Two outdoor-oriented lessons learned

There are times during the year when reflecting on outdoor matters seem appropriate. The end-of-the-year column is one, as is the anniversary of the beginning of this column. Reflections are appropriate anytime the information presented will be educational to readers.

Starting a fire in the snow

A friend was lucky enough to be awarded one of six any-moose tags a few years ago. The two of us headed for Northeastern Washington, using Colville as our basecamp. We checked into a motel and headed for supper.

I called a friend who lives in the area and told him what we were doing. He offered to contact a couple of his friends who live for moose hunting, even if they weren’t doing the hunting.

The next morning two locals joined us for breakfast and the morning’s hunt was planned. Mainly we were going to drive the roads where they had been scouting for moose.

Again, we followed forest service roads and the snow became deeper and deeper. The driver slammed on the breaks at one point.

“There’s a cow,” he said pointing, “and there’s a bull.”

My friend was wanting to get out of the vehicle and shoot, but the driver said we could find a larger bull. We hadn’t traveled a half mile down the road and the driver made a hard stop.

“Now there’s a good bull,” he said.

There stood a bull with respectable sized antlers. My friend exited the vehicle, loaded his .270, stepped off the road, aim and fired. The bull dropped about 50 yards from the road. The four of us walked toward the animal, ready to field dress it.

The driver asked me to get a fire going, as it was cold and those gutting the bull would need to warm their hands. This was when I remembered where my backpack was, in my vehicle, which was in Colville.

After breakfast, the driver said we could all travel in his vehicle, so we all piled in and he started driving. All of my fire-starting equipment as in the pack.

Starting a fire was difficult, with three-inches of snow blanketing the area. I scrounged around and found some matches in the driver’s vehicle and a few pieces of paper suitable for burning.

Next I scrounged and rummaged around the forest floor for the driest pieces of twigs available. It was surprising how many dry pieces or almost dry pieces were found.

The fire was started, but needed to be attended constantly, with me hovering over it and feeding the driest fuel at hand. It took half an hour to get a decent fire going.

Lesson learned

When venturing into the Great Outdoors during winter-time conditions, don’t leave the backpack behind. Items, such as fire starting cubes and fat wood, would have had the fire roaring in a fraction of the time.

Butchering our own animals

An older man living in mountains had taken a deer and had it hanging in his shed, when I was visiting 30 years ago.

“Want to learn how to butcher a deer?” he asked on the second day of a four-day visit.

Learning another outdoor skill sparked my interest.

He stood nearby and passed along step-by-step instructions on how to cut out a chunk of meat and then cut this piece into smaller pieces.

“Remember, you will never make a mistake when you are cutting your own animal,” he said. “After all, who is going to tell you it was incorrectly butchered?”

I have read many articles and watched many videos about butchering deer after the first butchering instruction.

This man’s initial guidance is still followed today, with a few other tricks, learned afterward, put to use.

The difference between butchering a deer and an elk, is simply the size. They both are made into steaks and roasts with scraps for ground meat.

Ground wild meat

A cooler of antelope scraps was on the floor of the butcher shop with other hunters with their scraps before and after me in a long line. The line advanced with the leader’s scraps ground and packaged into plastic tubes.

The lady ahead of us opened two freezers containing not only scraps, but the choice pieces of meat also.

“You aren’t going to grind all of the good pieces, are you?” I asked.

She answered in the affirmative and explained. Her grandkids don’t like the taste of antelope and won’t eat it. Her antelope is ground with no fat added. she buys a chub of 30 percent fat beef burger and mixes it in a 50-50 percent mixture. The fat content is then 15 percent, because there is little, if any, fat in a game animal.

Lesson learned

Processing/butchering your own game animals is not a difficult chore. In fact, I’m willing to help with your next animal, if you are willing to learn.

Also, consider grinding your wild game without adding any fat. You can mix it with some beef burger to add some fat, but fat is not needed with hamburger helper, spaghetti or meat loaf. However, you will need to add a bit of oil to the pan before browning the wild-game burger. If you don’t, the lean burger may burn.