Have you noticed how food you would throw rocks at, or get a divorce over, if served at home, tastes great when you are in a hunting camp.

I had rusk on my first hunt in Africa. I thought it was the best stuff I ever dipped in a glass of milk. I had a South African friend make me some years later in Australia. She did a fine job, but it wasn't the same.

I used to cook stuff when hunting, and I was a lousy cook, but when it was "eat it, or eat nothing", it tasted great. I still can't reproduce bacon at home like over an open fire, on a cold morning in the mountains.

The best cup of coffee I have ever had: A handful of grounds boiled in an aluminum pot next to a campfire while backpacking with my grandfather.

The best fish: an rainbow trout cooked in bacon grease over a campfire next to the stream I pulled it from. Again, backpacking with my grandfather.

I've always figured that you should eat better in a camp than you do at home. And whatever it is it generally does taste better when you're sitting in a folding camp chair next to a firepit or by gas lantern light.

Last deer season I brought abalone steaks, oysters , spot prawns, ribeyes, linguica, and other assorted goodies on one 4 day trip.

I ate well.........

Just made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.

Well, that's generally true.

I even came to like powdered eggs when cooked on a two week canoe trip in Canada. And I never liked them any other place.

But then there was that time I tried cooking an old fox squirrel over an open camp fire. A definite mistake. It had me looking for a BBQ dinner in the nearest town.

Btw, I've done the trout thing too. Once by a cold fast running Ozark stream. Another time, the other kind of trout, down at Grand Isle, LA, right after they were caught. Now THAT was a good meal. I'd like to go there one more time just to do that again.

Even spanish mackerel was good pan fried in lots of butter right from the Gulf waters, and I've had that other times when I didn't think it was all that wonderful.

About thirty five years ago I was invited on a "fishing" trip. Some friends had hoop nets set in the Little Wichita. I suspect the practice was illegal as Hell. We must have loaded 700 pounds of catfish that day. That evening we ate catfish and drank Chivas Regal in a cabin by the river. Best catfish ever.

i remember our fishing camp outings when i was a teemager.... my folks always encouraged me to cook at home, so camp cooking was easy... i had a coleman stove with an oven... and a grill to put on an open fire... i'd cook meat on the grill, slice potatoes and onions together and cook on the coleman, and cook scratch biscuits and fruit cobblers in either a dutch oven or the coleman oven... we ate good... we'd cook crappie, potatoes, and hushpuppies in a cast iron deepfryer, too....

This is as they say neither here nor there...but the mention of the Coleman reminded me of something I was thinking when we were cooking out at our little hunting property. We were trying out a new Coleman stove (very nice too - combo grill and stove) and also had one of those new type Coleman battery lanterns. Now the lantern you know LOOKS just like the old Coleman white-gas pressure lanterns we all know so well from the past, and which in my estimation had this wonderful nostalgic sense about them. But the battery job is practically a FAR superior product in every way (you all could list the ways just as well as I could).

But, darn it, I just think it was more a bona fide legit camp meal with the old style gas lantern...I kinda miss those.

Anyway, we stayed up til late just watching the glorious display of stars and listening to owls, coyotes and the gurgling of the creek flowing thru the place and whatever...oh, and to keep this food related, it was venison burgers, BBQ beans, home fries, grilled onions and red peppers, and pumpkin pie made from scratch (from last year's jack-o'-lantern ).

..you know, it'll always amaze me that there're people in this world who don't get anything out of this sort of thing...

Agreed! It doesn't get any better than this.



Eating the day's catch, overlooking the water it came from.

For me, it has to be fresh caught walleye cooked on an open fire on the shore of the lake/river they're caught from!! Nothing better than a fish fry with some cactus cut fries and a nice cold beer or rye with lots of ice!!

quote:

Originally posted by CoyoteKiller82:
For me, it has to be fresh caught walleye cooked on an open fire on the shore of the lake/river they're caught from!! Nothing better than a fish fry with some cactus cut fries and a nice cold beer or rye with lots of ice!!

You got that right!!

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Amen to those findings!

Twenty five years ago here in AZ my friends and I all put in every year for the same unit to hunt javelinas in during the HAM season (Handgun, Archery, Muzzleloader)

Even though only maybe 3-to-5 of us would draw tags, all of us would always show up in camp for the opening weekend.

Only opening morning was spent hunting. And we had a self-imposed camp limit of 2 javelina. After those were taken, no more were to be hunted by us that year. That way we never severely damaged the herd we hunted.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was spent in gourmet camp cookery. We made great use of several dutch ovens, a fire pit for the "pigs", some sourdough starter, and a lot of mesquite for cooking fuel.

We brought a 12 foot long folding dinner table (actually three 4-foot tables we'd put end to end) and a velvet table cover,together with sterling silverware, fine china in its own special box, and long-stemmed wine glasses.

we also brought lots of frozen food from animals we had killed over the year since our last gathering...deer, elk, sheep, bear, rattlesnake, turtle, turkey, chukara, quail, and so on.

Our camp overlooked Lake Roosevelt from atop a high line of rimrocks, and we could see for at least 50 miles miles in three directions.

The meals were nirvana, with all the goodies, camp coffee, and lots of good cheer at pretty much all times, especially breakfast and supper (dinner).

Afterward it was 6 to 8 hours each evening of adult beverages (including some great liquers ) and catching up on all the lies, adventures, great jokes, and other memories since our camp dinners the year before.

I was truly blessed to partake of such great food and companionship.

My country gal's just a moonshiner's daughter, but I love her still.

Alberta,

That's a great story. Good memory and an incredible experience. And, we are two of the few here that believe that javelina can be good table fare.

I was cooking for the three of us who hunt together at a camp in the Pa. woods. One nasty day we had an ice storm! Being real macho, we all stayed out all day( I had a coating of ice on my gun at one point ), but being the first one back because I was the cook, I started the supper. Dintymore stew and some homemade bread. The other two came in about a half hour latter and scarfed that stuff down like it was the finest steak dinner they ever had! I could have served them hot chit and warm cardboard and they wouldn't have complained ! The camp make everything taste better !

quote:

Originally posted by Skinner.:
I've always figured that you should eat better in a camp than you do at home. And whatever it is it generally does taste better when you're sitting in a folding camp chair next to a firepit or by gas lantern light.

Last deer season I brought abalone steaks, oysters , spot prawns, ribeyes, linguica, and other assorted goodies on one 4 day trip.

I ate well.........

Just made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.

Boy, I'd love to go on a hunting trip with you!!