Buck Board Bacon

Back in the day they could not afford to use hog belly for their self’s. It was way to valuable at market. So instead they would pork shoulder to make their bacon. They would mix their salt sugar rub it into the meat and let it cure in the back of their Buck Board Wagons. Slice and eat along the way on the trail.

If your like me I know I am. I hate all the nitrates and the BS they put in or food. Simply it is not needed. In my up and coming meat shop I am going to push no nitrates etc.

So here is a recipe for Buck Board Bacon. It so easy.

1.cups kosher salt or sea salt
2.cups dark brown sugar
3.molasses
4.pork shoulder ( This mixture will be enough for 20 pounds )
If you do not want to make 20 pounds go ahead mix everything you will use the rest next time.

Start with taking the bone out of the shoulder your butcher or meat market should do it for you. Mix the salt and brown sugar. In a bowl.

Rub the meat well with the mixture be generous and place in zip lock bags flat if frig. After 24 hrs. flip the bags. After another 24 hrs. Poor all liquid out. Open bags and put in molasses no set amount I usually
just poor a line back and fourth a couple of times close the bag and rub it in and mix well.

Let set another 4 days mix the bags every day if you see a lot if liquid drain it out.

Smoking if you have a smoker. Smoke until deep rich color. Pull out chill let firm up and slice fry and enjoy. If you do not have a smoker you can use liquids smoke in the salt mixture I never have follow the directions on the label. Let chill and slice

You can also bake this like a ham.

Changes in life

Well it has been awhile scene I have blogged. After a lot of thought and a long road trip. I have decided to retire hang up the spurs and the chaps. RETIRE Fancy word for quittin if I got my say.

It has been a great life. I have seen things most will never. Been close to death more times than I would like to count. Seen folks come really close to meeting their maker and they did not even know it. You just smile at them while their still on their horse. And say you did good.

This Back Country in WA has got to be the most beautiful place on earth. I have been many times on my mule with mule train it tow. Come over a pass and tears come to my eyes just over the view. It can be beautiful and relentless at the same moment.

I hope to dig thru all of my many photos and share the story’s behind them.

So during my latest journey I have decided to follow my other passion. My Old School bacon,hams,jerky’s etc. BBQ sauce. Maybe start a business

the best baked beans ever

Every time I have a BBQ everybody ask are you going to have your baked beans and whats the recipe. Well, here it is everyone…enjoy.

• 1 quart dried navy beans
• 1/2 pound slab salt pork
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 medium onion
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon powered mustard

Put beans into a nonmetallic container, cover them with water,and soak them overnight. Drain them and put them in cast iron pot or dutch oven. Cover with fresh water, bring to a boil, and simmer for one hour.Drain the beans. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and put some water to boil. Chop the onion and put it into the bottom of a large cast iron pot. Add the beans to the pot. Mix the molasses, mustard, and the salt, then spread the mixture over the beans. Put the slab of salt pork on top of the beans rind up. Cover the beans and pork with boiling water. Put the lid on and bake for 8 hrs. Add a little water when needed do not stir the pot. ENJOY

I Aint Robin Hood

Well I usually wake up every morning at 4:45am, make my coffee, open the double door to my cabin, fire up my computer, read the news, and get my mind going.

Soon the turkeys go to gobbling and a lot of times I can watch them strut 30 yards away. Makes it nice when your blogging about hunting. But I also turkey hunt, but haven’t been because I have been blogging. So I decided to go this morning with my bow.

Left a little late so I’m not going to get one-off the roost. Don’t bother me any, I have a system for mornings like this. The older I get the more I use it. I call it Stalk and Talk. How it works is I find old logging roads. Long ones with a lot of offshoots are the best because they have alot of places to go.

I get ready, put on my gilly suit and make sure my call is warmed up etc. I start calling after about 100 yds. then listen for a minute, move 1/2 to 3/4 and call again, wait a minute and do it again. Get in a mile and I could hear one answer from behind. Be ready to double back, it’s happened many times.

This morning I went about 4 miles in. Seen one hen. One thing I need to mention. Sometimes they quit gobbling just off the roost. This does not mean they wont come to a call so be on the look out for that red white and blue head and of course those hens. Its called Stalk and Talk for a reason.

Be ready, shit can happen fast and fast it did. So on the way back I let loose a high pitch cackle and a gobbler let loose about 3/4 of a mile away. So I covered some ground as fast and quietly as I could without calling. He gobbled twice more while I was on the move. I kept quite. I reached a fork in the road and a grassy spot. I did a couple of soft clucks. He answered 30 yards away but there was too much brush to see him. I pull up my gilly hood and knelt down. He gobbles. Not a good spot. I crawl to a another spot. Still no good can’t see. He gobbles again. Sounds like he’s going over the hogs back getting further away. Shit. I look and I see a small grassy spot on top of the hogs back. Maybe I can see him from there or where he is going and come back in the morning. I walked to the grassy spot bent over as much as I could so I would look like a slow-moving bush in my gilly. I made it to the edge of the grassy spot. Then I heard what no turkey hunter wants to hear… PUTT PUTT and a lot of them. Lots of turkeys. The gobbler just ran behind a bush, turned around and stepped back out to see what spooked him. Because of the gilly suit he couldn’t figure it out. I guess 30 yards and pull my bow, he’s got a beard coming out of his chest as big around as a Cuban cigar. He sees me pull back.

What happens next. I will never forget. I let go of my arrow, he squats to jump off the hogs back, the arrow removed some feathers from his back and he flies off unhurt. Then I get to sadly watch turkeys fly off for the next 5 seconds.
I GUESS THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED HUNTING, NOT KILLING

Lets Turn A Deer Leg Into A Ham

After all winter making 100s if not a 1000s pounds of pepper sticks summer sausages jerky’s etc.You name it I made it out of all wild game this year.Looking for a change and something to do and something to offer for next year. I held back one of my hind legs from my buck and decided to try and make a ham out of it. 10 days later I could not believe it.It was just like a ham just a bit drier but it is venison. I am not going to show the old time salt box way in this blog it can be done it might be a little much for the first timer. This way is pretty much fool proof. Things you will need.

1. .Ejection needle (Like you would need for the Cajun injection)
2. Plastic tub (Big enough to submerge the leg in)
3. Ham curing kit (I order mine form Mitch Litch spice company Spokane WA)
4. .Water
5. Smoke House or BBQ grill
6. Something to weigh the ham down with (Wood or Brick)
7. Molasses OK lets get started you will love it.

Mix your curing kit as it says their is a little package of pink salt it you do not have to use it.Its for color has nitrates. Get out your injector and fill it inject around the bones at the hock and by the ball joint very well.Now you want to what I call 6 point inject. I put the needle in the ham inject some pull the needle up but not out and over do this until you complete a full circle.I want you to do the leg like this from front to back and all the way around. You will see it start leaking from spots you have already been this is good. If you miss any spots you will see spots in the meat when it is cooked not the end of the world. Can always look on YouTube sorry i don’t have pics. OK now submerge the leg in the plastic tub and weight it down. For as long as your kit says 7 to 10 days. Now pull your ham out it is now cured.If you do not have a smoker or BBQ get one please just joking you can freeze it or cook it rinse well. If you smoking or BBQ rinse ham well hang it to dry for a couple of hours with a fan on it.Then I like to take a cup of molasses and a cup of whiskey and mix it well. Then start rubbing it on the ham living the fan on. This will start forming a pinnacle a sticky surface that smoke will cling to. About 24 hrs will do. If your putting it on the BBQ its time 170 degrees internal temp let it coast for 1hr Cold smoking put the smoke to it no more than 80 degrees until you reach the color you like. Let rest and bake. I used my master-built smoker and hot smoked it. IT WAS GREAT!

Smoked Bratwurst

Smoked Bratwurst

I made some of this with the Fortune Cookie Buck. You can make it bulk or put in casings enjoy.

20 lbs venison 1 1/3 tbsp. cayenne

10 lbs beef or pork 2/3 tbsp. nutmeg

1 quart of water 2/3 tbsp. thyme

1 cup of salt 2/3 tbsp. ginger

2 tbsp cure ( not necessary) 1/3 tbsp. rosemary

1/4 cup. white pepper 1/3 tbsp. mace

Coarse grind meat trimmings. Add water, salt, cure and spices. Mix thoroughly, regrind through 1/4 inch plate. Stuff into casings. Smoke to desired color and heat to an internal temperature of 141degrees . Cook before severing.

A Few Years of Watching

As a guide I spend the off season scouting for the next season much on my own time. I found this buck 4 1/2 years ago his rack was quite impressive as a young buck. I knew he would be quite the buck when he matured so i decided to keep my mouth shut about his location and let the gene pool grow. And go back with a client when it was time.I believe any guide that cares about his future and quality of the animals would do the same. Wild life management is part of the job. I have to admit keeping my mouth shut on this one was hard to do. Truly a world class Black Tail. We do have Mule deer here could be a cross. But I do not believe this to be the case.Some say that doesn’t happen. Wolfs have crossed with coyotes coyotes have crossed with dogs so I believe it could happen. Anyway this buck will be 5 1/2 this year I no longer guide in the area and I have never seen anybody around. I am sure the gene pool is running strong and the will a lot of these World Class bucks in the future in the area. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Fortune Cookie Buck

After many years of being a Back country guide and one to many close calls. I decided it was time for a change in life. So I hung up the saddle and spurs. Wondering what I was going to do in life. I decided I would pursue my other passion, custom meat. So I got up one morning, drove 2 miles down the road to the local meat shop and talked to the owner and got a job. My first thought was WOW I get to hunt this year by myself, no clients. Boy was I wrong, after a week of work the owner advised me that I would be running the meat shop while he and his son and friends went to Idaho and elk hunted. Which was during our deer season. He told me I could hunt opening morning but would not be too much time because we would get busy with all the hunters deer coming in. So made a plan. But the closer it got to opening day my mind keep changing. Uncertainty Sucks. The day before deer season came one of the meat cutters brought fortune cookies to work. He had been to the factory where they make them and he gave us all one. This little cookie was all I needed to make up my mind. The next morning I arrived at the meat shop at 5:30 am and made sure all was well. By 6:00 am I was heading out to execute my plan. It was just getting day lite I could make out two small bucks about 150 yards out. Trying to figure out which one to take. Not to excited about any of them but time was limited. When all of a sudden they got really nervous started looking up canyon I look over my left shoulder and here comes this buck just waving his rack around. It was quite impressive to see. He meant to do damage on the smaller bucks. So at 50 yards at 7:45 am it was all over single shot with my 30-06. The little cookie that was given to me said: “Stick With Your Plan And You Will Succeed”