Cast Iron Recipes- Elk Steaks in a Blackberry-Vodka Glaze

It is no secret so many that I like good food and less surprising is that fact that I much rather make my own food at home than go out to a restaurant to dine.  At the center of my love for creating the perfect home dining experience is creating the ultimate dishing for the holy trinity of  Big game animals,  Elk, Deer and Wild Boar.  I know there are others that would be included, Big Horn Sheep, Red Stag, Axis and a few others, but this is my Sacred 3, because it is what is available to me easily. So enough with the diatribe on to the food.

First all game animals have their place on the table, but not all cuts are created equal.  Some are for steaks, some are for the crock-pot.  Elk is by far my favorite of the meats and I prefer to have it medium rare with a strong pairing of sauces that are either Ginger, Teriyaki or Berry Based. Today it is Blackberry sauce. Because of the generosity of my friend Al at SoCal Bowhunter I came into a few pounds of elk.  So here goes one of my favorite elk recipes.  Its pretty easy and tastes really good.

What you will need-

• 2 lb Elk Steaks cut to 1" pieces
• 2 cups Blackberries
• 2 cups Polish Vodka
• Plus 1 Cup to drink while cooking, I prefer mine with a twist of lime.
• 1 1/2 Tbls Fresh Ground Pepper
• 2 Tbls Kosher Salt
• 1 Medium Shallots Cut to strips
• 1/2 Tbls Chopped Garlic or 1 Clove
• 2 Tbls Maple Syrup
• 2 Tbls Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/4 cup Dry Red wine
• I prefer either Cabernet Frac or Cabernet Savion
• 3 Tbls Olive Oil for Browning Steaks
• Butter works as well

The Instructions-

1. I am using an Elk Roast sliced to 1/2" Thick Slices and then let set to room temperature, it is easier to slice when it is cold, but needs to start cooking at room temperature.
2. Preheat your oven to 500 Degrees
3. Add Garlic, Red Wine, Worcestershire Sauce, Pepper and Salt to the Elk Steaks and set a side.
4. Cut onion in half and then cut into strips, set aside.
5. Put blackberries into bowl and add Vodka and maple syrup, give the berries a head start and with a fork lightly smash a few of them so that the vodka turns purple and the flavors start to infuse.
6. Heat cast iron skillet with medium-high heat with 3 Tbls olive oil.
7. Add steaks to skillet and brown on one side 4-6 minutes, depending on range.
8. Once Elk is browned on one side turn over and place in middle rack in the oven.
9. 5 to 7 minutes later remove cast iron skillet from oven and place on place in warm area to rest.
10. Turn heat to medium and add shallots to cast iron pan till semi-translucent.
11. Once Completed add vodka, berries and maple syrup to skillet and reduce to low-medium heat till it reduces by half.
12. Blackberries sauce should be still be a liquid and not reduced till a heavy sauce.
13. When done its time to plate and eat, parable side would be A Mushroom and onion with raw goat milk sauce and a Garlic-Potato side dish.

Give it a try and enjoy, one of my favorite Elk dishes, if you don't have elk try venison or any antlered big game.  Also save your mushrooms and extra meat and save for an tasty omelette the next morning.

Cheers,

Tony the Bearded Boar

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Building an Archery Range.....In My Back Yard

  My first archery range at my house was a small hay bail in the front yard that I hid behind my wooden fence that was about 20 yards.  Then I graduated to a block target when my new Mathews Reezen started to punch through that hail bail on a consistent basis and would slam into my concrete wall. For some reason concrete walls and Easton St. Axis arrows don't play well together. So as I started to move around the house I was able to get out to 35 yards if I set the targets in the corner of my property and then shot from the other side of the yard.  I don't think my neighbors knew what was going on and if they did I am sure they would not have liked it very much. Fast forward to the present day and my new home in the mountains.

I went from a 1/4 acre rental to my current spread of 4 1/2 acres. By no means huge, but it works for me and my family.  I have toyed with all sorts of lay outs for a range, a traditional firing line and then a walk around course.  But, with the possibility of the SoCal Bowhunter and the Strother Archery Rep coming up for a visit and field shoot I had to make some changes.  Then it donned on me, I did not have a good place for my Kids to shoot either. And given my last post , I Almost Gave Up Hunting, it was fitting that I made some adjustments for the others shooters in my family.

So Que the A-Team theme music, get the Honda quad and my kids in tow.

After a quick dismantling of the current setup I went to a new format of range.  A firing line-Course mixed layout. Both kids helps gather the course markets, hay bails, block targets and were cutting pads and building platforms in the new areas.  They were really keen to help, though I just think they wanted to ride atop the hay bails on the quad, and in an hours time we had ourselves an new range with positions set up at 10, 20, 30, 40, 45, 50, 65, 80 and really on out to your wildest reaches if you shot over the corral. A "Please don't shoot the Goats" sign will need to be put up though.


Best part of the day was the very end where my son and I were able to have a great father-son shoot.  And though his bow is not the greatest, do yourself a favor never by the Bear Archery Kids bows, we had a great time working and teaching the kids how to set up the range for shooting.  After the chaos subsided I was able to sight in my new HHA Optimizer XL5510, but that is for another post.

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New gear from HHA Sports

I was luck enough to be introduced to HHA Sports threw Al Quackenbush aka The SoCal Bowhunter. And after some time of discussing the advantages of a single pin sight and HHA's  All American construction, I decided it was time for a change. A change to ignite the Western States #singlepinrevolution and sharpen my shooting skills. 

So hence the late night video and installation session. If it wasn't for the rain and the fact that it was 11pm when I was installing it, I would have had it sighted in too. So you will all have to wait on that. 

First reaction is that I am impressed with the rugged construction and pretty clever sighting in method. Very very cool stuff, but more to come very soon to say the least. 

Cheers,

The BB

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What if I gave up HUNTING???? Is hunting worth it anymore?

There was a lot of soul searching that I had to do this past two years.  I went from hunting three plus times a week during the season to maybe hunting a few days in a season total.  I thought I was going to move into a great job within the Hunting and Tactical Industry that was going to allow me to hunt more open doors to great things and it did at time, but it also had the opposite effect at times.  Thought I am very thankful for the opportunity to work in the industry in the capacity that I did, I realized that I needed to do it more on my terms and not on the opportunity. Before and during that time I was able to hook up with Gerber Gear, Vortex Optics, Contour Camera, Tight Spot Quivers, Cajun Archery, Hot Shot Manufacturing, Lacrosse Footwear, SKB Cases, Bee Stinger Stabilizers and Chesebro Rifles and for them I am thankful. Nothing but the best for them all.



  Because of the above people the 2012-2013 hunting season was profitable, very much to say the least.  I was able to harvest my first pig with my Mathew's bow, and learn a lot about the marketing side of hunting. I came in second during a cooking competition to none other the the great Bill Miller.  I did indeed miss a California Mule Deer at 30yrd & the same deer at 90 yards due to a low hanging branch and that was devastating to say the least.  I almost gave up hunting because of that.  Literally I can replay the whole sequence of event leading up to the even and all I want to do is curl up in the fetal position and give up......but I will not.



Through all of the crap that has taken place over the past two years and how hunting became a job and a push to perform and give results, one thing brought me back to my passion for hunting, my son.  Yup, my boy.  This year something happened that had never happened to me before, I went hunting for someone else.  I was hunting not for a manufacture to have kill pics or a great review, I found that I could hunt for something way more important.  My son "The Boy" aka "Chew". I was not hunting to show him how to be successful. mind blowing and life changing.

  I found more determination in his love for hunting, which he only reads about or watches on tv, that I had getting paid to do it.  He has pure excitement when he sees a buck, duck or quail.  I seen pictures, video and possibly another sponsorship deal.  This was very evident last weekend in his first over-night hunting trip with me to the Lower Owens Valley for duck last week.  Even though he was throwing up all over the back of my truck he was determined to stay and finish out our "Man Trip." It was at the behest of my wife that I made sure to bring the little man home to rest up and live to fight another day.  He wanted to hunt, just for the sake of being outside and seeing ducks fall from the sky.




So to my Son, thanks.  You saved me from a lifetime of regret and renewed my desire to hunt, film, fly fish and be outside.

Here is his first hunt that we went on a few seasons ago.


Pass'n It On from Bearded Boar on Vimeo.


So more on the past year as I remember the good, the bad and the ugly.

But until then shoot straight.

The Bearded Boar.

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Contour Cameras and why you should ditch you Gopro #Contourccp

If you follow some of my other Social media feeds Twitter, Facebook and mainly Instagram you will have seen my posts of a grip of Contour Camera gear. A little over 6 months ago I was asked by Contour to join as a CCP Operative gathering footage and making films of my exploits in Hunting and Flyfishing. So need less to say I obliged and join the team. 

I have gotten a lot of questions about why I have been using Contours over Gopro camera for the past few years and I thought I'd lay it out here in three simple points. 

1. It is sleek and compact- Contour Cameras are long and narrow instead of wide and flat like a GoPro. This makes the vertical or if you were facing it a smaller profile. It helps if you are mounting it to a bow, gun, dog or your head. You don't have a box sitting in front of you, it's small more manageable. 

2. I believe there are more places to mount the camera being that it has to mounting systems. The "Contour System" of two channels that lock onto their proprietary system an the universal 1/4" threaded female adapter that allows you to mount it to and tripod, roll cage mount or anything else you'd find in a camera store. Simply it mounts to your head better, gun better and any flat object better. 

3.  The biggest thing to me is the adjustable lens that you can rotate to get your camera level, regardless of how your mount is secured. Simple it you mount it to a tree that is leaning or on uneven ground with a tripod you don't need to sit there and mess with the adjustments on the mount, simply rotate the lens till it is level. 

Well there you go, Contour is similar to a Gopro in a lot of ways, but is way better in so many more. 

Cheers,

The BB

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Barn Blind form J2 Media

BARN BLIND from Judd Jarzynka 'J2 MEDIA' on Vimeo.

Judd Jarzynka of J2 Media put together a sweet little film on hunting Turkeys in central Nebraska where hunter Ben Bauhard takes his first bird out of a broken down barn.  Great use of like and "B" role to make a cool film about hunting the infamous "Thunder Chicken".

Cheers BB

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Uncage the Soul Productions- (via IF4) "Frank Moore: Mending the Line"

Here is a awesome film from the gents at Uncage the Soul Productions via IF4.  "Frank Moore: Mending the Line"
Please watch it and make sure you get on the links below to help support the cause.

Cheers,
 The Bearded Boar


"Frank Moore: Mending the Line" - Uncage the Soul Productions from IF4 on Vimeo.

FROM UNCAGE THE SOUL PRODUCTIONS:
Tough as nails, gentle as a poet, and determined as a badger, 90 year-old Frank Moore loves to fish. A World War II veteran, in 1944 he landed along with some 150,000 other troops on the beaches of Normandy, France for the D-Day allied invasion. Despite the cacophony of war around him, the young avid fly fisherman couldn’t help but notice the productive fisheries on the rivers he and his fellow troops crossed as they made their way into occupied France.

His lifetime accomplishments as a fly fisherman, conservationist and a veteran have earned him many awards, including the prestigious Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, and recent induction into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame. He has guided and fished with many famous anglers, including actors, congressman and executives. He built and was the long time proprietor of the world renowned Steamboat Inn along the North Umpqua River. And now, reflecting back upon his life, he feels compelled to return to the rivers of Normandy, this time armed not with a gun, but with a fly rod and reel. 70 years later, we will follow Moore as he travels back to Normandy. Once a soldier witnessing the horrors of war, now he will return to these rivers as a fisherman seeking serenity on the water and bringing his life full circle.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:
This documentary project will profile Frank Moore's inspiring and dynamic life history and follow his return to France to fish the rivers that he crossed so many years ago as a 21 year old soldier amidst the devastation of war. There are few veterans in as good health as Frank, far fewer who have the courage and ability to travel back to France to see the war grounds of their past. In May 2013 the Uncage the Soul Production team will travel to France with Frank and his wife of 70 years, Jeanne, traversing the rivers and World War II landmarks of Normandy. With your support, we can all show our appreciation to this venerable veteran and others like him by making this dream of his a reality, documenting not only his lifetime of accomplishments, but also the beauty that lies in the world of fly fishing, allowing a man to confront his past and embrace his passion in a place that he once helped to free.

With your help we can make this dream a reality, showing our appreciation and allowing a man to confront his past and embrace his passion in a place he once helped to free. Make your contribution at:
indiegogo.com/projects/frank-moore-mending-the-line

For more details visit Uncage the Soul Productions online:
uncagethesoul.com/frank-moore

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Waterline Media's Riding High: A Season on the Fly

Riding High: A Season on the Fly from Waterline Media on Vimeo.

Many of you may have seen this film already, but it is a great picture of the grind and passion that an entire season of fishing for Tarpon is for many people.  The Gents at Waterline Media have put together a highlight reel that showed their passion for the chase and water which they fished on.

Waterline Media presents a short film for the Drake 5 minutes of Fly Fishing in New Orleans in August, 2011. Filmed over the course of an entire tarpon season from the lower Keys to the Panhandle, Riding High shows the entire migration from the viewpoint of those that chase this amazing fish every year.

Cheers The BB

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Trout a al Diablo from Scumliner Media

Trout a al Diablo from scumliner media on Vimeo.

I do not fight that I am a Diablo Paddlesports "Homer".  In fact I prefer to fish from that than almost anything else out there.  I love my Adios and have put that poor boat through hell and back taking it places that most people would never dream of in pursuit of fin, feather and fur. The Guys at Scumliner are a wealth of vids and are definitely worth a sit and watch as they navigate the water with their Diablo PS in search of trout. Enjoy

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Sitka Gear- "White Ghost" Hunting film

White Ghost from Sitka Films on Vimeo.

Sitka Films is a constant producer of high quality films that are visually appealing.  The Brains behind their films are Greenback Tactical Hunters. Good work guys and cheers to the dedication to the trade.

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