Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Is it September yet?

Sunday, my family was gathered at my mothers house for her birthday. It was unbearably hot...98 in the shade, and I was standing over a mini grease fire under the grated surface of the gas grill. Seems the beef patties my brother bought were not the most lean hamburgers we have had( I know, I know, should have been ground venison, but I wasn't the one providing the food), and all the fat dripping from them ignited quite a blaze in the drip pan. Anyone for blackened burgers and hotdogs?

The heat of summer had me longing for cool autumn days and crisp, frosty mornings, and of course, bow season. For most of the afternoon, me and my two brothers sat around reliving old hunts through probably somewhat embelished hunting stories...well, at least theirs were embelished, mine were remembered exactly as they happened. We had a good time telling hunting stories, and it reminded me of why I have been keeping hunting journals for many years now. Not only do the journals provide great entertainment of re-living hunts of days gone by, but I have been using them for, and actually began keeping them in the late 1980's for the purpose of, logging good information on deer habits, and what patterns have worked in the past.

My log sheets contain boxes for detailed weather and wind conditions, moon phase, the equipment used, deer sighted, etc. at the top of the page. Below those boxes is a large narrative section in which I recount the details of the hunt. I often attach photo's and maps to plot the approach route of any deer sighted. I have used the information kept in those journals sucessfully a few times. In years with a heavy mast crop, I go back and check previous seasons to see what the deer were doing, and have found patterns to be pretty consistent. I have actualy been able to note which white oak trees deer preferred, and found the same to hold true years later during times of heavy acorn production, when acorns litter the ground and it can be a daunting task to narrow down the best place to be. Knowing what specific trees deer have preferred in the past has helped me greatly. Also, in times of sparce mast production, knowing what trees have produced has enabled me to find those secret little honey holes where there are acrons in years when they are scarce. That also works with crop rotations. Deer patterns change depending on whether we have corn or beans planted on the farms we hunt, and those close to us, and I have found it useful to study what deer have done in previous seasons with the same crop plantings.

Over the last few seasons, my journals have become very illustrated. I print them out on a good HP project paper, so they have taken on a magazine-like quality. I have also been doing the video taping thing since about 1991, and absolutely love taping hunts. Since upgrading to high quality, 3ccd mini DV cameras in 2001, I have over 100 hours of videos lying around, a small sampling of which you can find in the October, December, January and March months archives on this blog. I also have dozens of finished videos on three separate hard drives, and several years worth of home videos I've compiled. I go back and watch them myself from time to time in addition to looking over the journals. It's a great way to relive those hunts. I'll try to make time to upload some here, but time is something I don't have much of to spare, and it takes a long time to upload videos, so I don't know how many I'll get on-line.

Sitting around talking hunting with my brothers, re-reading those journals and watching some of our videos has me asking...Is it September yet???

It'll be here soon, and I'll be ready.

DV

Saturday, June 7, 2008

I’m back, and so is the heat!

Well, I’m back to writing a few words after a little break. It may have been a break from writing, but in reality it was no break at all. Since going back to work on May 1st, I have been very busy. Long work hours were also coupled with the normal things that spring brings: kids ball games, yard work, family parties, yard work, and did I mention yard work. The heat has also returned as we are entering our first heat wave of the season in southern New Jersey. Temperatures are blazing up to 96 today, with high humidity, and will be about the same for the next four days. I finished my chores outside by lunch time today, and am now taking a break indoors with a cold drink, hacking away at my keyboard.

This year I’m trying to grow a garden again. In past years, I have had a large garden, but due to ever increasing time spent at work, I have not had time to maintain something of that size in more recent years. Gardening requires a good bit of time and effort. I don’t really want to call it work because to me, it’s a also a form of relaxation. I skipped doing the garden for a few years due to lack of time, but last year had a small plot planted that did very well. This year I expanded it some, but it’s not as big as what I had done in the past. Hopefully, I’ll make the time to keep up with it, and enjoy the fruits of my labor all summer long. Considering the skyrocketing food prices, I’ll certainly welcome the fresh, free produce right out my back door. This is a picture of my garden when it was bigger, I can't maintain something of that size now, it's just too time consuming.


Even so, this year I have planted much more than my family will be able to use, and probably more than I could give away before it goes bad. In my part of the State, small roadside produce stands can be found all along the roadways, and travelers and locals alike can find fresh fruits and vegetables at a variety of locations. They may have one more to choose from this summer, if I still have my green thumb.

My garden this year consists of several rows of green and yellow wax beans, about 3 dozen watermelon plants, sugar babies and crimson sweets, 18 cantaloupe plants, a dozen jersey tomatoes, grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, frying peppers, green bell peppers, summer and yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, cucumbers, egg plant, with pumpkins and ornamental gourds to be planted soon. I should have added strawberries as I just returned home from paying $5.00 for a quart. Next year, I’ll have strawberries for sure.

I really enjoy gardening, as well as hunting and fishing, and coming in right behind them is cooking what I grow and take from the woods and waters. My family eats a variety of meals made from the garden all summer long. Add in a grilled venison or tuna steak, or filet of flounder, striper or weakfish, and life really doesn’t get any better. On the menu today will be a venison loin slow cooked over charcoal with some mesquite wood chips soaked in water thrown on for that smokey flavor. I’m going to grill some squash, and make a tomato and corn salad to finish it off. Afterwards it’s a strawberry and banana smoothie for dessert and a run through the sprinkler for the kids while mom and dad sit in the shade.

Hope your weekend is a good one too.

DV