Each Spring, I attended one of my favorite events: the annual game dinner. When I told some people I was going to a game dinner, they said, what kind of game, the basketball playoffs. Nope, I am talking about hunters who have provided meat to the chefs to prepare as they see fit to feed a gaggle of hunters, wives and friends of hunters. Every year I look forward to this event and this year was not exception. Everyone’s year long pursuit of Deer, Goose, Pheasant, Swan, Salmon, Rock fish, Turkey, Quail, and hogs is culminated into a lavish dinner fit for Royalty…hunting royalty. I skipped the sides and made what we called a Meat Plate. I have to say, it was excellent. I tried everything and those things I liked, I tried again. Being able to gather around the table with other hunters is one of the great rewards for spending all that time out in the field chasing the game. Stories were told. Old friendships renewed. Plans for future hunts were made.
That was actually my second game dinner of the season. The first game dinner was a gathering of several hunters that hunt the same lease every year. On an invite from one of the new hunters in the group, we gathered at his house and we prepared our own favorite dishes to share. That was another night of storytelling and eating good food that I will not soon forget.
The other thing that Spring brings out is preparation for next season. Turkey season is quickly gaining on us and very soon we will be heading out for the mornings to try and call in those big Toms. Along with the Turkey hunting, my preparation includes viewing pictures and videos from the game cameras. I have 8 game cameras I put out each year and I try and let them sit out as long as possible before checking them. I am like a kid at Christmas or my Birthday when I go to open the pictures and videos; you just never know what has walked out in front of your camera.
I hope to be heading back out tomorrow to check the cameras and move them a little bit from their current locations and check to see if we captured photographs at the spots we moved the cameras to last time. In future articles I plan to discuss game cameras, calibers, guns, ethics, and track my hunting adventures along the way. Stay tuned.
Hey man! The dinner sounds awesome! So, what did you have that was good?
The top two dishes, in my humble opinion, were the Ginger Quail and the bbq venison. Close runners up were venison tenderloin, fried wild turkey, sable smoked Rock fish, country ham (possibly the best country ham ever), carribean swan (it was a regular swan but somehow flavored with plantains and carribean spices. Then there were the appitizers that made their way around; fried quail on the bone (you picked up the bone to eat it) and gooseburgers. Yes, I said gooseburgers…you know how good my bacon-wrapped goose was…this was better! I was so full! I hit food coma on the way home…good thing my buddy was driving.