--Chad Love

Field & Stream’s Wild Chef extraordinaire, David Draper, has blogged about some pretty non-mainstream fare in the past, but might we soon be seeing him top that by whipping up a home-state batch of...cougar steaks? Maybe, if the state of Nebraska decides to open a mountain lion season. Mmmmm, tasty cougar...
 

From this story on omaha.com: 

Nebraska’s wildlife agency wants its ducks in a row in case it needs to declare open season on mountain lions. A bill introduced Tuesday in the Nebraska Legislature would allow the Game and Parks Commission to set a season and sell permits to hunt the state’s largest wild predator. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Does your dog have a soul? And if you answered yes, should you be able to sue an unscrupulous breeder for your dog's pain and suffering caused by genetic defects?

These are just a few of the interesting questions being raised by a lawsuit now making its way through the New York legal system. This lawsuit seeks to reclassify dogs as "living souls" so their breeders can be held accountable for any pain and suffering the dog endures from genetic defects (A big hat tip to Patrick Burns at the always provocative and entertaining Terrierman's Daily Dose dog blog for the find).
 

From this story on cbsnews.com:

When Elena Zakharova took home her 2-month-old female Brussels Griffon from the Raising Rover pet store in Manhattan, she was excited about the new addition to her family. But, according to the New York Daily News, just a few months later in July 2011, the dog began whimpering and limping in pain. Now, her owner says despite expensive surgery, she will never run or walk like other dogs. Zakharova is claiming that the pet store sold her a dog with genetic abnormalities that could have been avoided if the pup were not bred from other dogs with disabilities. She is suing the business in a New York small claims court for the pain and suffering of the now year-old dog, which she named Umka.

[ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Hot on the heels of New jersey's contentious, litigious and largely successful bear season comes the Garden State's first special nighttime coyote hunt.

From this story on newjerseynewsroom.com:

First it was the black bears, now it’s coyotes. Beginning next Monday, New Jersey will permit hunters to shoot the wolves on the spot for a special hunting season. The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife estimates more than five thousand coyotes are running wild around in the Garden State. Biologist Andrew Burnett says they usually prey on rodents and rabbits, but can easily attack small pets, alarming many residents and pet owners.
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By David Draper

When I was very young, all my mom’s family would gather at my grandparent’s house on New Year’s Eve for a big food-related feast. Each year would feature food from a different country, such as Chinese one year or Mexican the next. (Chinese and Mexican were about as foreign as you could get in western Nebraska in the mid-1970s.) I don’t remember much from those meals, other than gorging on fortune cookies, which I still love today.

The extended Richards clan isn’t alone in instituting some type of New Year’s food tradition. Many of the most popular ones are symbolic of peoples’ hopes for economic growth and progress in the coming year. Some folks eat only pork, because pigs root forward, versus poultry, which scratch backwards. Other foods are featured for their resemblance to money, such as greens and cabbage, or beans which are said to represent coins.
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By Colin Kearns

The mission of John Besh’s new cookbook, My Family Table, is “a passionate plea for home cooking.” That’s a nice sentiment, home cooking. Home cooking means cooking at home with family. Home cooking means cooking what you have at home—be it a deer you hunted, a walleye you caught, or a winter squash you grew. Home cooking means sharing a meal at home, at your family table. Home cooking is the best kind of cooking, and My Family Table is the best cookbook I’ve seen in a long time.

If you’ve read the December-January issue of Field & Stream, you already have one of the recipes from this book—the duck stewed with apples and turnips, which Besh shared with us because he loves to hunt and read this magazine. I’ve tried that dish, and it’s one of the most delicious meals I enjoyed all year.
[ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

Cabela’s, perhaps because it’s their 50th anniversary, or because they’re getting soft in the head, or because they felt sorry for me, sent me a whole sleighload of gear to play with this past hunting season, so much so that our UPS guy developed a conspiratorial smirk each time he drove up with a new package from Sidney, Nebraska. Everything that follows, I’ve used, but first a note:

All of this gear comes in the company’s Outfitter camo pattern, which is the only one I’ve ever seen that you can take anywhere without standing out like a zit on your daughter’s forehead the night before the prom. You may, if you wish, opt for a pattern such as Redbug and Pellagra, but eventually you’ll regret it.

Bow and Rifle Pack It’s 2400 cubic inches overall and weighs 4 pounds. The pack has a 2-litre water bladder, holds a reasonable amount of small stuff, plus shooting sticks and a spotting scope, and lets you carry your rifle down the center of your back, making it a hell of a lot easier to lug, and freeing both hands. The Bow and Rifle Pack has an excellent suspension, a waist belt big enough to go around the guts of even the calorically challenged, and no flaws that I can find. If you’ve never carried a rifle this way before, the Bow and Rifle will make a believer out of you. $150.

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