From The Wild episodes are planned out quite a few months ahead of time, and on the roster for season 3 is me going into my family’s ‘moose camp’. I’ve actually never been with tag in hand, as they always call bulls during rut, and I’ve always been chasing calves. The older I get, the more I want to participate, at least … Read More
FROM THE WILD – S1E10 – KINDERGARTEN
Apologies for the cliff hanger in S1E9 – wasn’t the plan. Just so happened that when this journey hit the edit desk it was far too long for a single episode, so S1E10 resolves that piece for you, but we’re then thrown into a whole new mess. We’ve had a lot of feedback on S1E9’s cinematography [positive feedback, thank you], … Read More
FROM THE WILD – S1E9 – THE LAST TEN YARDS
Some of my earliest memories as a kid are connected to a white, 100+ year-old house with a huge multi-burner wood stove in it, and the smell of grassland sages. My dad would take my brother and I there a few times a year, mostly chasing waterfowl, the odd grouse, and later deer. They’ve been going down there for 40 … Read More
FROM THE WILD – S1E8 – FOUR YEARS
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. This is unquestionably the longest hunt I’ve ever been involved with. This one’s the conclusion to S1E8, the last of the unplanned multi-part episodes from season one. I’m not sure the story line could better put into question the issue of bow hunting vs rifle hunting, at least for us. It’s a … Read More
FROM THE WILD – S1E7 – THE THIRD QUARTER
When I started cutting this episode, I looked at the date of the footage and thought “that can’t be right”. The opening sequence was shot on September 23rd. The footage of us skinning the black bear from S1E6 also reads September 23rd. We pretty much went to bed at 3:30am on Sep 23, got up in the morning, shot the … Read More
Letter to The Moose & Elk
Dear moose and elk, You won this one. You did. But it’s not because you’re awesome, or cause you ran really fast or hid really good. The big reason you got away lucky was cause I was in camp crumpled on the floor with the flu. Otherwise, you were totally, totally, totally in so much trouble. And yeah, whenever we … Read More
Big Game Hunt Report
In 2006, I saw 67 moose in 2 days. This year, 1. That’s more than just a change of luck. That’s a 98.5% decrease. Their populations had already tanked by 2007, and this past winter’s ridiculously deep snow did them in again, according to locals. I’ll have to remember to mention what winter, or perhaps worse, the torture of ticks, … Read More
Moose Saucisson Sec at 8 Months
More learning as I go. Just checked previous posts to see when I made this batch of saucssion sec. 8 months ago today. I wasn’t sure how long this stuff would last, and apparently the answer is: ‘a really, really long time‘. I’ve wondered if one could indeed put up dry cured meats from fall-butchered animals and have them keep … Read More
Grilling Game Over Wood Fire
I’m starting to figure out that grilling season is most enjoyable in the shoulder seasons. It’s cooler, there are fewer bugs, and the fire is a welcome heat. Grilling over fire in the heat of July is cool if you feel like melting your face off to get dinner going. Especially if you need to be standing in the sun … Read More
Saucisson Sec d’Orignal
Moose sausage typically doesn’t get me excited. It’s generally made by local meat shops with pre-fabbed 5-gallon-bucketed mixes of ‘cure’ and ‘seasoning’, jacked up with pork to tame the flavor and add fat, resulting in a sausage that tastes like non-game something-or-other akin to a factory produced sausage item from a box store. Not always bad, just rarely that good … Read More