The Call and the Lure

Nowadays, kitting out for any indoor or outdoor activity reveals a world-wide network of suppliers of one thing or another.  Hunting is certainly no different, and partly because this interest is relatively new to me, choosing the right equipment can be involving.  “Bordering fetish”, is an expression I’ve recently heard, out of acquiring all sorts of gear including the latest on coyote and moose calls, lures, scent killers and packs…

Choosing the appropriate clothing didn’t turn out to be that tricky, after factoring in cold and rainy weather and quietness as requirements, so it really became a question of how much one wants to spend on it.  But packs?  Oh no, that’s an entire new dimension.  From the few hundred cubic-inches found in small fanny packs to the 7 to 8000 cubic inched frame packs for a go-out-and-about hunts true style, and everything in between.

My October hunt is expected to be of the spot & stalk type returning to base camp each day, so I decided on a light pack which would allow me to operate my bow without obstruction yet still with the capacity to carry my gear.  The ArticShield Timber Hawk Hatch Back fanny pack seemed right on the money.  After receiving it, I stuffed it with all the necessary paraphernalia and tackle, to find out it still had enough room for the daily food, munchies and water.  Great, but just in case, a larger daypack has been ordered too for those longer hunts, or when spare clothing might be needed.  Taking along a water purifier to top up a 1 litre/quart water bottle is very interesting and it’s certainly a thought that needs to be considered, although a 2 litre bladder might be a better choice if one is on drier grounds.

Later on that day, my two year old was having her dinner while going through yet another UPS box over the dining table.  Out of the various items in the box, the coyote call did catch her eyes.  That new red and black gizmo was a M.A.D. Closed Reed Predator Call and the package said it’s capable of pulling 15,000 Hz, making the call audible a mile away.  Well, that had to be tried.  After a quick check on the instructions, there it went, without much prelude, a 5 second howl top of my lungs!  Oh boy.. Was that loud or what?!  I can’t attest that it was heard a mile away across downtown Montreal, but my daughter sure looked like she had just been instantly riding a 200mph convertible!  Interestingly, she demanded some more and that horn had to have further testing while she gulped her dinner.  I should be grateful to the neighbours for not calling the cops.  Maybe they’re waiting for the moose call to spring into action?

To end this post and to continue with the trend, here’s a recipe for those with a tooth for tasty food.  This one was tried after a friend of mine gave me a couple of Elk steaks as compensation for a redneck fix on an accidented copy of Joseph Heller’s magic book “Catch-22”.  See this link (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065528/quotes) for a collection of quotes from the movie that followed.  I’d certainly recommend it.  Thanks Paul.

Broiled Wapiti

Ingredients:

-          Elk (wapiti) steaks half inch thick.

-          Garlic

-          Butter

-          Wild rice

-          Crushed salt and black pepper

Preparation:

Cut the garlic in half and rub it well on both sides of the stakes.  Spread the salt and pepper on a plate and roll the steak on its sides over it.  Place a good dollop of butter over the steak and leave it to broil for 5 mins on high setting (500°F), turn them, another equal measure of butter and another 5 mins broiling.  Serve immediately with wild rice.

Welcome to my first ever blog!

It seems that everyone blogs around these days, travelling, experiences important to one or another, or for no particular reason all together. 

My consulting work takes us travelling around the world and so I often thought in writing a blog about that, but the idea never fully proliferated.

That’s until today.  What’s different about today then?  Well, I have just signed up to a moose bowhunt in Newfoundland for late October 2011!  What makes this special is that at my mid 30s I’m a new hunter and I’m starting at the deep end.  I thought this would be worth of a blogging beginning. 

So how did I get into this hunting business?  Somehow something clicked during the early stages of my wife’s pregnancy to our daughter (any psychologists out there should feast on that!).  Well, in fact, I had made it a routine to purchase books at airports and I always gravitated towards real-life adventures, biographies and a little fiction along the way.  My interests seemed to spin around mountaineering, the poles, and the first explorations into the so-called Dark Continent.. Naturally these books often had accounts of hunting as means of survival.  Strike one. 

One day I decided not to postpone the subject any further and I shocked my supporting wife with an online purchase of T. Roosevelt “Africa Game Trails” and P. H. Capstick’s “Death in a Lonely Land”.  Oh boy did I tap into my new gold mine or what?  I didn’t know I could speed-read like that! Strike two.

Since then, hunting has been a pending subject, not made easy because of our frequent travelling.  That was until I noticed the apparently extraterrestrial compound bows!  After a fair bit of research, I walked into the local archery shop in an attempt to find out and hopefully try something.  I walked out of there with a new bow and pretty decent gear set.  Strike three.

It didn’t take long to figure out local regulations and did the necessary to be in a position to go for a hunt.  Next was to figure out how to accomplish a dream as well as discovering the wonderful sport of archery.  That was almost beyond a dream already! 

Two things were necessary now: practice-practice-practice, and decide what&where to hunt.  The local archery range sorted half of it, but the second part required a lot more research than initially anticipated.  I then found a great source of inspiration talking with colleagues and friends about the subject. 

Living in Canada, options are truly endless.  From the vast array of game inhabiting these lands to the immensely diverse terrain, the number of possible combinations is daunting! 

At this point I felt a guided hunt would be a great starting point because it would improve the chances of success as well as possibly taking me to new and remote places to explore.  In short, the purpose of the hunt had become an experience to make the most of. 

My wife, other than a wonderful woman, is an incredibly gifted scout with en eye for the right deal.  So when I asked her to help me find an outfitted hunt with the potential to exceed every expectation, she came up with something rather special.  Several phone calls after, I found myself booked for a moose hunt in Newfoundland end of October 2011.

While we figure out the logistics of getting there and returning with (hopefully!) a successful hunt, my wife just baked one of my favourite mouthfuls, a cherry tart!  If anyone’s interested here’s the recipe and the picture, still warm..

Greatest cherry tart

Cherries to taste

1 yogurt (use pot as measure)

1 pot of corn or sunflower oil

1 pot of sugar

2 pots of flour

2 eggs

1 tsp of baking powder

Butter for the mould

Mix all ingredients together, pour it in a buttered mould, decorate the top with halved cherries (to taste), bake for 30 mins at 180°C.