Upland Hunting Last Weekend in North Dakota

After I wrote the blog post last Saturday I went out for some upland hunting.  I know the area I live in in North Dakota can only be described as embarrassing compared to hunting in Wisconsin, but dammit I need to do outdoors stuff.  I've gone upland hunting in this area of North Dakota many times before, and it is basically a miracle if you flush a grouse or partridge any more than 3 times in the season.  Yes it is that bad I kind of wish I had a dog to help me.  Anyway, I got ready and prepared for a day out in the fields seeing nothing.  I packed snacks water and so on.  I walk into the first field and within about 10 minutes of walking a jackrabbit pops up right next to me.  Within that split second I decided I was hungry enough to try jackrabbit, so I shot it and put it down.  This was the first time I have ever seen, or shot a jackrabbit and when I walked up to it I noticed it was quite large.  I picked up the rabbit and headed back into town to clean it.  I've never cleaned a rabbit or jackrabbit before, but from what I was taught it was pretty simple.  

When I got back to the apartment I weighed the jackrabbit and it weighed 7 pounds!  This seemed big to me, but from what I understand is normal size for North Dakota jackrabbits.  I did some looking up online on how to skin one and found there are about 8 different ways people are showing, so I decided to try it how my grandfather told me to, but modify it so the meat was boneless.  I don't think I did to bad for my first time skinning jackrabbit, but I didn't get as much meat as I could.  I got most of what Uncle Ted would call bountiful back straps  and some hind leg meat.  I made a pretty decent mess in the kitchen and decided that the sink was not the best place as the jackrabbit kept sliding around.  I have no learned and will be able to do a better job and get more meat next time.  After I was done cleaning up I put the meat in a bowl of saltwater in the fridge and went back out hunting for a while.

I didn't see anything else out hunting the second time that day, but I almost got my car stuck on minimum maintenance road.  When I finally got off the road my car was so loaded up with a dirt/clay mix that I had to get most of it out from the parts of my car by hand.  That wasn't fun.  Anyway, after that mess I went back to my apartment to get my jackrabbit ready.

I follow the way my grandfather, you know him as Old Man Rounce, told me.  I seasoned the meat with garlic salt, salt and pepper.  Then I shook the jackrabbit meat in a bag filled with flower.  Fried it on the stove in butter and olive oil at medium low for about 12 minutes, with a cover on it most of the time.  Then I took a pot put some butter in it added half a cup of water and a few shots of Brandy (the Brandy was my choice).  I set the oven to 350, put the meat in the pot (I don't own a dutch oven or I would use that) put a cover on it and let it cook for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remember that rabbit is an extremely lean meat with nothing but really protein in it, so you must keep it as moist as possible and use lots of butter to give it more flavor, and keep the meat from getting to tough.  When the food came out of the oven it look pretty good.  It tasted not bad either, but Patty said it didn't have much flavor, which it didn't so for next time I have to add more spices and probably use real butter (Patty doesn't like real butter so it's almost never in the apartment).  So everyone make note of that use real butter not fake butter.

Patty went out hunting with my the next day, but we didn't see anything.  Below are some pictures of the weekend.

The jackrabbit

Getting ready to skin it

When it says Town Car for the name I guess it means Town Car

Sunset ending the first night of hunting

The jackrabbit after it was cooked.  Some of it was already eaten by me I was hungry.

The second day of hunting.

Also last weekend I guess Eric went salmon fishing in Wisconsin.  He sent me a picture with no details on if he caught this fish or not, but I'm sure if he actually contributed to this blog he would have some good stories for everyone to read.  It looks like he or someone did well salmon fishing though.  Here is the picture below.

Grouse hunting after my father's funeral

As some of the readers of my blogs may know, my father has been battling cancer since the beginning of my Summer break, and I am extremely sad to say that that he has recently lost his battle.  I spent almost a week back in Wisconsin for that, and I thank everyone that has offered me their condolences and support in this tough time.  I spent almost every day extremely busy with that situation, but I did finally get one day to do something which I considered the perfect ending for for my trip to Wisconsin.  My father and I had basically exactly the same interests and hobbies, even though I was not very close to him except for these last two years.  My father and I both loved golf, hunting, fishing, and basically anything outdoors.  Before I left my Dad's town, his wife gave me a hat he got for hunting.  Just before I drove back to my home town of Shell Lake I got the idea with the beautiful fall colors, and my Dad's love for the outdoors, that I needed to take my only spare day and enjoy my time in the woods grouse hunting.  I texted Eric Friday last week and asked him if he wanted to go grouse hunting the next day.  He said, "sure," and we planned.  Patty, was of course with being my support for the tough times.  The next day after Eric did some grouse hunting of his own he picked us up to go.  Patty, didn't get a gun, because the out of state 5 day license in Wisconsin is $55 which is quite crazy just for a small game license.  It would be Patty's first time out upland hunting.  I wore the hat my Dad's wife gave me.  Eric, Patty, and I hit about every piece of public land around the Shell Lake.  The fall colors were nothing short of beautiful.  We also got a lot of grouse action.  If I recall correctly we saw somewhere around 8 grouse and Eric and I got one.  Maybe, my Dad's hat was lucky.  Either way it was fun.

To me, this was the perfect ending to my emotion filled stressful week, and I feel it is exactly how my Dad would have wanted me to end the week.  It was beautiful outside, I was wearing one of my Dad's hats, and we got some grouse to eat.  Thinking back at it now, that day still makes me happy.  I could not think of a perfect way to end the week for me, and I thank Eric for taking me out, Patty for coming with, and any unseen forces that helped make that day so magical.  Remember everyone enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, because you never know how long you have left.

Here are a few pictures.

Patty's first time out upland hunting..

My dad's hat with a feather from the grouse Eric and I shot in it with some plants from the fuenral

Eric and I walking a trail with me wearing my Dad's hat