Starting the New Year off with a BANG!!
There is no better way to start the New Year than with a bang from a rifle or shotgun and knowing that you have successfully hit your target for a clean and ethical harvest. Well, maybe there are a couple of things better than that…like being with family members while it’s happening, or enjoying the fruits of your hunt on the dinner table. I’m going to include a couple of my favorite recipes within this New Year’s article just for you readers to try if you ever get the opportunity to cook Florida’s wild hogs or Florida’s migrating ducks.
Florida is being over run by wild hogs. Many farmers out there would appreciate someone thinning out the herd, as they can be very destructive to
crops. Recent developments that encroach on wild places only help insure that close encounters of the wild kind happen more frequently these days. On Hwy. 70 places like Panther Ridge’s front yards and golf courses are being destroyed by wild hogs rooting for grubs and worms and a boar hog can also be very dangerous to humans. I recently went with my son and grandson to a farm he has permission to hunt in Myakka, Florida. We actually went there just to have something to do on a quiet Sunday morning. As I was sitting waiting for game to show themselves, my son called on the two-way radio to say that there were some hogs behind me in an open field and that he and my grandson were headed my way. By the time he reached me we could see four hogs rooting up the ground about 250 yards away and we decided to put the stalk on them. We got within a comfortable shooting range and were lucky enough to harvest three big sow hogs. My grandson was so excited that you would have thought he shot them himself. I wish he were a bit bigger so he could have handled my rifle, as I would have gladly handed it to him. There is nothing in the world like the excitement on his face when he gets to go hunting with us. His 410 shotgun would not have made an ethical shot at 120 yards, which is about how close we got before the hogs saw us. After cleaning the three hogs and taking care of the harvested pork, I decided that three big hogs were too much meat for just my husband and I. I donated one whole hog to friends and they were tickled pork, I mean pink, to get a Christmas ham.
The following weekend we decided to duck hunt some of the dairy farm ponds that are on this same property in Myakka. These ponds can be found all over Florida and so can ducks of many species. Please study your regulations on ducks, as they are federally regulated. Knowing what kinds you can shoot when and how many of each species is a must. Visit MyFWC.com and read up on migratory bird regulations and know the proper licensing that is necessary to harvest ducks. Once again my husband, my son, my grandson and I were all hunting together. It really can’t get any better than that? And to make it even better we all had a successful hunt and came home two days in
a row with our limit of Blue winged Teal and Florida Mottled ducks, plenty for a great duck gumbo. The pond we hunted was big enough for four other friends to hunt the southern end while my family hunted on the northern end. We all had a great time on Sunday, as the post-shoot-bragging was a lot of fun, poking fun at each other and congratulating each other too. Pictures galore, especially of my grandson who wanted to be in them holding all the game. Watching him shoot his 410 at the ducks was enough of a Christmas gift to me. I had a friend of mine reload steel shot in 410 gauge just for him to be able to legally shoot ducks with us (yes steel shot is another requirement needed to duck hunt). He got first shot at most of the incoming ducks and Pops and Grammy followed up. He is a good hunter and he is very safe with his shotgun. His daddy makes sure he is careful and has done a good job of teaching him the safe way to handle firearms.
OK…here are a couple of recipes from “Jackie’s Kitchen”. Take a whole front shoulder of the hog and dry rub it with your favorite seasonings, i.e.: salt, pepper, Cajun shake, garlic salt, and whatever you want to add. Rub it on thick….place the shoulder on a very hot gas or charcoal grill, sear both sides not burning it, but charring it by cooking it fast. (You are not cooking it through; you are just sealing in the flavor). Take the shoulder off and wrap it very tightly in aluminum foil so nothing can leak out and place in the oven at 350 for two hours. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce, it’s always very tender, fall off the bone pork shoulder. Umm umm good.
Ducks are my favorite wild game and you can cook them many different ways. One of my favorites is to breast out the ducks, no skin, just the breast meat (two per duck). Mix orange marmalade (about four to six table spoons, depending on number of duck breasts) with bourbon of your choice (enough bourbon to make the marmalade soupy). Make enough to cover the duck breasts and soak them for an hour or two in the fridge prior to cooking. While they are soaking, slice up a green pepper into long, slender pieces, clean some scallions and cut to about four inches long, and you will need bacon and toothpicks. Take each breast and put a slice of green pepper on one side, a scallion on the other, (I also add a sliced jalapeño pepper to each side, personal preference) and wrap the entire duck breast with enough bacon to hold the green pepper and scallion and then pin with a tooth pick to hold the bacon in place. Put the breasts on the grill and once you’ve turned them a few times, brush on some of the left over marinade. Do not overcook duck, the rarer the better and more tender they are. Many people make the mistake of cooking them well done. My mouth is watering right now, so I better go thaw out some duck breasts and get busy cooking.
I hope that the start of your New Year will turn out to be as much fun as mine has. Please be more than usually safe while hunting and take a kid hunting, we need our outdoor sports to continue. Always be safe and know your regulations and have a Happy New Year.
There is no better way to start the New Year than with a bang from a rifle or shotgun and knowing that you have successfully hit your target for a clean and ethical harvest. Well, maybe there are a couple of things better than that…like being with family members while it’s happening, or enjoying the fruits of your hunt on the dinner table. I’m going to include a couple of my favorite recipes within this New Year’s article just for you readers to try if you ever get the opportunity to cook Florida’s wild hogs or Florida’s migrating ducks.
Florida is being over run by wild hogs. Many farmers out there would appreciate someone thinning out the herd, as they can be very destructive to
crops. Recent developments that encroach on wild places only help insure that close encounters of the wild kind happen more frequently these days. On Hwy. 70 places like Panther Ridge’s front yards and golf courses are being destroyed by wild hogs rooting for grubs and worms and a boar hog can also be very dangerous to humans. I recently went with my son and grandson to a farm he has permission to hunt in Myakka, Florida. We actually went there just to have something to do on a quiet Sunday morning. As I was sitting waiting for game to show themselves, my son called on the two-way radio to say that there were some hogs behind me in an open field and that he and my grandson were headed my way. By the time he reached me we could see four hogs rooting up the ground about 250 yards away and we decided to put the stalk on them. We got within a comfortable shooting range and were lucky enough to harvest three big sow hogs. My grandson was so excited that you would have thought he shot them himself. I wish he were a bit bigger so he could have handled my rifle, as I would have gladly handed it to him. There is nothing in the world like the excitement on his face when he gets to go hunting with us. His 410 shotgun would not have made an ethical shot at 120 yards, which is about how close we got before the hogs saw us. After cleaning the three hogs and taking care of the harvested pork, I decided that three big hogs were too much meat for just my husband and I. I donated one whole hog to friends and they were tickled pork, I mean pink, to get a Christmas ham.The following weekend we decided to duck hunt some of the dairy farm ponds that are on this same property in Myakka. These ponds can be found all over Florida and so can ducks of many species. Please study your regulations on ducks, as they are federally regulated. Knowing what kinds you can shoot when and how many of each species is a must. Visit MyFWC.com and read up on migratory bird regulations and know the proper licensing that is necessary to harvest ducks. Once again my husband, my son, my grandson and I were all hunting together. It really can’t get any better than that? And to make it even better we all had a successful hunt and came home two days in
a row with our limit of Blue winged Teal and Florida Mottled ducks, plenty for a great duck gumbo. The pond we hunted was big enough for four other friends to hunt the southern end while my family hunted on the northern end. We all had a great time on Sunday, as the post-shoot-bragging was a lot of fun, poking fun at each other and congratulating each other too. Pictures galore, especially of my grandson who wanted to be in them holding all the game. Watching him shoot his 410 at the ducks was enough of a Christmas gift to me. I had a friend of mine reload steel shot in 410 gauge just for him to be able to legally shoot ducks with us (yes steel shot is another requirement needed to duck hunt). He got first shot at most of the incoming ducks and Pops and Grammy followed up. He is a good hunter and he is very safe with his shotgun. His daddy makes sure he is careful and has done a good job of teaching him the safe way to handle firearms.OK…here are a couple of recipes from “Jackie’s Kitchen”. Take a whole front shoulder of the hog and dry rub it with your favorite seasonings, i.e.: salt, pepper, Cajun shake, garlic salt, and whatever you want to add. Rub it on thick….place the shoulder on a very hot gas or charcoal grill, sear both sides not burning it, but charring it by cooking it fast. (You are not cooking it through; you are just sealing in the flavor). Take the shoulder off and wrap it very tightly in aluminum foil so nothing can leak out and place in the oven at 350 for two hours. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce, it’s always very tender, fall off the bone pork shoulder. Umm umm good.
Ducks are my favorite wild game and you can cook them many different ways. One of my favorites is to breast out the ducks, no skin, just the breast meat (two per duck). Mix orange marmalade (about four to six table spoons, depending on number of duck breasts) with bourbon of your choice (enough bourbon to make the marmalade soupy). Make enough to cover the duck breasts and soak them for an hour or two in the fridge prior to cooking. While they are soaking, slice up a green pepper into long, slender pieces, clean some scallions and cut to about four inches long, and you will need bacon and toothpicks. Take each breast and put a slice of green pepper on one side, a scallion on the other, (I also add a sliced jalapeño pepper to each side, personal preference) and wrap the entire duck breast with enough bacon to hold the green pepper and scallion and then pin with a tooth pick to hold the bacon in place. Put the breasts on the grill and once you’ve turned them a few times, brush on some of the left over marinade. Do not overcook duck, the rarer the better and more tender they are. Many people make the mistake of cooking them well done. My mouth is watering right now, so I better go thaw out some duck breasts and get busy cooking.
I hope that the start of your New Year will turn out to be as much fun as mine has. Please be more than usually safe while hunting and take a kid hunting, we need our outdoor sports to continue. Always be safe and know your regulations and have a Happy New Year.
