Hunting: Well, Sort Of...

Thanks to the awesome generosity of a hunting friend, I became the proud owner of two freshly shot Canada Geese. These creatures are the bane of golf courses and park managers and reservoir managers along the whole Atlantic Flyway. They are also delicious, nutritious, grass fed, cage free birds, killed by a quick death. If you object to any of this, or don't really want to know where food comes from, stop reading here because it's about to get bloody. Read along with me to see how I turned these feathered friends into food.

For goose #1, I plucked the feathers down the center of the breast from the bottom of the neck down to the vent. I took my knife (a Havalon, which is essentially a surgical scalpel with a knife handle), and made a very shallow cut through the skin to the breast bone. You can see and feel the bone, but the cut should be shallow. Once the initial cut is started, I turned the knife edge-up so that I wouldn't cut too deep. I cut all the way down to just above the vent. 

Here, you can see that I started peeling back the skin. Sometimes, the skin just peels. Other times, you have to barely touch it with a sharp knife to release it. 

I continued to cut/peel back until the entire breast was exposed. The breast will extend down to the wing on the top and the thigh on the bottom. Once fully exposed, removing the breast is fairly simple for anyone who has ever done the same thing with a chicken. The difference is that the goose is wider and flatter than a modern chicken.

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but you cut straight down the sternum, peeling back the meat as close to the bone as possible. Near the neck, cut down along the wishbone. The objective is to free the meat from the bone alone the attachment points, in between muscle groups. As such, it's more a peeling than a cutting. 

You need to repeat the same thing on the other side. Now, it seems that the general consensus is that it isn't worth bothering with the legs. It seems an awful waste though. I cut back down to the the fat around thigh. I slid my fingers around the meat/bone to to release the skin. I cut the thigh away from the bone, until I reached the thigh joint. Once exposed, I cut the ligaments to release the bone. One of the legs was broken on impact, but the meat was intact. 

I decided to push my luck and see if I could get the wings off. That didn't go nearly as well. The skin got really thin at the wing elbow. As I got to the joint, I kept cutting through the skin. I manage to get some sinewy meat from the wing for a whole lot of effort. It was definitely not worth it to get the wing off.

I put the meat on a plate in the fridge to do a little dry aging. I'm not sure how I will prepare these goose parts. The second goose was hung, in feathers which I plan to pluck, but that is another post.

Random Thoughts: 40 Years Old

At the end of 2014, I turned 40. I don't feel old. I never have felt like I am getting older. I credit my genetics. I don't have a head of gray hair and I don't have a receeding hairline. Kids and running and general activity keep me mostly in good physical shape. Still... 40 seems like it should be the point where you start feeling older, right?

For me, it's more of a reflection point. I am looking at who and what I am. So, who or what am I? Well, I consider myself a jack-of-all-trades. I try to do everything myself. In a way, I feel that the only way to advance the human spirit is by increasing knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom comes from understanding. Understanding comes from experience.

Anyway, personal philosiphy aside, what does this mean? Well, for one, I want to document what I do. I have no idea what, if anything, will be gained from this effort. That said, I am committing myself to make the effort.

Part of me wants to say, "I will post 40 blogs by the time I turn 41." However, that pledge doesn't really mean anything. So, I'll say, I am planning on more posts. The subject matter will run the gambit of all things I do. And I have a lot going on at all times, so expect the posts to be diverse. 

Recreation: Hunting year 2 (aka, Deer-2, Me-0)

Well, I just finished my hunting session this year, but with only 2 days that I could hunt, I don't have a ton to report. I was only going to be able to get out hunting on the Weekends. The first Weekend had 15-30 mph winds with gusts up to 40. I opted to just stay home. I went out last year on a day like that and saw nothing at all because everything was moving except the deer. So, I got out this past Saturday and Sunday. I hunted tank farm 4D both days for morning and evening hunts. I hadn't ever been in TF-4, so it was also, unfortunately, a scouting trip. With a West light breeze, I opted to go around to the back side to the fence line. There was a nice patch of open trees back there with nothing moving and then, almost to the back corner of D was a nice deery looking area. As I was trying to set up, I made a little too much noise (briars+sticks+leaves) and bumped 4 deer from the far side. The sounded like they were moving downhill, so I opted to much more quietly do the same back to the open tree area. A nice doe was browsing her way towards the fence. I lost sight of her in the thicket and as I was trying to spot her, she stepped out into the open patch staring at me 8 yards away. I was straight upright, but stock still, so she ignored me. Each time she looked away or down, I lifted my bow a little bit. Once up, she stared for a good long while beacause the sun was reflecting brightly off my black fiberglass front of my recurve. (Note to self, wrap that in camo wrap next time.) She finally looked away. I drew back and released. The arrow was straight towards her vitals but managed to fly just (really, just barely) below her body. Yup, I totally blew an 8 yard shot. I can say is was an awkward shot because my body was twisted a little to far forward and my shoulder dropped slightly, but really, I just missed the shot. I guess I'm not qualifying for the Olympics any time soon. I managed to double my mistake too. Carelessly, I went looking for my arrow before seeing where she went. She was only about 15 yards into the open trees, so I probably would have gotten a second shot. As it is though, there is now at least one really wise doe in TF-4. Anyway, I saw nothing else in the Saturday morning hunt, and the evening hunt only saw a couple does way out of range. They didn't come out until 5 minutes before the end of shooting light. Sunday morning, I had a chance at 3 does, but as I was setting up a shot, a couple guys headed up to 4-B/4-C walked up and unintentionally spooked my deer. Sunday evening, I set up back along the tree line again in the back corner. I figured I would move down as it got closer to sunset. Right about 15 minutes after sunset, A buck comes out of the trees about 50 yards downhill, snorting and huffing and making all sorts of racket. 4 does came out of the trees and, instead of going uphill, they went downhill and the buck chased after them. I slowly moved downhill, but I couldn't catch them. No idea where the buck and 1 doe went, but after it was too dark to shoot, I saw 3 tails head out the tank farm and, probably, across the street to graze in recreation area. Oh well, better luck next year. For this year, I'm going back to fishing for my source of free protein.

Traditional Archery

In its purest form, archery requires a straight stick (the arrow) and another stick bent with a string (the bow). There is a whole lot of science behind archery. However, archery predates science. It has been around for thousands of years. It likely predates agriculture. So the term "traditional archery" doesn't really mean much. In reality, it would be better to refer to non-compound-bow archery.

Whatever the name, I have a fascination with traditional archery. The thought of going into the woods with a bent stick and a straight stick and matching my skill to the senses of another animal are highly appealing. Primarily, it comes down to one word... Skill. 

A compound bow can compensate for a low-skilled archer. Precision machined cams and sights and rests and releases make a beginner archer into a mediocre archer and a mediocre archer into a good archer. However, a traditional bow directly manifests the archer's skill.

In the past couple weeks, one thing has become apparent. My archery skills suck. I didn't shoot from January to July. Ideally, I would spend at least 3-5 days per week shooting year-round. Whatever...

I shot a few rounds at 5 yards, expecting to be rusty. Rusty would be good compared to the way I shot. After a couple days of shooting and bow adjustments, I was back into decent form. I moved back to 10 yards and have been getting better groupings each time. Soon, I'll move back further. I would like to be accurate in the 15-20 yards range before hunting season starts. If I can swing it, I'll push back to 25-30 yards but only take shots at 15-20 yard animals.

Fishing

It's been a long time since I posted anything. It seems like I should write something. So, what am I doing now? Among other things, I have been fishing. Well... That's not exactly true. I have been thinking about fishing and occasionally getting out. Now, I really enjoy fishing, but I'm actually really bad at it. Usually, I go out and fish for hours and catch 0-1 keeper-sized fish. Now, I can go catch scup all day, every day. Scup, for many, are the nuisance fish of Southern New England waters. They steal bait and are often too small to take the hook anyway. My favorite fish is summer flounder/fluke. That said, I have caught 1 keeper sized fluke in my entire life. One of the easiest fish to catch around here is bluefish. I have never caught a bluefish. I've cast into a frenzy and pulled a lure through without a hit. Meanwhile, everyone else on the shore was pulling in fish after fish. So, what's the point of all this? I made a list of all the types of fish that I've caught (keeper sized) and those that I haven't caught yet. On the "Caught" list:

• Striped Bass
• Fluke
• Black Sea Bass
• Squid (technically, not a fish)
• Atlantic Herring
• Dogfish (threw it back)
• Skate (also returned to the water)
• Sea Robin
• Scup
• Tautog

On the "Not Caught" (yet) list:

• Bluefish
• Winter Flounder
• Weakfish
• Mackerel
• False Albacore
• Bonito
• Cod
• Mahi Mahi
• Tuna

I'm sure, if I have any readers, this doesn't interest any of them. But, there it is anyway. I hope to add bluefish to my list this year. Only time will tell.

Hunting: Second and third hunts

We weren't expected for dinner until 3 so I decided to head out hunting mid-morning on Thanksgiving. It turns out, the deer were spending Thanksgiving with their families out of town. There were no deer to be found anywhere. After a few hours, I gave up.

I could have gone out on Saturday morning, but I would have had to go out at dawn (20 degrees) and only would be able to stay for an hour or two. I couldn't get out on Sunday morning, so I planned to go out for the afternoon. Seeing so few deer, I made plans to stay out until the end of shooting light.

There was a light drizzle, unseasonable warmth (48 degrees) and a very light breeze. I just have to say it is soo much easier to walk quietly on wet leaves than dry ones. Plus, the dripping rain concealed some noise too. I swung wide around the area on the North side since the wind was out of the South. I set up on a bedding area for an hour or so and saw nothing. I moved back out and continued around to a treed area. I squatted there for a bit but there wasn't any cover or natural funnel so I moved on. I explored a few more trails that I hadn't the first time, to no avail. I moved back to another, better spot on the bedding area.

I forgot my phone at home, but I knew it was official sunset when I heard the bugle call on the base. So, with half an hour of legal shooting light, I decided to go back to the wooded area since I read that early-rising deer will hang out in the trees before total darkness.

Well, the Internet was right. I saw a fluffy white tail bounding away through the trees before I got within 30 yards. For reference, my effective shooting distance is about 15-17 yards. It wasn't moving fast, so I backed out of the trees and tried to find a way to get ahead of it. There was no access to the woods on my side and I couldn't call to check if the other side was claimed , so I moved back to the trees to see if there were other deer that I didn't alert. Turns out, the answer was yes. I saw another white fluffy tail bounding away at about 50 yards. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

It was mostly too dark to shoot by now so I headed back to the car flushing another deer in the process. Seeing no other car, I decided the other side was empty. I took a quickish walk around the other side. I flushed another deer, heard a deer bounding away behind me, flushed 3 more deer and
heard one deer bleat-laughing at me. As a final, mocking gesture from the deer, 2 does were standing behind the guardrail on the side of the road watching me as I drove away.

Hunting: A first hunt

For those that know me, I am all about learning; Specifically, I have an obsession with learning how to do things and why. In some ways, I am a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. With a few exceptions, I learn just enough to be dangerous but not enough to be dangerous to others. For years, I have wanted to become proficient at archery. More accurately, I wanted to become proficient at archery so that I could become proficient at hunting. I am a bit of a traditionalist, so ideally, I would like a nice wooden longbow. The biggest problem is that wooden longbows are usually expensive, custom made jobs where you pay an amateur to mid-level bowyer to eventually make you a bow to his specifications. I could learn to make one myself (I actually have started that process) but it takes a lot of time to find the perfectly right piece of wood to make a nice American Flat Bow (the style I would make) and then a moderate amount of skill to not screw up that piece of wood. So, the alternative that I elected was to purchase a recurve bow from eBay. The particular bow I got is a laminated maple and fiberglass Bear Super Grizzly from the early 70s (I keep forgetting to look it up), so that will have to be traditional enough.

So, I practiced, took the hunter safety course, got my hunting license and permits, signed up for a lottery and then waited (impatiently) for my first session to start. Yesterday, it finally arrived. Unfortunately, it was a morning low of 22 with winds from 14-29 mph. More unfortunately, the wind climbed to 22-37 mph while I was out there. Even more unfortunately, in all my practice and planning, I neglected to plan for Winter to be cold. I don't get cold easily, so I figured long sleeves and fleece would be quiet and stealthy and plenty warm. In this case, 3 layers was not enough. I have never shivered so much in my entire life. To make matters worse, the wind was screaming so I couldn't see any deer movement because everything was in motion constantly. In addition, I couldn't hear any deer movement over the wind. The only thing I could hear was my insanely loud "stealth" finding every crunchy leaf and stick plus catching every briar on my pants. After 3 hours, I finally called it quits without seeing 1 single deer. I went back home and tried (unsuccessfully) to warm up. I decided to give it another try and went back out for a late afternoon hunt. Being more familiar with the area now, I moved to the spot I thought would be best. I sat and scanned for deer for a bit and saw nothing. I slowly stood up to move to one other area and then locked eyes on a deer bedded down 15 feet from me. It was much more reactive than I was because it bolted before I could even think of reacting.

All in all, it was a fun and informative experience. The best part is, I have 13 more days in this hunting session to try to bag a deer. If I fail, then I have another 2-week session in January. All I need is slightly better conditions and lots more luck (and skill) and I should have some meat in the freezer in no time.