Maggie's Farm

We received a nice email from Olivier Martin at CaliEagle of Aigle Boots, regarding our piece on Wellies. We like their stuff, and own some. He said this:

Re-posted from March, 2006

April is the beginning of trout season around here,
but it is also turkey season.

Non-hunters may not know that April is Spring Turkey season in many states in the US. Last April, early morning, Gwynnie and I were warming up our fly casting on a pond when a proud  acquaintance stopped by with his heavy gobbler in one tired hand and his shotgun in the other. Surf 'n Turf?

If you have never eaten a wild turkey, you have never eaten turkey. The farm-raised birds are as bland as cardboard. Our past piece on the Wild Turkey here.

At Maggie's Farm, we are grateful for the work of organizations like the National Wild turkey Federation, plus all of the non-profit and governmental agencies which have restored the magnificent wild turkey around the US. We even saw some in Maine last fall.

Turkey hunting has more in common with deer-hunting than bird-hunting. In other words - boring... until the last moment - if the bird shows up. It's like they say about Obstetrics: 99% pure boredom, 1% terror. But in this case, 1% thrills.

Some folks get a kick out of turkey-calling, but I think it's for the birds. Decoys are fine.

Image from the NWTF website. Those are males, displaying for a hen's attention.

That's a Maggie's Farm pal fishing in Patagonia recently. (The Mrs. is quite handy with a camera.) With all of the snow we have up here in the northeast, and a driveway with two inches of ice, it's hard to imagine that our trout season opens soon. Over the next week or two, we will post some fishing items.

Timely indeed, BL: DC Circuit strikes down DC Gun laws. This will get interesting. Instap. has some updated links to other commentators.

A quote from the opinion:

To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad). In addition, the right to keep and bear arms had the important and salutary civic purpose of helping to preserve the citizen militia. The civic purpose was also a political expedient for the Federalists in the First Congress as it served, in part, to placate their Antifederalist opponents. The individual right facilitated militia service by ensuring that citizens would not be barred from keeping the arms they would need when called forth for militia duty. Despite the importance of the Second Amendment's civic purpose, however, the activities it protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia.

Music to my ears. It is the music of the basic human right to self-defence being protected. I think I'll read it again, and then bring out the champagne.

12% of Americans hunted last year. Other hunting stats and data here. One quote from the article:

Show Cornell University researchers a young hunter, and they'll show you a future environmentalist. A 2006 study shows that children who hunt, fish or play in the wild before age 11 are more likely to grow up with deeper understanding and respect for nature.

I always knew eating game made a person feel good, but I always figured it was the wine. Or the memories. Or both.

Maybe not. Telegraph.

When I see pheasants hanging like this, I remember that the French way is to age them until the body falls from the head. That's when they're ready to clean and cook.

A reporter can create controversy, and thus a story, almost effortlessly. All you do is ask enough people a suggestive question until you find someone who disagrees with whatever it is. Then you have your story.

Whether they're a nut, or uninformed, matters not.

Apparently some people do not care for coyote hunt contests. We did a piece on the eastern Coyote last year. We would welcome such contests in New England.

We haven't shown a nice gun in a while. This is the ArmaLite AR-10 in .308 caliber - a good caliber. Mr. Free Market wants two - one for him and one for his lad. And I know Buddy would like one for popping the bunnies in his garden. Useful also for creating peace in the Middle East.

We never covered all of the sporting breeds we wanted to during the Chinese Year of the Dog, but we hit quite a few of our favorites. Not all of 'em, cuz we never met a dog we didn't like.

We have the same weakness for baby humans. (The adults are another matter.)

At the end of the year, I want to remind our readers that the Poodle is a huntin' dawg. We said it once before, and this is the last time we'll say it.

Just don't give them deep, ocean water to retrieve from, as you would with a rough and tough Chessie. Marsh, streams, and ponds are just fine. Many Poodles have a strong pointing instinct too - mine have had one.

Am I tired of people telling me "He might break a nail"? Indeed I am. The only problem with Poodles is that they have higher IQs than humans, and that they love to laugh - at your expense. Yes, they are bird dogs and they will find your bird. And they will drop it at your feet - if they feel like it. 

And if they have a field full of bird, they just might tell you to go to hell, and roust them all at once and leave you looking like an idiot. Unlike some breeds, they can run all day, working. They do not tire. But when they want to sleep, they want their head on your pillow.

Graham Owen can tie flies which can fool other bugs - and he can take stunning photos too. Thanks, Synthstuff, for the remarkable blog find - Flies with an Attitude. Sample:

Re-posted from Nov 1, 2005. Was that trip a year ago?

Our bird hunting trip to the Adirondacks this past weekend was a delight, thanks to excellent, lively companionship, but no thanks to an unseasonably early dump of 16" of snow on Tues/Weds. Conditions up north were not ideal for grouse, or for walking in the deep woods and gnarly alder patches. Nevertheless, the mix of good guys, birds, dogs, guns, and tough-walking, leg-challenging woods, followed by excellent tobacco and moderate amounts of good alcohol, is always one hell of a fine combination for the average American male. And, as I always say, "Hunting isn't shopping." Especially the way I have been shooting this year.

On Saturday we headed east, close to Lake Champlaine, where there was no snow, and we had the good fortune to run into a couple of migrating flights of woodock (one flush every five minutes), which redeemed our trip, as did our gala game dinner Saturday night at our gracious hosts at The Hungry Trout, featuring trout, moose, woodcock, grouse, Canada Goose, venison and duck, accompanied by witty conversation and good stories, both the lies and the true.

Thanks to a pal's Citation, (next time you are in one, ask the pilot to show you how fast he can climb that machine, and then lean back) the trip was rapid and luxurious, with all necessary adult beverages. NetJets is one way to do it, but there may be better deals if you shop around, or so I am told - but I do not play in that league.

This photo from Friday, up towards the Canadian border, close to Dannemora, NY.

The crisis of depleted fish stocks in the north Atlantic has been slowly evolving for 100 years. The vast schools of "groundfish" - cod, hake, and haddock -are gone; the redfish are gone; the swordfish and big bluefin tuna are in a fight for survival.

The tale of woe is highlighted this week by a piece via the AP here, and another at the WaPo here.

It's the tragedy of the commons. And these commons" aren't really all that large. Most of the Atlantic is very thin in fish. They congregate, during their migrations, on the banks, like George's Bank, Stellwagen, and the Grand Banks, where their food is plentiful.

Government made it worse; federal subsidies for giant trawlers made it possible for fishermen to eradicate entire populations. And the significant commercial fishing lobby in Maine and Massachusetts - with their senatorial allies in John Kerry and Olympia Snow - adopted a "get it while you can" approach, and local politicians take the bait.

Trawlers not only scoop up entire schools, they also degrade the ocean bottom, and catch the bait fish which end up dead in the nets and thrown overboard - along with the dead undersized cod, haddock, and flounder.

The Bush administration, interestingly, has made some real progress towards unwinding some of the anti-conservation regulations in the Atlantic fisheries, but New England politics remains a factor: commercial fishing is "a way of life," despite the fact that it is now dominated by what you might call "Big Fishing." Bush has been a staunch conservationist about fishing in general, also here, most recently. This summer, he signed a bill creating the world's largest marine preserve.

I always have hoped that fish farming would ge a good solution. It's been successful in some ways in some areas - salmon, for instance, oysters and mussels. But problems with disease transmission sunk the cod farming attempts in Canada.

It may be far too late to rebuild the Atlantic fishing stocks. There is a tipping point at which restoration cannot occur. And it is a damn shame, because for us at Maggie's Farm, we care not only on conservation and stewardship grounds - we love to eat fish, and we love to go fishin'. We gain hope from the story of the Striped Bass, which is having a real resurgence since commercial fishing for them has been controlled.

I just finished a book, The Doryman's Reflection: A Fisherman's Life, by Paul Molyneaux. It's not a great book, but it gives a good flavor of what is going on from a guy who has seen the transition from the old to the new ways of fishing, and who understands the regulations, and the science too.

The concern about our fish is not wacky greenie hysteria, it's not crying wolf. It is as real as what happened to the Passenger Pigeon and the Buffalo. There is a role for government here (is that not shocking to hear from us libertarian-minded folks?), and it shouldn't cost the taxpayer a penny.

But, if done right, it will hurt the brave fishermen who daily risk their lives in the rugged and most dangerous occupation in the US. Sad, but necessary: these are not guys who could switch to an office job. The industry has succeeded beyond its ability to sustain itself.

John and some other Maggie's Farm buddies, standing in front of Class Action at Bud 'n Mary's Marina on Islamorada last Saturday. The fish are mainly King Mackerel, plus a couple of snapper. They released the sharks they caught.

Yes, it is still the Year of the Dog in the Chinese calendar, and we will make one last exception to our original desire to highlight sporting dogs, because this is a breed we love. I grew up around one.

Gentle giants. Males 130-150 lbs. Bred to do work both at sea and on land, the huge cuddly beasts pulled nets, rescued fishermen, hauled carts - and one, named Seaman, accompanied Lewis and Clark. Good choice. Interestingly, these dogs were probably of English origin, not North American, and are ancestors of the Lab.

Read about Newfies here.