"HK" wrote in message
...
Vic Smith wrote:
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:43:52 -0400, HK wrote:



The bear cave is genuine. A ranger came out one day to examine the cave,
tracks, stool, and some of the remains of eaten animals, and determined
there were bears living in the cave off and on.

Was the ranger alone except for the guy with red skin?
Your story is beginning to make sense.

We live out in the country next to woods, forests, farms and Chesapeake
Bay. Lots of wildlife.

Same here on the wildlife, but without the other stuff.
Oh, and the wildlife is mostly skunks, squirrels, and mice.

--Vic



I forgot skunks. We have those, too!

The guy's place out at the Shenandoah is along the river and between two
heavily wooded mountain ranges. For me, the draw there is the river. It's
pretty clean, usually fast running, and offers just terrific canoeing and
smallie fishing.


When you see them all at once, it's interesting. Last night, I went out to
the veg garden to harass the deer with the Big Time Flashlight. Along with 4
young deer, there were 4 pairs of eyes belonging to creatures about a foot
tall. It's getting like a friggin' Disney cartoon around here.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...
Vic Smith wrote:
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:43:52 -0400, HK wrote:


The bear cave is genuine. A ranger came out one day to examine the cave,
tracks, stool, and some of the remains of eaten animals, and determined
there were bears living in the cave off and on.

Was the ranger alone except for the guy with red skin?
Your story is beginning to make sense.

We live out in the country next to woods, forests, farms and Chesapeake
Bay. Lots of wildlife.
Same here on the wildlife, but without the other stuff.
Oh, and the wildlife is mostly skunks, squirrels, and mice.

--Vic


I forgot skunks. We have those, too!

The guy's place out at the Shenandoah is along the river and between two
heavily wooded mountain ranges. For me, the draw there is the river. It's
pretty clean, usually fast running, and offers just terrific canoeing and
smallie fishing.


When you see them all at once, it's interesting. Last night, I went out to
the veg garden to harass the deer with the Big Time Flashlight. Along with 4
young deer, there were 4 pairs of eyes belonging to creatures about a foot
tall. It's getting like a friggin' Disney cartoon around here.




Raccoons, I bet.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:01:17 -0400, HK wrote:



The guy's place out at the Shenandoah is along the river and between two
heavily wooded mountain ranges. For me, the draw there is the river.
It's pretty clean, usually fast running, and offers just terrific
canoeing and smallie fishing.

Wow, never thought you had smallmouth there. Outside of bluegills and
rock bass, best fighting fresh water fish - ounce for ounce.
You know, I've always wanted to live by Chesapeake Bay, for a lot
of reasons. Just seems like a rich place in many ways.
If I can't convince my wife to move to Florida, that's the second area
I'll work on.

--Vic

Vic Smith wrote:
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:01:17 -0400, HK wrote:


The guy's place out at the Shenandoah is along the river and between two
heavily wooded mountain ranges. For me, the draw there is the river.
It's pretty clean, usually fast running, and offers just terrific
canoeing and smallie fishing.

Wow, never thought you had smallmouth there. Outside of bluegills and
rock bass, best fighting fresh water fish - ounce for ounce.
You know, I've always wanted to live by Chesapeake Bay, for a lot
of reasons. Just seems like a rich place in many ways.
If I can't convince my wife to move to Florida, that's the second area
I'll work on.

--Vic


We lived in Florida for more than five years, in NE Florida, just
outside of St. Augustine for most of the time. I enjoyed the weather,
which was moderate for Florida (bearable heat, and a spring and fall),
the beautiful uncrowded beaches, the fishing, et cetera. Culturally, it
was a wasteland, and if you went a bit further north, you were
surrounded by simple minded religious zealots.

South Florida on the Atlantic Side is a great place to visit in the
winter, but too hot for me in the summer. The other south Florida, on
the Gulf side, is just too hot and muggy for me most of the year, but
some parts of it that haven't been overdeveloped are pretty.

The Keys are nice, too, so long as you have a good way to get the hell
out of there if a hurricane is coming. A seaplane is best.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:07:38 -0400, HK wrote:

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


When you see them all at once, it's interesting. Last night, I went out to
the veg garden to harass the deer with the Big Time Flashlight. Along with 4
young deer, there were 4 pairs of eyes belonging to creatures about a foot
tall. It's getting like a friggin' Disney cartoon around here.

Raccoons, I bet.

Maybe nightmare bar. Heard tell they got 8 eyes and slouch down low
fore they pounce.

Vic Smith wrote:
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:52:35 -0400, DownTime
wrote:

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
. ..
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=67160&fr=yvmtf


This ought to rile up the mindless inlanders.

Onions, cajun spice, 6 rounds, BLAM! Should be easy to get at least two of
them.


You LIKE to eat them things? Not me, I've tried deer a few times, always
from someone who likes to hunt "Here try this, it's my secret recipe".
or "It's the wife's speciality". Never once did I go back for seconds.
For me, it is all and always too gamey. I may try it again someday, but
that's unlikely.

I've been to a number of "game dinners" and had a wide variety of
dishes, including venison, bear, buffalo and moose. I share your
opinion.
It makes perfect sense that we grow beef and KFC, and manufacture
Cheetos.

--Vic
Make no mistake, and as JSB just indicated, it is probably more the cook
than the ingredients.

I've had other so-called exotics; elk, buffalo, bison, wild hog &
ostrich, and can state for each, I would have it again if I was in the
right location for it. As to seafood, while in Hawaii a few years ago, I
had white marlin, marlin, sunfish and each was done right.

As to my location comment, it sort of leads me to try various localized
specialites: crab while in MD, salmon on the west coast, cold water
lobsters in NE, grouper in Florida, & bison/elk in the midwest, etc. To
each I usually check for a local micro-brew as well. I much prefer the
smaller almost boutique providers, than the stuff produced in quantities
to fill in every lake in the land of 10,000 lakes.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:15:51 -0400, HK wrote:


We lived in Florida for more than five years, in NE Florida, just
outside of St. Augustine for most of the time. I enjoyed the weather,
which was moderate for Florida (bearable heat, and a spring and fall),
the beautiful uncrowded beaches, the fishing, et cetera. Culturally, it
was a wasteland, and if you went a bit further north, you were
surrounded by simple minded religious zealots.

South Florida on the Atlantic Side is a great place to visit in the
winter, but too hot for me in the summer. The other south Florida, on
the Gulf side, is just too hot and muggy for me most of the year, but
some parts of it that haven't been overdeveloped are pretty.

The Keys are nice, too, so long as you have a good way to get the hell
out of there if a hurricane is coming. A seaplane is best.

The weather tradeoffs are the most important for me. For years I felt
good about living in Chicago, with the museums, opera, playhouses,
libraries, restaurants, night life, etc.
But I hardly used any of it, just got out of town to go fishing.
Of course I'd seen most of the attractions, growing up there.
Lots of stuff I'd like to see on the east coast.
I've spent time on both sides of Florida and think I like the gulf
side because the waters are calmer. But it sure is hot.
I've heard good things about the St. Augustine area and should check
it out.

--Vic

"HK" wrote in message
. ..


We live out in the country next to woods, forests, farms and Chesapeake
Bay. Lots of wildlife.



When we first moved into a house on a wooded lot after leaving the Navy, we
were routinely visited by a large, wild creature who's visits were both
annoying and a bit scary at times.

After a while though, my mother-in-law came to realize that her daughter was
fine, happy and the visits became fewer.

Eisboch

Vic Smith wrote:
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:15:51 -0400, HK wrote:


We lived in Florida for more than five years, in NE Florida, just
outside of St. Augustine for most of the time. I enjoyed the weather,
which was moderate for Florida (bearable heat, and a spring and fall),
the beautiful uncrowded beaches, the fishing, et cetera. Culturally, it
was a wasteland, and if you went a bit further north, you were
surrounded by simple minded religious zealots.

South Florida on the Atlantic Side is a great place to visit in the
winter, but too hot for me in the summer. The other south Florida, on
the Gulf side, is just too hot and muggy for me most of the year, but
some parts of it that haven't been overdeveloped are pretty.

The Keys are nice, too, so long as you have a good way to get the hell
out of there if a hurricane is coming. A seaplane is best.

The weather tradeoffs are the most important for me. For years I felt
good about living in Chicago, with the museums, opera, playhouses,
libraries, restaurants, night life, etc.
But I hardly used any of it, just got out of town to go fishing.
Of course I'd seen most of the attractions, growing up there.
Lots of stuff I'd like to see on the east coast.
I've spent time on both sides of Florida and think I like the gulf
side because the waters are calmer. But it sure is hot.
I've heard good things about the St. Augustine area and should check
it out.

--Vic


Ahh. Chicago. My wife and I love visiting Chicago on business and
pleasure. My father in law is a White Sox fan, so he works overtime in
his retirement to figure out reasons to take the train there.

St. Augustine area has a lot to offer, as does the Fernindina Beach area
in extreme NE Florida. The latter somehow has escaped the bible-thumping
idjits for the most part. Too many bikinis on the beaches, maybe. For a
while, the cops in one of the Jax suburbs were actually arresting babes
for wearing "too revealing" swimsuits while at the beach.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:29:08 -0400, DownTime
wrote:


Make no mistake, and as JSB just indicated, it is probably more the cook
than the ingredients.

I've had other so-called exotics; elk, buffalo, bison, wild hog &
ostrich, and can state for each, I would have it again if I was in the
right location for it. As to seafood, while in Hawaii a few years ago, I
had white marlin, marlin, sunfish and each was done right.

As to my location comment, it sort of leads me to try various localized
specialites: crab while in MD, salmon on the west coast, cold water
lobsters in NE, grouper in Florida, & bison/elk in the midwest, etc. To
each I usually check for a local micro-brew as well. I much prefer the
smaller almost boutique providers, than the stuff produced in quantities
to fill in every lake in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Agree about the cook, but I've never met a cut of venison that comes
close to a good cut of beef. I've had all you mentioned and some
more, and the only thing I wouldn't flat turn down is hog and gator.
Hell, I don't even like lamb unless it's in gyros.
I'm not a gourmet type, but since my wife is a superb professional
cook, I don't have to eat out. When we do, it is usually to partake
of a local specialty. I had my fill of micro-brewery beer when I was
a corporate cog, and never had any beer more satisfying than a
Hacker-Pschorr Weissbrau with a slice of lemon in a Chicago bier
stube. I always try to have some bottles in the fridge along with
some Czech and Polish brews. But I won't turn my nose up at
a MGD either. Different strokes.

--Vic