My Midwest life...for James

James___ wrote:
@GasGuzzler, I've actually had fresh venison cooked in a banked fire in Phoenix, Arizona as well as fresh fish cooked in a banked fire in Aalesund, Norway. Banked fires are good. It does help to have a cook that knows how to cook fresh meat in a banked fire. Please tell me you've eaten fresh meat.
Cooking meat in a banked fire might require someone who knows what they're doing. Your picture showed something that was cooked in an oven. Might be why it bothered me that you took such pleasure in saying, look at what I cooked at home. And you bought it, right?
Please brag on something else. It just rubs me the wrong way.

p.s., as far as fresh beef goes, it doesn't need anything. Spices are to cover up lost flavor.

GasGuzzler wrote:

James___ wrote:
@GasGuzzler, I've actually had fresh venison cooked in a banked fire in Phoenix, Arizona as well as fresh fish cooked in a banked fire in Aalesund, Norway. Banked fires are good. It does help to have a cook that knows how to cook fresh meat in a banked fire. Please tell me you've eaten fresh meat.
Cooking meat in a banked fire might require someone who knows what they're doing. Your picture showed something that was cooked in an oven. Might be why it bothered me that you took such pleasure in saying, look at what I cooked at home. And you bought it, right?
Please brag on something else. It just rubs me the wrong way.

p.s., as far as fresh beef goes, it doesn't need anything. Spices are to cover up lost flavor.

Not sure why all the questions, but when you get to drinking in the afternoon, you tend to get going on about what I eat. I'll give a brief overview so maybe we can put this to rest and spare the rest of the group from here on out.

I hunt deer, mostly archery. My son is excellent at skinning. I do the butchering. I hunt my own land so most kills are strung up and prime cuts are in the freezer within an hour or two. Back straps, inner loins, and hidden loins (couple of prime loins under the rump roasts) are for the grill, not the oven. Rumps and flank steaks are for jerky, front shoulders for stew. That is 80 percent of the meat on the animal. The remaining is cut away and we make summer sausage out of it, although I am looking into some intriguing shank recipes.

We also eat a lot of wild turkey, pheasant, duck, and squirrel. I enjoy the hunt, but I won't shoot unless I know it's going to be delicious. I don't shoot Canadian geese anymore. I've tried 2 or 3 and they just taste like shit.

I never buy fish, I catch all I want at the river a couple miles from my home. Walleye are excellent table fair and Northern Pike is a very close second, though they take some skill to clean with their Y bone structure. They get large, so one or two fish can easily be a family meal. Anything over 8lbs is released. These are generally the large females that lay thousands of eggs. Let em go so they can make more.

All your questions about deer and elk smelling you...yes, they have extreme ability to sniff you out from hundreds of yds away...if the wind is in their favor. I hunt funnels and travel routes. I have ground blinds and tree stands set up, and only hunt any one location when the wind is right. I get very close to deer. Bow shots are ideally 20 yds or less. Many times, if I was quick with a knife, I could have cut the throat of a deer, but I won't ever try it. Not ethical. Pictured below is one such expample. I make every effort to make a kill as quick as possible. Sometimes that means passing up a "nearly certain" shot and watching that trophy buck walk. It doesn't bother me. I was thrilled with another close encounter. I enjoy the hunt, whether I harvest or not. I simply love being outdoors and I love the wildlife.

I am certainly not the outdoor skill of the Indian tribes you speak of. I don't make tools out of bones and string my bow with back strap sinew. I buy my arrows and broadheads at the store instead of making them out of wood and stone. I cook on gas and charcoal gills. I buy my share of beef and chicken, because that is also delicious. Get the picture?

I love the outdoors, the rivers, the timber, and the open plains. I love the wildlife. I love to hunt and harvest, and I really love eating. I'm just a pretty normal guy, but if things go bad, me and my family will survive.