By David Draper

Although my garden is a bit woeful this year, I have ended up with plenty of pickling cucumbers, which is fine by me. After fresh tomatoes, cucumbers are the No. 2 reason I grow a garden. All the radishes, zucchini, lettuce, and carrots are just bonus. I love my cucumbers sliced fresh and mixed with onions and vinegar for a crisp summer side dish, but the majority of them end up as pickles.

Each year, I try a few new pickling recipes and have recently been experimenting with brining and fermenting. But, there are also a few pickles I have to make every year, mostly to appease the friends I hunt and tailgate with. One of those must-can recipes is my jalapeño dill pickles, which I’ve detailed below.

If you’ve never canned before, there are plenty of resources online that will provide good insight, but I suggest picking up a copy of the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, which details all the important steps to putting up your summer harvest.

By David Draper

There might be better ways to spend a 90-degree August day, but for my money, 14 hours in an antelope blind is well worth the sit. The sweat lodge-like experience does take some stamina, however, as well as a stocked backpack. In addition to a thick book (or a fully charged iPhone loaded with Angry Birds), you’ll need lots of water and enough food to keep the hunger pangs at bay.

This past week, I was lucky enough to tag a nice buck early on opening day. However, to get the full antelope hunt experience, I picked up a $34 doe tag (the best deal in the west) the next day and did my time in the hot box.

By David Draper and Colin Kearns

Late summer is a heady time for dessert lovers, as there’s an abundance of sweet, all-natural fruit fresh from the vine, tree, or bush. Which is why we’re taking a break from wild game and fish this week (just this week, we promise) with a summer dessert edition of Food Fight Friday. Here’s what’s on the menu:

Colin's Blueberry Cobbler

Vs.

Draper's Peaches and Cream

By David Draper

by David Draper

This time of year, my Commercial Grade Dehydrator gets a major workout. From making jerky with the last of the scraps from the previous hunting season to drying vegetables from my typically (though not this year) abundant garden, hardly a week in August and September goes by when the dehydrator isn’t humming away in the basement.

There are a number of counter-top dehydrators available for less money than a commercial model, but most have their flaws—mainly a lack of capacity and the need to constantly rotate trays to get an even dry. Not so with my 80-quart model. It can easily accommodate up to 10 pounds of meat at a time and the powerful motor circulates air evenly throughout the interior. To borrow a phrase from the late Ron Popeil: Just set it and forget it. Six hours later, I’ve got enough jerky to last me from now until goose season.