New Years Eve...

We made a last chance effort on New Year's Eve for a few grouper, which happens to be the last day of grouper season.  Needless to say, we came up empty handed. We tried a spot way north and it didn't pan out.  We did however get 5 or 6 MASSIVE sting rays and MONSTER sharks. Here's a video that pretty much sums up the day...Fyi- the video was of us manhandling a big stingray!

Christmas eve

On Christmas Eve my dad wanted to go out and get a pig, as he was opposed to going through all the work we normally go through when duck hunting. So we had a nice, "relaxing" morning of driving to the boat ramp at 0400, getting in the boat and taking that 6 miles to a canal where we paddled canoes 1 mile then ended up walking for about 2 miles, and what did we end up getting...ducks...oh well, the ducks were beautiful. 

ducks are here # two

Well, we’re still hitting the ducks where it counts. Ross has been out with me a few times since he’s been back for Christmas break and we’ve done really well.  However, the early mornings seem to have taken their toll on everyone, so from now on I’ll most likely be hitting the honey holes by myself. I’m going back out this weekend, which is Christmas weekend, when there are mornings where I can sneak away for a few hours. I did find where there are some bucks bedding down, so hopefully I’ll have something to report next week.

On another note, in this picture you will see the mighty Rufus. He is now living with someone else, thank you to everyone who helped us in our efforts to find him a place to go. Long live THE MIGHTY RUFUS…

arts and crafts

Just a few random thoughts from my weekend on this post... here are some pictures and some thoughts...

This is inside of Keystone 12-18 packs, so I figured I'd make it, then make fun of myself for doing crafts out of my beer can box, so you can join in if you'd like. Here's a start.....can you help identify this, I know it's "fowl", but what is it?...I got this mounted for Christmas, I'm not sure how to brag about it?...Now I can say I'm going to CVS with Cora to pick up more family crafts...and: here it is, the pride of my mount collection, a testimony to all my work in the field...

Soooo... I got 20 squirrels this weekend and... I guess you're living the high life when you argue with your wife all afternoon about "how to cook the dumplings" for your squirrel and dumplings...

I guess I don't really have anything to say...good ribs...

I guess I don't really have anything to say...really bad squirrels... And they smelled worse than they looked.

I honestly couldn't eat "squirrel leg hot wings," but Blythe showed me just how much of a wuss I really am...

My dinner, the end result... not too shabyb but the "process" I'd rather just forget...Every man has his limits...I just can't do squirrel...just can't do it...

Unexpected favor.

I just got one of my old bows back from my dad who refurbished it. It came out FANTASTIC; if you ever need an old bow or arrows refinished or fixed for any reason, he is the person I would recommend. I believe he's planning on doing a lot of that type of work during his retirement (whenever that is?). I'm just reaping the benefits of his practice. Here are a few pictures of my "new" old long bow.

Please...send my compliments to the chef...

Now, by this time in the year you might be thinking, "Capt. Nate, how do you keep going? How do you maintain your figure and stamina?"
Well, if you must ask, it's by dieting correctly and eating healthy...and as evidence, one  of my staples for hunting season is below.  This is what I ate for dinner tonight, after a long morning of squirrel hunting: a medley of chicken "fries," french fries, chili, jalapenos, cheese and hot sauce...yup, you read that correctly.  Make sure you've got a lukewarm Keystone to wash it all down with :)

Ducks are here

Once again, the fast flying acrobats of the air are back in season. Yes, it’s duck hunting season; my personal favorite two months of the year are at hand.  The time to wake up early, get eaten alive by mosquitoes, paddle waterlogged kayaks and canoes into the furthest corners of the swamp, hide in makeshift palm frond blinds and shoot feverishly into the air, all in an attempt to bring those little bacon wrapped morsels of the marsh to the grill.  The first week is in the bag and now we have to wait till December 10th to hunt again when the peak of the migration is over.  We did well the first week; I think we shot around 20 or so, maybe more; it’s all been a blur of soggy waders and wet palm fronds.  Ross and company are gearing up for the festivities when they come home from school to really hit it hard over the Christmas break.  It will be fun to have some company in the blind. Anyways, the weather’s cooling down to the 60’s at night and that means winter’s coming so it’s time to bust out the jacket and start eating heartier meals: we’ve eaten plenty of turkey, coot jambalaya, gator leg and river shrimp over the last week or so. So now that we’re well feed and rested, we’re ready for more action.  I’ll keep you posted.

A Good Idea At The Time...

This (QAC iu>z#l@< UHYJ...Ooopps Cora just typed that, she was on my lap...) weekend was a long weekend for me, I had Veterans day off, which fell on Friday.  So, what else to do with a day off but to spend it in the field. Doug and I talked about going after some wild hog, so we did. We went to a spot that we've gone to plenty times before but never had much luck. It's an area that you can drive to but you have to park 2 MILES from the public land we are able to hunt. It's a double edged sward...less people take on this endeavor due to the sheer magnitude of the walk, thus less people stinking up "my land".  We zigg-zagged through a few fields until about 08:30 when a pack of pigs ran by and we took these monsters...

We make "weekend widows"

Tis the season… the season that makes “weekend widows,” as my wife likes to say. I’ve started a week or two ago setting random early morning alarms to train my subconscious to be alert when the time is needed, whether it be 3, 4, or 5 a.m. I’ll be ready, coffee thermos in hand, squinty eyed and bushy tailed, ready for what the day in the field will bring. The time is at hand for walking down cool, dark, and narrow dew-covered trails and spending the sunrise pondering things that can only come to mind after hours of sitting still, quietly meditating, looking deep into the wildness and thinking about nothing but the moment at hand.

Saturday morning kicked off yet another full-fledged hunting season and I spent the majority of the weekend focused on bagging a big buck. I started on Saturday morning by making the long trek down the St. Johns to where I parked the boat and walk another 1.58 miles to my final resting place perched above the swampy water overlooking a former cow pasture now covered in 6-8 inches of water. I saw 4 does and a few pigs but didn’t take any shots.
Sunday I was able to go with my mom’s husband, Jim, to their neighbor’s property in Ocala and hunt but again, no bucks-- just does.
On another note, it looks like this year, in stark contrast to last year, is going to be a bumper crop for duck hunting! I’m seeing really good signs that indicate the ducks will stick around for the majority of the winter. Good food, good air temperatures and great water levels are expected to grace us throughout the winter. So, you never know; I could go deerless this year and just concentrate on the mighty fowl. Time will only tell.

Here’s another report I sent out to a few close friends giving them a rundown of my weekend. Enjoy….
 
Assuming that you didn’t hunt here’s a little update:

I’m really, really sore today! 
If you haven’t worked out your groin muscles lately, I suggest you start now!  it’s like trying to walk through SNOW!!!  But it’s not frozen…so it’s like trying to walk through WATER!!!!
They haven’t mowed the dikes since early teal and there are 3 places that the grass is over 6 feet tall for around 30 yards each. One of these areas is where I got ran off by a pack of angry pigs who seemed to have made their residence in the lovely jungle on the dike!!!  Another of those  areas is where I couldn’t see the trail anymore and FELL OFF the dike!!!  Awesome!  Right now the water is about 3 feet from cresting the dike and when you walk off the dike in the dark you don’t have much of a choice but to faceplant in the mud…YUCK! That is, of course, after your tree stand that you’re heaving along hits you in the back of the head. OUCH!
Anyways, I saw the same four deer that I saw during the archery hunts I went on, two big does and two little does/deer/not spotted (seems like a nice little family).  And aside from the angry pig encounter, those ten or so I ran into on the dike is about it for pig sightings.
 
REMINDER: Watch out for SNAKES on the dikes!!! And watch out for floating ant blobs. While walking through the water, there are blobs of ants you will brush into and they make your waders their new home, complete with a Thanksgiving meal in the form of your legs and neck.
 
The ducks are EVERYWHERE! There huge flocks of teal, lots of Floridas, shuvlers, mallards (yes, I said MALLARDS!), pintails and everything in between.  They are definitely looking for that 6 inch water.  I was on a tree that overlooked a flooded pasture and the ducks were DUMPING into it; unfortunately it’s about 2 MILES from…well… everywhere.  Get those waders and choke tubes and canoe paddles ready because it’s going to be a bumper crop this year.
 
The OLD canal (the filled in one) is questionable whether it can be run in a kicker boat right now; a few airboats ran it Saturday but it doesn’t seem to have a clear cut path yet. It DOES, however, look a lot better to canoe down than the ditch it parallels. Then again, my hatred for that ditch is still strong after I got stuck in the hydrilla during bow season.  On Friday I would like to try to get from Lake Winder to the mud hut, so if anyone’s interested in scouting or bushwhacking let me know.
 
I was in Ocala on Sunday and saw 2 does and 1 unidentified, and oh yes, the owner of the deer stand I was sitting in…oops, little mix up there…I guess he WAS coming to his property this weekend…
 
Anyways, that’s my report.  
 

CHEERS! Capt. Nate
www.natesoutdooralmanac.blogspot.com
 

more gator recipes

I am writing this as we are dining on gator white chili and "cracked" gator (fried gator steak). Figured I'd go ahead and record recipes for what are now my two FAVORITE ways to prepare the river lizard. Enjoy-- or come over to our house and enjoy :)

Gator White Chili

dice and saute:
3 cloves garlic
1 bell pepper
1/2 onion
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp sage

Remove veggies from skillet.

Saute 1-2 lbs 1/2" gator cubes in a dutch oven; in the meantime, in another pan, melt 3 Tbsp butter and then add in 1/4 c flour, slowing mixing to form a roux. Once the two are combined, slowly add in 2 c chicken broth, stirring often.

Add the veggies and roux in with the gator and season (with the aforementioned spices) liberally. Add in 3 14-oz cans of white beans-- your choice of which ones, but I used great northern beans, navy beans and butter beans. Turn the heat to medium low and let it cook for approx 1-2 hours. Top with cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce. Freakin' delicious.

Cracked Gator

I come from a family that loves them some cracked conch, and my dad has repeatedly said, "What if you tried to cook gator the same way you do conch?" We finally took him up on the challenge, and I am SO glad we did. Thanks, Dad!

Cut a portion of gator tail into approx. 3" steaks (in Nate's words, "the size of a roll of electrical tape. Or a tape measure. Or a cell phone." Isn't that helpful? Ugh.)

Either run the portions through a tenderizer 2 times or beat the S out of them with a mallet. If you've ever beaten conch, do this just the same. Basically, beat it 'til it's thin enough that it's flat.

Sprinkly gator with lime juice.

Prep: Lightly beat two eggs in a bowl. Fill a shallow plate/bowl with flour. Fill another with your favorite breading (I like McCormick's Seafood Bake).

Heat vegetable or canola oil in a skillet.

Dredge gator portions in flour, then cover in egg, then cover in breading.

Fry gator portions, approx. 3 minutes on each side ('til lightly browned).

We ate these plain, but next time might make a white gravy (like you find on country fried steak). I was amazed by how tender they were. Nate and I took our first bite apprehensively, but after that, it was on!
~Blythe

Opportunity Knocks

Nothing in my life has ever come easy: school, work, and even play presents itself as a challenge at some points.  This is an example of one of the many times I’ve had to create opportunities for myself-- and my friends, in this case; I just kept telling myself through this whole thing… “make something happen Nate, just MAKE an opportunity….  make lemonade out of lemons”…and you might know…I do love lemonade.

I got a call about two weeks ago from an enthused gator hunter with two tags for Lake Poinsett.  This guy, Bill, goes to my dad’s church and got my number from my dad who I’m sure was telling his own stories of heroism from his hunt with me just weeks before-- I can just see him standing around the coffee maker at church, “yeah, it was HUGE!!!”  I was pretty much packed up and finished with lizard hunting for the year with my four tags filled and the meat in the freezer, but when opportunity knocks, I guess you HAVE to answer the door.  In this case, answer the phone.  Bill and I compared our busy schedules and decided to hunt this past Friday night.  I went ahead and scouted the week before due to the fact that our area had received up to 12 inches of rain over the last week.  The water is at historic highs and that got me worried about where the underwater ninjas-of-the-night would be.  No biggie: as my scouting trips confirmed, they had stuck to similar patterns and I assumed that, aside from what appeared to be a little more rough housing than usual, this would be a “sure thing,” right? Sure, Nate, right… all you need is a boat that runs when you need it to.

As fate would have it, Bill showed up on time at 6:00 p.m. as I was ripping out fuel lines from my non-functional outboard, chasing some type of blockage in my fuel system and -- in the mean time -- spilling litters of polluted fuel into the St. Johns.  Not good.  “This is really, really, not good!” I thought.  It’s been 5 years since I have broken down at the ramp and this was not a time I wanted to mess around with this.  I had to do something: Bill, his son and his son’s friend were standing there on the dock, looking down at the dead vessel and me scurrying around like a blind mouse.  Smelling like waterlogged fuel and worried the hunt would turn into a complete bust, I made a few phone calls and procured what was a hopefully functional john boat, Jonah’s.  Thank goodness for good friends.  One small issue there, though: Jonah was in Missouri at a wedding and his boat keys were locked up in his house.  Ok, a quick trip to Rockledge to pick up his spare house keys from his brother, Adam (who was nice enough to meet halfway), and off to Port St. John to pick up the possibly functioning boat, which Jonah said he hadn’t run it in a few weeks.  I could only think of the predicament I would be in if I got to the ramp and the john boat wouldn’t start.  Bill was a good sport and came with me to run around the county, swapping boats and transferring gear.  Now it was back to the ramp, WHEW! Crisis averted!!! Vrroommm. The john boat started…thank God, Get in, Let’s GO. 

It was almost 9 p.m. and we were just leaving the ramp.  I was just glad we were on the water at all at this point; whatever happened after this was going to be great.  Even seeing a pair of glowing eyes watching us from the darkness would greatly encourage this group of four grown men on a 15 ft aluminum john boat.  At this point that’s what we headed out to do: find something...anything! I didn’t care if I had to find some alligator GAR to look at, we needed a boost.  We drifted around the mouth of Lake Poinsett through the lily pads and down the curving shoreline, in the dark, waiting for the elusive monster to conveniently present itself next to the boat for our easy pickings.  We had a gator pop up right next to the boat, but of course we weren’t ready; of course, why would we be.    At least we were able to use this first quick stop at the mouth of the lake to get settled into the johnboat and get an idea of how all the gear worked.  Bill brought some gear and I brought some gear so we had no shortage of stuff on the boat.  With nothing really popping up, we headed out and aimed south.

We ran around the swamp for an hour or so, maybe two, from Lake Poinsett south through Middle River and into Lake Winder, with stops here and there, but we had no real good chances.  Maybe the occasional 50/50 chance, but nothing panned out.  Continuing to work against the north-flowing St. Johns River, we found ourselves in a small lagoon I’ve been seeing a good size gator in, but the water was so high it could have been anywhere and we never did see it. 

By this time we were getting sore, cramping up, and getting tired of the lack of seating accommodations the johnboat offered, so we decided to start going down-current with the inevitable goal of the boat ramp, a comfy car ride home and a warm bed in mind.  We did essentially the same thing as we did going up-current but we used the current as much to our advantage as we could.  With the increased amount of water, the current was much stronger then it has been all year.  This high water also meant two other things: it was too deep to push pole the boat quieter and closer to the gators and it allowed us to float down the river giving us time to get set in the boat and ready to try for a gator we picked out to hunt.  We used the float method a few times and got a few really good chances but ultimately no hook ups. I kept telling the guys that one of them would screw up and give us a really good chance and we had to just keep trying, just keep picking them out and making slow descents down the river toward their glowing eyes.  I don’t think they believed me after a little while… but then a gator proved me right…one screwed up right in front of us.  As we approached the Duda Canal, the spotter shined a set of eyes he deemed worthy of a stalk and signaled one was coming, but I didn’t see it so I asked for him to light it up again; he did and in his haste he turned around to ask if I had seen it this time but he had just shined the 100,000,000 candle-powered spot light right in my eyes in his excitement.  A few seconds went by and I was able to pick out a faint silhouette in the moon light slowly slinking, slinking inevitabley to the bottom of the center of the river thus out of reach for this crew to get.  It came out from under a floating island of hydrila dislodged from the shore line as a result of that evening’s airboat adventurers. It was now or never—I grabbed my rod, a quick flip and a perfect cast right over its neck. SPLASH…got ‘em!  Right then, it was amazing, I saw the heaven’s open and a thousand angels blew the trumpets of VICTORY!!! The weight from the shoulders of this 90 pound wuss of a Capt. was lifted toward the clouds. It was going to be up to this wily four man crew to be the ones to get it in the boat.  Throughout the next hour or so the four men in the john turned into four kids waiting for the gator to come to the surface much like a kid waits to open their gifts on Christmas morning.  For the most part, wait is all we did. This gator peeled off a bunch of line right in the beginning and grabbed on the bottom of the river and stayed there. We tried EVERYTHING to get her off the bottom; we tried to get another fishing hook into its hide, we tried a Willy Snag Hook (as seen on TV, on Swamp People) and we even thought about just jamming the pole spear down toward it but it wouldn’t reach due to the high water.  At some point during the mayhem we thought we lost it but SURPRISE, it was still there.  Once it finally let go of the bottom and we got the first really good visual on what we’d hoped was a monster the way it made its self so seemingly heavy, we discovered it was only around 7-8 feet.  Regardless of its size, at this point, we were taking it.  So, the plan was for me to reel it up to the surface and have someone shoot the spear gun into it so we had a larger line in it to give us a little more leverage.  Well…that plan went to hell when I heard someone behind me ask…”how does this work?…bang…” There goes the spear into the darkness…Hmmm? “Ok, someone get the pole spear.” Bill ended up getting the pole spear into it at the moment my hook came loose while the gator was next to the boat.  Once we had a bigger line into the gator and it used up its energy biting the boat a few times (sorry, Jonah), it was no match for a few .357 magnum rounds. The gator ended up measuring in at 7 ½ feet and Bill's got about16 pounds of tail meat to snack on this winter.

All in all, it was a great trip and a success to boot.  Other than some gunk in the carburetors and a minor spear gun mishap, this one counts as another notch in the belt and new friends made.



Archery season opening day

This last Saturday was the hunting season kick-off and what a gorgeous day to be on the water.

Another Nice Fall Morning

  The first season of the year is archery season, one that until the last two years I’ve really not been interested in.  But now that I have realized that it’s such a sparsely hunted season in our area, I’ve enjoyed the time spent in the field without anyone spooking my animals.  I knew this Saturday would be wet, in fact, I wrote kind of a mini report detailing the conditions and emailed it out after I went out and scouted during the week.  Here it is: 

Wet, very wet…

Small game is going to be really good this year on or around high land areas.

Hogs and deer…not so much.

See info below for my duck report…

Subject: early teal scouting...

Update…

Guys-

I took the opportunity of a nice evening and got Blythe and Cora on the St. Johns.  I planned on getting over to where I “would have” liked to bow hunt Saturday but it’s really, really wet…really wet.  Bow hunting looks dismal at this point…dismal =  wet…wet = not that much fun!

However, I did see 3 flocks of teal!!! About twenty birds each. They all came out of the SOUTH-compound area (right around the big mud lake in the compound I’m guessing.) and headed further south.  Toward South Winder.  I saw the first two flocks at 19:20 and the third at 19:45.  I also saw one woody, but she just looked lost… as they usually do.  The teal looked nervous in my opinion, dipping and diving like they wanted to land in one of the small lagoons off of Winder but they would then fly to the middle of the lake only to shoot toward the shore again.  Other than that, I went to the middle of Lake Poinsett till the sun was completely down and saw nothing else.  Anyway, it was a great night on the water and that’s my scouting report…mum’s the word on my end.

Cheers!

Capt. Nate

Wet!

Anyways, I should have listened to myself and just slept in for opening day but I went out anyways.  I, of course, got a late start.  I was late, getting to my first spot at about 20 minutes past shooting time.  When I got out of the boat at what is normally (last year) dry land, it was waist-deep swamp water. I went about 100 yards into the marsh and ended up coming back to the boat bummed out, wet and defeated.   I left to go to another area that I thought would be dry land.  Once I got there it wasn’t waist deep but it was knee deep…bummer.  I walked in about a mile or so and never did find any dryness there either.  Even the ants, centipedes, snakes and every other type of bug were looking for a little reprieve from the wetness.

"Ants on a log"




Snake in a shrub

 





Ok, what about the last spot-- “The Go To Spot”-- I went back to just about the last spot that almost always holds any deer or pigs and once I got there I was met by two other hunters.  Bummer again.  They were just coming out, it was about noon at this point, and they said they didn’t even see an animal; I commiserated with them about a few things that were on our minds-- like the mass amounts of airboats out running around and the huge numbers of people that were out hunting, which normally are never out for archery season and then I headed back to the ramp with an empty boat. 

That’s about it for now. I’m working all my “contacts” right now trying to find 1.) dry land to hunt, 2.) if anyone is seeing anything (answer so far has been a resounding NO) and 3.) if anyone is hunting the evenings this week.  I’m going to hunt Tuesday night and I’m going to try the third spot I went yesterday, the only place that had good semi-swampy/dry land. 

Blythe's Cracker Kitchen (or, The Editor Speaks)

top row & door: gator; second row: deer, third row: fish, bottom bin: gator & shrimp. All out of hog! :(

When you have a freezer that looks like ours (see photo), people often ask, “So, how do you cook a (insert animal name here)?” That’s where I step in. Hi, loyal readers, Blythe here. I have been given the task of providing you with game recipes, seeing as I have cooked a S*#!-ton of wild meat over the past few years. So, should you find yourself with a couple extra gators, deer, or crabs that need cooking, here are some tried and true recipes we enjoy.  The ground gator recipes are still in the experimental stage, so you may want to check with one of us before mixing up your own batch. This is not a comprehensive list of ALL my game/seafood recipes, so should you find yourself with a particular type of fish or cut of meat that you don't know how to prepare, email me-- I may just have a recipe that will suit your needs. Worst case scenario (ie., raccoon), you can always fry it! Happy eating...

Bacon-Wrapped Duck

8 wild duck breasts

8 pieces bacon

8 slices jalapeno *optional

Wrap one slice of bacon around each duck breast (and jalapeno if desired). Run a toothpick completely through, then grill on medium heat/flame until the bacon’s cooked (roughly 6-10 minutes). This will leave the duck medium, which is what you want; overdone wild duck is super dry!  

Bavarian Venison

1 2 ½ - 3 pound deer roast

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 C sliced carrots

1 C sliced celery

Optional: 3 C quartered new potatoes

3/4 C dill pickles

½ C dry red wine OR beef broth

1/3 C spicy mustard

½ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp black pepper

2 Bay leaves

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp dry red wine or beef broth

Crumbled cooked bacon

Optional: hot cooked spaetzle or noodles

In a large skillet, heat olive oil, then brown roast on all sides. Place all vegetables (and pickles) in crockpot. If you do not plan to serve the roast over spaetzle (or if you just love carbs!), then include potatoes. Place meat on top of the vegetables. In a bowl, combine red wine/beef broth, mustard, mustard, pepper and bay leaves. Pour over meat. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or high 4-5 hours.  Remove the meat and vegetables from the cooker and place on a platter; keep warm. To make a gravy, transfer 1-2 C cooking liquid to a saucepan. Heat on medium. Discard bay leaves. Stir together 2 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp cold red wine/ beef broth and stir mixture into sauce pan. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 additional minute. Serve meat and veggies over noodles and top with bacon and gravy.

White Gator Chili

3 15-ounce cans of white beans, rinsed and drained (any combo you like: I usually use 1 Great Northern, 1 pinto, and 1 canellini)

2-3 C 1-2”gator cubes
1 C chopped onion

1 ½ C chopped bell pepper

2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried oregano or Italian seasoning

3 ½ C chicken broth

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Top with tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream. *If you have a white chicken chili recipe you LOVE, use it and just substitute the gator for the chicken. This is a pretty basic recipe we’ve made variations on for the last few years—but it’s a soupier version than some people prefer. This is a great way to use gator because it really tenderizes it! If you prefer red chilis, I suggest using venison instead. Gator is so mild that it just gets wasted in red chili.

"Leg in a pot"-- the leg is hiding under the veggies. This rivals any roast!

Leg in a Pot

1 Alligator leg or Deer leg or Hog leg (bones in)

1 C Creole butter (turkey injector marinade)—any type of marinade will work

1 ½ lb new potatoes, halved

1 red bell pepper

2-3 carrots, sliced

1 onion, quartered

Salt, pepper, and Everglades heat (or any Cajun blend) to taste

Throw everything in a crock pot, and cook on low for 6-8 hours—whenever potatoes are done. The meat will fall off the bone, so make sure you pick the bone out!

Fried Gator Nuggets

1 lb tenderized gator nuggets (2” cubes)

½ C McCormick’s Cracker Meal

Salt, pepper, Old Bay and Everglades Heat to taste

Preheat vegetable oil in fryer to 350. If your gator meat isn’t tenderized, take the time to beat it—it makes a difference! Rinse gator off—shake off, but do not dry, as this allows the cracker meal to stick. Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and combine with nuggets.  Shake to coat. Place nuggets in fryer and cook approx. 5 minutes; as soon as they start to turn golden brown, pull them. Best served with ranch, hot sauce, or BBQ sauce on the side.

Ground Greek Gator

1 container feta cheese

¾ bag spinach

4 lb gator chunks

4 Tbsp Greek seasoning

Grind all together (We haven’t actually cooked this yet, but I plan to use it as burger meat. I hope it’s good, because I have 2 lbs of it!)

gator five ways: pre-mixed breaded sausage, burger mix, Greek gator, taco mix, and nuggets

Ground Gator Burger Mix

3-4 new potatoes, skinned and quartered

2 C Pepperidge Farms stuffing

2-3 Tbsp salt

4 lb gator chunks





Cook potatoes 10-15 minutes, ‘til tender but still firm. Combine all ingredients and run through grinder. (This tastes similar to a crab cake, but a little milder; we made a spread out of mayo and Crystal hot sauce to top it with; cocktail sauce might also be good.)

 

my souffle

Caribbean Crab Souffle

½ C sweetened, flaked coconut

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/3 C celery tops

1 clove minced garlic

½ tsp curry powder

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp salt

Black pepper to taste

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 ¼ C milk

4 egg yolks

½ lb crabmeat

6 egg whites, stiffly beaten

¼ C fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400. Butter an 8 cup soufflé dish. Toast coconut in a skillet over low. In a medium skillet, melt butter over low. Add celery tops, garlic, curry powder, thyme, pepper flakes, salt and pepper—cook for 3 minutes. Stir in flour until smooth (approx. 1 minute). Pour in milk and cook over medium, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Set aside and allow to cool slightly. Whisk the egg yolks one at a time into the sauce. Stir in coconut and crab meat.In a medium bowl, beat egg whites and lemon juice with a mixer ‘til stiff but not dry. Stir ¼ of the whites into crab mixture. Quickly and gently fold in the remaining whites.  Do not deflate the volume. Transfer mixture to the soufflé dish and place it on the bottom rack. Bake 30 minutes or until golden, puffed, and still moist inside.

Now, I’ve been told soufflés can be a challenge, so make sure you follow this recipe (which I found on allrecipes.com, my favorite cooking website) exactly; otherwise, your soufflé may “fall”-- mine, of course, did not. Iron Chef! This was a bit intensive, but it was worth it-- Nate and I, both pretty big fans of coconut, crab and curry, were gasping as we ate this… sooo good!

 Baked Cobia Ribs

1-2 cobia rib sections, skin off

1 C Italian bread crumbs

½ C mayonnaise or sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 8x8 glass pan with olive oil or melted butter. Brush ribs with mayonnaise or sour cream, then coat in bread crumbs. Place outside of ribs (what was the skin side) facing down.  Baking time will vary based on how large the sections are—plus, I’m writing this from memory and just can’t remember! 15-25 minutes on 350 should do it; when you can pull a rib bone out easily, or the meat starts flaking when you pull against it with a fork, you know it’s done.

ceviche

Octopus Ceviche

1-2 C octopus, cut into cubes and rings

1 C firm white fish (red fish, black drum, tilapia, cobia), cut into 1-2” cubes

Optional: 1 C shrimp

1 container fresh salsa (or pico de gallo)

1 Hass avocado, diced

½ cucumber, diced

½ cup green olives, chopped

10 cherry/grape tomatoes, quartered

Juice of 2 lemons, 4 limes

Bring a pot of water to a boil; place raw octopus in a fryer basket or colander with handles and blanch the octopus in the water for 10-15 seconds. Give the octopus a few minutes to cool, then combine all ingredients in a non-reactive covered container. Try to choose a container where the citrus juice covers about half of the seafood/veggie mixture. Place the ceviche in the fridge, and shake every few hours. It should take roughly 4-6 hours to “cook.” Once the fish is “cooked,” make sure you drain off the citrus juice after this so it doesn’t get too tart! You may prefer to add the avocado at the end, as it may get a little brown. For those of you who’ve made ceviche, you’ll notice that you DON’T COOK THE FISH. The citric acid from the lemons and limes does this for you. You won’t get sick J

The end of one season and...well? on to the next...

 Well, all good things must come to an end.  As you see from the post before, I've tagged out using the third and fourth gator tags, thanks to the help of a couple of West Coast gator wranglers. Ross and Jack made the trek from USF and joined me for an evening of adventure. We headed out after I got off work Friday night, getting on the water a little later than normal, around 6:30 pm. We hit a few spots right away and had maybe one good shot at a gator but nothing panned out.  We headed toward Lake Winder and on the way, while going up Middle River, we saw the first of TWO gators of the night crossing the river in front of us.  To make a long story short, we made really short work of yet another 7 footer.  We got it in the boat and we had so much energy left in us we headed out for another one in an effort to fill the final tag of the season.  We spent a little time out on Lake Poinsett chasing a few around, then decided to hit the river again and see if we could catch another gator crossing the river or something.  About 3 miles up the river, we were able to sneak around a small point and get a snatch hook into our second gator which gave us a MUCH more diffcult fight and ended up being the biggest gator I've goten yet: 8'3''.  The monsters still seem to elude me but I guess that's what keeps me coming back.

It's now Sunday afternoon, 9.11.11, and I just finished eating a bowl of fresh gator nuggets; everything's cleaned up, washed down, ground, tenderized, nuggitized, sanitized, vacuum- sealed and frozen.  I'm all ready for archery season to start Saturday!!!

A picture of me and Cora the Critter-Gitter

Tagged out, baby!!!!!!

Just put the third and fourth gators in the boat tonight.  That was great!  Ross and Jack came over from Tampa and we nailed them. More to come-- it's 3:10 a.m. and I'm done for the night!  The 7 footer and the 8 footer are on ice and waiting for the cold steel tomorrow.
Cheers!
Capt. Nate

Solo Cracker this time...

Once again I was unable to rally a crew to hunt with (despite high levels of pre-season interest) and unfortunately this time my phone list let me down, so disregarding the "critics” (i.e. mom), I decided to go out alone and try to subdue a monster of the night by myself.  For those of you questioning the safety of such an endeavor, I was in my flats boat and that has relatively high sides so I felt pretty safe attempting the unmentionable. Besides, it ultimately only takes the flip of a knife blade to cut any lines connecting me to a pissed off gator, sending both of us on our merry way. Anyway, my solo venture started out as a really slow night so I began moving around, covering a lot of water as quickly as I could.  Just trying to get some action going, I covered about 4-5 miles in an hour or so and ultimately ended up where I've been hunting for the better part of the first phase, a large lagoon off of Middle River.  I took a few casts at some good gators but nothing panned out.  I finally hooked into a 6 footer at about 10:30 p.m. but as I wrestled it at the boat, all of a sudden, it just came off.  So, what I thought was the end of a tough night just became the beginning of an even tougher night.  I had already lost two before that one even though they were just on the line for a second or two, but I was feeling pretty bummed out and short a few hooks at the point too; I think I only had two left.  I took a little break and drank my red bull, had an apple, sat for a bit, and regrouped.  I decided I would head toward the boat ramp and just hunt what I could find as I went down the river.  It didn’t take long to figure out how the gators were acting that particular night so I quickly developed a plan where I approached gators from along the shoreline, waited ‘til they moved off the shoreline towards the middle of the river, and then casted at them. I practiced this method several times until I came to what I could tell was a very large gator.  I used my “action plan” and SUCCESS!!! My second GOOD hook up of the night.  In the tiny window of time in which I was able to see the gator’s full body, I was able to tell it was around 11 feet.  So, there goes this monster gator with the current of the river and about two minutes into the fight pulling me downstream it give one massive thrust and POP… it’s gone.  Expletive…Expletive…you get the conversation I had with myself.  So there’s my second-to-last hook in the ass of yet another gator and I’m reaching around to “put” (that is, slam) my hookless rod down when the light from my headlamp catches a pair of eyes watching me over from the shoreline about 50 yards away in the darkness.  OH Boy, here we go again. I set my large rod down and grab my last fishing rod with a hook, which was a fishing rod I just grabbed on the way out the door that I normally use to catch fish in the Indian River Lagoon that are no bigger than 4-5 pounds.  In one sweeping motion I set the one rod down, grab the other and flip the grappling hook toward where I thought the body would be lying in the water behind the glowing eyes.  Splash!  Got another one!!! I could tell right away this wasn’t the 11 footer but it was a good one and it was on.  I wasn’t willing to let this gator get away so I wanted to be as perfect as possible to avoid anymore heartache.  I had pre-loaded the speargun during my “break” and I grabbed that and set it at my feet so it was close and ready.  As soon as I saw her head I took the best shot I could into her neck, hoping that would slow her down significantly, and it did-- enough.  I was able to catch my breath and load the bangstick for use in a moment or two.  Keep in mind I’m alone and it’s extremely difficult to manage this chaos by yourself.  I then was able to get a rope around her neck and it was much easier to handle her after that.  I actually had the sense of mind to grab the video camera and document some of the mayhem. Hopefully I can get that uploaded for you…once I got a few .357 rounds in the gator, I went to sever the spinal cord and PLOP…there goes my knife into the deep dark water…sh!t…However, I eventually got the gator in the boat (leaving my $90 knife in the murky depths of Middle River) and patted myself on the back.  I cleaned up the boat then headed to the ramp where I was met by the grouper troopers who held me up there for almost an hour “just chatting”.  I got home, took some self- portraits and started skinning.  I butchered from 4:30-6:00 a.m., cleaned up the table/knives and was ready to take a shower by 7:00 a.m. That’s when I fell asleep sitting in my easy-chair till about 7:30 when Blythe got up with the baby. Then I called in late to work, fell back asleep till 9:00, woke up, went to the store, picked up salt for the hide and finished rolling that up and was to work by 10:30 a.m. Not too shabby…

As a summary:
          A 15-20 pound class river rod
          My last hook
   +     20 pound power pro line
          Penn 450 spinning reel
          110-120 pound 7’3’’ gator
          No help_____________
= 36 more pounds of meat in the freezer!!!

First tag in the tail

Friday morning I lost my hunting partner for the evening so in a panic I went through the old "rolodex" and was eventually able to convince my dad to pick up his agent tag and join me for an evening of adventure on the mighty St. Johns.  It didn't take long to get a good shot at the first gator we saw but like the shots that we've had for the last two hunts before, they were misses.  Not too long after, we moved up river to the mouth of Lake Poinsett to target an 11 footer this guy popped up about 70 yards up the coast from where we were. My first cast, using the large treble hook, got snagged in the grass that our boat was sitting in but the gator stayed up so I dropped the snagged rod, grabbed a spare fishing pole and made a perfect cast, pulling the line directly over his back and getting a solid hook up.  After about 15 minutes of him pulling us around in the lake, we were able to get close enough for dad to get the diving spear gun and shoot it with a dart.  Once that was secured, it was just a matter of a little business till he was in the boat and we were on our way home to get his "coat" off.  He yielded about 30 pounds of fresh ground, nuggets and tenderloins. 

Stolen by a thief

Well I would love to share the pictures from my trail camera but it was stolen by a pathetic thief! I hate everyone.

Late Summer Reef Trip...

Just when I thought I was finished with offshore fishing, John M. invites me out to slow troll for king fish and I couldn't help myself ... so I said I'd go.  We headed out in his boat with every intention of getting some live pogies and slow trolling or drifting over the 70 foot reefs.  We picked up enough bait to fill both tanks just south of the cocoa beach pier and headed to where we planned on trolling.  Once we made the hour or so run NE we got to our spot and saw what appeared to be really good action on the bottom so we quickly adapted and dropped some pogies to the sure death.  GOOD CALL!!!!!  We had a FULL day of CATCHING.  We all had a great day and we were able to get a good mixture of fish in the box.  I caught a personal best 10.5 pound red snapper. I also was able to bring up a really nice 8 pound flounder.  John M. caught a "just short" gag grouper, that was tough to through back, and Bill P. caught some good flounder himself, along with get the winning cast on the cobia that I spotted on the way back to port.  I think we ended the trip with-
15- Black seabass
3- Flounder
1- Trigger
1- Cobia
1- Octopus

Late Summer Update

  

Well, looks like I'm pulling myself back in the saddle again; sorry for

the long delay between posts.  I wouldn't call it writer's block, I just

didn't have much to talk about.  Not much has happened in the last five

or so weeks: just a trip out to the Banana River Aquatic Preserve (long

name for the Banana River) with Adam the King Killer and his brother

in-law, Sgt. Sam, ultimately turning into a booze fest at the Sebastian

Inlet sandbars... that was a long 12 hours on the water.  I've spent the

majority of the last few weeks resting up my back and tearing into my

Jon-boat getting it back into shipshape for the upcoming mayhem,

otherwise known as hunting season.  Pretty much just waiting on some

Ebay parts to come in to finish up.  This year "Light Smoke" (Jon-boat's

given name) will be gracing the waters of Lake Poinsett with an updated

2001 25 horsepower Mercury 2 stroke outboard, a much needed upgrade!  I, on the other hand, will not have a new and improved spine...bummer.

Here are a few pictures from the trips I've taken over the last few

weeks on the IRL and Banana River.

Jonah the Great White Hunter and I have been scouting after work on weeknights for next week's alligator season opener and in my assessment it

has been a success (although there is not quite any type of performance

measure until there is a successful hunt on one of the gators we've been

scouting).  We picked out the gator we are going to target at the

"opening bell."  It popped up behind us as we were field testing the new

bang stick and other new goodies on an old tree, 300 yards up Duda
Canal.  The last few times we've run Middle River, it's been sitting
pretty much in the same place.  In the spirit of the most widely know
alligator hunting TV series, "Swamp People", I've decided to follow
suite and name this monster of the Middle River as they do on each

season by naming the most elusive gator.  His/Her name shall be
DUDEZILLA!!!!!! This particular gator eluded us a few times last year,
leaving us with nothing more than an empty boat and bitter memories.  It
lives right at the mouth of the Duda Canal where it enters Middle River,

thus the DUDE portion of the name, ZILLA is obviously because it's a

monster. It's at least 11 feet long if not bigger and its head is about

a foot and half wide.  Last night Jonah and I were able to get within
about 20 yards of it, which equals a dead gator in my book.
As we sat and drooled over the sheer size of this monster, I couldn't
help but think about the logistics of getting an animal this size...what
if it sinks the boat when we get it in?...Gee, I sure hope it's all the
way dead in that situation...Is it going to collapse my cleaning
table?...How do we get it from the boat to the table?...Do I have enough

freezer space? (NO.) ...that's going to take A LOT of Ziplocs...
Anyways, I guess we'll cross those rickety bridges when we come to them.

I'm including some pictures of last night's scouting trip which was most
likely our last 'til season starts.  You will notice that we are wearing

safety glasses, that's because this time of year there is a major hatch

of some type of fly out on the river; when you're running at about 30

mph, they tend to sting the eyes a little. Also, make sure you chew your
gum with your mouth closed (take my word for it)...Mmmmm...crunchy. We
were also able to run and set a trail cam on a pig wallow, so that
should be entertaining to view those pictures next week. I'll post some

if I get to my camera (and it's still there [that is, it hasn't been

stolen]) next week.