We're Off to See the Wizard!

I'm headed to Kansas with bird dogs in tote...16 to be exact! I leave you with some of my favorite photos from the past! I will report on the haps and mishaps from the uplands of Kansas when I return! Hope the weather warms up just a bit! Until then...

Black Friday Nemesis OR Cantankerous Phookars!

Chukars are my nemesis! They're certainly not a gentleman's bird by any standards. They run up hill just to turn around and jet right back to where you just came from. About the time you think you've got them figured out...they embarrass you again and again. Chukars are bird I love to hate! And the dogs...God's country, but Hell on their feet! Nothing quite like setter feathers in the wind on the edge of Idaho rim rock country!

Black Friday was spent in Sun Valley with my brothers, Jake and Andy, and our combined 4 bird dogs. We found plenty of birds to embarrass us all day long...but, it was worth every memory! The older I get, the more important photographs of the days events become. The day was exactly what everyone should experience in their life time...and we had birds all around us with 8 coveys found by the dogs. We even encountered huns where we expected chukars. When we returned to the truck, the 7 of us were worn out and ready for some good tacos!

Walter my friend...these photos are dedicated to you!

Julian...can't wait to walk in Hemingway's country with you!

Roadside Revelations

Roadside Revelations is a term coined by my younger brother Andy...meaning that good upland bird habitat that might have been over looked is found by birds being sighted near a road. Today...we found birds in a deserted area cause there were fresh tracts in the snow on an old logging road. Andy and I decided to call the new grouse covert appropriately Roadside Revelation.

It was a beautiful day and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as did Andy and I. Gretchen made a great find, Andy made a phenomenal shot through the trees, and Ellie made an awesome retrieve. What a glorious day indeed!

We're heading into Hemingway's Sun Valley country to chase chukars...

Happy Thanksgiving to all...

Jambalaya Rebuttal

Both of the above photographs are from my friend Nancy Whitehead...Sporting dog photographer extraordinaire

Shawn-It’s time you stopped cooking minute rice out of a box, brother. Here’s the real deal and it takes the same time as your hamburger helper version (under 20 minutes, not including the making of homemade stock which is a project for Sunday afternoons and can be frozen into smaller cartons for defrosting when you need it). - Mark Thompson



Quail Jambalaya
• 12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
• As many quail as you can shoot in a day (3-6 works nicely, but this is very flexible), breast meat and any meat you can cut from the legs, diced
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, recipe follows
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 3/4 cup rice (we like Koda Farms rice, available from Japanese grocers, it’s the best rice in the world)
• 3 cups chicken stock (yes, you can used broth from a box if you don’t have time to make your own, but making your own provides a noble end to what is otherwise thrown away game bird legs and carcasses)
• 5 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced
• Salt and pepper
In a bowl combine shrimp, quail and Creole seasoning, and work in seasoning well. In a large saucepan heat oil over high heat with onion, pepper and celery, 3 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and hot sauces. Stir in rice and slowly add broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. When rice is just tender add shrimp and quail mixture and sausage. Cook until meat is done, about 10 minutes more. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.
Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):
• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Yield: 2/3 cup (put in spice jars and keep it handy, as it is good on everything.) Bam!
Stock (from gamebirds)
• 1-2 pheasant carcasses (more if smaller birds such as quail), including necks and backs, unused legs, etc. (These carcasses can be in separate pieces and can be frozen in freezer bags for when you have time to make the stock. I keep a large bag of these “parts for stock” in the freezer in the garage.)
• 1 large onion, roughly cut into large chunks
• 4 carrots, roughly cut into large chunks
• 4 ribs celery, roughly cut into large chunks
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 to 10 peppercorns
• 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 gallons cold water
Place carcasses, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Set opened steamer basket directly on ingredients in pot and pour over water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 3 to 8 hours.
Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids. Cool immediately in large cooler of ice or a sink full of ice water to below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Prior to use, bring to boil for 2 minutes. Use as a base for soups and sauces.

Charamba

Charamba is a traditional Portuguese dance from the XIXth century...it is an elegant, graceful dance, and it reminds me of pointing dogs and birds...of course, birds being quail. Quail in this case are of the scaled variety.

Today, I fixed the birds from Thursday one of my favorite ways...and yes, it's from a box! I usually leave the birds undrawn and in full feathers in the fridge for several days before I prepare them for the table. Zatarain's has several choices, but my favorite is the chicken creole. I follow the recipe on the back but add a can of Rotel's (Original) instead of the diced tomatoes. The Rotel's gives it a little extra spice to it. I also add my favorite sausage and shrimp to the mix. Combine it with your favorite side dish and beverage!

Bon appétit!

Bird Dogs & Optimism

Have you ever noticed that bird dogs like their upland addict counterparts are an optimistic lot? We continue to trudge on & on in order to discover birds on the next hill & dale...or over on the cholla flats F-I-V-E miles from where you are currently standing. Tongue's tough like boot leather, stuck to roof of our craw...but we do it, cause we know there will be birds and an explosion of feathers at the proverbial end. Of course, only after a heart-stopping-stylish-steal-your-breath-away point!

Today was one such day! Mark Kastler and I headed out early this morning to find some Colorado scaled quail with our optimistic partners eagerly in tote. We, optimistically, walked the first 4 hours in a brisk Colorado breeze leaning forward...onward we trudge, but no birds! Finally, after what seemed like the 11th hour of wondering if there were even a scaled quail to be found, Mark's Brittany, Ranger, slammed into a point...just about tilted over! We Found birds by golly ...knew that we would being the optimists that we are! In fact, we spent the magic hours mesmerized by the dog work and plenty of birds!

The dogs are what keep me going...suspicious, optimistic, trusting, loyal, feisty, & loving. What more could a person ask for in companionship? Give me a bird dog any day of the week!

"Invictus" by William E. Henley

I was reminded today of my favorite poem by William E. Henley. The words to this poem ring true. Unconquerable! We are the masters of our own destiny...even in leans times! Thank you for reminding me!







Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903