Hunting camp eats

[Vaino]

On many camp hunts I've eaten a lot of canned seafood.....all of it was quality.

This canned seafood is sometimes used for main meals but mainly for delectable appetizers....w/ the drink{s} of your choice.

My choices are sardines in a hot sauce, mussels in escebeche sauce { a Spanish paprika sauce}, octopus in both olive oil and a marinade {paprika sauce} and w/ the olive oil we use onions and wine vinegar. Smoked oysters hit the spot as does a reasonably priced caviar on crackers. Ocassionally if time allows, escargot {snails in a garlic butter sauce} are served as appetizers.

When at home, a can of seafood w/ crackers is my usual lunch...so in camp, it's even more delectible. Some members of our elk camp don't agree w/ my choices so bring their own appetizers to camp...but, after a few drinks are at least willing to try everything......Fred

 

[crockett]

Geez, is that what the long hunters and mountain men did??? :grin: On the other hand William Drummond Stewart was at most of the Rendezvous and had sardines, French pop, et al...so I guess pc. I'd eat 'em.

 

[Black Hand]

Venison, Elk, Bear, Goose, Moose, Swan, Smoked Pork loin, Fresh-baked bread, Homemade Fruitcake, Salt-cured Venison, Muskrat, Fresh-caught Trout, Squirrel, cheese, jerky and grilled cheese sandwiches (improvised on-site from bread, cheese and butter - it had been a long day and even longer walk) have all been eaten in camp. All of this has been supplemented with Rum, Whiskey, Shrub and even Limoncello

No seafood, but MT is land-locked and good seafood is hard to come by. All that aside, none of us would dare show up in camp with a can of anything.... :grin: :wink:

 

[Coot]

As a young boy, I was on a duck hunting trip with my father & a couple of his friends. Well out in distant marshes, staying much longer than planned we were down to a can of salmon & two cans of baked beans when it became apparent that no one had a can opener, hatchet or large knife. The solution was to set the cans on a rock & using my .22, to shoot the tops off. Tasted ok & we weren't worried about lead poisoning at the time.

 

[Vaino]

To start, we drive to the site of our elk camp which is at 10,200 ft in a truck and once there set up a tent that comes close to having all the modern comforts and conveniences. Why.... because we spend very little time in camp but while we're in camp, "we live it up".

Our schedule is to rise at 4:30 AM, have a minimal breakfast and climb to just under 11,000 ft.

We return to camp in the dark and don't have time to fuss w/ a wood fire, so the propane Mr. Heater gets us cozy warm in a hurry.

Then it's on to the appetizers and red wine or beer w/ a realization that we are very fortunate. All the while, the precooked main meal is being heated up and finally our appetites are sated. The small lunch and a candy bar only supplied minimum nourishment.

Early to bed and when 4:30 comes, we're all set for a repeat...except if an elk is shot.

We're hunters and really don't care about the MLers used or how it was done 200 yrs ago......Fred

 

[Black Hand]

I'm all for having the comforts of home. Even so, we eat period food when in hunting camp because we choose to do so and have never felt deprived. We also have self-imposed parameters that work for us.

Hunting camp is more about the company, since the guys I hunt with are strewn across the Western side of the state, and we can sometimes get together 2-3 times a year. We all tend to hunt alone at other times and the deer tags are usually filled.

 

[Vaino]

I can understand guys being "tin can shy"...it all depends on what the camp parameters are. We don't have any parameters so whatever we bring, is OK w/ everybody. In fact, we had 2 guys who showed up w/ inlines. Like I say...we're hunters and don't care about the trivialities. In fact, you could say we're "meat hunters" and really do enjoy elk meat and venison. I guess we could blame our attitude on the "Great Depression" living on survival farms in northern Minnesota.

Don't quite know the motives for us hunting so hard....the meat or the hunt.... probably both.

I presented these posts in the present tense, but at 84 I no longer hunt. Just like to write about the hunts as if they occurred yesterday....Fred

 

[Black Hand]

Nothing quite like home-made pecan pie and scratch-made hot buttered rum at camp...

 

[Tallswife]

Most of our camp food is home made, pre made and reheated in camp. Some is fresh made. Shepard's pie, sausages, peppers & onions, bacon and eggs, pancakes, steak, pork chops and fried tatties, fresh bread, cookies, candy bars, string cheese, peanut butter. The only cans contain barley pop or soda.

Now I'm hungry!

 

[Vaino]

Good pecan pie is one of my favorites. Never drank hot buttered rum. How is it made?.....Fred

 

[Black Hand]

Brown sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, a stick or 2 of butter, hot water and Rum are placed in a pottery pitcher. A red hot iron is plunged into the mixture and stirred around - this serves to caramelize the sugar. The flavor is like a fine caramel candy with a Rum kick and goes down way too easy.

It's like the old joke about the 3-martini lunch - one is not enough and three is too many....

 

[nhmoose]

Here in NH lobster and steamers are common in camp. Historically hired help complained of being fed lobster more than once a week! :rotf:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Mention of sardines goes back to the 15th century and canning of sardines began around 1839...so they are period correct...... :haha:

 

[Black Hand]

Historically hired help complained of being fed lobster more than once a week! :rotf:

As did the prisoners...

 

[Brokennock]

I also seem to remember reading of barrels of oysters being shipped west (maybe technically north, up the Mississippi river) during the period.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

sardines, canned and smoked salmon, smoked oysters , tuna (for casseroles) and mackerel are common in hunt camps here abouts.
canned salmon makes a fine chowder also.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

nhmoose Said:

Historically hired help complained of being fed lobster more than once a week!

As did the prisoners...

Had a friend when I started reenacting who grew up in Maine in a family of lobster fishermen. Lobster salad sandwiches was what he had as a kid in school almost every day. You'd think he'd be able to trade...not in a town full of kids from lobster fishing families. Hated them critters as a grownup!

LD

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I was a kid 8 or 10 fishing for trout on Dillon Rez here in Colorado, while eating fried squid from a Tupperware with chop sticks when it struck me :hmm: that we as a family might not be altogether normal.

 

[tenngun]

Venison, Elk, Bear, Goose, Moose, Swan, Smoked Pork loin, Fresh-baked bread, Homemade Fruitcake, Salt-cured Venison, Muskrat, Fresh-caught Trout, Squirrel, cheese, jerky and grilled cheese sandwiches (improvised on-site from bread, cheese and butter - it had been a long day and even longer walk) have all been eaten in camp. All of this has been supplemented with Rum, Whiskey, Shrub and even Limoncello
I eat a lot of canned fish at home, and have No seafood, but MT is land-locked and good seafood is hard to come by. All that aside, none of us would dare show up in camp with a can of anything.... :grin: :wink:

I eat a lot of caned seafood, and have salted some fish for an historic treat, but just cant bring myself to take cans into the tall timber.

 

[sidelock]

How about if you go to the tall timber for a month or so? For long trips I packed in cans and dried items a plenty. Beaver are hard to come by now.