March 2008 NewsletterJim Casada
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www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com Musings on March MadnessMy how the month of March has changed in the course of my lifetime! It has always been a time of eager anticipation, but the nature of those longing looks towards the near future has changed appreciably over the years. When I was a boy and young man, my longings and desire to shake off the last vestiges of cabin fever focused on fishing. Hunting season had closed, but the first Saturday in April, which was opening day for trout season in the North Carolina high country I called home, lay not far distant. Better still, we actually got two opening days. That for state-maintained waters came first, then on April 15 the season in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened. The first opener would mean fishing one of several creeks lying in the Nantahala National Forest somewhere around my home town, while the second meant the joys of a weekend backpacking trip to the headwaters of Deep Creek, which I have always called my home water. Sometimes the weather was flat-out miserable. I remember blowing snow, a skiff of ice in the camp water bucket, hard frost, and water so cold (we always waded wet, since I didn’t even know what waders were at the time) you could stand no more than a half hour before taking a break. Nonetheless, opening day was always an occasion of joy which fully matched the expectation leading up to it. Nowadays, although I’ve by no means forgotten my mountain roots or love for the long rod, whistling line, and feather-decorated frauds used to trick trout, turkey hunting takes precedence. Indeed, living in the South, I often have an opportunity to deal with America’s big-game bird well before the arrival of All Fool’s Day. This year, for example, I already have a nice Osceola under my belt, thanks to a delightful trip to south Florida with Burt Carey, the Editor of the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Turkey Call magazine, and two of the NWTF crew who film for the “Turkey Call” television show. Somewhere down the road I’ll likely have my fifteen seconds of television fame (and that’s about how long the cameraman was on the gobbler before I shot), and rest assured I’m duly proud of the bird. The same is true for any gobbler fairly called and cleanly killed, but I have to admit my bird, even though it had spurs measuring just a tad over an inch, paled by comparison with the one Burt Carey killed. It was a genuine golly-whomper of a gobbler, with hooks measuring not much shy of an inch and three-quarters, and a weight just shy of 21 pounds (huge for an Osceola). Fortunately, for all that late March and all of April now mean turkey hunting for me, I still have the occasional opportunity to enjoy turkeys and trout in the same day. Such will be the case this year. My elderly father, who retains plenty of mental acuity but has an increasingly frail 98-year-old body, really needs someone to stay with him most of the time. Accordingly, after a winter stint by my sister, my brother and me will share duties during the coming months. Yet rest assured I’ll slip away before dawn on some mornings, climb a high ridge, and listen for an old monarch of the forest to declare his dominion to all within earshot. Then, once the vocal period of morning has come and gone, I’ll drop off the ridge, exchange my gun for a fly rod and my turkey hunting vest for a fly fishing one, and try to creel a limit of trout. Throw in the opportunity, upon my return home, to discuss the day’s outing with Dad and maybe hear him reminisce of hunting and fishing days the better part of a century past, and it all adds up to the makings of a mighty fine day. Meanwhile though, it is necessary to muddle through March, and here’s a loosely constructed recipe for how to go about that daunting task. For starters, if you hunt turkeys or fish for most anything, get out your gear. A simple piddling session—organizing a turkey vest, sharpening hooks, oiling reels, cleaning guns, practicing turkey calling, making sure there’s not some item of gear you need, and similar tasks—can be mighty satisfying. The same holds true, and doubly so, for those magic days March invariably manages to blend in with cold rains and late winter misery. When the weather is warm and already carries hints of spring in forms such as budding forsythia and jonquils, swelling blooms on redbuds and dogwood blooms showing hints of what is to come, get out of doors. Take a hike, pattern your shotgun, listen for turkeys gobbling at daylight, scout the area where you will hunt, dig in your garden, or just wander full of wonder. Incidentally, as an aside, since I just mentioned dogwood buds, I’ve always heard that spawning crappie time is at its prime when those buds reach the size of a squirrel’s ear. Getting a squirrel to hold still so you can put a bud up against his ear for measurement purposes is your problem. Just today, as I try to shake off the miseries of a recurrent sinus infection which is doubtless complicated by late winter doldrums, I got outside for an hour or so and just plundered around in the garden and yard. Getting close to the good earth, even in the simplest of fashions, is a restorative. Pretty soon I’ll run the tiller, get dahlia and gladiola bulbs in the ground (I piddle with both in a fairly big way), and make the first plantings in the spring garden. Meanwhile, there are a few further things to keep me occupied while I wait for trout and turkey time to arrive in the full flower of spring’s time of greening up. This is a great time of year for reading, and of late I’ve indulged in three or four books at once. That’s often my wont. One is my annual re-reading of Robert Ruark’s The Old Man and the Boy, and as ever there’s inspiration and enjoyment in those timeless tales. Then I’ve renewed an old acquaintance with some of the wonderful tales spun by John Taintor Foote. America may never have produced a finer writer on dogs and dog stories, but he wrote some stellar fishing tales as well. Then I’m deep into one of Stephen Hunter’s early Bob Lee Swagger books, Point of Impact. Hunter knows guns and shooting, and his earlier stuff is first-rate, although more recently he has exhibited some of the same tendency to sacrifice superb writing for shekels—the same thing has happened to Clive Cussler, James Patterson, John Grisham, and others. Finally, I’m enjoying a return session with a classic dealing with my native turf, Jim Gasque’s Hunting and Fishing in the Great Smokies. It was Gasque, by the way, who again directed my footsteps to John Taintor Foote. He mentions, albeit only in passing, the fact that Foote once fished the fabled waters of Hazel Creek. Since I’m currently waist-deep in the labor of completing a book on fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (if you would like to be notified when the book appears, which will hopefully be in the first half of 2009, the 75th anniversary of the Park, drop me an e-mail), mention of Foote in connection with one of the streams I’m covering caught my fancy. Along with reading, which I must admit is a year around pleasure for me, one other factor looms large in March. That is food. It’s time to clean out the freezer of anything pre-dating this fall and winter. Venison sausage, venison meatballs with red currant sauce, and quail have been on the menu of late. They were joined by nicely fried turkey tenders from the breast of my Florida bird, a hearty venison and vegetable soup, and more. Some of the leftover rice which accompanied the meal of quail went into a fine pudding laced with raisins, thereby catering to my sweet tooth, and the good lady who is my wife has also favored me with some dumplings. If there’s finer soul food for the hunter than a mess of squirrel and dumplings, I’ve yet to discover it. As usual, I’ll conclude with a few recipes and a reminder that they are available in one or another of the many cookbooks Ann and I have written, and they can be ordered through this website. Eat hearty, dream of the good days to come, and rest assured that turkeys and trout are among the finest of all spring tonics. TURKEY PARMESAN QUESADILLAS4 flour tortillas Lightly coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place two tortillas on cookie sheet. Spoon two tablespoons of the marinara sauce on each tortilla. Top with slivered turkey. Sprinkle ¼ cup of the mozzarella and ¼ cup of the Parmesan cheese on each tortilla. Top with two remain tortillas. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until crisp. Cut into wedges and serve immediately. QUAIL WITH CURRANT SAUCE½ stick butter Melt butter in heavy skillet. Brown quail slowly. Remove quail. Add currant jelly and stir well while jelly melts. Season with salt. Return birds to pan and baste with sauce. Cover and simmer until quail are tender. Stir brandy into sauce until just heated, then serve immediately. CREAMED VENISON1 (10 ½-ounce) can
cream of mushroom soup Place all soups and water in a Dutch oven; mix well. Stir in venison chunks. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1-2 hours, until tender. Serve over rice. Thank you for subscribing to the
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