RIVERHEAD—One thing you don’t expect on your first East End hunting trip is that your pen will freeze. Or, once you thaw it by keep-ing it close to your body core, that the pages of your notepad will become shellacked with a thin coat of ice. I was sitting shoulder to shoulder with the publisher of this maga-zine and several other hunters in a grave-like pit dug into a cornfield, having been invited on a Thanksgiving-week goose hunt. The ply-wood walls nurtured assorted shades of mildew. A faint metallic smell could have been from the gun oil, used shells and assorted tools that littered the floor and were stuffed into crevices. Or it could have been related to the stain created when a shot goose dive-bombed into the bunker and shattered on the back wall.

For hours, we sat and scanned the sky for signs of geese. There were two head-shaped observation holes cut into the roof of the pit, mounted on barn-door sliders with a cord to quickly pull it back in the event that geese flew near. One of the hunters diligently blew into a goose caller whenever a formation of black specks appeared on the horizon. Another hunter would wave a black, flag-like device that sim-ulated a bird on the ground. Assorted decoys—some of geese feeding, some of them looking to the sky—and bright yellow plastic ears of corn stood guard outside.

Continue reading "From Good Land - Getting Goosed" »

Posted by Brian Halweil at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A Noyac resident who is an avid fisherman and experienced hunter recently saw a deer hit by the car in front of him. He pulled over and found the animal lifeless, but still warm. He loaded the deer into the back of his SUV—not to dispose of the animal at the dump, but to butcher it for winter meat at home.

Using kitchen shears and a mallet to cleave through bone, he was able to cut several steaks from the rump and a dozen medallions from the strap that runs along a deer’s neck and back. He often roasts skewered cubes of meat in the fireplace and then dips them in mustard or peanut sauce.

“I’m no butcher, but I know good meat,” he said, preferring to remain anonymous. (It is technically illegal to pick up roadkill, although enforcement is limited. Anyone wishing to do so should contact the local police department or a conservation officer to obtain a tag.) “It’s a fabulous low-fat meat. It has all of the nutrients of all the other red meats you could possibly eat,” he continued. “And it has a distinctive flavor.”

Cooler weather and shorter days provoke the annual rut, bringing the season of sexual excitement that makes deer less shy and less careful. More dead animals lie along roadways. More anxious drivers steer clear of collisions. The pressure of deer populations mounts, as the animals graze their way through yards, farms and nurseries. As recently as the 1960s, it was rare to see a deer on the East End. But because does generally give birth to twins, and even triplets in abundant years, deer can multiply exponentially. (One oft-cited study showed that six deer—two males and four females—with unlimited food and no predators, grew into a herd of 200 in just five years.)

Continue reading "Peconic Forager" »

Posted by Brian Halweil at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)