As we are social distancing and still enjoying the outdoors, make sure you know where you are in the wilderness.

​I have a terrible sense of direction. Absolutely terrible.

By way of example, as a teenager in the mid-west, I spent a lot of time in shopping malls. My friend and I would make a lap around the mall and visit as many stores as we could. My sense of direction was so bad that I would leave Abercrombie & Fitch with an Orange Julius in my hand, and have no idea which way I had come from.

As an adult, I moved to the Rocky Mountains. I started hiking, mountain biking, and hunting in a National Forest with over 1 million acres. Lacking a sense of direction was a very dangerous situation. For years, I was afraid to hike or mountain bike alone. The possibility of being stranded in the wilderness (without enough food) was paralyzing.
That is, until I discovered the app called On X. What a game changer. This app can be downloaded easily. On X touts its product as “[t]he best tool for every hunter, our maps show clearly marked property boundaries, public and private landowner names and more - giving you everything you need to stay legal and ethical.” But it is so much more than that.

The app provides a map with information about who owns the land, whether it is private or public, and existing and historic trails. This is critical for hunters, but also for hikers, mountain bikers, back country skiers, and campers. Where I live, it is a dangerous proposition to be on someone’s land without their permission, and not know it.

The app also allows you to explore the area you’re in, without hiking in vein. If you find yourself hiking an especially grueling path, but happen to know the person that owns the next property over, you may be able to get permission to cut through and save yourself hours of hiking. That is exactly what happened during my husband’s elk hunt in November. We were hiking for hours over huge boulders. The thought of returning to the truck via the route we came almost pushed me over the edge, so we checked On X to see where we were and what options we might have.  We realized that our friend had leased the land that would directly lead us back to our truck. The direct route saved us hours of hiking, and likely my willingness to continue hunting.

This app allows you to download the map before leaving for your trip, so you are not dependent on data to load the map. It also allows you to drop “pins,” which are GPS markers. This is very helpful if you are trying to meet someone because you can text them the pin. You can also drop a pin if you shoot an animal and need to come back the next day to get it off the mountain.

On X also lets you mark important spots on the trail. In my case, we could have marked a hard area that we wanted to avoid on our way back to the truck. It is also great when you are stalking animals during a hunt because you can drop a pin where there is water, signs of animals, or a potential good spot to see the animals. This is helpful to remember certain locations if you plan to return the next day (or year).

On X offers a free trial period, and then you can purchase regular access to the app. For a single state, the cost is $29, and to obtain all 50 states it is only $99 a year; which, when you consider the alternatives of being shot for being on the wrong land, being lost without a map, or hiking for hours when you could have cut through your friend’s land, it is absolutely worth it.
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I have come a long way since my laps around the shopping mall, and On X is one tool I use to keep me on track (both figuratively and literally).  guiding me. 

Regardless of whether we are in the midst of a health crisis, we must be resourceful and use all of the food that we have available – whether that is using all parts of an animal or using left over vegetables to make shepard’s pie.

When processing wild game, it is inevitable to end up with small pieces of meat. Some people throw those small pieces away, while many other people will turn the smaller pieces into ground meat. I only recently purchased a Kitchen-Aid stand up mixer with the ground meat attachment, so before my new purchase I always used the small pieces as stew meat.

After processing any large game, we always end up with a lot of stew meat. There are numerous uses for stew meat: tacos, stews, or adding it to beans in a crock pot for an easy dinner. One of my  personal favorite uses is making shepard’s pie.

I am not an expert on shepard’s pie; but as I understand it, shepard’s pie began as a way to use left-over food scraps in Ireland. All of the left-over vegetables, pieces of meat, etc. were dropped into a crock and mashed potatoes were cooked on top. The shepards would then take the crock with them for lunch the next day in the fields.

Growing up in the mid-west, a family friend had a recipe for a “German shepard’s pie.” Only as an adult did I realize that a recipe probably should not include the term “German Shepard.”  But, by “German,” it meant that she added sauerkraut to the Shepard’s pie. The version I had as a kid was ground beef, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and shredded cheese on the top. As far as nutritional value goes, it would probably not even meet the standards for public-school lunches these days. 
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Below is a recipe for the shepard's pie I made this week.  I have altered the recipe to use what I had on hand, and to include some additional vegetables. I use venison stew meat instead of ground beef. I sauté onions, carrots, poblano peppers, and garlic. (You will remember that the mid-west version had absolutely no vegetables). The last time I made it, I used Bubbie’s sauerkraut, which is naturally fermented. When I prepared the mashed potatoes, I also added a cup of ricotta cheese because I had it left over. ​The ricotta cheese made the mashed potatoes extra creamy, and may be a new favorite.

Shepard’s pie is a great way to reduce waste in the kitchen and make a delicious dish out of what you have left over. Every time I make shepard’s pie, it is a little different depending upon what I have at the time. As we face travel restrictions and shelter-in-place orders, our ability to go to the store will become increasingly limited. Shepard’s pie is a great solution because you can use what you have on hand. If you do not have carrots, but have too many peas, use peas.
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And, remember to save the small pieces of meat when you are processing an animal. Small pieces of venison saved in the fall make delicious shepard’s pie in the winter (or any time there is a chill in the air). Happy cooking, friends. 

​Shepard’s Pie
 
4 cups diced potatoes
1 cup ricotta (optional)
1 cup stock
1 lb. stew meat (venison, beef, lamb, etc)
1 cup red onion
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup diced poblano pepper
3-4 crushed garlic cloves, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil water with olive oil and salt for the potatoes. Add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook until soft.

​Using an immersion blender, add stock and blend potatoes. Add ricotta. Blend until creamy. 

​In a stock pot, add olive oil, garlic, carrots, and meat. Brown for a few minutes and add additional vegetables. Once all meat and vegetables are cooked, pour contents into an oven-safe casserole dish. 

Add sauerkraut layer over meat/vegetable layer. Add mashed potatoes on top. Place dish in oven for 30 minutes. You can broil the top for 3-4 minutes at the end for added color. 

Writing about how to become more self-sufficient seems especially relevant this week. Here is my experience rendering lard:

Growing up in the mid-west, I thought lard was Crisco. It was not until many years and miles later that I realized that lard was rendered animal fat. Long before vegetable oil and Crisco, lard was a staple in the kitchen. During World War II, lard replaced butter in many homes.

Initially, the thought of rendering lard was not the most appetizing to me. A few years ago, my husband shot an elk and was able to take some of the elk fat. He came home with big chunks of fat. At first, I was pretty disgusted and not sure what to do with it. But, I decided to take the bull by the horns, so to say, and taught myself how to  render it into lard.

For me, there were a lot of advantages to rendering lard. First, the elk was from the beautiful high country in the Rocky Mountains. While not certified organic, it was certainly an amazingly healthy animal. I had not purchased lard/Crisco in a solid decade (or more), but I devised a plan to use the lard in pie crusts. I also liked the idea of using the entire animal and not wasting any parts. 

I took the large chunks of elk fat and dropped them into the crock pot. I melted down the fat for a few days and it smelled pretty delicious. The liquid was very clean and clear.

After creating a large pot of melted fat, I was not sure how to store rendered lard. I decided to pour the hot liquid into a muffin tin. I pre-measured 1/3 of a cup into each one.

In the pie crust I planned to make, I needed 2/3 cups of butter. I decided to substitute 2/3 cups of lard and had pre-measured the lard into 1/3 cups. Then, I put the muffin tray into the freezer so that the lard could solidify.

The lard firmed up perfectly and was very easy to store in the frozen format. I plopped the frozen lard out of the muffin tin and stored the lard in the freezer in ziplock bags. The frozen lard maintained its shape nicely. 

When I was ready to bake a pie, I put 2/3 cups of lard into a microwave safe bowl and melted it a bit. The pie crust was really delicious. I was able to taste the elk a little, so I decided to use the lard for meat pies (shepard’s pie, etc.). It worked perfectly.

We try to use all parts of an animal, including the fat. This was a really interesting way to incorporate the elk fat into recipes that we were already making. I have never tried rendering pork or beef fat, but it might be worth a try. 

In my last post, I described my rifle and how much I like it because it has a muzzle brake (which makes it kick less). Last weekend, my husband and I went hunting – in the dark – and his muzzle brake proved to be a bit of a problem.

We were hunting hogs in Texas. I understood that we would be hunting “at night,” but I did not understand that “at night” meant hunting in the pitch-black with no lights. Given what I know about hunting, I thought it would be more of a dusk / low-light situation. It wasn’t; it was a hunt-all-night-into-the-wee-hours-of-the-morning situation.

We were there for three days, and on the last night we were hunting in a small, home-made blind in a wheat field. The blind was about 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep, with two folding metal chairs inside. The structure was made of plywood and metal, so if I accidentally touched the walls, it would echo and make a ton of noise. I am told it is very bad to make noise while hunting for hogs in Texas. Hogs don’t see well, but they can smell and hear everything.

On each side of the blind, there were holes cut in the walls for you to shoot out of.  The hole facing the field was about 3 feet wide and 6 inches tall.
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5-feet by 3-feet might sound spacious. It was not. Both of our rifles have 26-inch barrels plus a muzzle brake, so our guns would hit the ceiling of the blind if we were not careful. And, mind you, it is very dark and we were supposed to be quiet. 

To get into the blind, we had to walk in the dark through a field. On our first morning, it was 27 degrees and we sat in the dark until the sun rose (two hours later).  So, on the last night, I brought a down blanket. Yes, I carried a down blanket with me into the blind.

I was also carrying a bag with flashlights, bullets, and snacks. To be frank, I am very afraid of being hungry in nature. I brought three jackets and two pillows for us to sit on. …and I had my .257 Weatherby Magnum slung over my shoulder, in the event we actually saw a wild pig. As you can imagine, my entrance into the blind was not especially quiet.

We finally made it to the blind with all of our gear, jammed our bodies onto the two metal chairs, slid our guns through the hole in the wall, and waited.

For the hunt, we bought green-light flashlights to attach to the top of our guns to see the hogs. Apparently, hogs do not mind green lights. But the hole was too small for my gun to fit through with the flashlight mounted on top. I was flying in the dark without a flashlight.

For the next three hours, we stared into a dark field with no lights. We were told that if a hog came near the feeder, a motion sensor light would turn on. That never happened. After a few hours, our eyes adjusted to the darkness, and we were able to see basic shapes in the moon light.

Just before 10:00 pm, my husband saw a hog about 120 yards away. I, on the other hand, could not see anything. But, it was go time. He slid his gun into position, turned on his mounted flashlight, and fired. I have never been in a war, but the experience of my husband firing his .300 Remington Ultra Magnum in a 5’ by 3’ metal box felt like a war zone. The gun powder created a cloud in the green light that was completely blinding. I was extremely disoriented and could not see anything. The sound was deafening, even with ear protection. We were excited, confused, and jammed into a small metal box in a Texas wheat field.

The gun was absolute overkill for the situation; my husband had a .30-06 back at camp, but wanted to use his new toy. The muzzle brake is great for decreasing kick, but it amplifies the sound and concussion of the shot. In hindsight, shooting a .300 Remington Ultra Mag with a muzzle brake in a tiny metal building is not a good idea -- especially in the dark.

After the shot, we tried our best to collect ourselves. We had researched that wild hogs will play dead and then attack you when you get close. This tidbit of information was running through my head as we got out of the blind to go check on the hog. To get out of the blind, we were maneuvering our two metal chairs between my three jackets, two butt pillows, one down blanket, and my stash of snacks. It took a few minutes to squeeze ourselves out.

I also had to reattach my flashlight to my gun. I was walking through the field, in the dark, using my gun as a flashlight. Again, it seemed reminiscent of what an active-duty solider might experience. As we were walking across the field, toward the hog that might be playing dead in order to gore us, I was terrified. In that moment, the idea of a Texas boar hunt seemed especially ill-advised.

We searched the wooded area across the field where my husband had aimed.  There I was - using my gun as a flashlight to look for an animal in a thick wooded area that might attack me. What could go wrong?

We did not find the boar and we think it ran off when we were trying to extricate ourselves from the tiny box. It was exhilarating to experience the shot from the blind, but I am not sure that the muzzle brake was the best idea. My ears were ringing the entire time we searched for the hog.
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My take-away from this experience is that firing a high caliber rifle with a muzzle brake in a small, metal blind will leave a distinct impression: mostly ringing ears. Also, I am not sure that I am cut out for night hunting.