Pheasant Hunting Heaven

This report is by my guest author and brother Mike Thomas
of Austin, Texas

 

Recently some friends of mine invited me to go on a pheasant hunt outside of Concordia, Kansas.  I have never been pheasant hunting before, so I agreed to go and try something new.  I grew up in west Texas hunting dove and quail, but I haven’t been bird hunting in at least 15 years.  I decided to meet with my brother Ed in Lampasas, TX to get some shooting lessons and tips.  After a few dozen clay birds and some instruction from Ed, I was on target and breaking clay birds with confidence.   

  Having talked to other pheasant hunters in the past, I assumed that we each might have the opportunity to get several birds a day.  I was surprised to find out on our way up to Kansas that the outfit we were hunting with did not have a set limit of pheasant you could harvest, but allowed you to shoot all the birds you could find.  Not only that, since this was a controlled shooting area and most of the birds were stocked, you could take both cocks and hens.  Another unexpected bonus was the hunt included chukar and quail.  The outfitter also supplied a field guide and dogs for each group. 

Black Pheasant

 

Here was our total take for each day.

Day 1 - 52 pheasant /chukar.

Day 2 - 40 pheasant / chukar and one quail.

As I recall, the total breakdown was around 80 pheasant and 12 chukar and 1 quail.

Our group of 4 hunters from Austin, TX (left to right in photo) included:

Rickey Hall, Richard Todd, Sonny Haro and Mike Thomas

 

 

To say that this hunt was more than I ever expected is an understatement.  This is one of the best bird hunts I have ever been on.  The owner of Kansas Creek Gamebirds, Rod Zohn, runs a first class hunting experience and he was a real pleasure to meet.  You can check out their website at www.kansascreekgamebirds.com/    All of the guides were top notch and their dogs were even more amazing. At the end of each day the guides would clean and process all birds and bag them up for you.  All this for around $320.00 per day.  (Room and board not included.)

One more thing that really made our trip outstanding was the accommodations.  Just down the road from Kansas Creek Gamebirds is a little B & B named Kansas Creek Inn.  It is a two story log home with a green metal roof and large barn out back.  When you walk through the door you will find it furnished with many quarter-sawn oak antiques and the smell of fresh cookies just out of the oven.  The 4 rooms are all cozy with patchwork quilts and comfortable beds.  There is large den in the back of the house with leather couches and a big screen TV that we watched football on each night.  Our meals were home-cooked by Betsy Keri and included pork steaks smothered in cherry sauce, steaks, twice stuffed potatoes, homemade desserts and wonderful side dishes and salads.  Rooms were around $55 dollars per night and meals were $15 per day.  (A bargain if I do say so!)  This place made an already awesome trip even more special.  You can reach the B & B at:

 Kansas Creek Inn‎
1330 Union Road
Concordia, KS 66901-8009
(785) 243-9988

My heartfelt thanks to all the guys I hunted with.  Thank you Sonny for inviting me to go on this awesome hunt. I will always remember this one!  Special thanks to Rickey and Richard for the privilege of hunting with you.  Both are good sportsmen, excellent shots and a pleasure to be around.  I hope we get to share many other days enjoying the outdoors!

Looks like a great trip to me, only problem is that I was not on it with you guys, Wild Ed

KOBO Ranch Thanksgiving Buck

 

Alden Oestreich came home to visit for Thanksgiving and got a special gift for the holiday.  Alden was deer hunting this morning on KOBO ranch just west of Lampasas, Texas when a large mature eight point showed up.   Alden proved how lethal a small fast bullet can be as his well-placed shot with a 55 grain bullet out of his 22-250 dropped the big bodied deer.  The big buck had a 24.5 inch main beam with a 20 inch outside spread.  Congrats on a nice Thanksgiving buck, Wild Ed

Make Your Own Venison Sausage

Deer Season is well under way and many of us have had our fill of chili and chicken fried venison.  One of my favorite methods of preparing the rest of my venison is as different sausages.  I have spent years searching for that just right blend of spices and cures to make the perfect sausage.  Along the way I have come up with some great products and some that were just edible.  I finally came up with a good simple sausage that works well as a fresh link, smoked link, dried links and also makes a really good Summer Sausage.  Many of my friends and family have tried this and asked for the recipe so I am taking the time to put it down for all of you. 

Sausage is a lot of work but the end product is worth it.  When you make your own, one also knows exactly what was put in the sausage.  You can remove the gristle, lymph glands and blood clots that others might not be so careful about.  The amounts of spices can be changed, for instance if you want less salt or more jalapenos, you control what goes in the sausage. The seasoning I used for thirty pounds of ground meat is listed below and worked out great. The meat was stuffed into fibrous Summer Sausage casings and/or hog gut casings to be smoked later depending on the type sausage desired. The Summer Sausage was then cooked in the oven at 275 degrees until it reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees and then allowed to cool in the fridge overnight before being wrapped to freeze. The Summer Sausage makes great snacks, sandwiches or an on-the-go meal with cheese and crackers. The same meat was used for the link sausage; I even smoked some of the links and then dried them to hard dried sausage that turned out great. For now here is the recipe for 30 pounds so just divide it down for a lesser amount of meat.

Wild Ed’s Summer and Link Sausage

20 pounds trimmed ground venison
10 pounds of ground pork butt
3 fresh garlic gloves chopped
6 fresh jalapenos chopped with seeds
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
1 ½ pound of grated Cheddar Cheese
1 cup black pepper
1 cup of kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon of meat cure (Prague Powder) optional
3 cups of cold water

Add cheese, garlic and jalapenos to ground meat and mix.

Add all other ingredients to the 3 cups of water and stir well.  Pour over the ground meat and mix well. The spices and cure need to be mixed thoughout the ground meat mixture as uniformly as possible. Let the meat rest covered with Saran Wrap in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours and then stuff in casings. Cook the Summer Sausage in an oven or smoker until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees before cooling. It is then fully cooked and does not need any more cooking to serve. Links to be smoked or cooked on the grill or smoker should just be cooked before eating. Sausage to be dried and eaten like jerky must be brought to 165 degrees in the smoker or oven while drying. I took all the temperatures with a meat thermometer probe.  I hope you enjoy the sausage as much as my friends and I have, Wild Ed

WildWoods' Thanksgiving Colors

 

 

With Thanksgiving next week we have been busy trying to find a place for all our stuff from the old house that we plan on using here in our new home.  It seems like we have moved some things three or four times before it felt like it belonged where we finally put it.  Other things that we have not used in years are going to new homes, organizations or a final resting place as we are trying to scale back in our new life here.  We hope to have the house halfway put away as our families are coming to WildWoods for Thanksgiving.  We will be having the Traditional  Turkey dinner along with Grass-Fed Lamb, which will be the main product we produce here at WildWoods.

We have truly been blessed this year as the drought has been broken, at least for a while.  We have more grass going into winter than I have seen in many years.  A lot of our trees died in the drought but there are quite a few struggling to hang on with the help of the last few rains.  The deer are doing well along with the wild turkeys and other wildlife.  Our sheep are fat and ready for winter with an ample supply of green grass, forbs and browse.  As my wife and I made our evening patrol around the place we took some pictures so each of you could see some of the beauty of the place we call WildWoods.  May you and yours have a Blessed Thanksgiving, Wild Ed

 

The Owls of WildWoods

Great Horned Owl

 

 

One of our favorite things to do since we moved out to our place in Lampasas County is to go out on the front porch before we go to bed to look at the stars and listen to the owls.  We of course know the hooting of the Great Horned Owl and the whinny of the Eastern Screech Owl.  We also hear some other night birds sounds with one particular sound we hear every night, but don't know the identity of the bird making the sounds.  We have seen Barn Owls and my brother and I even spotted a Long Eared Owl the other day.  The sound is a screech of which I am not familiar and have not been able to figure out.  It is kind of a "meeeek" screech sound and only the one call every so often.  I am wondering if it could be a Short Eared Owl but none have been spotted on our place.  Whatever it is we will just enjoy hearing the calls until we someday figure out who is making the call.  Wild Ed

Screech Owl

Barn Owl

Long Eared Owl

My Upcoming Birding Events this Winter!

This year is the last year that our daughter Phoebe will be living full-time in the home nest. She'll be off to college somewhere fabulous in the fall and I was motivated to try my best to stay home more often this year to hang around with The Pheebster. I probably should have asked HER about this, since she's leading the never-stop life of a high-school senior and is rarely at home. Nevertheless, I turned down a number of opportunities to travel and a handful of speaking gigs at festivals.

But I'm STILL hitting the road quite a bit and here are some of the upcoming what's, when's, and where's, through January 2014.

There won't be any Philly vireos present when I'm in Philly speaking to the DVOC.

DVOC Annual Banquet • Philadephia, PA • November 21, 2013
I'm the annual banquet speaker for the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC) on Thursday, November 21. This venerable Philadelphia-area bird club traces its origins back to the 1880s. Its list of previous annual banquet speakers reads like a who's who of American birding. It's an honor to give a presentation to this group. I'm giving the "Perils and Pitfalls of Birding" talk, so I hope I can get a chuckle or two from the crowd. Registration details are here.

Giant flocks of sandhill cranes will be filling the skies at Wings Over Willcox.

Wings over Willcox • Willcox, Arizona • January 15–19, 2014
I think I know why the acronym of this event is WOW. It's probably the thousands of sandhill cranes that winter in this region, plus all the waterfowl. Or maybe because, despite being held in mid-winter, Wings Over Willcox always has a bird list of about 140 species. I'm giving a talk and attending a wine dinner and I'm looking forward to helping out on a few field trips. Get WOW info here.

Limpkins are fairly easy to see at Viera Wetlands during the Space Coast Birding Festival.

Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival • Titusville, Florida • January 22–27, 2014
This down-home event along Florida's central Atlantic coast seems to grow larger every year in terms of programming offered, field trips, and number of attendees. It's become one of the must-do birding festivals because the birding is great, the vendor hall is filled to bursting, there's great seafood to be eaten, and let's face it, Florida is a fine place to be in late January if you live anywhere on the planet that still has winter. I'm not speaking at this year's event, but I'll be there manning the Bird Watcher's Digest booth and I'm a co-leader on a couple of field trips. If you've never been, perhaps this is your year: http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org/

Ibi in the sunset at Merritt Island NWR.

That's it people. I'll see you out there with the birds!

Venison Burger Done Right

 

With deer season in full swing many are processing or having a deer processed.  Lots of hunters I talk with have much of their venison ground into burger but are never really happy with the results.  The fat on deer as a whole is not a good tasting fat and there is no marbling of the meat like on beef.  Therefore unless you add a good fat to venison burger it will be dry and will not have much taste as the fat in hamburger is what makes it taste so good.  Since there is no fat in the meat to bind it together it will crumble if you try and make it into a patty and cook it. The solution to this dry tasteless burger is too easy, you just add fat.  You can have the processor add pork or beef fat to your venison burger and then use it just like ground pork or ground beef.  If you do it at home you can mix it many ways.  I try to end up with a product that is about 25 percent pork or beef fat to 75 percent venison.  I sometimes buy the cheap overly fat beef hamburger at the grocery store and mix in ground venison until it has enough fat in the mixture, this makes great burgers.  If my area grocery stores run the packer beef briskets on sale that have not been trimmed of the excess fat, I will buy one of those to grind and mix with my ground venison.  A brisket ground up with and equal amount of venison makes very good burger. I buy pork jowls or fatback to mix with my ground venison for my breakfast or link sausage recipes.  If you like the flavor of Bacon Burgers you might try my favorite way to make them.  I buy the cheap bacon ends that come in a box or a big plastic bulk package. These are the end pieces of slabs of bacon that are odd sized and cannot be sliced to go in the packages as sliced bacon.  It is just small and end pieces of actual cured bacon.  I grind it up and mix it with the ground venison until the mix fries up like you want and then it can be made into packages of formed burger patties.  The taste when done on the grill is of a great bacon burger, with a slice of your favorite cheese most will not be able to even tell that the wonderful burger they are eating is 75 percent venison.  I sometimes take the bacon burger mixture and add seasonings to make breakfast patty sausage, be sure and cut back on the salt as the cured bacon is already salted. This will make a patty sausage with a cured bacon flavor. With a little experimentation you can come up with all sorts of ways to use your venison burger.  My wife and I use the burger in mexican food, Italian food, meat loaf or any other way we would use ground meat. Just remember to add at least 25 percent fat when you grind the burger and you will have a product the whole family will enjoy.  Wild Ed

Fourteen Years Ago Today: Liam!

Fourteen years ago this morning, my son and namesake came into this world at 7:24 AM. He is William Henry Thompson IV, but we decided to call him Liam to avoid confusion. He is now and forever attached to the name Liam, and it to him. We'd never call him Bill or Billy or Henry or Hank. But we have about a billion nicknames for him: Shoom, Broski, Hotdog Brother, Li'l Buddy, Albino Spider Monkey...

In what has become a family birthday tradition, the following images and content are dedicated to Liam on his birthday. They will also embarrass him a bit I'm sure, which is just part of the reason why we do it. Julie's wonderful Liam Birthday Post is already up and working its magic.

Like his parents and sister, Liam bonds with all kinds of animals...

Soon after he was born, Liam donned his superhero cape and battled a rampaging dinosaur.

Every time we go to see the Pirates at PNC Park, the Pirate Parrot seems to seek out Liam for a photo.

Monkey see, monkey do.

A real silverback gorilla at the Columbus Zoo was completely fascinated by Liam. Likes attract.

At The Wilds, the baby rhino always walks right up to our sweet, gentle son.

But Liam's favorite animal pal is Chet Baker. They are playmates.

 Of all the people and things in the world, Liam loves his big sister Phoebe most of all. He is completely devoted to her and, to Phoebe's credit, she does not abuse this exalted status—at least not as much as she could.

 

It's hard for all of us to comprehend what life will be like when Phoebe goes off to college next fall—and it's going to be toughest on Liam. But he will make it, because he has sunshine inside of him.

A wonderful side-benefit of having a big sis is all the older chicks Liam gets to hang with. They all adore him.

 We're not sure what Liam will be when he grows up, but early predictions include artist, comedian, and rubber-faced man in a carnival sideshow. We're not sure where he gets his love of face making.

Escargot, anyone?

It's not all about the Benjamins with Liam.

Will he be a birder? Probably, but we're not forcing it.

Liam knows how to relax.

He is a deep thinker, a ponderer...

And given the chance, he is a wanderer.

We're so lucky to have you here with us, sweet boy. We can't wait to see where you'll go once you spread your wings and fly. Happy birthday, my son.