How to Make Venison Bolognese

From the deer camp menu last weekend is this.  A favorite among the hunters that can have most of the prep work completed in advance.  If you make the sauce a day beforehand and reheat before serving it actually improves in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients

Olive oil
2 celery stalks - minced
2 carrots - peeled and minced
1 onion - minced
2 garlic cloves - minced
2 quarts of canned whole garden tomatoes
1 large can (29 ounce) of tomato sauce
1 pound ground venison
1 pound of Italian sausage
Basil, oregano, fennel seed, parsley, salt and pepper
Spaghetti noodles or other favorite pasta
Grated parmesan cheese - lots of it

Directions

Brown the venison and set aside in a bowl,  Brown the Italian sausage, drain and add to the bowl.  In a large stock pot sauté the vegetables in olive oil until the onions are translucent.  Add the meat to the pot along with the sauce and tomatoes.  Season with spices to taste, cover and simmer all day low and slow.  The last few hours remove the lid and continue to cook uncovered.  Add additional spices if needed.  Before serving stir-in a fist-full of parmesan cheese.

Prepare your pasta per the directions on the packaging, drain and dish-up.  

Serve with a salade César, garlic bread and a bold red wine.

Cheers!

Election Day

Voter apathy was around forty-six years ago.  It has always been around.  Do your civic duty today.

 

VOTE ! 

 

Flat Top

Field identification of buck fawns is best accomplished by looking carefully at their heads.  The top of the head directly between the ears in particular.  It should appear flat - unlike the domed head of a girl fawn or doe.  The reason is that male fawns have nubbins (or knobs) that will eventually grown into antlers next year which makes their heads appear flatter.

In this picture - featuring twin buck fawns - you can actually see the nubs above and behind each eye and before the ear.

If you want to go serious on promoting an optimal age/sex ratio and trophy antlered deer it may be sensible to target does and let the little bucks walk.  Of course, if you need to control the herd size - brown is down.

click on the image for a better look at the  nubs

Infrared Deer

A handful of photos from after dark by the Moultrie cameras in infrared mode.  

Three different locations.

Including a foggy eight point buck







A threesome that appear caught in the headlights - when there is no visible flash

click on images for a closer look

 

And a ghostly and ethereal image of a lone doe

Women's March

There is hardly anything that brightens a day or lifts one's spirits more than a determined flock of turkeys on the march. 

They look like they're on a mission....

Friday Music

Written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971- this was the theme song to the MGM film, Shaft. The following year it received an Academy Award for Best Original Song with Hayes becoming the first African American to win that honor (or any Academy Award in a non-acting category). 

Since then the tune has been played, covered, used to promote or parodied in multiple movies, television shows and advertisements.  It is said that this was where disco got its start.

Stinker

Meet Mephitis mephitis - the Striped Skunk - who has incidentally been showing-up on this trail camera regularly.  More often smelled than seen this is a nocturnal animal - hence all of the photos are in IR mode and after dark. 

The striped pelt serves to provide ample warning to a predator that this critter is not to be meddled-with.  If threatened it will raise its tail and spray up to a distance of more than a dozen feet an odiferous substance that can even cause temporary blindness.

Around these parts - home for this critter is typically a burrow under one of the numerous rock piles on the property.  Skunks do not hibernate but during the winter months will hole-up in their dens for up to a couple months.

A word of caution to my hunting buddies venturing to or from their deer stands in the dark.  Keep your sniffer working....