2011 – Sporting Road

How to Fireproof your Christmas Tree

Adapted from an Eastman Chemical Company employee newsletter, December, 1996 Choose a fresh tree -- find a “bad” spot on the tree and bend a branch. It shouldn’t snap; if so, find another one. Ideally, you should be buying one at least 10 days before Christmas. Make a fresh cut 1” above the bottom of the trunk Immediately after you make your fresh cut, mix up the following ingredients in a 2 gallon bucket filled almost to the top with HOT water to make your home made preservative: 2 cups of Karo syrup 2 ounces of liquid chlorine bleach 2 pinches of Epsom salt 1/2 teaspoon Boraxo 1 teaspoon of chelated iron (pronounced “keylated” and found in the garden section) All of these ingredients should be found in either a grocery store or Wal-Mart. Stir the ingredients thoroughly in the bucket, then immediately stand the trunk of the tree in this solution. Leave the tree in the bucket until you are ready to decorate inside. When the tree goes indoors, stand the trunk in the tree stand and decorate as you always do. Then get the bucket filled with your ingredients, draw off the mixture from the bucket and fill the tree stand right up to the top. How does it work? The Karo syrup provides the sugar; it is only in the presence of sugar that tremendous amounts of water will be taken up by the exposed tissue at the base of the tree trunk. Without the sugar, only the smallest bit of water will be absorbed. However, in the presence of the sugar, you can expect more than one and a half gallons of the water to be absorbed by the tree during

By Sporting Road|December 22nd, 2011|Categories: Uncategorized|Comments Off

Grouse Nuggets and Deep-Fried Pheasant with Chips
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Grouse Nuggets and Deep-Fried Pheasant with Chips

A recent issue of Sporting Times, which is published in the UK, reports on a Norfolk fish and chip shop which is thought to have become the first in England to include deep-fried pheasant on its menu. French’s Fish & Chips in Wells-next-the-Sea is offering pheasant breast coated in breadcrumbs with chips for £5 per portion. But this is hardly newsworthy in our minds, as we have been featuring grouse and pheasant in the same style for over a decade at the Chateau, which we dubbed "Grouse MacNuggets" and are served with honey, in the same style as nuggets of fame under the golden arches. It has been a huge hit with children and those new to game, together with dyed in the wool shooters. It's tough to beat really. We serve ours with rice, rather than chips. Fried, fried, fried can be a bit much, when taken all at the same time.

By Sporting Road|December 11th, 2011|Categories: Recipes, Wingshooting|Comments Off

Hunting by Ear

Here's a link to Hunting by Ear. It's an old sound recording done in England of hunting sounds, mostly those of the hunting horn. While the signals vary from hunt to hunt, it's entertaining to listen to these old recordings. http://www.btinternet.com/~countryside.webservice/horn.htm

By Sporting Road|December 11th, 2011|Categories: Foxhunting|Comments Off

Driving Caps

If anyone knows what happened to Harrison Hillhouse please contact me at sportingroad@gmail.com. I'd like to order another driving cap like the one shown below. These caps are the best! The label says Paris Edinborough, New York, London, but I haven't been able to find them anywhere since I picked up mine in Paris more than a dozen years ago. If you see one for sale, please drop me a line.

By Sporting Road|December 1st, 2011|Categories: Wingshooting|Comments Off

Join Our Fishing Site for Rim Chung’s Method of Nymph Fishing

We hope you'll join us over at http://oneflyfisherman.com/ for a look into Rim Chung's world of nymph fishing. This will be the exclusive site for postings about his fishing methods and upcoming book. Tight lines... Latest Post The Best to Fish with a Fly “The best way to fish with a fly would be to drop the fly into the river and the fish would eat it. However, there are two problems with this technique—one theoretical, the other practical. The theoretical problem is how would we know when the fish ate it and how would we know which fish. The practical problem is that there is no way to retrieve the fish. Therefore, we must use line.” –Rim Chung Rim Chung’s RS2 fly is now or has been sold throughout the United States by most of the major commercial fly companies such as Orvis, Umpqua, L.L. Bean, Dan Bailey’s, and many others. Yet, Rim Chung remains largely an unknown. He has never promoted himself, his fly, or his method of fly fishing. Rim Chung has no commercial interest in fly fishing, he is not a guide, nor has ever sold his fly, nor has he ever sought or been offered compensation for the flattery of the copies of his flies, which are now widely distributed. The purpose of this site is not commercial and the upcoming book about him is simply a tribute to his legendary success in fly fishing with the nymph–simply ideas which I hope you might discover as useful as I have.

By Sporting Road|November 30th, 2011|Categories: Fishing, Rim Chung|Comments Off

Not all Chickens are Alike!

In France and most of Europe, poussin are very popular and have been regularly available since the domesticated wild red jungle fowl. Poussin is the first stage of a chicken’s life (think veal). Next is the poulet. Then, mature females or hens are poules, and the mature males are coqs. Typically, a European goes to market with a specific type of chicken in mind depending upon the recipe. For instance, cooking an old rooster in wine for a long time, coq au vin. Poule au pot, hen in the pot, requires a mature female to mature in the broth and vegetables. Here the coq’s pronounced flavor would be a bit overwhelming. In America, a capon is a reasonable substitute. A capon is gelded male fed milk until 6 months. The flesh is very white and, in France, the capon is traditionally served at Christmas. For everyday roasting or other dry cooking, get a poulet, or pullet, for a bird that will be juicy and tender. A poussin is the most tender, as they are only a month old and purely grain fed. In the United States, fryers are birds of either sex up to 3 ½ pounds, then come roasters up to 5 pounds, and capons which range from 6-10 pounds. Poussin can be ordered in the US from D’Artagnans. I encourage you to buy your chickens whole, rather than in parts (as it is generally far less expensive and you'll be rewarded with all those sauce-building pieces such as the wing tips, back neck and giblets. It's easy to learn how to spatchcock a chicken, all you need are kitchen shears and a sharp knife. We through any extra meat such as the wing tips and back

By Sporting Road|November 27th, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Fur and Feather, Recipes|Comments Off

The Sportsman’s Guide to Shopping

Once upon a time, in addition to having a gunmaker and fly tire, gentleman would have a boot maker, glove maker, hat maker, a shirt, maker, maker of walking sticks, and umbrellas, possibly even a coach builder, and naturally a tailor. In London: Farlows, fishing and shooting, www.farlows.co.uk Lock & Co. Hatters, bespoke hats and hunt caps, www.lockhatters.co.uk John Lobb, Country boots and riding boots, www.johnlobbltd.co.uk Henry Maxwell, hunting, polo and field boots www.henrymaxwell.com Bernard Weatherhill Ltd., coats, vests and breeches, www.bernardweatherill.com H. Huntsman & Sons, riding habits, scarlet coats, evening coats, suits www.h-huntsman.com Holland & Holland, shotguns and sporting arms, www.hollandandholland.com James Purdey & Sons, gunmaker, www.purdey.com Boss & Co Ltd., gunmaker, www.bossguns.co.uk

By Sporting Road|November 26th, 2011|Categories: Fishing, Foxhunting, Wingshooting|Comments Off

Light Weight Fly Fishing Rods

Please sign up here for notices about the new site I am launching on Rim Chung’s One Fly methods. I have been asked “What rod is Mr. Chung’s current favorite?,” on this blog. This will be the subject of a soon-to-be released article and a chapter in the book that I am in the works of publishing about his fishing methods. The short answers are that a Sage TZX 0710- #0 Line and the Sage LL 2-weight in 7’9”, are Rim Chung’s current all-time favorites. He also fancies several of his Winston rods and depending on when you ask him he often responds that the Winston Boron IIX 8'6", 3 weight is his all time favorite rod. My all time favorite is a Winston WT 8', 3-piece, 3-weight rod, and I exclusively fish Rim Chung's methods of nymph fishing. Another student of his prefers the Winston Boron III LS ; 3 WT 8’6", so it may be whatever you get used to becomes your favorite. Asking Rim which is his favorite rod used to be an easy question for him to answer, but now the usual response is something along the lines of "Well, that is a lot like asking a man about his favorite woman when he has the pleasure of so many to choose from in his lifetime. It becomes hard to compare one to the other. One might be in love with each one for what it represents and offers, without comparison to the others." I’ll attempt to let you in on an advance glimpse behind the invisible veil to catching more fish with his ultra-light weight fly fishing methods here. Mr. Chung has been fly fishing since the glass and bamboo rod era, when they were the only choices as anglers. Many times

By Sporting Road|November 24th, 2011|Categories: Fishing, Rim Chung, RS2|Comments Off

Hanging Game Birds – How to Hang a Pheasant – Resting Game
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Hanging Game Birds – How to Hang a Pheasant – Resting Game

Gaminess is a level of intensity, from the feed and wildness of game being pursued by predators instead of being confined, that can be raised or lowered in cooking. There is discussion among game aficionados that focus on how long game birds should be hunt or left to relax before being sufficiently tenderized. Temperature is critical and it is best to hang game where the temperature does not fluctuate such as in a cold room, with a reasonable movement of air, away from flies. Pigeons, ducks, and snipe do not seem to benefit from hanging. Being raised in America, I have to confess that I cringed a bit when I initially encountered the way that they hung game birds for aging in France. Hanging pheasants and grouse in the feathers for days (or even a week or two) didn’t seem to comply with our modern standards of food hygiene and with bacterial contamination being nearly a daily feature in our newspapers even from FDA approved facilities. Oh I know that old books go on about sublime flavor “high game.” But the French have it right and the rest of Europe and England nearly always follow this method as well. While hanging, the natural enzymes begin to act on the fibers of the muscle meat, making them more relaxed and tender. When you think about it, it makes sense. Try eating a cow (or any big game animal) the following day after it is harvested—it’s nearly inedible, tough and chewy. The carcass is hard and stiff, if you try to cut the meat at this point in time. But even a few days of dry-aging it, allows the rigamortis which sets in immediately after killing the

By Sporting Road|November 22nd, 2011|Categories: Cuisine, Fur and Feather, Wingshooting|Comments Off

Commercial Fly Tying
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Commercial Fly Tying

I recently found my old letter from 1984 from Bryan Peterson of Western States Fly Tying, Custom and Commercial, from Littleton, Colorado promising me a job commercial fly tying at $2.75 per dozen plus a bonus at the end of summer. He illustrated that at 40 dozen per week, I'd make $440.00 per month or at $20 dozen per week I could make half of that, which was a fortune for a fourteen year old boy. I met Mr. Peterson while he was doing our deck and fencing, another business of his, but he said fly tying was his real passion and he had many teenagers, retirees, and prisoners working for his company. He taught me to tie Adams flies for a summer. I remember him giving me a Model A vise and all the requisite equipment to tie size 14 Adams, together with many hours of lessons. I tied my heart out for a week with the 100 hooks he gave me. He promptly came over to inspect my progress. "Those look like a great start," he said, as he pointed out the too thick hackling and too thin hackling, too short tails, too long tails, too fat bodies and too thin bodies. He mused about the cement in the eyes and other comments designed to improve my tying, as he threw them all in the trash. He said, "Here's another box of 100 hooks, call me when you are done." I said, "Wait what about my money?" He said, "Oh, I could never sell those, but call me when you are done with these, you are getting there." The same story repeated on the next 100. By the third week, I was done with my

By Sporting Road|November 13th, 2011|Categories: Fly Tying|Comments Off

Yearly Archives: 2011