A couple Fantastic Game Recipes!!!

Venison Medallions With Mushrooms
1 3/4 lb. assorted fresh mushroom sliced (shiitake, oyster, button, ext.)
1/2 lb enoki mushrooms sliced
1/2 c. olive oil 6 tbs. butter 2 tbs. fresh thyme, chopped
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 c. dry red wine
6 venison tenderloin steaks,
1 1/4 inch thick toss mushrooms with salt and pepper.
Broil on large sheet pan 3 minutes on each side.
Turn oven to 250 degrees, keep mushrooms warm. melt 3 tbs. butter in each of 2 heavy skillets. Season steaks with salt and pepper, cook about 4 minutes per side for rare. divide wine and broth between skillets and simmer, about 5 minutes.
Divide steaks among plates. Spoon mushrooms and pan juices over meat.
Serves 6

Blackened Walleye
Be careful with the cayenne or you will have a super spicy piece of fish.
Fire up your grill.
Dip thawed fillets in melted butter (add a little lemon juice) or if you want your fish to be fat free substitute white wine.
Place the fillets on the grill and season them with cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
Put the lid back on your grill.
After 5 minutes (approx. for a fillet from a 2-3 lb. walleye) remove the lid and loosen the fillets from the grill surface, DO NOT FLIP OR TURN THE FILLETS.
Baste the fillets with butter or wine and re-season if necessary.
Put the lid back on the grill.
Wait another 5 minutes and your fillets should be ready.
They are ready when the thickest part of the fillet is white and will flake off.

Now this Walleye recipe is GREAT for Lake Erie Walleye, I have even had this recipe prepared while tailgating at a baseball game. Both these recipes are highly recommended

SureFire Flashlights from The Product Wizard

Today one of our sponsors asked me to do a product review on SureFire Flashlights. Follow this link http://www.productwizard.com/surefire.html and check out the fine selection offered at the Product Wizard. These SureFire flashlights are used by many professionals, such as firefighters, police departments, security forces, etc. They are durable, bright and they have a product for just about any application you can think of.

You will find a wide variety of styles at http://www.productwizard.com/surefire.html. As you will see, they are priced very aggressively. As I said these are superb quality lights. In my previous post on fur bearer hunting, I mentioned my friends that are big time raccoon hunters. They use the SureFire Weapon Light models mounted to their rifles/shotguns.

A good friend of mine got the SureFire E1E for Christmas, and keeps it clipped to the visor of his truck. It is small, compact and brighter than those bigger heavier models. So again be sure to check out my friends at http://www.productwizard.com/surefire.html and find the SureFire light that meets your needs for work or play.

FurBearer Hunting on the Comeback??

Recenty I have had several conversations with friends who are big furbearer hunters. Apparently there is an increased demand for pelts, including racoon, fox, muskrat and mink. While this industry has virtually disappeared here in Western New York over the past few years, there is a renewed demand.

While I still hear the stories of my dad working his trap line when he was a boy, collecting mink. muskrat and skunk, I never found any motivation for trapping. However, there is nothing like a good late night racoon hunt, especially with a good dog. The going rate for racoon pelts is $40, so as you can imagine, the dedicated hunter can do pretty well for himself. A group of friends of mine took over 100 in less than a weeks time, not a bad return on a few hours less sleep at night!!

It is good to see this industry rebound, honestly I have not discovered where the demand for these pelts in coming from, let's just hope that it keeps coming. It would be great to see a revival of one of the oldest industries in our nation.

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Warm Weather Means Blues for Snow Sports

Here in Western New York state, we are in the midst of a December "heat wave", with what is said to be the warmest December since they started keeping track here in NY. This means a whole lot of snow sports enthusiasts are singing the Blues so far this winter.

I have a lot of friends who are die hard snowmobilers, they are suffering the worse. At least our local ski resorts are able to make snow during the cold nights, and have some trails open. But all these poor "sledders", who have spent thousands of dollars on their machines just look to the skies and sigh.

The forecast for the next week at least looks like more of the same, with very little or no snow coming anytime soon. In fact, they are calling for rain for several days next week. However, with the record warm temperatures, Lake Erie is warmer than it has ever been on December 31, which means it probably will not freeze over this year, which means that the opportunity for those big Lake Effect Snow Storms will be prevalent until Spring. All it takes is a good system coming across the Lake from the North and those snowmobiles will be the only thing moving!!

The lack of snow also makes for interesting hunting conditions. Granted you can go out small game or bird hunting without the winter weight gear, however it is more fun to hunt rabbits and squirrels with a little snow in the background. The stream fishing is still excellent in Western New York, with the creeks still thawed there are a number of fishermen taking advantage of those ideal conditions.

So the trick is to do what we do best here, which is adapt to whatever Mother Nature is going to throw at us. Variety in our seasons is one of the top reasons people stay here in this part of the country, and for those who don't like shoveling, plowing and trudging through the snow, you are having a great year, for everyone who is missing the white stuff, stay tuned you'll have it sooner or later.

‘Amish Buck’ Ohio

‘Amish Buck’ Second Only to World Record



Editor’s Note: The first giant whitetail from 2006 to keep deer hunters’ modems buzzing was the Adams County, Ohio, brute taken by an Amish man wielding a crossbow. Soon after the story broke in local newspapers, pirated images of the 36-pointer began flowing over the Internet faster than you can say “Tell me it ain’t so, Britney!”

The fortunate hunter’s name is Johnathon Schmucker of Peebles, Ohio. While he’s granted several interviews and allowed the enormous rack to be photographed and measured, his religion prohibits him from stepping in front of the camera. Thus, there aren’t any traditional field photos of the freshly harvested buck.

The author of this story is Rob Meade, who scored the amazing antlers for “Buckmasters Whitetail Trophy Records.” With an official BTR score of 280 1/8 (which doesn’t include the 25 3/8-inch inside spread), the deer now widely known as “The Amish Buck” is a new state record for Ohio. Even more impressive: It’s the runner-up to the world record in its class.

Here’s the story behind the year’s most bodacious whitetail, so far.
By Rob Meade

Johnathon Schmucker first became acquainted with this world-class buck during the summer of 2004. He saw it three times in the same hayfield between August and September. After that, the deer vanished.

The same thing happened in 2005. He saw the hayfield buck two evenings in a row before it went underground for the rest of the year.

This year, there was no hayfield. It had been planted in soybeans. And as far back as May, Johnathon realized that the beefy whitetail had survived. Although its antlers were just beginning to take shape, the rack was too distinctive for it to be any other deer.

He saw it a second time in early July and was blown away by the amount of antler growth.

As the calendar advanced, the buck began to visit the soybeans on a regular basis – unaware that it was being observed by Johnathon, perched high upon his barn roof.

From his unusual vantage point, Johnathon was seeing the giant whitetail an average of five days a week. But it rarely entered the beans from the same direction.

Johnathon wasn’t the only person salivating over the buck. Five others also were hoping to tag the enormous whitetail.

Ohio’s ’06 bow season began Sept. 30, almost a week earlier than usual. Johnathon had kept tabs on the buck only from afar to that point. He didn’t penetrate the whitetail’s comfort zone until the Saturday opener. Even then, he didn’t venture out until after lunchtime.

A steady rain greeted hunters that day. A carpenter by trade, Johnathon’s work was cancelled. He spent the morning introducing his horse to pulling a buggy.

At approximately 3:30, Johnathon began the 20-minute trek with crossbow in hand. Also carrying a climbing stand, he headed for a fencerow along the bean field. Since that was his first time on the ground, Johnathon spent several minutes picking out a suitable and climbable tree. He was settled in by 4:30.

The overcast sky was sprinkling rain, and a steady breeze was blowing. At 5:00, two small bucks entered the bean field 100 yards distant. The hunter watched closely as the 6- and small 8-pointer vacuumed up beans.

A little while later, a small 3-point buck walked from an adjacent cornfield into the woods, and then jumped the fence to join the other bucks in the bean field.

Johnathon knew that little guy all too well. Several times during the summer, it had always preceded the giant buck.

Sure enough, five minutes after the small buck entered the field, the big boy joined it. Soon afterward, the other two bucks began to work their way toward the patriarch. When the 8-pointer got too close, the big buck raised its head, stretched out its neck and pounced toward the intruder. The intimidating move sent the 8-pointer away, while the remaining trio began ambling toward Johnathon.

As soon as the buck entered a shooting lane, Johnathon squeezed his crossbow’s trigger. The deer charged off, while its comrades sped away in another direction. A tree blocked his view of the big buck, but he saw the other ones, confused by what had just happened, stop short, snort and stomp their feet.

Moments later, Johnathon heard a crash – still out in the bean field, judging from the sound.

As soon as he was on the ground, Johnathon walked to where the buck had been standing at the time of the shot. He found his bolt almost immediately, and the blood on the arrow convinced him that he’d soon find the buck.

Instead of pursuing it, however, he gathered his gear and returned to his house to recruit some helpers: his brother-in-law, Gary Miller, and a neighbor and his son. The easy tracking job covered 80 yards.

The following days and weeks were hectic for Johnathon and his family. Word spread rapidly throughout the hunting community nationwide, and countless visitors arrived to look at the 36-point buck that tallied a whopping 280 1/8 inches as an Irregular on the Buckmasters scale.

Its composite score – akin to a Boone-and-Crockett gross – is 305 4/8 inches!

As a crossbow kill, The Amish Buck is second only to Jerry Bryant’s 297 3/8-inch Illinois monster from 2001. It beats Ohio’s former state record by nearly 42 inches.

The illustration accompanying this story is from a painting in progress by Mike Handley, editor of Rack magazine (mhandley@buckmasters.com)

Willy Lures

I have recently added a link to Willy Fishing Lures - Simply the Finest!. Willy Lures offers some fantastic prices on Lures of all types, whether you are a lake or stream fisherman, if you use crank baits, spinners, divers, plugs or topwater baits, they have a product for you.

I highly recommend that you check out Willy Fishing Lures - Simply the Finest!., they also carry quality Hagen's rods, which have a 1 year 100% replacement warranty, and after that year they replace a broken rod for 45% off retail price.

My 7 year old son, who is an AVID Bass fisherman is anxious for us to try Willy's Buzz Baits this spring when we hit the ponds for some great Bass action here in Western New York. We will be placing our order from Willy Fishing Lures - Simply the Finest!. as soon as he decides which lures are going to help me catch as many fish as HE does!!!