GROUSERS: formerly Five Smart Guys Who Hunt and Their Generally Smarter Companions: Now that deer hunting is over . . .

Friday, December 18, 2009

Now that deer hunting is over . . .

time to move on to ice fishing.

Ice fishing. Not for sissies.

8 comments:

Yeoman said...: Fishing!

What the heck, hasn't anyone noticed that waterfowl is still on? There will be no fishing until hunting has concluded on January 17.

Geez.

On that topic, I'm requesting a Non Toxic ammo survey. What's working? What isn't? Does anything compete with steel, price wise?

Actually had luck with steel yesterday, and with 2 2/3" from my backup beater old Winchester auto, I'm embarrased to admit (after I swtiched to that 12 gauge when it became apparent the 10 gauge I'd brought for geese was not going to get anything).; Sun Dec 20, 05:45:00 PM 2009
Jim Tantillo said...: some of us don't eat "waterfowl" anymore because they apparently have mercury in them. right Cagey?

heh heh

on the non-toxic front, I am slowly making the shift from the original Heavi-Shot to Kent Fast Steel. Seems to work well for me, but I'm no waterfowler.

Deer season for MZ is still on for another day or two. Went out with the Enfield musketoon this morning for a couple of hours. Tracks, beds, no deer though. Nice snowy mornng.; Mon Dec 21, 09:51:00 AM 2009
Yeoman said...: Enfield musketoon?

Tell me more.

I've never hunted with a muzzleloader, although I've been tempted to try to take an additional antelope with a Lyman plains flintlock, just so I can see, sort of, what it was like back in the day.

As for mercury (or here, selenium), in waterfowl, I'd have to be shooting a lot more of them than I am, I'm afraid, to worry much.; Mon Dec 21, 08:34:00 PM 2009
Jim Tantillo said...: there's a picture of an Enfield musketoon on wiki, also an article. it's a Civil War gun.

on the mercury issue, the state of New York now lumps mergansers and other "trash" waterfowl in the generic category of "ducks," and then advises waterfowlers not to eat too much "duck" for fear of getting poisoned.

when you read the fine print, however, it advises (a) that mercury as a problem is more prevalent in the fish-eaters and (b) that the mercury and other residues deposit mainly in the fat.

so I take it one shouldn't roast up whole mergansers in the skin twice a week.

But if you're, shall we say, "risk averse," you will of course want to stay out of your duck blind all season.

;-); Mon Dec 21, 09:20:00 PM 2009
KGT (aka Cagey) said...: We have nearly enough ice at the north end of Cayuga lake to ice fish as of today... late season waterfowl opener looks pretty hopeless in Canogaland -- unless you like field hunting.

And, according to the cooker of all that is game and good and her professional wisdom, The NYS Department of Health recommends
that:
• You eat no mergansers.
• You remove all fat and skin from waterfowl before cooking.
• You discard stuffing after cooking waterfowl.
• You eat no more than two waterfowl per month.

Period. NO MERGANSERS. Two (2)of anything else. According to the cooker. See her blogpost here: http://senecawildharvest.blogspot.com/2009/10/waterfowl-season-opened-saturday.html

So much for the "skewing by merganser/trash duck" argument. Makes it hard to justify 100 + bird seasons and the dedication required- also makes it hard on a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

Now, she (the cooker)did say bring on the venison, so I have been engaging in risky behaviors, climbing high into the tree tops to sluice unsuspecting bambis and bambos (as opposed to risk averse wusses who are afraid of heights and shoot wildlife in their backyard from windows). ;0

Finally overcame the muzzleloader blues (what a bunch of fiddle-fvcking around)and scored deer number four for the season. More on that on a post real soon.

Bradley Smoker just came for Christmas... if I want to eat smoked goose for the rest of the year until next waterfowl season, I need to kill 2 for every month until September 2010...that's 16 or 18 depending how you count. Doable.

Keep the Waterfowling stories coming Yeoman!; Mon Dec 21, 10:37:00 PM 2009
Yeoman said...: Mergansers? I thought we avoided them simply because they taste gross.

Jim, I know what a musketoon is (although my post sure wasn't clear about it), I'm just surprised by your eccentric choice! Springfield musketoons were actually fairly unpopular with mounted troops in their day as they found the recoil abusive, or at least they found it abuse after the Hall.; Mon Dec 21, 10:55:00 PM 2009
Jim Tantillo said...: "• You eat no more than two waterfowl per month."

I think that's excessively risk-averse, particularly when I am not at all certain that the "NYS Department of Health" knows the difference between a merganser and a mallard. I think that's just crazy, especially if you breast out your ducks.

but then again, some of us are dying of cholesterol-related heart disease.; Mon Dec 21, 11:22:00 PM 2009
Jim Tantillo said...: "Jim, I know what a musketoon is (although my post sure wasn't clear about it), I'm just surprised by your eccentric choice!"

Eccentric is my middle name. In "On Liberty," John Stuart Mill defends my right to be eccentric.

"That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time," says Mill.

You can look it up. Plus I bet Mill ate duck all the time.

;-)

http://www.utilitarianism.com/ol/three.html

ps. the recoil on the Enfield is not so bad. I'm shooting 42.5 grains of 3f with a 510 grain minie ball.; Mon Dec 21, 11:28:00 PM 2009