Mind you, I won't pass up a shot, but my feelings aren't hurt if I don't get one. I'm usually able to put at least one deer a year in the freezer.

[Elnathan]

Yeah that is the heart of it eh, figuring out an excuse to go tramping about in a nice place and get something for the stew. I am pretty sure that every 'long hunter' that ever was carried a forage bag of some nature and made efforts to fill it with yummies.

Hmm. While I'm sure that the longhunters wouldn't have passed up a treat, food or exploring, if they happened across it, it is worth repeating that they were out there on business, not just wandering about enjoying themselves. Longhunting was more like a deep-sea fishing expedition than a romp in the woods - they had invested a significant amount in the expedition - probably taking on a lot of debt (debt was a major issue in the Carolina backcountry at the time and most everybody owed money, just like today) and if they didn't bring back enough hides to make a profit or at least cover their investment they were in trouble. (I suspect that a good haul promised to lift them out of debt they already had, so it was worth the risk). People remember Boone wandering around in Kentucky and having a grand old time, but few seem to remember that he only did so because he had just been financially ruined and was trying to recoup something from the disaster.

In my scenario, the "longhunters" would be trying to bring back as many squirrel skins as possible, though given modern hunting  ethics I assume that the meat would not be left behind either. At the end pf the expedition the group counts the skins and figures out whether they "made money" or not....

[ddoyle]

Elnathan,

I think you missed the point.  I am not suggesting lolygagging. 60o dollars in dried mushrooms or a winters worth of vitamin c is not a treat it is way to subsidize the aqquistion of protien.  The chance of shooting game goes up dramatically if you are in the bush. 6 hours of mushroom picking will yield more game then not being in the bush at all. One is not exclusice to the other. The two activities compliment one another. 

Ok  here is a good one from the memory banks- Scallop and seaweed picking paired with sitka blacktail shooting. Go to work at picking seafood after a storm and probabley get a little buck while he is out doing the same.

[rich pierce]

One thing I’ve noticed about gathering expeditions is I often get surprisingly close to game.  I attribute that to a non-stealthy posture and pace.

[ddoyle]

Exactly and what we like to eat is what critters like to eat so it puts us in the same place and it makes us go the same speed.

The fact that no one has said they shoot squirels while gathering hazlenuts makes me think folks are missing out.

[longcruise]

I m sure the longhunters did have a place and plan to pick up and carry anything edible that they came across.  Seems like it would improve the efficiency of the hunt if they grabbed fast food along the way.

[OldMtnMan]

They did. What they were shooting. 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Ain't much you can hunt when strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are in season.

However deer and apples go pretty good, but deer are big game here in Wisconsin (I hear they're purt near bunny-size in Texas).

Cranberries definitely ripen in fall, but I don't know what kind of critters you'd encounter in the open bogs.

One thing that works OK is trout, turkeys, and morels in May, a Wisconsin "Grand Slam" of sorts.

[ddoyle]

Trout, Turkeys and Morels! You may be confusing Wisconsin with heaven. What a treat.

try that open bog at dusk my guess is the edge is bunny habitat.

[axelp]

Every Fall a few of my 18th C muzzleloading friends and I meet in North California for a four day squirrel camp. We also hunt turkey, quail, gather mushrooms and tell lies around the fire. In May we have a 4 day 18th C camp in the Central Sierras, where we hunt for morels, shoot at marks, and explore the area--- and again tell lies around the fire. Late summer, we have a three day 18th C style camp just below Sonora Pass where we fish the creeks for trout, shoot at marks, explore and tell lies around the fire. In the past, we have done a weekend hunting camp in October during deer season, but seems like California is not a great place to hunt deer. Every time we go out we take advantage of what is on the menu in regards to hunting season, as well as gather what edibles that are available. Its fun and makes the camps interesting and relevant.

[Mike from OK]

I read an account detailing Boone's notoriety for startling people out of their wits. He would go out to hunt and get tired or bored and lie down under a tree... Passersby unaware of his presence would be startled by Boone when he would begin belting out a favorite song.

I would imagine the Longhunters looked to their work as it required, but I doubt they toiled sunup to sundown in the manner of a farmer or tradesman back in the settlements.

While I'm not prone to sing, I have been known to sit on a stump or log, or lean back against a tree and enjoy a bowl of Navy Flake tobacco in my pipe while waiting for squirrels to stir.

Mike

[OldMtnMan]

If I started to sing i'd drive out every animal and human for miles.