Spring Gobbler: To Blind, or not to Blind...

I cut my teeth hunting Spring Gobblers at eye level.  A low seat, a vest with some back padding, and maybe a deke or two out there.  However, after a rained out muzzleloader season, I invested in a ground blind. Nothing fancy, just a simple pop up, but now that I have it, the blind just begs the question: Do I hunt spring gobblers from a blind now?

There are obvious advantages to having a blind.  If it's raining it will keep you dry and more comfortable.  I'm a huge advocate of comfort.  The more comfortable you are, the longer you stay in the field.  The longer you stay in the field, the greater your chance of success. The blind will conceal movement. This is great when drawing a bow, or a gun on a feeding deer, but absolutely critical when hunting turkeys.  There's nothing more paranoid then a turkey, especially one that has been hunted. As my boys get older the blind will also come in handy because anyone with kids knows well how poorly they sit still.  The blind will give us an extra layer of protection from all those little fidgets. 

There are some big disadvantage as well though. The blind is one more piece of equipment to carry in the field.  The blind above folds down into a round pack with a diameter right around 2 feet. At about 8 inches thick, and 12 pounds, it's not awkward to carry, but it is one more thing to carry. All my hunting ground is rolling, so no matter where I choose to go, I'm hefting that thing up hill at some point.  Also once I'm set up I'm more committed to that location, then I would be if I was just carrying my low seat.  I've either got to fold up the tent, and pack it to the next location, or leave it and remember to go back and retrieve it, before I leave the woods.  You'll also notice in the picture above, all blinds need to be "brushed in" so to speak. The blind by itself looks like a building.  Completely out of place in the woods.  If you stack brush around it that will help to blend the hard edges into the background.

Probably the biggest disadvantage is just the fact that I've had success without using the blind.  Whenever you have success, you really want to replicate that success.  Changing something major about your setup, puts you at risk of starting over, so to speak, and learning how to be successful with that new tool.

It's a toss up to be sure. 6 weeks from now, with the Spring Gobbler season starts in PA, will I find myself in a blind?  Probably not for the opener, I'm too superstitious for that.  However, since I own a blind now, I'm sure I'll test it out later in the season.  Experimenting later in the season has worked out well for me in the past, so maybe by the 3rd Saturday, I'll pack that blind into the woods and give it a test run.

Happy Hunting
Scott M

Opportunity

The new day dawns to new opportunity.  It is only after we quit, when the opportunity to make things better, truly ends.

I've posted about sunrises before (I'm a sucker for a sunrise), but today's really struck me.  Coming out of the side door of my house; Coffee, lunch, a 2 year old tripping over his blankie, and a 7 year old dropping his backpack, all in tow. I looked up to see this sunrise dawning over my neighbors house and realized that each day is an opportunity to make things better. 

Now I tend to be snarky and sarcastic in my daily life, but deep down I know we all need to press on and fight through our struggles, and finding that motivation can be difficult.  It's easier to throw your hands up and quit.

This applies to everything.

If you're a parent: These thoughts need no explanation.

If you're an outdoorsman: We all know it's easy to throw in the towel, instead of sticking it out with that stubborn Tom.  The fish aren't always feeding, so casting away to endless hours on a stream isn't necessarily the most delightful thought.

If you're a spouse:  Well many times we do throw up our hands and quit.  I'm not going to sit here and tell you how to live your life, but I will say this: have the fight you need to have, because once you've said your piece, the relationship will be stronger, or will be gone.  Either way you can step forward into the new day ready to embrace the opportunity.

Hold the one's you love today.  Be willing to fight for the people who are willing to fight for you. Embrace each opportunity as they present themselves.

Happy Valentine's Day
Scott M

Winter Birds

After Christmas dinner at my Aunt Nancy's house I was quickly taken in by playing with my new Olympus e-pm1 and several of the lenses I had brought with me.  My aunt had several bird feeders placed near windows of her house, so all the hungry birds were easy targets for my camera.  Plus, photographing the fast moving birds was great practice for capturing pictures of other wild animals on future trips to the woods.

Cardinals are a great photograph during the winter.  Easy to attract with nearly any brand of food, their red plumage stands out in stark contrast to winter's blanket of snow.  This guy was a bit bashful and tried to keep his head behind the feeder, but I did manage to capture this nice photo.  The 14-42 lens that came with the Olympus worked flawlessly capturing the cardinals colors.

Here several chickadees were being much more cooperative for their portrait.  All four positioned themselves well and the picture was easily framed.  Leaving the 14-42 lens in place and switching to the full auto mode, the quick chickadees were captured as if they posed for the shot.

Finally, I broke out the telephoto lens.  I haven't purchased a proper 50-150 specifically made for my Olympus's Micro 4/3's platform, but I was able to find an adaptor to make an old 50-200 Pentax fit on the camera.  Works great.  Biggest downfall is the e-pm1 doesn't have an optical viewfinder, so you are stuck using the LCD screen to tell if you're in focus or not.  In the photo above I was able to capture a little woodpecker hanging on a suet feeder.  I wish the sky wasn't so overcast, because the focus on the bird is very nice, and on a brighter day I think the bird would have popped more in the photo.

All in all I'm still thrilled with the camera, and for an outdoorsman, and a family-man, I really think that this camera will suit my needs for several years to come.

Happy Exploring
Scott M

An Angry Lake

Growing up on Lake Erie, you don't really need a boat to feel a connection to this amazing body of water.  I find it very hard to describe, but the lake is like a home base.  When I leave this area I find myself struggling to find my direction.  The lake, figuratively and literally, is north.  No matter where you are in Erie County if you can point to the lake, you know north, and therefore you can navigate.  Just like Polaris in the night sky, once found, navigation becomes easier, and a level of comfort is discovered. 

I think that's it really.  Comfort.  We all long for things in our lives that we can depend on, and no matter what else is happening in our lives, that lake, our Great Lake, will always be there.  Eternal.

Ironically, the lake can simultaneously be a destructive force.  Relentlessly thrashing against rocks.  Carving cliffs and bluffs.  Something as seemingly eternal as bedrock, is forged into shape by the endless persistence of water.

Lake Erie is the shallowest of the 5 Great Lakes, and thereby quite deadly.  Storms can blossom very quickly.  You see a shallow lake is a warm lake.  That heat energy, stored from the sun, gives birth to storms.  When cool air sweeps out of Canada it acts like a vacuum cleaner, sucking moisture directly from the lake.  Once that same air hits land the winds have to rise to escape the Great Lakes basin.  It can't do that with all the moisture it just absorbed.  In winter this action creates Lake Effect snow storms.  Storm machines would be more accurate.  Like a conveyor belt of cold air, sucking moisture out of the lake and depositing it back onto the land. 

The western Great Lakes experienced this weather phenomenon distinctly as winter storm Draco plowed out of the Midwest states.  Unfortunately that never really reached us here on the shores of Lake Erie.  The winds howled (as my 2 year old, and the bags under my eyes, will attest too) but the 2 inches of snow that did fall were stripped by whipping winds.  All we were left with was a dusting of snow, and an angry lake.  In the above pictures you can see just how awesome the waves can be stirred up, and this was several hours since the storm passed.  A testament to the awesome powers of Mother Nature.

And where were the animals?  Living through it, as they always do.  As humans we have adapted shelters and tools to survive in every single one of Earth's climates.  Yet we overreact the worst.  Another signal of how disconnected we are from the natural way of things?  Perhaps.  However that's far to pessimistic for me.  To capture these pictures I visited 4 Mile and 8 Mile creek in Harborcreek, PA.  Both creeks held fisherman, anxious to tangle with one of our winter Steelhead's.  Maybe some of us have become a bit soft to the rigors of nature, but there are those among us that understand the magic of the natural order.

Happy Exploring
Scott M

Culinary adventures

As a hunter I've been faced with the dilemma of, "I've killed it.  What do I do now?"  Luckily for me, I'm an adventurous eater, and I love searching for new recipes.  However my dear wife, she's not as adventurous.  She's a good sport, don't get me wrong, but often she'd rather not think of what is now on her plate, was once walking around. 

So I was placed in a pleasant conundrum just the other day, when I realized I had accumulated 5 rabbit legs in the freezer.  Why 5 and not 6?  Fair question.  2 of the legs were from a rabbit I shot with my bow.  He had spent just too much time dilly dallying around my tree stand, and the archery deer season overlaps with small game season here in PA.  The next 3 were the result of my uncle having the great idea get some rabbits, but the unfortunate mistake of not separating out that buck he had.  The following spring another uncle was called in, to handle the population growth, and I was pleasantly surprised by a Ziploc bag with 3 rabbit legs. 

On another tremendous blog by Hank Shaw (http://honest-food.net/2012/12/04/hasenpfeffer-recipe-dumplings/) I rediscovered a classic German recipe:  Hasenpfeffer.  Literally, Peppered Hare.  The name is a result of the extended marinating time with many many spices.  After the marinade, the rabbit pieces are braised in the strained marinade for about 2 hours, making the meat wonderfully tender.  In Hank Shaw's blog post he paired his Hasenpfeffer with some delicious looking semolina dumplings.  Now I'm a big fan of dumplings, myself, but I decided to give my Grandfather's Spaetzle recipe a try.  Spaetzle are simply small dumplings made by passing a very loose dough through a colander over boiling water.  The resulting drops of dough are instantly turned into tasty bite sized noodles.  After a cool rinse I like to pan fry them with butter, salt, pepper, and garlic.

I decided to strip the braised meat from the bone, giving the entire dish more of a stew appearance.  And this worked, to help my wife to get past the idea that these were rabbit legs in the pot.  The meat was very tender, but didn't get that dried out texture overcooked meat can get.

After pan frying the Spaetzle, everything was served together.

The rabbit meat has now been marinated in red wine and red wine vinegar for 48 hours, then braised in that marinade for 2 hours.  The resulting gravy had a very tangy kick that wasn't unpleasant, however it wasn't quite what I was looking for in my dish. Should I ever have a couple rabbit legs laying around again, I might play with the recipe a bit to cut down on the tang in the finished product.  However the Spaetzle recipe was perfection.  My 2 year old probably ate over a cup and a half by the end of his meal.

Happy Hunting
Scott M

Holiday Gift Ideas

December 7th. 

Mathematically 18 days until Christmas.  Plenty of time. Right?  What's your calendar look like for the remainder of the month?  Work Christmas party.  Spouse's Work Christmas party.  Family coming into town early. Your leaving to be out of town for Christmas.  Now what do those 18 days look like? 

They probably look mighty thin, especially if there's an outdoorsman (or woman) on your list.  As outdoors-people go we rank among the hardest to shop for when Christmas roles around.  Why?  Not everyone is into the outdoors, so they don't have any idea of what we use or need out there in the field.  Even if they have an idea, outdoorsman are notorious for just buying what we need when we need it. 

So here's a trick:  Don't try to buy something he doesn't have.  Replace something he already uses.

Let's talk optics.

What most of us know about optics, binoculars specifically, could fit in the palm of our hand.  Hunters included in this discussion.  So let's go with a basic primer on optics and look at some options that won't break your Christmas budge and the outdoorsman in your life won't be scared to lose in the woods.

Unless you're heading out west for a Elk or Antelope hunt you really don't need a big over-powered set of binoculars.

All binoculars have two statistics that you should worry about:  Weight and Objective lens size.

Weight is easy.  Lighter is better.  If it's hanging around my neck, or weighing down my pocket, the lighter the binoculars are the more likely I am to carry them.  Save the full size binoculars for bird watching when you are heading afield with a book and a good pair of binoculars.  Look at the compact models for packing in with the rest of your hunting gear.  The typical hunter is probably carrying between 10-15lbs of gear including the layers of clothes, and whatever lands in their pockets and packs.

Objective lens size.  Okay this is honestly a tougher choice, but in my opinion, boils right down to usability.  When you see a binocular and it's called a "10x25" or "8x42" the second measurement is called the "objective lens."  The objective lens is not the lens near your eye, it's the lens that let's in light.  Therefore the bigger the objective lens the more light that enters the binoculars.  More light, more detail.  However that objective lens can contribute a lot to the overall weight of the binoculars. 

The reality for most hunters east of the Mississippi is we hunt small thick woodlots.  So in this case if you hunt in areas common to Northwest PA you simply don't need a bigger objective lens.  It's not going to help you to see through the thick brush, so unless you really like being able to pick out individual thorns on the brier bushes 50yds away, save the weight and go with a 10x25.

So before you head off to the local sporting goods store, write down these two things:
Compact binoculars, 10x25

I'll let you decide between black and camo!

For more gift ideas check out my gear article in this Sunday's Erie Times-News www.goerie.com on the NWPA Outdoors page.

Happy Hunting
Scott M