by: Gary Akin
Over the years,…. Rich, Tom, and I have put in a lot of hours, days, weeks pursuing our passion for hunting deer. We’ve hunted from our camps, from cheap hotel rooms, rented cabins, tents, state lean-to’s, campers and slept in our vehicles. We have had as varied a diet as our diversity of sleeping arrangements. Generally we place a pretty high priority on our food. After all it is the fuel that keeps us going. We’ve boated in steaks, burgers, sausage etc. to our lean-to. We’ve enjoyed lobster in the camper while hunting in Maine! But sometimes we’ve had to make do.
Crackers & cheese, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, jerky, even ramen noodles to hold us over till we could make a run for groceries. I always pack some canned goods for my trips and generally I hope I end up bringing most of it home! Tom’s Thanksgiving meal one year, (after downing a beautiful mule deer buck!) consisted of a tuna sandwich and Scotch! I believe it was famed deer tracker Larry Benoit who said, “Eat Dinty Moore stew for 3 straight days,.. and you WILL shit your pants!” I have not personally verified this statement. However I once finished day 2 and was experiencing a list of side effects that you might hear from one of those TV ads for a new drug, ie. bloating, tremors, excess gas, cold sweats, nausea, lack of sleep, nightmares, nervous tics, test farts (which I won’t do ever again), penguin walking, and excessive butt clenching. I made absolutely sure that the next day I was going to dine on something different.
We like to occasionally break from our normal intake of red meat or pork (bacon/sausage) to dine on poultry. Oh, we certainly enjoy our chicken, we’ll have wings, Dave T’s seasoned specialties from the grill or fry pan and Al’s gourmet platters that only he can prepare. But the special treat is one that comes from the woods we hunt itself. Some refer to them as grouse, some call them partridge. It doesn’t really matter… When we have the opportunity to add these delectable treats to the evening meal, we do!
Years ago when I was in the service, there weren’t many deer hunting opportunities available to me. I did however have chances for partridge. I would always try to bring a few home for Pop when I came home on leave around Thanksgiving. I’d also get my few annual chances to try for a buck. He really appreciated those birds. Years later, he’d come up to my camp. By now I was really into deer hunting and didn’t pursue the birds often. He would always make sarcastic comments to the effect, “I used to have a son who’d bring me partridge every year,.. I really miss those days!” As luck would have it, Pop was in camp one day, and after I’d finished a stillhunt/push towards Bird, I was waiting for Bird to arrive and I spied a partridge walking across the forest floor, perhaps 30 yards distant. Since I was heading back to camp and Pop, I decided to try to take his head off clean with my deer rifle! This would end Pop’s “whining” for this trip at least. I missed. But the bird didn’t flush away. It sort of hopped and ran so I tried again. Same result! Now I realized this bird can’t fly!
I leaned my rifle against a tree and with adrenaline pumping, I chased that bird down, performing some crazy “cuckaracha” dance as I tried to stomp on its tail and pin it down. I finally succeeded! With shaking arms and hands, I was so excited I didn’t think. I was grasping this flopping angry fighting bird and I snapped its neck. Yes, Pop was surprised and appreciative when I returned and presented it to him at camp. But later I realized I had blown a once in a lifetime opportunity. I had been holding a live partridge! I could have become a legend if I’d just opened the door and shouted, “You want partridge?… Kill it yourself!” and tossed it through the doorway into camp with him! I’ll never get that chance again.
Tom has been our chef for our special poultry treat preparation for the past 2 seasons. He is meticulous with careful attention to detail as he fries our meal in a large cast iron skillet. Every morsel is cooked and seasoned perfectly! Mmmmm! My mouth is watering as I’m pounding this keyboard….. It’s amazing how some of my most special memories from my time at camp don’t revolve around something that happened in the woods, but perhaps a special meal shared by brothers at a special place….
Adirondack Camp Journal 