Mike Gould’s Power Bar
This is the Mike Gould power bar, as described in this article by Bill Tarrant.
The Blackberry Farm Cookbook (book review 5/5*****)
Sam Beall, 2009 Clarkson Potter One reviewer said, "Farm-to-table is one of those irritating culinary trends that is hard to really stay irritated by. Fundamentally, it's just so darn right: we should be eating seasonally and locally, we should be supporting sustainable agriculture and the preservation of heirloom vegetables. The most delicious food is the stuff that's been harvested (butchered, cultivated, fished) as close as possible to the kitchen that's cooking it." I find this review troubling. Why is the idea of farm to table irritating to anyone? It makes sense. I believe, it makes sense to everyone, even vegans. This book is separated into seasons, the seasons of our life--the seasons of our food. It is about food from Knoxville, Tennessee, a bit dressed up, as the author is the son of the Ruby Tuesday's restaurant founder. Not exactly what you would call a hunter-gatherer tradition, but one he seems to now claim. Anyway, the recipes are separated into seasons, starting with summer's Blackberry Cobbler and a diatribe on smoking at the Barbie. But the first one I found interesting was infusing peaches into his BBQ sauce or blackberries. And I like the southern sweet tea infused with various things from raspberries to blue berries to strawberries, all set to cure in canning jars with the old French lids. First a discussion on smoke, which is "almost a sacrament below the Mason-Dixon Line." Cherokee fires in a pit banked by river rock topped with large joint meat and buried, to wood-fired clay ovens, brick ovens, fireplaces and smokehouses. From pig cookers welded by locals to kettle grills, the Kamado ( a clay and ceramic style tandoori cooker), to wood cookers and it goes on. And the explanation of the two kinds of Tennessee fried chicken. The Kreis's Tennessee Fire Fried Chicken is worth repeating,
Purdey versus Holland & Holland Side by Side Shotguns
Both catalogues arrived this week, one from Purdey and the other from Holland & Holland. Tell me how bad the economy really is, when you look at the price of London Best guns each year skyrocketing. The matched set of the Purdey Side By Side Game Guns going for just £129,000, just $211,126 at the time of writing. And the matched set of the Holland & Holland 'Royal" Side by Side Shotguns at £122,500, just $200,557. The photography and stories are exquisite. These are simply the Best London side by side shotguns. Of particular interest is the 150th anniversary of The Field Magazine, shotgun with is a side-by-side, round actioned 12-bore embellished with bespoke engraving with flushed pheasants on one side, a fox and hounds on the other, and a stage at the base with a salmon caught in action leaping across the trigger guard. How about a pair of those? Purdey produces 70 bespoke guns and rifles a year. It takes between 18-24 months to complete a Purdey. And the good news is that while the price has increased by 50% in the last 15 years, the dollar has risen against the pound by about the same, so the net affect is not too much greater for us Yanks, if you are looking for a matched pair of the finest side-by-sides. Or you can go the more country Squier method with a Greener or Churchill but for now I’ll stick with the Garbis. The Old Man said that if you just confined life to preparation you’d never really be disappointed when the actuality arrived.
Shot Sizes are Not the Same in the UK as the US
Many of my shooting friends, even those that are well-traveled, are surprised to learn shot shell sizes are not the same everywhere. So when you read that Lord Ripon was shooting driven pheasants with size 7 shot, it was really an American size 6 shot. This rich English tradition on even the toughest of driven birds, known for being shot well overhead, when understood in the proper pellet size, undermines a lot of American thought towards bigger shot sizes, longer shells, and more powerful shot shells. American Size English Size European Size Australian Size Pellet Diameter Inches Pellet Diameter mm Pellet Weight (grains) Lead Pellets Per Oz. Steel Pellets Per Oz. 11 12 12 .062" 1.57 .35 1250 11 11 .066" 1.68 .42 1040 10 10 10 10 .07" 1.78 .52 848 9 1/2 .075" 1.91 .63 688 9 9 9 9 .08" 2.03 .75 568 8 1/2 8 8 .085" 2.21 .97 472 8 7 8 7.5 .09" 2.31 1.29 399 7 1/2 6 1/2 7 .095" 2.41 1.46 338 7 6 7 6 .10" 2.59 1.62 291 423 6 5 6 5 .11" 2.79 1.99 218 317 5 4 5 4 .12" 3.05 2.57 168 243 4 3 4 3 .13" 3.25 3.12 132 192 3 2 3 2 .14" 3.43 3.65 106 154 2 B 2 .15" 3.81 4.38 86 125 1 BB 1 BB .16" 4.09 5.47 71 103 BB A .177" 4.50 6.25 55 72 BBB AA AA .19" 4.83 7.29 42 61 T AAA AAA .20" 5.16 36 53 F .22" 5.59 27 39 #4 Buck .24" 6.10 21 30 #3 Buck SSSG SSG .25" 6.83 19 28 #1 Buck SSG .30" 7.62 11 0 SG 00/SG .32" 8.38 9 00 .34" 8.64 8 000
Sporting Dog First Aid Kit
Out here in the Wild West, we often bird hunt hours away from the nearest veterinary clinic. Snake bites, gashes from barbed wire fences, porcupine quills in a dog's muzzle, cactus and weed seeds in ears, eyes, paws and various other places, among other injuries are all common place where we hunt. But, all owners, trainers, and dog handlers should be knowledgeable of basic first aid care for hunting dogs. We ask our dogs to hunt and work over varied terrain and conditions, in various Western and Midwestern states, therefore numerous emergency situations can be encountered. Anyone taking a dog afield should have a well-equipped first aid kit available. Do not wait until an injury occurs to gather the necessary items. I find a large tool box/brief bag will carry the most frequently used items. It should be non-locking to provide for easy access to the contents. Label the outside of the box "K-9 FIRST AID" for easy identification. I have a dog first aid kit that would impress a surgeon. Wound gel, gauze pads, bandage tape, suture kit, spare dog booties, even the superglue surgical glue and sutures. The internet is full of canine first aid kits; I suggest using a robust one as a starting point and adding anything you can think of together with the help of your veterinarian. Have emergency vet info on you, too, and if you’re traveling to a new area do a quick search of 24-hour emergency vets in that region ahead of time. If you live in snake country, find a trainer who does snake-avoidance training, and talk to your vet about vaccinations for snake venom. At a minimum, we recommend that you have the following on
Mighty-Lite Shotgun Shells Are a Thing of the Past
Gone---as are inexpensive shotgun shells in 2021 of any brand. Shotgun shells now cost triple what they did just a year ago under Trump and center fire rounds have gone from $.10 each to $1.00 a round for rifles and handguns. If you can find it, as there remains year long waits for various ammunitions due to national shortages. Our wingshooting instructor, Buz Fawcett, always recommended Estate Cartridge Company Mighty Lite loads in 3/4 oz loads for 12 gauge. We used to special order them by the pallet from the factory at near wholesale rates from Texas. They were just under $2 a box delivered in 2996-2006. But Buz said if can no longer get Estate Cartridge, which happened around 2011, try Winchester 7/8 oz load, or shells by Caladre, Fiocchi, or Buschare-Ilagre, all Italian made shells. Well the day has come and Estate Cartridge Company has been acquired by Federal and the new company is no longer making the Mighty Lite loads. And, as of 2021, all of the above cartridges sell for $10 a box, some are $16/box such as those by RST, which are made for side by side guns. Modern factory shotgun loads are often labeled in "drams equivalent" or "dr. eq." A dram of black powder is 1/16 of an ounce. Dram equivalent means the powder charge in the shell is supposed to produce the same shot velocity as the listed dram equivalent of black powder. So if the box is labeled 3 drams, that means the velocity will be the same as a black powder shell containing 3 drams of powder. In 12-gauge, 2 1/2 dr. eq. s is a very light or low recoil load, 3 is typical for
Snake Breaking
Bird dogs are usually interested in chasing anything that moves, which can include rattlesnakes. The first sequence shows a dog who hears, smells, sees, and then tries to chase a rattlesnake which has been defanged for use in this specialized training. The dog suffered no pain, as there were no fangs in the snake and, after being bit, he went right back to trying to chase it again, so the bite itself is not a future deterrent. The second sequence shows a dog being trained to avoid snakes. The tape flags mark an e-collar around the dog's neck, as they train multiple dogs at the same time during these sessions. The dog is corrected when he clearly hears, smells and sees the snake. Usually this process takes just 1-2 corrections and they won't even look at a snake again (and will avoid one if they hear or smell it), as shown in the third photo where the handler is trying to get this Brittany to walk near the snake, but he wants nothing to do with it.
Favorite Books about Upland Hunting and Dog Training
Being a voracious reader, I am often asked about my favorite books for upland bird hunters. All books by Jim Fergus, such as A Hunter’s Road and A Sporting Road, are among my chief favorites. And, I enjoy reading Mike Gould again and again, especially Plateaus of Destiny. But, I have to confess they all feature Brittanys, so that may be part of the allure for me. Gould's Labrador Shooting Dog (it features pointing labs, but this training method works for all pointing dogs and is the method I follow, having studied under Gary Ruppel. And Bob Wehle’s Wing and Shot features the more traditional methods and is well written. If you had to stop with just these few, you really wouldn't need any more to become fully educated on pointing dog training, especially for Gary Ruppel’s natural method of dog training, which is not focused on the electric collar and force breaking methods. The others mentioned above will show you what you can accomplish with this training method. But if you will not be satisfied knowing that there are so many more books out there to read, one could move on to all of the books written by the late, great Bill Tarrant would be next to add. Bill was a gentle soul, a voracious writer and focused heavily on learning from and writing about professional trainers. He praised most, both in his writings and in his conversations with me, Mike Gould and (his protégé at the time) Gary Ruppel, for the “new school” of professionals. Some of Bill's books are more how-to, others are more interviews, and some are fictional. The titles tell you which way they go, there are about 8-10 of them all together. Then you could add one more book directed at Brittany lovers, which features a very natural method but a bit more directed to
Paper Shells
Most think that paper was the original casing material to be used in shotshell making, but this is not the case. Paper came as a close second, making it onto the scene in the 1870. Paper shells were preceded by brass shells, which would last forever, but were difficult to machine and expensive to manufacture, even back then. Paper hulls are wound into tubes, impregnated with wax. The center fire mechanism was evolved from the pinfire mechanism by a Frenchman. Most agree that paper shells shoot "softer" (with less felt recoil) than their plastic brothers. They even smell better, which is a tribute to the slightly different powder used by most manufacturers and they don't litter plastic wads everywhere. The only downside, which is a serious one, is that paper shells are waxed but not waterproof, which can create swelling and safety issues, and have a short reloading life. You still find some shooters who use paper constructed shot shells, but numbers are dwindling, due to safety concerns, great costs of finding these shells, and rapidly decreasing availability. Most buy them for their chambering sizes, which are often still for the shorter British 2" or 2 1/2" chambers, instead of the modern 2 3/4". Chamber sizes is another debate, but just for fun, measure one of your American shells, it's 2 1/2", as the 2 and 3/4 size is measured before the shell is crimped, as is true with all shells. Check your manufacturer's instructions before using any shells in a shotgun, as too big or too small of chamber size shells can pose a serious safety issue.