Received a call from a farmer who wanted us to come and do something with his ground hog population. Said he has always had them around and they never bothered him much because they never seemed to eat much of his alfalfa. But they are now digging in the fields and making a mess. He was told we could help him out so the calls went out to others in our group. Was John and his disabled cousin Mikey, Dean and myself this time. Since the last time I had went whistle pig hunting with these guys I had fell on a broken tree branch stub in the grass and ripped open my recent replaced knee incision and spent 3 hours in ER. My clown friends just had to make sure I was prepared this time. We got Mikey’s specialty built side by side unloaded then the guys brought out my new first aid kit. The kit contained 2 maxi pads since the last time I had bled really bad and scared Dean some thing awful, several rolls of gauze in different widths, some white medical tape, a part of a roll of duct tape and a few needles and spool of white thread plus bottles of disinfectants and tubes of salves. Now that the laughs had subsided we headed out to the hunting fields. John went with Mikey and set up on a hill side overlooking one field, Dean and I worked down a fence line near a few trees to set up. Dean and I had not even reached our spot when we heard Mikey’s 222 mag fire, soon followed by Johns 204. Dean and I finally got all set up and started looking for chucks in the field, that had recently had half taken off as green chop for the cows. Soon I spotted a couple and told Dean to take the closer one on my signal. I saw mine fall and do a single kick and Deans also die. Dean was using a Ruger 77 17 wsm he had recently found at a gun shop used gun rack and bought. Finally we were not seeing any more chucks and not hearing any firing from John and Mikey. I was just telling Dean we should go pick up the chucks and go see how John and Mikey were doing when we saw them drive over the hill. We had gotten 16 whistle pigs between us in just over 5 hours. Decided we would take them to Johns and butcher them out. John knew a family where dad had a stroke and they were having a tough time so we called and they took 10 of the pigs from us the other 6 we divided up between our selves. When cleaned properly they cook up great and taste great too. WOODCHUCK, WHISTLE PIG, GROUND HOG. They are vegan critters. WOODCHUCK IN SAUCE 1 woodchuck 1/4 c. salt 4 mint leaves 1/4 c. oil 1 clove garlic, chopped Salt & pepper to taste 1/2 c. vinegar 2 c. tomato sauce Pinch of basil Remove scent glands from woodchuck. Soak 8 hours in cold water with salt. Cut in 8 pieces and boil 15 minutes. Rinse and repeat soaking process. Rinse again and boil with mint leaves for 45 minutes. Drain and brown with oil and garlic. Salt and pepper both sides. When browned, add vinegar. Cover and let simmer 8 minutes. Remove from pan and put into pot. Add tomato sauce and a pinch of basil. Cook 1 1/2 hours over moderate heat. GRANDMA GUERINA'S BRAISED WOODCHUCK Using a crock or bowl (not a metal pan) marinate the chunks of meat for 48 hours in: 1 c. sugar 1/4 c. vinegar 1/4 c. salt 2 bay leaves 1 slice onion 1/4 tsp. chili powder Enough water to cover meat Dry pieces and roll in seasoned (salt and pepper) flour. Brown in imported olive oil in a heavy frying pan. Add to pan: 1 chopped onion 1 chopped carrot 1 chopped stalk of celery (with leaves) 1 c. tomato juice 6 oz. tomato paste 1/2 tsp. oregano 1/2 tsp. basil 1/2 tsp. marjoram Cover and simmer over low heat until the meat is tender about 2 hours. Place the meat on a heated platter surrounding a bed of buttered noodles. Pour the sauce over both. Serve with a green salad dressing with oil and vinegar and hot Italian bread. The above recipes work with Possum and coons also. Al
My neighbors barking dog seems to be suffering from a deficiency of some sort....lead I think. Think you can fix that problem too?
Well I have about 37 acres with a 1/2 mile of frontage on Big Bay De Noc across from Fayette that is surrounded by federal, state and town ship land. A corner of a fellows 10 acres touches and another corner of another fellows 40 acres touches. It has a good bit of UP hard woods, normal cedar swamp and cranberry bogs It has a 24x24 x10 high pole barn with a 24x12 loft and a 10x10 garden type shed. It is on a black top road that was replaced in 1999 or there abouts. Took this picture first week of June 2017 from the road. I have been thinking of selling if you really want to fix the barking dog problem. Al
Lots of frontage on that parcel! The no neighbors is great too! ....but no mention of blueberries or strawberries.
Cranberry's lots of those on my place and the federal lands. May be some strawberry's on my place and also a chance you could find some blue berry's. There are a lot of oak trees with acorns, in January and February you see where the deer have dug up the snow looking for the acorns , looks likes hogs have been rooting in there. There are 4 deer blinds on the property 3 elevated, 2 about 7 feet and the last at 11 feet. Coyotes were never seen or heard until about 2003 now see them some and hear them every evening and night. Al
