Not just for the birds

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  • Winter Chukar

    Santa brought us a new video camera but with all the snow and cold temps we had to wait for a little burn-off. We went out yesterday to try it out and see if we could find any birds. It was fun. For us.

    The recent cold snap and snow resurrects some ethical questions about when you should stay home instead of hunt. It seems to me that regardless of whether Angus and I can brave the cold, there should be a “mercy rule” for hunting upland birds when it gets below a certain temperature or wind chill, or when snow and ice vastly reduce the available cover. “Fair chase” should apply since it doesn’t seem fair, and doesn’t seem like hunting, when you can just scan for small patches of burn-off and find birds with higher-than-normal frequency. Which is what we did yesterday. Granted, we slogged through lots of snow to get to those places, so maybe that factors into fair chase. I don’t know. What do y’all think? Do you have a set rule for yourself on when you won’t hunt?

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  • Not just for the birds

    Not just for the birds

    It’s not at all “just” for the birds. It’s not “just” for any one thing.

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    It’s for Angus, whose rapturous pursuit of birds expresses the epitome of equivocal desire: his instincts draw him toward birds, but he knows I’m also interested and – because he checks on where I am, even when he’s birdy – wants to involve me in his game.

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    It’s for Leslie, who does not hunt and does not kill but is drawn by her awe of Angus’ abilities (athletic, olfactory, instinctual) and her love of connecting with landscapes unavailable any other way, despite her abhorrence of watching birds getting murdered.

    The easy part

    It’s for the getting-lostness of it, for the forgettingness of it, and what I get from that mental negative space in spectacularly positive physical space.

    It’s for putting meat in the freezer.

    It’s for what’s possible.

    It’s for dealing with unmet expectations.

    It’s for beauty.

    It’s for practicing grace in an imperfect world.

    And it’s for a lot of other stuff, good, bad, and unknown. It keeps us all going.

    We wish you peace, luck, and joy, and not just for 2015.

    Enjoy the video…

  • Landscapes

    I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show. 
    -Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)

    http://www.farnsworthmuseum.org/sites/default/files/imce/collections/Turkey%20Pond.jpg
    Andrew Wyeth, Turkey Pond, 1944, tempera on panel.

    Some of Leslie’s chukar hunting landscape photos from this fall and winter…

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    Have a wonderful holiday. Peace on Earth.

  • Chukar Al Roker

    Remember this guy?
    Remember this guy?

    Last week while searching for a recipe, I found an old crinkled recipe clipped years ago from a magazine.  The original recipe, courtesy of Al Roker, uses chicken  coated with a  pecan-cornmeal crust and then oven-fried.  Recently, we’ve thought about the strangeness of chukar hunting. Al Roker and chukar in the same sentence, now that’s strange, unless he’s an upland bird hunter.  We made his recipe last night for the first time using chukar and it ended up delicious. It’s now one of our favorite chukar recipes.

    Oven-Fried Chukar with Pecan-Cornmeal Crust

    6 chukar breast cutlets
    2  eggs
    1/4 cup milk
    1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
    1/3 cup cornmeal
    1/3 cup all-purpose flour
    1 tsp. salt
    1tsp. onion powder
    1 tsp. cayenne pepper
    1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
    2 tbsp.  butter, cut into small pieces

    Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 425F. Using heavy duty aluminum foil, line a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with sides at least 1 inch high. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking oil. Rinse the chukar under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.

    In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. In another shallow bowl, stir together the pecans, cornmeal, flour, salt, onion powder, cayenne and pepper.

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    Pecan cornmeal and egg batter oven-fried chukar

    Dip the chukar pieces into the egg mixture, and then dredge them in the pecan-cornmeal mixture. Place the chukar in the prepared baking dish.

    Dot the chukar with the butter and bake about 10-15 minutes. Turn the breast over and bake another 10 minutes until golden brown.

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    Oven-fried chukar hot out of the oven

    Chukar breasts are small so be careful not to overcook. Adjust baking time as needed. Just as in fried chicken, oven-baked chukar can be served hot, at room temperature, or cold. We like to serve ours hot with brussels sprouts and creamy garlic mashed potatoes.

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    Thank you, Angus

     

     

  • Chukar Lucky

    Chukar habitat par excellence
    Chukar habitat par excellence

    After the last couple hikes with Angus, I’m feeling pretty lucky.

    With Leslie away, it was just my best friend and me. We went to a new spot, the opposite direction from our normal compass bearing. Filtering through private land, endless rolling hills, creeks, basalt scatter, barbed wire in various states of repair, muddy tracks betraying several weight classes of vehicular passing, we reached some large parcels of BLM land. I picked a spot with some inviting chukar habitat and we set out.

    Break time
    Break time

    Within minutes, Angus pointed. One bird went up, and I managed to wing it, but I knew it would run. Angus disappeared over the ridge top. I checked where I saw the chukar hit the ground, and found just a few feathers. Five minutes later, Angus appeared with the bird.

    P1100598It went like that all day. A few singles, then a covey or two, then more singles. Angus was birdy all the time. Almost seven miles later, we made it back to the pickup. The next day, we went back to the same area, but hunted on the other side of the road. Carbon copy day. Chukar lucky.

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