Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
From Novice to Nature's Chef: Jacob's Wild Hunting Adventures
Unleash your inner hunter alongside Jacob, a passionate young adventurer who took to the wild at 18, armed with curiosity and a Stevens Model 320 Field pump action. Discover his transformative journey from novice to adept, as he recounts his first thrilling encounters with partridges and red squirrels, and the quirky culinary experiments that followed. Jacob’s story isn't just about the hunt; it’s about the vibrant community that surrounds it, the friendships forged, and the exhilarating experiences shared with allies like Kyle Ritchie and Luke Poirier in the marshes and fields.
Dive into the heart-pounding world of duck hunting at Calhoun Marsh, where the early morning chill and the sounds of nature wake the soul like no other. Feel the camaraderie of a duck camp, the anticipation of a goose on the horizon, and the surprising thrill of bagging a banded drake American Black Duck. Beyond the chase, we explore the artistry of preparing wild game meat with sous vide precision, transforming duck and goose into gourmet meals, and the adventure of taming the flavors of the wild with honey, garlic, and a touch of courage.
Embrace the diverse world of hunting with tales of turkey tags, seal harvests, and the wild potential of underappreciated game like gray squirrels and bullfrogs. Join us as we navigate the rich ecosystems of New Brunswick and beyond, where each hunt is a lesson, each recipe a celebration. Special guest Jacob shares enthusiasm for sturgeon fishing adventures and the culinary possibilities they bring, promising a future filled with wild exploits and delicious discoveries.
Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
this is hunts and outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken meyer. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to howos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast, all right, welcome to Huntsman Opening Podcast. If it's your first time listening in, welcome. If not, welcome back. We appreciate you. Tuning in this podcast is growing and it is surely thanks to all of you listeners. If you wouldn't mind leaving us a review on Apple or Spotify, that'd be great and much appreciated.
Speaker 1:Now this week on the podcast we've got a younger hunter and a newer hunter, jacob. Jacob comes on and him and I have kind of a campfire talk, if you will. We're talking about all kinds of things hunting, how he got into it, his first hunts. We're talking about guns. We're talking about Jacob loves cooking and he's really great at it. You know we're talking about just all kinds of stuff you would talk to with another fellow hunter, and I think that's the great thing about us hunters and huntresses is that you can just meet someone else in this world and be able to just have a great conversation with them. So we're going over all the different things that he likes to hunt and the food that helps keep him going. And speaking about food to help you keep you going, that's what we need, and your dog's no different.
Speaker 1:My dogs are always ready to hunt and on the go, and that is nothing short. But because of Inuksuk dog food, it's the highest energy dog food on the market. So whether you're looking for something for your dogs with high digestibility or, even better, quote quote coat quality, I highly recommend checking out a nook shook dog food. That's what keeps mine going and it can definitely keep yours going as well, to be able to be ready for the next hunt. Whether you're hunting coons with hounds or you're after birds with your pointers or flushers, going on after some ducks with your labs, or maybe you're just going to the park and your dog's ready to catch that frisbee or ball, this will definitely help your dog feel better, move better and keep going to be able to keep up with you. Hope you enjoy the podcast. All right, it's jacob.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the podcast I'm happy to be here thanks.
Speaker 1:So it's funny, I was. I was when we before we started. I was saying I was like you know, I'll tell how we met and stuff and it's neat, so I'm happy hunting. I said you want to go for a hunt? You're like yep, I'm like I'm free as a bird. I'm like sounds good. So I just met you, you know, out there at my parents, and then you jumped in with me and away we went and I tried something for the first time that day.
Speaker 1:It was interesting, we lunch and then you said I heard a gunshot. I was looking for the beagles, they were running a rabbit and heard a gunshot. And then I look and you just hold up this partridge, it's gross. And I was like oh nice. And then, uh, I come down and I was like I think I hear another one, like no, it's a squirrel. You're like we'll shoot that, we'll cook it up too red squirrel. Anyway shot it and you cooked it up and that was the first time I've ever tried it and I was impressed. I don't know if it's because we cooked it in the old burger grease that we just had, but it it really did.
Speaker 2:You hear everyone say that tastes like chicken you know, yeah, it's like a little deer meat chicken weighing on all sides yeah, and I love to use like because this would be the first official year that that's part of like the hunting fish book. There's actually a bag. This is the first year for new brunswick.
Speaker 1:We've never had squirrel as a a hunting season they list as a game species. Yeah, they've had trapping but they've never had like hunting species and I I was shocked at how good it was really yeah, so like, I love to use underutilized stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So, especially when it comes to fishing too, yeah, yeah, like, uh, everyone around here fishes brook trout, that's their big thing. Brook trout, I love to fish brook trout. Whatever, I love to shoot partridge, I love to shoot deer. Well, like you tell people, oh, I love to hunt geese. I didn't know you could shoot geese.
Speaker 1:Well, you hear that, but it's how you cook it.
Speaker 2:It's all in the preparation and you run into that.
Speaker 1:But before we get going too much, getting a little ahead of ourselves. Who is across from me on the mic right now?
Speaker 2:Well, jacob Armstrong, like I said, ken, we met through mutual friends, and I'll never say no to tag along on a hunt.
Speaker 1:So I'm a big mooch, that way you could say. But you're from Moncton, New Brunswick.
Speaker 2:I'm from Moncton, New Brunswick yeah, Canada. I grew up all my life fishing but, as my mom said not long ago, like when it comes to the hunting realm and things, I'm kind of self-taught in that respect, but you're newer to it. I'm newer to it. I only started hunting when I probably when I turned 18.
Speaker 1:Okay, started hunting. So so, how, yeah, how did you? How old are you now? Because, people, I'm 27 now, so you've been at it a little bit, so I mean almost 10 years. How, yeah, well, how did you? What was your start into it? What was your first introduction to hunting?
Speaker 2:my, oh, my god, I don't know, like, because, does anyone in your family? Like my dad. I was grew up with my dad telling me stories. Oh, we shot out like he was. Oh, we duck hunting and my grandfather's both hunted, but they both passed away before I was able to like. Before I met them. I had a great uncle that was big into hunting. He died duck hunting back in the seventies.
Speaker 1:Of natural causes he drowned. He drowned duck hunting.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's kind of natural by nature, but it's cool Like I got his old goose call and stuff His old chest weight is that he drowned in.
Speaker 2:No, I mean not that part, but I've always grown up with people like, and I've always had a fascination with, hunting guns, fishing the outdoors. So, like I said, I grew up fishing. I grew up fishing all my life. But it's once I turned 18, I think I'm going to get my, I'm going to take my hunter safety and I'm going to start. Yeah, so, and right at that kind of transitional period of my life to bass pro shops open in monkton right so, but was it, was your dad hunting at this time?
Speaker 1:no, my dad hadn't hunted. My dad probably hasn't hunted for 30 years okay, not, since he was a kid into it.
Speaker 2:He didn't get me into it. I didn't have a grandfather to get me into it, uncles or anything. Yeah, like it's pretty. Like my mom said, it's pretty much all self-taught. Yeah, I pretty much like, just like from tag along with guys like you or people I met when I started working at Bass Pro Shops.
Speaker 1:That's a great way to get into it.
Speaker 2:Well, I met like it was a great job to have to go into college and stuff. But it was a great spot to meet people, yeah, so Kevin Case, who we both know, mike Holland, who we both know yeah, so it was, after working there a year or two, pretty passionate hunters.
Speaker 1:Oh big we both know Yep, so it was after working there a year or two Pretty passionate hunters.
Speaker 2:Oh, big time hardcore hunters. I was in the fishing department but they and I'm like I really want to get into hunting oh you did start in the fishing department.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I started in the fishing that was my realm.
Speaker 2:I've always fished, I'm knowledgeable in the fishing realm of things. But they said, well, we go every opening day down the calhoun marsh down riverside albert so, which is a ducks unlimited managed compound and it's a busy spot on it's public land.
Speaker 1:it's busy on opening day because ducks unlimited for people listening. I mean, they're all over north america all over north america in that area. There they've got a big presence and they do a lot and they have a great bond like albert county, new brunswick, they have a huge.
Speaker 2:They got all kinds of different compounds, marshes and stuff. Down there there's germantown, calhoun, yeah, all kinds of different ones. But they said, yeah, we hunt the calhoun marsh on opening days, like I'm like, oh, that'd be right up my alley.
Speaker 1:I love.
Speaker 2:Calhoun is but like see yeah, let's see his marsh like I think that'd be pretty neat. Yeah, they said well, said well, you know we stay at a camp or whatever, and it's funny. So the first year ever when we stayed at duck camp, we say whatever we, we can't lay out the night before and we like, I'm like, oh, this is full experience. So and like, got my pal, got my hunter safety.
Speaker 1:Your pal is your possession acquisition license. So in Canada you need that to be able to purchase firearms or ammo Ammunition. Yep.
Speaker 2:Purchase, acquire anything like that. So you need it, so that was the biggest step for me to get that.
Speaker 3:So once.
Speaker 2:I got it. I could buy my own guns, buy my own ammo, do all that.
Speaker 1:Sky's the limit, then Sky's the limit.
Speaker 2:That was the big step. That Sky's the limit, then Sky's the limit. That was a big jumping off point, or the stepping stone for me to get into it. Yeah, so once I had that, you know, I ran home. Dad was like, oh, I got my pal and he said well, they got a shotgun on sale at Canadian Tire $189. Do you want that to be your Christmas gift? Yep, Yep. So I walked right down there with my fresh pal right off the press. So I walked right down there with my fresh pal right off the press. He said I'm looking for the Stevens Model 320 field pump action. Yeah, we got it right here. Sure enough won it because it was the new Canadian tire opening in town.
Speaker 1:That was your first gun was a pump, Pump action 12-gauge shotgun.
Speaker 2:It was a clunker, like I said. It was. So what? I used that to start, then my next purchase was a 22.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, gotta have that.
Speaker 2:And then I think it was the next year, christmas time or whatever Bass Pro Shops had a clearance sale and they had a 30-06 on clearance. Yeah, I said, oh, dad, you know, if you're looking For a Christmas gift now, it's only like 300 something bucks. It'd be a good deal, so, so. But that's like working at Bass Pro Shops with those guys. To get back to this kind of story. Now To the duck hunt. The duck hunt yeah, you got camped out there, so we stayed in, like we stayed in the first. We've always done it differently, kind of tweaked it different ways, so that first year we were staying in a camper.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:No heat Slept with the windows open by accident. If Kevin Case is listening, he will get a kick out of this because we're there in the middle. I'm scrambling in the middle of the night to find my second pair of socks because I am freezing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're all freezing we don't include the windows we're open.
Speaker 2:No not till the next day, till we were packing. Okay, yeah, so, but then I that's like it's something I'll never forget is sitting there on the chair gate riding out in the morning, got my camel, got my face paint all on all bass pro shots gear, because that's like that's what I knew.
Speaker 1:This was your first.
Speaker 2:This is my first like duck hunt, first reel, like yeah, because I tried to shoot some partridge by myself before that and I did get a couple and my buddy's fishing camp one fall. But we're going out and I've got the dogs are running around. It's like zero dark 30, it's like vietnam man like you can smell the napalm in the air, so to sit there and I shot it like shooting light comes around and the marshes lights up with gunshots when it's shooting time, because it's public land.
Speaker 3:It's public land, you got to have a little bit of competition.
Speaker 2:There's a fair amount, like on opening day, down there there's a fair amount of hunters, so it's like that's what kind of makes it fun too, right, right, it's like there's other people around keep some ducks up in the air.
Speaker 3:but uh yeah, it's just, there's some competition, there's some competition.
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, you know is this we. You go, you stake your spot out, kind of deal. Make our little blinds and uh, I don't know if I shot any ducks in the morning or whatever.
Speaker 1:Well, did they tell you like? This is what to expect, this is how to shoot, shoot. I mean, what were they giving you?
Speaker 2:they're just like we're going out here if something's flying and quacking, or you see, I shoot, you shoot like yeah, like I kind of knew like what a duck would look like flying up or whatever, and I was, but they were kind of I was just kind of following their lead, was that the morning that you shot your first bald eagle no, I'm running.
Speaker 2:What kind of duck is this? That's a freedom freedom duck. Yeah, no, I shot my first goose that day. Oh you, just one came in. There was a group of two that came in, oh yeah, and so we had killed some birds in the morning. It was a bit of a slow morning that first opening day, but we're sitting there and it's just getting time for the morning shoot to wrap up and all I hear is the uh-huh, uh-huh. And here's two geese that's pretty good, a pair of singles Coming right at us Across the marsh. Yeah, and I get my, I get my Stevens 320 Field pump and Two of us Me and the other guy, another guy that was with us Both shoot and it Shoot and it flops right, falls right down.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:But the wing was broken on my side, so I say I shot it, but you were hooked. That was like that you're hooked. That was like that. To be honest, that really was like, yeah, to pick up that goose, whatever, and get back to the track or whatever. It was like I knew right then that's, that was for me. Yeah, I knew like like I love all hunting, but for me, duck hunting, especially on public land, public marshes, over water, like that, it's like that's something special to me.
Speaker 2:That's just yeah it's just something that's awesome. So that ever since then. So I've only missed it once in the last, so that was probably 2018. I've only missed it one time since then.
Speaker 2:Okay and we go on every year. Yeah, sometimes it's just kevin and I, sometimes there's other people. Sometimes we do have a camp that we use now, so you don't windows closed, wood stove type deal. But yeah, you go out there the night before, cook good food, have a couple drinks, get ready, talk about hunting stories, play the guitar, do whatever, yeah. So that's like that's something that's become really special to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a tradition it's like and I, growing up like everyone goes hunting with their grampy or oh, I love going deer hunting with my dad. That was the first tradition I really had.
Speaker 1:But it all started with somebody that you're working with, like, hey, you want to go duck hunting?
Speaker 2:I needed a mentor. Really. I needed someone to show me like someone that's doing it forever. This is how we do it. This is what we do, and I haven't looked back since it got you hooked.
Speaker 1:But I mean that's so great People listening to this. You know, if you've got a co-worker, somebody that's like interested or not not even interested just mentioned, like hey, do you want to try, come out hunting with me this weekend or something you know. And then now look, you're dedicated to it. You're in the sport, yeah, and you know we got you on our side for votes and this great.
Speaker 2:I mean we need more players on the hunting team because there's a lot of people against it there's a lot of people against it and with the like I won't say a dying breed per se, I think it is a little.
Speaker 1:It's a little bit of a dying breed.
Speaker 2:Yeah like people growing up nowadays. Like if you don't really grow up around it, heavy, no one gets into it. Like, yeah, I always knew when I was a kid that it was something I'd like to try, something, something I'd like to do. But if you grow up nowadays, especially in the city, or if your parents aren't into it, you may never try it. You might have even if you're, you just may never try it. Yeah, so it's just. It's just like for anyone listening too, like if you can find someone to take you out or just find a mentor and and follow them, so I got a couple good mentors in my life that have really helped me out along the way give me a lot of good opportunities.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and different places I've worked. I just I go to. I remember going to work at place in town, my first job kind of after college, and they go oh yeah, what do you like? Oh, I'm off on tuesday. It's october 1st, the opener duck season. You go, have you met Kyle Ritchie? He runs the CNC machine down there. I'm like, uh which he's a big duck hunter. Well, he loves duck hunting. Well, what do you mean? Like I didn't know that. So I talked to him. Kyle and I hunt together to this day.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a great thing about the hunting community, for the most part, I find it. You know, stuff like, especially the small game. Yeah, you know, it's the social part of it, that's my social aspect, that's why that's not like. And so I was, I was, I brought some. I brought a buddy of mine out from high school this year for his first ever duck hunt. His dad is in the hunting a bit. You know they. They harvested a black bear last year, him and his father, and he loved that. He said I got a, I bought a rifle. Uh, I got a, bought a scope off my cousin for it, you know.
Speaker 2:I said well, have you ever tried anything else other than bear hunting? No, no, that's kind of what my dad's into. I just haven't done really much else. I said well, you want to try duck hunting? He's like I love eating duck, I'd love to try it. Yeah, so I guess a buddy I've known since high school, since the ninth grade. He's a couple years Older than I am. We've hung out lots Outside of school Still like Said yeah, yeah, well, I'll pick you up After work and we'll go Same spot that I started Calhoun Marsh.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Said pick you up, we'll go down there. You got rubber boots Nope, you got a shotgun Nope. Well, I got some camo for you, I'll find a shotgun. Wear my rubber boots, I'll wear my waders. So we go down there. And it was a hurricane, just pouring rain, windy, to beat the band, but there is birds working. There's hundreds of birds up.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, they're still coming in. Oh they were, they're trying to.
Speaker 2:Down there that gets them going. Yeah, there was birds around, there was birds working, and so it was just unreal. So, to have a night like that it's a little bit spoiled, yeah, but it was a. We had shot a couple birds, I think we had four ringnecks, a teal, and because there was a couple guys, other guys there, I knew that we, when we showed up, kind of to my blind, that I had built, yeah, which nobody again, it's public land. First come, first serve. But I knew them. So I was fortunate in that sense, like, oh, room for two more in that blind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, come on in boys yeah and um, so, getting that last light, they kind of went out on the one, went out on the dike to kind of do some pass shooting and me and luke, my buddy, luke poirier, stayed in the blind and there's a bird coming in right at last light. And I said, luke, there's a bird coming this way, it's yours, I want you to shoot it. It's coming towards us, coming towards us. He shot shotgun much before no, he's only a call of duty. He said what yep?
Speaker 1:so what a millennial thing to say so I just showed me.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, you get your bead here. You know, this is the safety, this is how you load it. I let him use my shotgun. I borrowed one from my buddy, steve yeah and this I load it.
Speaker 2:This is safety. You know, kind of keep it barrel above the sky, kind of let it die, but, um, right, at last light. There's a, there's a duck coming in. I said, luke, that this one's yours. You don't want you to because he had shot earlier but he didn't like. So this one's coming towards us, I want you to have it sure yeah so he comes in, shoots it, folds right up like perfect.
Speaker 2:That's, that's awesome. So there was the two other guys with us. They had their boat already in the water, so I didn't drop the canoe in. Yeah so, and I said too, when you guys get that duck, that's further out, because we had a couple in the water, I I'd killed two and he had killed one. Set that one aside. I want to get a picture after because it's Luke's first duck. Yeah, so we pack up, we get back to the kind of little boat launch that's there and right when they pull up, I seen it.
Speaker 1:The band right. Because you had a picture on Facebook. I saw Banded. Drake, american Black Duck. That's crazy. I mean, I know guys that have shot a lot of ducks, yeah. And just praying, praying, hoping and dreaming for a band and I haven't gotten one. I've been going on 10 years. Picture on facebook and I saw it, yeah, and I was like holy shit, buddy's first duck that talk about the ride in the horseshoe man so, like I've been, hunting close to 10 years.
Speaker 2:Duck hunting is my thing yeah I never shot a band of bird. Yeah, I take him out for his first ever hunt, first ever anything other smokes and to get a drake american black duck with a band. I was like that's like shooting a 14 point buck on your first time out. Yeah, that's like that's, that's the trophy to duck hunters right there he didn't even know absolutely I felt bad that I shot it and you didn't like no, no, that's not how it works yeah that's your bird, so oh, that's so, that's so cool.
Speaker 1:no, didn't you guys find out the information? Yeah, so it was it was banded.
Speaker 2:So we shot that, uh, getting on the mid October this year and it had banded this August in that same marsh, almost Calhoun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it didn't go too far from home.
Speaker 2:It's not like the ones that see. Oh, it was banded eight years ago in Norway, or?
Speaker 1:something but uh, but still you do hear stories like that. Yes, yeah. Yeah, this one was banded a couple months ago, about a kilometer away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly yeah, but still it's pretty neat.
Speaker 1:Oh very cool.
Speaker 2:That's like a trophy to duck hunters right there. Yeah, a black duck in general is a trophy to a yeah well, that's primarily what we shoot out there, yeah yeah, we do shoot a lot here, yeah shoot a lot of black.
Speaker 1:They're like they're big too. I mean, you get a little bit of a meal. Oh yeah, they're like they're a big duck.
Speaker 2:So they're like that's what we're after. We're out there because, again, being so close to the ocean where that marsh is, you don't get like hunting in here. In more inland here, closer to agricultural lands, fields, a lot of mallards, yes.
Speaker 1:Mallards, predominantly mallards. I mean surprisingly Fair amount of teal Teal. Yeah, we do yeah.
Speaker 2:And we shoot a lot of teal out there. But you get everything, yeah, black ducks, wood ducks, mergansers, uh, buffalo heads, pintails, ringnecks, like it's. It's a smorgasbord of ducks out there got a variety, yeah it's like, it's very marshy, very like, and you get, so you'll get the odd sea duck in there too. Right, a lot of cormorants have you eaten? Sea duck? I have not.
Speaker 2:I haven't shot one yet actually that's what some people say, that I've heard, that's what everyone says, but uh, I don't know. But not until I try it will I otherwise.
Speaker 1:That's the thing about you hunting and all that too. I mean you like to cook.
Speaker 2:Cooking, so I've like. That's one thing I grew up doing too. My mother, father, grandmother, aunts are all phenomenal cooks. They grew up doing it, so it's just I was bound to grow up doing it.
Speaker 1:But you, I mean, you were telling me that day we were out hunting. You were telling me, like all that day we were out hunting and tell me like all this different wild game and how you cook it, and show me pictures and I'm like boy hunting's for you, like if you're successful, because you know how to prepare them.
Speaker 2:So I really like hunting. I really like cooking. If I like fishing, I like cooking. So it just amplifies all aspects of it when I know I can take that home and make a world class meal. Sure, with something I'm still running around this morning, or I was flying around this morning, yeah, it's going to be on my plate in ravioli or something tonight.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's that just gets me extra excited about cooking is being able to cook things that I've harvested.
Speaker 1:You're saying you got the the meat eater cookbook. Yeah, shout out, so that's actually helped quite a bit, has it?
Speaker 2:Well, I actually helped quite a bit, has it? Well, I said we were just talking earlier. I made the sausage recipe out of that, yeah, and it's like I really like to. I always tell, I always joke my girlfriend, she loves to bake. I'm not a baker because I can't follow instructions. Cooking isn't about following instructions, baking is cooking's about.
Speaker 1:See, I don't cook a barbecue. I can make a mean bowl of cereal. Yes, yeah, I'm pretty good at that. And toast sometimes, yeah, depending on how the toaster's set up.
Speaker 2:But um, yeah, so I mean cooking, you're experimenting right it's trial and error sometimes and it's just kind of knowing what go it's. It just takes practice or like if you're baking like it's one teaspoon or half a teaspoon might ruin your recipe yeah and when you like it. Just it just gets me extra excited to cook stuff that I've harvested. So and it just like I said, I grew up watching my family do it all kinds of stuff. My mom's an excellent cook, my dad's a wicked cook, my grandmother wicked cook.
Speaker 2:Like so I've had really good teachers in that sense, right, but to be able to. So we go back to the cookbook part. I may not make that recipe, but I'm going to take inspiration from that recipe so like, especially with what the ingredients I have available to me. Yeah, so if they've got some funky ingredient but I've got something else similar, I may substitute it. You got to know a bit about.
Speaker 1:You got to know some basics, yeah, like I said, but that all comes with time.
Speaker 2:It all comes with trial and error. I mean, I started out burning eggs just like the next guy yeah, Burning my bread sandwich. I always say yeah, burning a bread sandwich with ice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm not real good at it. If they said like half a teaspoon of sugar or something I'd be like, well, salt's basically the same thing, it's the same color, same texture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and like the same thing. It's the same color, same texture, yeah, yeah. And, like I said, cooking experience, and cooking too, like I said, so I don't ever really follow a recipe, but I draw inspiration for a lot of recipes.
Speaker 2:So that'll get me, you know, unless there's making something very specific that needs a recipe like make a pasta. My girlfriend and I, a couple years, we made pasta. Yeah, that's a. That's a labor of love making pasta, cracking the egg yolks, mixing it with the flour. But we made venison stuffed ravioli that sounds, that sounds good with a cream sauce, like so.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I had the family over for supper not long ago her side of the family and roasted a whole striped bass, but head on, like kind of descaled, with on the bed of lemon, dill, all kinds olive oil, salt, pepper, different seasonings. So with trial and error comes, okay, I know these things go good together. Yeah, I know citrus and fish go good together. Or I know this spice works well with that, or this works well with this. It's just trial, and sometimes you make something that's like this isn't that great, I wouldn't make it again. Or I wouldn't make it again, or I wouldn't make it again this way. Yeah, but you know what you would do different next time.
Speaker 1:So what I mean? What is your favorite wild game? Meal.
Speaker 2:Oh, nothing beats a skin on seared duck breast.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was going to ask. I was actually hoping you'd say something about duck, because that's what we've been talking about the most, that you like the most, so duck duck is by far my favorite thing to prepare.
Speaker 2:Yeah, either, like a good mallard breast with that thick layer of fat and I'll rock that in the sous vide. So for like, yeah, sous vide is that's a newer kind of tool to my arsenal. So sous vide is you basically.
Speaker 2:So take those breasts and you can fire whatever you want in there garlic cloves, salt, pepper, butter and you vacuum seal it okay and then it you put the sous vide on the side of your pot or your deli container, whatever your carboy, and it circulates the water and keeps it in the exact temperature. So say, the perfect medium rare is 137 degrees. You can leave that water at exactly 137 degrees fired in there and know it won't be overcooked, and you can let it go longer and longer and it'll kind of make it more tender, and then you'll take that out and I'll just sear it in a hot pan to put a crust on it and you know you've got a perfect sear without the middle being overcooked.
Speaker 1:So that's a fairly new tool to my repertoire so I hear a lot of people complain about duck.
Speaker 2:It's too greasy, too greasy, do this greasy, yeah I mean, people don't complain about bacon being too greasy. Yeah, I mean like I, yeah I love duck.
Speaker 3:I love duck, it's my like.
Speaker 2:It's by far my favorite thing to eat and I can see where people get that.
Speaker 1:You know if you're roasting a whole duck, but if you can do it right, it's not an issue and then too, you came over here and tonight and dropped me off some goose sausage and and a lot of people are like I don't like goose, I do. I've never had goose sausage. I'm really looking forward to it. So I mean, how did you do that and where did you get the recipe from?
Speaker 2:Well, like I found one. So again I used one meat eater cookbook recipe. They had a camp sausage recipe but then I didn't want to make because 12 geese gave me. Once they cut it with the pork I had 21 pounds of meat. So I didn't want to make all one kind and get tired of them. So I thought, oh, I'll make half 10 pounds of this camp style. Then I'd kind of like to do honey garlic.
Speaker 3:Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:So I scoured the internet looking for honey, garlic recipes and this and I found one and I could probably pull it up, but I felt it wasn't giving enough honey. To be honest, they used 25 pounds of meat and only like a quarter cup of honey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that doesn't seem like enough to me.
Speaker 2:I had 10 pounds. I used over a full cup.
Speaker 1:You got to support your local bee farmers. You got to support your local bee farmers.
Speaker 2:Man, you got to save the bees somehow. So I'm like, okay, well, that's, and again it's going back to what you got on hand. So I only had fresh garlic cloves, ground them up in the blender.
Speaker 1:So you didn't think it's honey, or is that what you?
Speaker 2:No, I was bulk barn honey, unfortunately this time, but so I I mixed it. So I just kind of drew inspiration from that. He mixed his honey in warm water to kind of get it to mix in better, break apart, break apart, kind of thin it out, and they use garlic and they use salt and pepper and I think that was it For their recipe. But I'm like Some chili flakes Would go good in this Sure.
Speaker 2:So, and I didn't. I just threw what I had Left in the little jar Because I'd use some In the camp style. I'm like, yeah, that'll be enough, yep. So I think you'll Really like them. I think you'll really like them. I think they're turning out very good. I'm excited but again, that's a prime example of experimenting.
Speaker 1:The good thing with sausage is Because here a lot of people like canned goose. They don't like it, they don't want to eat it, they don't like it.
Speaker 2:Oh, they think. Oh, that's what lives in the golf courses. I don't want to touch them yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I mean, grind that all up, it was great.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've done them before. Take a breast and kind of hollow it out, stuff it with cottage cheese, bacon, spinach kind of mixture and make a stuffed breast, a little toothpick and roast that in the oven.
Speaker 1:It's great, we should have a cooking show. We should just have a cooking podcast with you sometime.
Speaker 2:I'm getting hungry? Oh, I'd love to you know this is I get so excited about cooking wild game?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's awesome because especially having somebody like that around camp, you're very valuable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:You know you've got yourself a guaranteed spot every year. I'm sure because of those skills right.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so like cooking is a passion of mine. Yeah, so like. Another prime example is and I love to feed people that normally wouldn't have wild game. Wild game, so Like tricking them, or no, no, I said 100, I'll be flat. We're having, we're having this tonight, we're having that, or we're having venison or having goose or wild rat. We're having wild rat. We're having a squirrel, we're having whatever. This is my scrap breasts tonight yeah yeah, but uh, prime was like.
Speaker 1:So last year, I think a couple of years ago I was I was fortunate enough to be drawn for my wild Turkey tag which is a yes, because here in new Brunswick we've had a Turkey season for I'm going to say it, I'm going to be wrong, but I'm going to say four years.
Speaker 2:I think it's four years now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean some areas. We have a lot of numbers, like we were at Coon Hunt last night. Shit, we ran into uproosting I don't know. 30-some at least, yeah, but you still have to put in. There's a lottery system for it and you were lucky enough to win that lottery and get your tag when there's not a lot of tags right now.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, so it's similar to the Moose Draw. So the Moose Draw, there's like 4,500 tags given out but 65,000 applicants. Yeah, with the turkey there's, I think, 450, 500-ish tags given out with 4,500 applicants, or 45,000.
Speaker 1:4,500. 4,500. 4,500 or 65.
Speaker 2:So not that many people, not that many people, but less tags even. Oh yeah. So I got some family from up Riverway, heartland, new Brunswick area, woodstock kind of area, big agriculture, ag land, a lot of ag land up there, corn, all kinds of different stuff, and close to the main border where a lot of these turkeys have been coming from.
Speaker 1:You. I mean, you're so new to hunting. You were new to hunting then still kind of. Are you still kind of? Are you're just applying for any tag? You?
Speaker 1:can and I want to talk about the tag that you applied for this year. You know what I'm talking about. We'll get to that after the turkey thing, right, okay, anyway. So so you were, you were new to hunting. You see this new season come out, you're like, you know what, screw it I'm. I'm into variety. I'm going to apply for my turkey tag yeah, so I missed it the first year.
Speaker 2:Okay, I missed it. The first year was unsuccessful. The year after but the third year of the season, so this is like close to a year, a year or so ago now maybe two years um. I was standing at work and there's someone else that works like turkey. Draw results are out, so I went and I plugged my outdoors card number in, which is how we track everything here in new brunswick everything runs off your outdoors card number, an outdoors card number.
Speaker 1:Put that in that they can tell.
Speaker 2:So I plug that in your date of birth. You have been successful in the 20, I think 2022 New Brunswick wild turkey draw for zone 10, which is up river again, up river heartland area where there's a large turkey population.
Speaker 1:It's a wildlife management zone.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:WMZ. When you get an animal with a tag, you apply for a zone. You have to hunt in that zone, just for people listening to know.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, well, this is something. And then you're like, now what, Now what? And I kind of going into it. I'm like, well, a good friend of mine, ryan DeMerchant, with Quad B Outfitters. He's based out of Perth, andover area, upper Kintore. Shout out Shameless plug, wicked guy he does bears Moose yeah it's Quad. B Bears, birds, bass Bears, birds, bulls and bass. So he's moose, a lot of black bear, a lot of goose, and like he can do anything.
Speaker 1:I was thinking. I think they're running like 60 black bear baits.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:He could probably yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But Ryan's a wicked dude and I kind of know him through a friend of a friend Because, again, growing up in the fishing side of things, he was big into bass fishing for a while.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:The tournament trail and all that MBSFA and he runs Export Fishing Association fishing association, which is like the local kind of big bass store so they run tour. So he was doing the tournament thing and that and so I kind of knew him through a friend, of a friend kind of deal and I reached out and said, hey, ryan, like I was successful in this year's turkey draw, um, you know where any turkeys are, would you be able to guide me for my resident turkey hunt? He said, yeah, not a problem. He said, what are your? So we kind of hash out a couple of days how long is the season? Um, off the top of my head I don't know, but I want to say it's about a month. Okay, I want to say it's about a month, it wouldn't be over.
Speaker 1:No, no, it's not real long.
Speaker 2:It's not super long, no, and it was. You pay your more money there after your application and they said your turkey package will be sent in the mail. So I got the tag. I got a tag. I want to say 942. So I can say I harvest a 942nd tag in New Brunswick for all of time for the turkey hunt.
Speaker 1:Now isn't there. Did they make you do an online course?
Speaker 2:Yes, it is, yeah, but it's very short, very simple, okay, so could you explain?
Speaker 2:that again it's just so basically, it's how to identify a tom. Okay, tom from a hen, you're looking for the beard, you're looking for the different kind of coloration in the feathers. So when you're brunsting you can shoot anything with a beard, any bearded bird. So just how to identify a tom? Do the jakes have a small? The jakes do have a little bristle beard. You can harvest a jake, but I was after a tom. But they have like, and Ryan had told me that it goes from being a jake to a tom Once the bristle stops being a little, once the beard stops being a little bristle sticking out to when it starts to hang.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So once it goes from sticking out to hanging, then it becomes a tom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was told by a guy that knows a lot of the turkeys when I was on the bear hunt in Maine. A guy from Ohio, shane, shout out. He was saying how? I mean it's hard to tell, but he said a lot of guys look at the beard, the beard on how big and mature the bird is. He said what really tell you is the spurs. Spurs the fighting spurs, they said, if those will tell you, better than anything and stuff, how old and mature that bird is right there.
Speaker 2:So I contacted Ryan. We hashed out some dates. I left work on a Thursday night. Shotgun in tow camo, all that stuff headed to upriver Same shotgun that you bought like your first one. No, no, I actually when I graduated NBCC, I had some graduation gifts and all kinds and I'm like I'm buying a semi-automatic shotgun Okay, because I knew I wanted to get serious with duck hunting, that's why so I?
Speaker 2:bought a Beretta shotgun for a. It was on clearance at Bass Pro Shops. I always had the inside scoop there, yeah, yeah, but I bought that. So that's the gun I had Bought. Some turkey loads, took my gun out, bought a turkey choke, took my gun out.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, what's a turkey choke? Turkey choke is like, just so, basically, just like an extra full choke when you grab a turkey by the neck and just yeah, choke it up.
Speaker 2:No, it's like a goose choke, but fuller.
Speaker 1:It's a very tight spread Compared to like an improved cylinder. I mean what?
Speaker 2:no-transcript inch and I want to say it's a mix of number five and seven shot. I want to say it's a mix like number 6? No, like it's 5 and 7, like it's got 2 different size shots mixed in there.
Speaker 2:Why I don't know, but I know it for sure. Had some 5's in there. I'd have to look at the box home. But I ordered a turkey choke, got the shells, took my gun out at 35ish yards, patterned it Pattern good at 35. Nice tight kind of group spread Like oh yeah, 35 yards is dead turkey.
Speaker 2:So and being in the springtime hunt, it's an early morning too. Yeah, so I was telling ken earlier I got up at I stayed at my mom's house, like she got a house up in hartland way, stayed there, got up. But I want to say quarter after three met ryan, which about a 45 minute drive away. For four we were in the field, set up, decoy out, call under, get ready to call it 4 30 shooting light was right around then to 5 am or quarter to five ish and uh, so I was ready to go. I was by the time I got some. I've already harvested a deer before. I got my first year the year before. Um, then lots of duck Dots, of different duck hunting, turkey or goose hunting, all kinds of stuff, grouse, and uh, I was pumped it was Get a turkey. Yeah, oh, so so we're.
Speaker 2:He had Ryan's wiki guy, he had done all the scouting and we set up in a field Behind a fallen pine tree, against the Back on the tree, just waiting, and there was a turkey that was wasn't even shooting like yet and it was already off the roost, gobbling. It was hot and trot, gobbling, spitting, drumming, just by itself, just by itself. Okay, then he started to call and it would respond right away. It'd cut you off, like kind of what Turkey guys I think are after, like that, or after that's a real aggressive bird it's. It's like I said hot, he's talking, he's talking, yeah, yeah, bad, grammar, he's talking, yeah, yeah. So we're set up and, uh, we expected the bird to come from our left. We're kind of in the corner of a kind of just hayfield and we see the bird kind of come out farther down the field, step out of the tree line. The bird comes up out of the field and it kind of comes up to the ridge and he's strutting, he's drumming, he's spitting, he's doing his thing, he is looking for a fight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and ryan was ready to give it to him.
Speaker 2:Ryan was ready to give it to him. We had the jake decoy out. Ryan's hitting the pot, call, wicked caller, caller. And the turkey comes. It's getting closer. I can see it on the ridge and it kind of goes away and it comes back and after a while he starts coming our way and I see him coming in. He comes in, he comes in closer, he sees a decoy and Ryan had told me too he's like you want to shoot for that little jelly-ish kind of part of his neck.
Speaker 1:That's what you're aiming for Right below the base of the head, that jelly neck.
Speaker 3:The real ugly part before the real ugly ball sack looking part of the turkey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exactly what you want to shoot.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So and the the Tom comes in, he's strutting, he's spitting, drumming. Still he's calling. He comes right up to got out and he pushes it right over and he says don't shoot my decoy. That's what he says to me. Yeah, pushes it right over. I click the safety off and I shoot and I can almost see the wad going slow motion right over his head oh yeah because with this turkey, like because this is probably only a 15 yard shot and being so close it was like shooting a rifle.
Speaker 2:It's got such a tight spread that close yeah I can almost see the wad go in slow motion right over his head. I am heartbroken, but again, I'm like by this point I'm not a super novice hunter. Did ryan, like, call you out? Or he's like, oh, he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, what the hell? Yeah, no, he was. He was good about it, like and I'll say it like it sucked there in the moment. But as a hunter, we all miss. Oh yeah, at one point or another you're gonna miss something.
Speaker 3:Yep, like it's just part of it, absolutely it's part of it, yeah I can own up to it, I had a bad shot.
Speaker 1:I didn't wound telling everybody about it. Right now you're, I'm airing it I show everybody.
Speaker 2:I know the video because ryan took it on video me missing the turkey. Because I don't like. I don't like you always hear about people's successes but you never hear about their failures, kind of deal. But I'll air my dirty lawn show, I don't care, I don't want everyone to know I missed my first turkey. Yeah, because, uh, it was. It was humbling for sure to miss that bird, and it was a nice bird, big, long beard you shot, he took off he took right off.
Speaker 2:He pulled right up and went on a sprint, took away. I squeezed another one off, but I had no, no chance, like yeah, he run right away. So heartbroken telling myself what, what did I just do? Did I just ruin this? I obviously ruined this hunt this morning because basically I would serve that bird on a silver platter.
Speaker 1:Ryan called it right in on a string, basically so after it left with ryan, like no, no, it's okay, anyone would have missed that.
Speaker 2:Or he's like what the no, he wasn't like it's just again, he wasn't too bad, but uh, he said well we'll get him back, we'll have to try something different. Yeah, I think it's pretty much what he said. So I'll do the shoot and you do the call. I'm sure you wish you would have done that, but it's no, we got other options we can explore. You know, let's go on it. So good, guiding Wicked guy. So we pounded the pavement, the dirt, all day.
Speaker 1:He's got he's got he's got a lot of permissions up there, a lot of different farmers fields.
Speaker 2:And that's where you guys were hunting. It was agriculture, ag land. That was where we were like that was a hay field, we were doing a little bit of cornfield silage and Because that's what a lot of it is up there Potato fields, silage, hay, some beans, I think too. So he's like well, regroup, let's hit the road. We'll go up different Charlotte County way and figure something else. So we were checking fields, hitting with the binos, just scanning fields, looking for birds. You know, I got like so we noticed a bird.
Speaker 2:This is like probably mid-morning by now, because again, super early start. So you got lots of time in the morning, right? So we've noticed a bird, we set up in the tree line and we try and get it. He's calling, calling, calling it. Just that bird didn't want to cooperate. So again, we pounded the pavement all afternoon searching for birds, searching for birds, and just didn't work out that morning, you know, nothing else was really cooperating. There was a couple other opportunities we did have, but it just didn't pan out. But, um, so we went back to his lodge wicked spot, by the way, if anyone's looking for a bear, hunter up that way. Wicked, yeah, oh yeah, nice and comfy, nice, comfy every got our own combination meals too.
Speaker 3:Remember Wicked spot by the way, if anyone's looking for a bear hunter up that way.
Speaker 2:Wicked, yeah, oh yeah. Nice and comfy, Nice and comfy. We got our own combinations. Good meals too.
Speaker 1:I remember you telling me about that. Oh man, was it his mom? Yeah, yeah, I'll talk on that part at the very end. Okay, all right Because that's like the cherry on the top.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at two o'clock, have a little nap, have a snack, whatever do our thing said I think I want to set you up in a field in the ground, blind tonight, where there should be a bird. Come out I said listen, man, you're the guy out here. Uh, whatever you got, I'm all ears. I've never even seen a wild turkey before today. So sure enough, we set up in a kind of another hay field. He's got one of them. 360 ground lines you can see all out of the clear ones really neat yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, and this time we put a jake and a hen decoy out, two decoys, because in the morning it was just a jake decoy.
Speaker 1:And the jake and the hen. I mean, how far apart do you put them? Do you put them right next to?
Speaker 2:each other like a foot apart. Okay, all right, because I think I want to say the idea is that when the mature tom comes in and sees that j with the hen, he's going to want to come in and chase him off, for that hen yeah. I think again. By no means am I a master turkey hunter, but I think that's the idea behind that. All right, that makes sense. So. So we set up in the field. It's like four o'clock-ish and it starts to rain and it's like that heavy kind of spring rain where it's not cloudy, it's like a sun shower, almost, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm sitting there in the field and I hear something out and there's three does step out of the field. So it was just cool, like that just made it all worth it for me. Not that it wasn't all already, but that was just again something a fun factor multiplier for me. Yeah, to see those does kind of pretty up close. Well, you're not just watching grass.
Speaker 1:You're not just watching grass, there's some entertainment, yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:So then they snort and they hung out for 20 minutes and they start snorting and wheezing and stomping and stuff they winded you.
Speaker 2:They winded me and then they kind of hop back in the woods. So then I'm hanging out there and I see a pretty small tom. It's a. It's just a very it's a small tom, just a short little beard, and I'm like I'm not gonna get a shot on this guy and I'm like I don't. I I knew I kind of didn't want to shoot a real small tom to say I know it's my first time doing it, but I wanted a decent bird, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you were gonna be half picky I was gonna be yeah three quarter quarter of the way. Picky with that, yeah that's all right.
Speaker 2:Um, so he steps out. I'm like I'm not gonna get a shot on this bird. He kind of starts to work his way, pecking, feeding up the field, and I see another bird coming down from the far end. They meet up in the center ridge, in the middle of the field, and it's a j, a tom and a hen young, young tom hen, and they kind of fart around and they and they kind of come down towards me in my corner and the tom did get kind of in shooting range. But I'm like, ah, again, it's not the perfect shot. I've already missed once today. Yeah, I don't want to be sure about.
Speaker 1:It Was Ryan with you there.
Speaker 2:No, I was by myself there.
Speaker 1:He'd had enough. Huh yeah, he was sick and tired.
Speaker 2:He was guiding two bear hunters from Connecticut that same day too, yeah, so he had a lot going on. He's a busy guy. But so I'm like, ah geez, I was kind of humming and hawing and then eventually they did take off to the left, Like they just carried on to the woods. I'm like, well, there goes my chance. I could have filled my tag today, but I'll be back at it tomorrow with them. And then I was kind of like another hour or so passes by and I'm kind of getting discouraged not discouraged, but it's like, yeah, you know this is part of hunting, but I'm going to be hitting her hard again tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, sure enough, the corner of my eye, I see some movement and look over, oh, it's another hen. And then, but followed by another hen and another hen. So now there's three hens in the field, doesn't a tom step out and full strut, corraling those three hens, full strut, her corralling those three hens, full strut, and he's. And they're way too far for a shot. They're probably about 85, 90 yards away from me, but the same end of the field as me, but off to my left I'm in the back right corner of the field per se. So they step out. I'm like, ah, geez, that's, I'll shoot that Tom, right for sure. Yeah, he's strutting and he's kind of herding them up the field and he's following them and doing their thing, but they're going to go away. I'm not going to get a shot. And I got my phone out. I'm like I'm going to take a picture just to say I did so. It was cool in that sense too, because I found they didn't.
Speaker 1:Was this Tom bigger than the one that you saw in the morning? Oh yeah, much bigger, much bigger.
Speaker 2:No, the one in the morning, no, the one that you missed. The one in the morning was a. He was big. He was a big Tom. Okay, he was a big Tom that I missed. I really missed that one, but this one was okay, he's nice. He's still a wicked Tom. I was like again. I'm like oh yeah, this is a nice bird, yeah, so he stepped out and I took you right here time stamped.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 7 20 pm, my god, but I'm not gonna get a shot. They're too far away. So then they carry on, go. I watch them, go away, crest the ridge and go out of sight like, uh, there goes my chance. So you know, I got. I got my call because I had to practice calling for weeks, or months.
Speaker 1:What?
Speaker 2:do you got for? I had a diaphragm mouth call and I also had a pot call okay, but I prefer the diaphragm just because I found I could kind of use it better, more consistent.
Speaker 1:From what I've seen, like that's what the real turkey hunters use. You know, yeah, yeah, and you can kind of hold your gun and call at the same time too yeah well yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, oh yeah, well, he's going to corral his three hens, but it wasn't not. It wasn't. It was probably about getting close to an hour. Then the sun is starting to set and just over this crest of this ridge I can see the golden kind of tips of this turkey fan. I go, it's him, and sure enough, him and the three hens are all kind of spread out in a line. They're feeding, coming over the ridge, coming towards me, yeah, and they kind of start to veer back to the corner they came from. Like I'm calling, but I don't know if it was the rain, had him turned off or what, but they were not vocal in the evening, not vocal at all, wouldn't respond to a call I think it's because he was with the hens and he didn't care.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't know. I don't know it could be, I don't know. Turkey talk.
Speaker 2:I was calling and Ryan's like can you call?
Speaker 3:I'm like yeah were you texting him?
Speaker 2:no, I didn't have this before I got diaphragms, but I'm not very good, so let's hear. It sounds good enough to me. He said sounds good enough to me.
Speaker 1:He sent me on my way and I'm so excited for my call to come in, oh it's fun driving around in the truck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm calling, calling, and they're starting to work their way back to the left corner where they came from. I'm like uh, I'm not going to get a shot at these birds, but at a by some miraculous feat, I don't know, the tom spied the jake decoy or the two decoys we had out. Yeah, he folded up and it came in a flat out sprint right at me. Really, fold it up, come right in a sprint, right at me and I go, it's on, I'm not missing this time.
Speaker 2:So he come in, I put the gun up and he I wait to forget. Close enough. You know, a little bit further than the shot I missed in the morning and I'm like I'm gonna, you're gonna, let him have all. I'm gonna let him have semi I'm gonna give him every one of these pellets in this shell, and so I aim right for the jelly neck. Like ryan said, boom, he folded. He did the little death dance and he folded right really, oh, it was awesome just that's
Speaker 3:the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's pretty cool. I got the picture here of walking up on the bird at 8.18 pm, yeah, so from the time I saw them first to when I shot, that bird was just under an hour, just under an hour. I waited and I thought it was done. I thought I was going to have to be back out there the next day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought, I was going to have to be back out there the next day. Yeah no, by some I get that bird and a full the rate up coming. I still remember, like it's just.
Speaker 2:it's burned in my mind that bird folding up coming right at me. That was. It was next level, so it was. I just felt super lucky to have that tag and a super new hunt, something that probably not a lot of guys would be Cause be because, like in new brunswick, here you got a lot of guys stuck in their ways, a lot of old timers moose hunt, deer hunt, partridge, that's it, yeah, but uh to have a new hunting opportunity like that and kind of get it on the ground floor.
Speaker 1:Almost well, you seem to be like me with hunting I love variety, I love variety, love variety, you know and what? What do you get?
Speaker 2:that's new what do you get? That's new yeah like uh, so that was just to me. That that was. That was unreal. That was next level to see that bird come fold up sprint rate at me and it was just wild, Something I'll never. That's like one of my core hunting memories. I'll never forget that.
Speaker 3:That was, it was just something else.
Speaker 2:So I texted Ryan just got a bird.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, awesome. I'm just helping a bear hunter. I'm just helping the guy haul the bear out of the woods.
Speaker 1:We'll meet you back at the camp. It's like I'm gonna need that bike to haul this turkey I'm gonna make sure I use two hands carrying this yeah but uh, shoot a nice.
Speaker 2:Nice, I didn't measure the beard, I probably get to get it home still, but nice, three quarter inch, almost one inch, spurs on it. Nice, yeah, wicked bird, wicked fan, the and ryan pointed this out to me. He's like look at this, look at his wingtips, the. The feathers on the wingtips will get like worn off from when he's strutting and puffed right out, dragging his wings on the ground okay, so they're worn right.
Speaker 1:That's worn right down yeah, so he said that you know.
Speaker 2:So he was an active bird doing that yeah, so it was, it was super neat to see him they would. He said it was unreal and like the, the super healthy turkey population up there too. Yeah, so we're also. We're living in your buns. We're fortunate for that too yeah, and we stole, them all from maine not all.
Speaker 1:They got a lot there, but I mean, that's where a lot of our turkeys came have come from yeah, they've crossed the border illegally, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, aliens uh, from maine, though that's where, that's where they come from. But I mean, you know, thanks maine for the turkeys. They've still got plenty up there. Um it, I've. I'm excited. Like I said this, this spring I plan on hunting them. If I don't get drawn here, I'm going to maine, for sure, yeah, with a buddy of mine to hunt there, and um no, it does sound like an awesome hunt. I mean just the fact that you're calling, you're interacting with them.
Speaker 2:And that's another thing too like to have a game and like a game, species of game that will respond to a call. So well, it just it's a whole other level of exciting.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like can I talk their talk? Can I? Can I, you know? Can I maybe fool this guy? I didn't think there's some other bird here. He's looking for a fight. Yeah, so it's just. It made it so much cooler. So we got back to the camp. He said he had two bear hunters up from Connecticut. I believe One had shot their bear before I went out to the field and I got back and they were just coming back with a second black bear.
Speaker 2:So it was it was a busy night at his place that night, so you know. So we got my bird cleaned, got pictures, got my bird cleaned, got her all packed up ready to go Fan spurs, beard, all that stuff, breasts, legs I said I want as much meat as I can get off this thing. Yeah so, but it's mostly breasts and legs. That's where most of your meat is there. But um, by this point I was up at 3, and at this point it's like going on 10, 30-ish.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, by the time.
Speaker 2:this is all said and done, because they gutted that other bear and then I hear his mother say because I think it's his mother or someone there dinner's ready and we walk into this great big spread spaghetti casserole, rolls, coleslaw, potato salad, unreal, like there's nothing. I needed more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, after that day After a long day, like frigging right dinner's ready, having a sandwich and a bag of gummy bears.
Speaker 2:I think at that point in the day just running on pure adrenaline. Yeah, to have this great big meal. It was just, it was next level.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that, like that, was my first ever guided hunt I'd ever been on. Yeah, it was my first ever time turkey hunting Right.
Speaker 2:It was just something else, like I said, something I'm super grateful for and I'll never, ever forget, like that just burned in my memory.
Speaker 1:Let's get Ryan on here. I think sometime.
Speaker 2:Ryan, I'm sure he would love that.
Speaker 1:I don't know him, you know him. He's a wicked dude and, like I said, he does all kinds of stuff he can.
Speaker 2:I think they had three bowls they hired this year for other problems hunters. Yep, yeah, I can't remember how. I don't know how many blackberries and they. I think that quite a bit. Just finishes facebook, yeah he just finished his fifth week of guiding for geese. Yeah, and I think I think this is his last week for it there it's really really good waterfowl hunting up that way.
Speaker 3:I do know that, yeah it's exit.
Speaker 1:It's excellent. But speaking about tags, so you get your turkey tag I? I didn't hear anything about this. Maybe they're trying to keep it out of the media or whatever, but you were like yeah, I applied for my I'm gonna such tag.
Speaker 2:It hasn't opened yet, I don't know, but it just announced the other day you hadn't applied. I thought you did apply no, no, it hasn't opened yet, but I'm going to again I love variety. What is it? It's, uh, so newfoundland, has it? Newfoundland, labrador? But in the populate you talk to anybody, the population is getting very heavily populated, I think almost not to the point of utter control, and it hurts the fishing industry hurts the fishing.
Speaker 2:You talk to anybody. Salmon lobs like anything. Clams they eat all kinds of stuff every population needs to be there.
Speaker 1:So people are listening to this like what is it? Is it otter?
Speaker 2:no, it's seals, seals, seals, so there was a lot of controversy behind yeah, there was an article that come out the other day and said that this the provinces of new brunswick, nova scotia and pei for the first time will be opening harvest on gray and harp seals.
Speaker 1:For the first time will be opening harvest on gray and harp seals for the first time historically I don't know, but for my lifetime for sure I know there's been a lot of controversy on it because the I think the native or whatever they were allowed to kind of hunt them yeah, and like Labrador, you have like Labrador or Newfoundland, like I got friends in Newfoundland and they've been doing it for years over there. But but you can apply.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm still waiting to hear details on it. Like I said, it's brand new, so they're going to let you harvest gray and harp seals Yep.
Speaker 1:So can you shoot them or do you?
Speaker 2:have to use the club. No, you shoot, Like my friends in Newfoundland. They shoot them 243, 223, 22, 250.
Speaker 1:Because you see those old videos where they're beating the shit out of them.
Speaker 2:When you see the videos of them clubbing the seals that's what PETA tried to shut down.
Speaker 1:Those are baby seals. Okay, and they're clubbing them for the fur.
Speaker 2:This is after the meat Alright, and there is. It'll be the same as a turkey hunting. They've already said that there is. It'll be the same as a turkey hunting.
Speaker 3:They've already said that there'll be a seal hunting course.
Speaker 2:You're gonna take before and you're shooting them shooting them yeah yeah, so I said 243, 22, 250, those 223, those small centerfire calibers are preferred are they like what's your average seal weight? Honestly, I don't know. I want to say, like I wouldn't even want to venture a guess, I don't know at least 100. At At least 100 pounds, I'd say I mean they look solid, but we have there's four species of seals here, really, and they're going to open it up to gray and harp. So I think, yeah, they're at harbor, and yeah, we have harbor seals.
Speaker 1:I've heard of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's another one I'm forgetting. Yeah, I, I am not well versed with the seal. No, that's like, but it sounds interesting that's like the definition of worlds colliding. You're a fisherman and a hunter. Yeah, so that's is. I think it's neat and, like everyone says, seal meat's delicious everyone rants and raves like I've worked lots of new feasts. Oh boy, I love to see a flipper pie.
Speaker 2:It's nothing like it well, I mean, they're eating fish they're eating fish, they're eating seaweed, so I'm assuming, so sure I figured the worst I can do is apply. Yeah, worst I can do is apply, even if I don't shoot a seal like so where would?
Speaker 1:you be hunting it? Would it be in new? So you said in new brunswick. In new brunswick, yeah, okay, so I'll come with you. Yes, because I mean that sounds very well. I've been quite a bit of skating.
Speaker 2:I'd say yeah, but I got a few friends that are lobster fishermen, so that would probably be the first resource I go to and say hey, where do you guys see seals?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where do you see them? Because the fishermen would definitely, they would definitely, and those are the people that complain the most about the population being super high well, I mean, what is a predator to a seal?
Speaker 1:great white sharks. That's why you're seeing orcas. Do we have orcas around here?
Speaker 2:very rare so it's funny in the bay of funny. There's like one orca they see every year. They call him old tom, really, and you can tell by his dorsal fin or whatever. Yeah, but he's been spotted every year for like vicious I guess, I want to say going on like 20 years, but he's a, he's a solo orca whale, and that's the only one you've ever heard about okay but uh, their next biggest predator will be sharks. That's why you're seeing more and more shark activity in new brunswick.
Speaker 1:Well, our water is warming up water's warming up and then, but the seal population is also exploding yeah there's lots of food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they love the seals and it's like I know, going on the the there you can track the sharks they tag.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's an app for it An app, yeah, the O search app, and you can see they name them all their funny names.
Speaker 2:Oh geez, there was a great white whale or a great white shark Only 12 kilometers off the Misspeck Bay beach there the other day, where people go and swim and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty neat yeah, it's neat enough, unless it depends how far out you swim. But no, that's that's interesting. To seal the seal tag, that's seal like I said I love variety.
Speaker 2:Just hearing that I love variety, that's cool well, you're like, yeah, either, it's because I love I don't want to get stuck on one, I love doing it all. Yes, I'm not a hardcore of anything, I'm just a hardcore in general.
Speaker 1:I'm intrigued by a lot of things.
Speaker 2:I'm intrigued by a lot of things.
Speaker 1:It's like we're not going to get into this too much Because I'm going to do another podcast on it, but how we went on a public Public land. Public land pheasant hunt. That was interesting.
Speaker 2:It's only a two week season very short, but again, that's why the government's been great the last couple years In providing more opportunities. So, and like, you run raccoons and stuff at night and but now Raccoons, skunks no, not anyone's gonna go Eating skunks, but they're all listed in the book.
Speaker 1:Now yeah, so that's they. Yeah, they actually have a hunting season, they actually have a hunting season same as a squirrel, yeah.
Speaker 2:So once we can find some of them juicy, big gray squirrels we'll be into the meat. Yeah, We'll be into the meat Ken.
Speaker 1:Exactly. No, I'll definitely be eating more squirrel after. I will never like that day. We were out and you cooked it up. I was like I'll never look at a squirrel the same way again. I said I'd never leave. It's crazy Because they're dancing in front of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they could get a half dozen of them. It's like chicken wings.
Speaker 1:You work for the meat, you hear a lot of people say that with different meats, like oh, it tastes like chicken.
Speaker 2:It tastes like chicken.
Speaker 1:It really does. Yeah, it really does yeah.
Speaker 2:So one thing I'd like to see maybe the province list is frogs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because frog, I'd try it. I've never. Frog legs are good To be close to chicken.
Speaker 2:That's pretty damn close Really, yep.
Speaker 1:I know, in the states you know the southern ones they're right into frog legs.
Speaker 2:They're down. Oh, we're gigging bullfrogs. Yeah, they're down, gigging bullfrogs. Why can't we?
Speaker 1:We have a super healthy I would, I definitely would.
Speaker 2:I spend a lot of time On the water, Different watersh lakes. There's a fair amount of frogs around. There's bullfrogs Not far from here, the Canaan River somewhere not very far from us here in southeastern New Brunswick Super healthy population of frogs. You get down on the marshes there and they're big.
Speaker 1:There's some big honking frogs Get a little bit of a meal. I'd try it A dozen bullfrogs would be enough.
Speaker 2:It's like chicken wings. It's more of a snack food almost, but it's unreal. Yeah, I've only ever had them in restaurants. But uh, people like I said, people in the southern states, they love it. Yeah, so I like it, not like it. I love variety because, again, when it comes to the fishing world, like most people talk to, oh, I love brook trout fishing. Well, have you ever gone flounder fishing? Oh, geez, I wouldn't even know where to look. That's something that was like my vendetta this summer. I've been chasing flounder herd, you know, not really having much success, and I've got in the whole of the world talking to me.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what flounder are flounder. I'm guessing they're fish the way you're talking, yeah, they're fish they're.
Speaker 2:They're a flat fish, they're a flat bottom fish yeah, um, they're wicked eating.
Speaker 2:I caught, caught some when I was a couple of years ago like when I was younger wicked fish. Had an old guy show me on the bridge there, had a for the pier show me how to clean them. But I had a buddy I know down in Nova Scotia. He's like we flounder fished all the time. You should come down and I'm like I've been trying so hard all summer and we went down there. We caught limits 10 ground fish per day per person.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So between the two of us we had 15 flounder and wicked fishing. You had a meal.
Speaker 1:Oh man, that meal. You definitely had a meal I like fought probably off my.
Speaker 2:We split it off 50, probably about five pounds of meat each.
Speaker 3:Okay 15 flounder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you get four fillets off them, two on the top, two on the bottom, because they're a flatfish. But uh, again, that's not something it's, it's an unconventional fishery with that. So I love unconventional, I love getting off the beaten path yeah I love using underutilized resources.
Speaker 2:So again, everyone loves trout, everything. There's no salmon fishing season anymore for retention, but everyone loves salmon. You know the striped bass is very popular now, but you ever kept a white perch unreal delicate white meat and the limits, I think 25 a day for white perch. Oh yeah, when the limit on brookchotes five or yellow perch, I think limits 100 a day, what, yes, is anyone actually catching 100? No, because they just don't use the resource. Yeah, the resort, the population is there, the resource is there, the population is there.
Speaker 1:I suppose they have the limit on that.
Speaker 2:Yellow perch are super abundant. Now you can't always find them, the jumbos. The big ones Are they?
Speaker 1:really bony. No, you can fillet, because I'll eat fish all day long. I don't like bones. No, if I'm picking through bones.
Speaker 2:I can fillet them just like a striped bass kind of deal. Yeah, now they're very small, like they're smaller fillets. Yeah, but uh, it's super underutilized. Like I said, if marlon prince is listening, he's a big white. Uh, white perch preacher. He loves to. I'm pretty sure he loves the white perch and I do too.
Speaker 1:How big did they?
Speaker 2:get.
Speaker 1:Oh, you can get the white perch in the probably one poundish range okay, yeah, like an average one would probably be a little bit of a fight you get one 12 inches, that's a pretty good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not so much the fight, but it's just a super under underutilized food resource people don't think of. To put it in perspective, I was up this springtime up uh bass riverway, which is about an hour north of monkton, where we're here in southeast new brunswick and I'm there on the shore, I'm fishing and the game warden pulls up yeah, you got your fishing license.
Speaker 2:I got it right here. I got a laminated coffee, he said I've never seen that before and I was bored at work one day and I laminated it because they don't make them on the waterproof paper anymore.
Speaker 1:You're around water. Why not laminate it? They don't. They used to come on a waxy kind of piece of paper that would be somewhat water resistant. It's just printer paper. Now, they cheaped out. They cheaped out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, budget cuts, budget cuts exactly but he's like you caught any trout today? And they go no, not yet, but I'm not trout fishing. He goes oh no, what do you? White perch? Oh, oh, he was. He was taken aback by that. Yeah, I said I got one here so far, but and I'm kind of like it was my first time going up there for them Like, have you heard of anybody catching them anywhere else? No, not really, just mostly people trout fishing and it's like oh okay, if you caught one here, you probably best stay here, you know? Yeah, so it's just. Even he was taken aback by me being there in a typically trout dominant watershed, right, but targeting a different species To harvest. Yeah, so he was just. Again, I love that type stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I think they're a better meat Than trout.
Speaker 1:Okay, they're like yeah, shots fired, they're a super delicate White meat, delicious yeah. Because the salmon that's pink.
Speaker 2:Salmon will be pink Trout is pink.
Speaker 1:I like that, but I mean what's it? Haddock or something that's like white meat.
Speaker 2:Haddock's a white. Yeah, that's really good. Now haddock will be. That would be back in the salt water, that's. I don't know if haddock Is a ground fish or not. You have to go pretty far out for the haddock, but the pollock is another one Right. So for the ground fish it's flounder, pollock, cod and dogfish, which are a shark actually. So those four.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I've heard of that dogfish. Dogfish, yeah, spiny dogfish, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:So those are the four that fall under your ground fish. So so you're like 10 of those and that's a federally regulated fishery. So you're like 10 per day per person on those.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's quite a few.
Speaker 2:That's a fair amount, like I said You're getting dinner plate sized flounder. When I was down in Piratesboro With a friend of mine Down southern that's like south shore Nova Scotia, almost You're getting down there halfway and big you get dinner plate sized flounder. You get some big ones, yeah, and they're delicious yep unreal. So again, that's. That's what I grew up doing, was fishing, and I love the.
Speaker 1:You know that I know, I know fishing pretty well, but uh I got a question. I mean what about bear? Have you shot? I?
Speaker 2:haven't shot a bear yet there, I have not cooked any bear yet, and I think the biggest thing is it overlaps so heavy with fishing season in the springtime.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, it's either.
Speaker 2:I'm in the Miramichi fishing straight bass. I'm on the St John river fishing smallmouth bass, um, trout fishing, beating it through the woods. Or I'm salmon fishing in the Miramichi, or they're just so like. That's like the rut of the fishing season almost is in the springtime when everything gets opened up. Yeah, that in the fall is great too, but in the fall everyone's busy with duck hunting and deer hunting and whatnot. Yeah, so I do have, like I get, I got. I'm working hard to get a bait station set up. I think next spring will be the year I try and harvest one. Yeah, um, I've had lots on camera before, you know. Let's try again. It's finding a reliable bait source for them. Yes, I've tried the popcorn. That's very labor intensive for one garbage bag full of popcorn. Yeah, sitting there to feed the popcorn popper for three hours.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's the thing with bear they're not hard. Bear aren't hard to hunt. Right, if you want to get a, you can get a bear to come in anywheres in the woods yeah, here, anywheres but to. But the big thing is finding a bait source that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, right that?
Speaker 2:you can go through a lot of you know, yeah, so by no means am I looking for a trophy that that would be like I just I'm a meat, I'm a meat hunter first. Yeah, I don't really. They can't eat horns.
Speaker 1:They always say I like eating bear. I do, I really do some people I've had before bear sausage spring not fall, bear just spring but uh, that's something I'd love to do.
Speaker 2:It's on my radar. I'm set up to do it. Um, it'll just be a matter of time, it's on my list yeah, that's fish and sturgeon. I haven't caught one yet that'd be cool.
Speaker 1:They're like dinosaurs, aren't? They're the dinosaurs of the ocean, yeah, so and?
Speaker 2:it's. It's uh funny. There's a big. There's a big fisher, youtube guy, john b. If people are into fishing they'll know him. He's been around for years. He probably wouldn't be much older than us 28 29. He did a whole hour long special video him coming to new brunswick last year okay cool. Even if you're not into fishing, it's worth a watch yeah on the eastern seaboard. The saint john river is the only river you can legally target sturgeon.
Speaker 2:They're protected in every other state up and down the eastern seaboard really yeah and like uh, and we're fortunate enough to have two different species here, atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, so they're huge right huge you can get them. You can get them a foot long. You can get them eight feet long, wow. But if you get an eight foot long fish, chance there, that fish is a hundred years old or more.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're super slow growing. They just suck the mud for years on the bottom.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But between bears, pheasants are still on my list. Muskelon muskies yeah, that's another big one. I'm all set up to do it, but again it's just finding the time. It overlaps with so many other of my hobbies too. It's just tough so yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Jacob, I can't thank you enough for coming on the podcast. I've had a lot of fun and I look forward to more hunting adventures.
Speaker 2:I look forward to our fish and hunt cooking podcast recipes in the description.
Speaker 1:Thanks see ya.