Here we are already, the holidays.
If you're like me, you've been busy. December is a huge month for deer and elk hunting, chasing waterfowl, and getting in the last of the upland game bird scene. Dungeness crabs are open
here on the Pacific, and tautog and big stripers are being caught in the Northeast.
Much of what we're doing these days has been gathering special items for our Christmas tables. A haunch of venison, or a smoked duck. Pheasants or turkeys for roasting, a nice striped bass to stuff and roast whole. Crabs for cioppino, oysters for stuffing and soup.
Foragers among us have gathered black walnuts and butternuts, acorns and pine nuts. All sorts of mushrooms. Wild
persimmons, apples, pears and pomegranates. It's time for woodsy, malty beers and red wine.
I rarely do the big spread anymore, alas. It's just the two of us, and family is far flung. I miss it, really. I like the days of prep getting ready for a crowd, the juggling act of getting everything cooked properly all at the same time. Hell, I even enjoy the challenge
of the occasional vegetarian or weirdo who, say, can't eat garlic.
I am sure I'll get my chance again someday. Meanwhile, I scratch this itch with my culinary hunts, where I get to pull out all the stops for two or three nights, giving everyone who attends a meal to remember each night. Right now they're all sold out, but there'll be more. I promise. And I am
happy to say that the last four hunts have all done sold out solely through the newsletter you are reading now. I am grateful for that.
These past few weeks have been eventful for me.
I finally punched a deer tag, for
one. I'd eaten tag soup for both my deer hunts here in NorCal, but managed to get myself a nice Coues deer buck down in Arizona. Here is the story of that hunt, which was an amazing learning experience.
Before that, Holly and I drove all the way up to the Tri-Cities area of Washington state to hunt mallards. Yeah, mallards. Where we hunt waterfowl, greenheads are pretty scarce. Mostly it's pintail, wigeon, gadwall and teal for us. Turned out to be a great hunt, with a little surprise at the end...
Closer to home, I also got to chase the wily steelhead on California's Trinity River. I love fishing for all salmonids - salmon, trout and char - and may well write a book about them someday. Meanwhile, I am collecting more and more experience with these fish. And, just like our mallard hunt, there was a weird surprise to this trip...
I have a few more adventures planned before hunting season ends and book tour begins in February. More on those in the next newsletter.
But yeah, book tour. It's almost upon me. 2018 will be all about Pheasant,
Quail, Cottontail, which debuts at Pheasant Fest in South Dakota in mid-February. I'll start hitting the road for it in March, with a stop in Bozeman, Montana, then a week or so in Missouri.
I expect to hit Oklahoma in late March, then back home for a bit. Those of you who live near me in Sacramento should mark on your calendars March 29, when I'll be cooking small game tacos at Nixtaco Taqueria, and April
5, which is our beer bash at the appropriately named Jackrabbit Brewing in West Sacramento. Details are still TBD, but the dates are firm.
I'll be at the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers annual Rendezvous in Boise, Idaho in April. Each month after that will be more events. I expect to hit the Pacific Northwest in May, New England in June and Canada in July.
My goal throughout is to build in enough free time to fish, forage and hunt when I am on the road -- I didn't get much of that when I was on tour for my venison book. More details on the tour will unfold as we get closer.
And finally, if
you are a deer, elk or moose hunter and you haven't gotten a chance to see my venison cookbook Buck, Buck, Moose, you still have time to order a copy before Christmas. We're proud of this book, and even happier
that it has received 250 five-star reviews on Amazon. Hope you like it, too!
