billrquimby

It's been at least forty years, but I remember my wife's grandmother cutting up and breading pieces of the domestic rabbits I raised, then frying them like chicken and serving them with mashed potatoes, white gravy, and green beans. I brought home some cottontails several times and she cooked them exactly the same way. The domestic rabbits always were good, but the cottontails were absolutely the best game meat I've ever eaten. Bill Quimby

SCI founder C.J. McElroy (who hunted just about every type of wild sheep in the world) used to say they were dumber than their domestic cousins. I don't have his experience, but I can't disagree with his superior knowledge. -- Bill Quimby

What I can't understand is why coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions haven't been eating them. All three are in the area, and what do those silly cliff carp do? They hang out where they would be easy prey for someone's poodle. Their biggest threat now seems to be speeding cars and pickup trucks. Bill Quimby

In the 1970s, when I did a lot of varmint calling, there was a period when coatis were all I seemed to bring in. After a biologist who was studying them in the Huachuca Mountains reported a sudden die-off from rabies, I made it a point to call at elevations below the oak/grasslands where I had been seeing them, and was surprised to find them in the dry washes around the Black Hills north of Oracle Junction. -- Bill Quimby

I'm not saying we have no chiggers, but I've never encountered them in Arizona in nearly 80 years here. I did find them when I hunted the Texas Hill Country. I had dozens of bites around my belt-line and where the tops of my socks were tight against each of my legs. We treated them by dabbing each bite with a drop of clear fingernail polish. It supposedly suffocates the eggs that chiggers deposit in human skin. Don't know if that is so, but the polish (along with a coating of calamine lotion) worked. Bill Quimby

Nearly everyone I know who lives in Greer has reported sightings of bighorn from their cars this year. There are illuminated signs on both sides of the cinder hill along the highway from Greer to Eagar warning drivers to watch for a group of 14-17 ewes and small rams that can be seen there most days. Before this last batch was released, five young rams fed all day a few feet off the blacktop near the Hall Creek curve, causing traffic jams. The darned things totally ignored cars and the people who were snapping photos of them. -- Bill Quimby

If your short-action stock is from a Remington Model 600, I'm interested in it. Bill Quimby

I forgot to mention that your kids might like to catch crawdads with their regular fishing tackle. Just tie a piece of raw bacon onto the leader (no hook needed). Cast it out and let the bait sit on the bottom for a couple of minutes. If they slowly reel in without jerking, they'll find crawdads still holding onto the bacon. It doesn't take long for two or three kids to reel in a bucket of bugs when they learn how to do it. --- Bill Quimby

I was wondering when someone would mention the need to have freshly caught crawdads purge themselves. I've always just kept changing their water every couple of hours until it remains clear. Anyone have a quicker or better way to do this as well as a recipe for cooking them? I've only tried boiling them in water with SeasonAll salt in it. Bill Quimby

Shame on anyone who maliciously maligns and slanders someone on an internet forum while cowering behind the anonymity of a pseudonym. I've never met Tony Mandile face-to-face although we've both worked at different ends of the same industry for a very long time. I have followed his work, though, and I have always held him and his craftsmanship in high regard. I have no idea what happened to make him abandon this site, but it is our loss and I wish him well. -------Bill Quimby

A fine rifle and caliber. If I were younger, I'd buy it to replace mine that was stolen a couple of years ago. The .257 Roberts is an excellent choice for pronghorn and Coues deer. I also took mine to New Zealand in the 1980s and culled a bunch of feral goats, and took trophy sika and red deer, tahr, chamois and a big wild boar with it. I don't remember needing a second shot for anything. -- Bill Quimby

Back in the days when his Ford Motor Co. was making the Model T, Henry Ford was widely known to have said his customers could choose any color they wanted as long as it was black. "Tin Lizzies" may have been offered in other colors before they were replaced by the Model A in 1928, but I've not heard or read about it. Bill Quimby

I don't know about Model T prices (or today's Model A prices, for that matter), but touring cars were always more expensive back in the days I still had delusions about restoring my Model A pickup. Incidentally, I can't imagine anyone painting a Model T any color but black. Bill Quimby

Hey Lark. Don't knock it until you've tried it. I'm finicky about what I eat, but twenty-four hours in a mesquite-fired pit can make even greasy old bear meat edible. Bill Quimby

Hey Lark. Don't knock it until you've tried it. I'm finicky about what I eat, but twenty-four hours in a mesquite-fired pit can make even greasy old bear meat edible. Bill Quimby

25-06: The only way I've been able to eat javelina is to cook it in a pit. I start by digging a hole in our sandwash about the size of a 55-gallon drum, fill it with mesquite, and set it afire. Next, I split the javelina down its backbone, wash the carcass well, slather it with commercial barbecue sauce and put each half in an old but clean pillowcase. Next, I wrap each package in wet newspaper, about 1/4-1/2 inches thick, then wrap each package with heavyweight foil and tie it with baling wire. When there's a foot or more of hot mesquite coals, I lay a small sheet of tin on the coals and place the packages on the tin, followed by another piece of tin on top of the packages, then bury everything. It is important to make certain no smoke escapes. If it does, pile on more sand. 24 hours later, dig up the packages (I remove them with a hay hook. That's why I tie them with baling wire). When still hot, the meat literally can be shaken off the bones. Serve with beans, cole slaw, and sangria, and call your friends. Bill Quimby

Zarcher: Ford made the Model T until 1928. From 1929 to 1931, they made their Model A, a much better vehicle but not as desirable for collectors. I also have a 1931 Model A pickup with a 4-speed transmission, but I disassembled the truck about 40 years ago when I had delusions of restoring it. Everything still is stored in a shed but I'll never get around to putting it together again. I'd be interested in knowing how much you're offered for yours. --- Bill Quimby

Lark: Elk and deer meatloaf is good cold, too. We keep it in the fridge and I cut off a slice whenever I want a snack. I drew another cow tag near our cabin, and am looking forward to having it again next winter. Never tried antelope burger, but it should be good. I've always cut my antelope into steaks and roasts, except for one time when I had a Wyoming butcher turn one into sausage because I figured it was the best way to get it home on a commercial flight. The sausage was okay, but nowhere near as good as fried pronghorn backstrap or a pot roast with carrots, onions and potatoes cooked in the same pot. I add flour, milk and lots of pepper to the grease or broth and make a white gravy to slather over everything. -- Bill Quimby

Here's my recipe for meatloaf from elk and deer meat. I cook it in a microwave because it's faster than an oven and doesn't affect the taste or texture at all. It takes only about 40 minutes to prepare and cook. Pyrex loaf pans are too large for the microwaves at our home and cabin, so I use plastic food-storage boxes. .............. Ingredients: 2 pounds ground elk or deer; 12-or 16-oz. size Jimmy Dean sausage; 1 egg, beaten; 3 slices white bread, torn into small pieces; 1 cup milk; 1/2 tsp. black pepper; 1/4 tsp. ea dry mustard, sage, celery salt, garlic powder ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Mix together the spices, bread, milk, bread, etc. and add ground meat and sausage. Form into loaf and place in microwave-safe pan and cover with waxed paper. (If you want, spread catsup over meatloaf.) Microwave on high for 30 minutes or until thermometer shows 160 degrees internal temperature. Drain and cover with foil; let stand 10 minutes before slicing........ I apologize for the way the way everything above is run-together. It only happens with my posts on CW.com and it's darned frustrating! ..........incidentally, Lark is right again. You don't need special recipes for venison. Cook it as if it were beef. ------ Bill Quimby

When I hunted red deer in Spain in the mid 1980s, I bought a 1-1/4 inch wide khaki-colored canvas-like strap like those the Spanish hunters were using, and liked it so much I had an airline pilot friend buy a dozen for me the next time he was in Madrid. I use slings only to carry my rifles, and not for shooting, and these have worked great for me. They weigh virtually nothing and last forever. Back then, they cost less than $2.00 each. I'm sure they're still making them, so if anyone is heading for Europe, PM me. I'd like to buy a couple more. ---- Bill Quimby

Anyone try El Minuto downtown? Bill Quimby

I bought my first Arizona hunting license along with my first deer and javelina tags (they were made of metal) at age 12 in 1948. I kept the hunting license rolled around the bolt inside the buttstock of the .303 Savage Model 99 rifle I used on my early hunts. Unfortunately, that rifle and a bunch of others were stolen a few years back, or I'd check the price on the license. (I could be wrong, but I seem to remember paying $5 for the license and $1 each for the tags.) One of the earliest Arizona hunting regulations sheets I've seen was reprinted maybe 30-40 years ago and was widely distributed at the time. I've lost my copy, and can't remember when the original came out, but I think it was about 1905 or so. I do remember that it told about closed seasons for "mountain sheep" and camels, and that hunting was prohibited in literally hundreds of small "game refuges" the state had declared. (Three or four of them were along the Little Colorado River between Sheep's Crossing and St. John's.) There was no distinction between mule deer or white-tailed deer, and elk were not mentioned, as I remember it. Bears could be hunted year around. Incidentally, if anyone needs proof that a minimum wage is inflationary and provides only a temporary benefit for entry-level workers, consider this: In 1950, when I got my first hourly job, the minimum wage was $0.75 per hour. A new Chevy or Ford auto cost less than $1,000. Union tradesmen earned about $5,000 a year. Gasoline was 19 cents a gallon, and a carton of cigarettes cost less than $3.00. Bill Quimby

We spend the summer in Greer. When we want to warm up a bit, we turn on my truck's AC and hit the yard sales in Eagar and Springerville. Bill Quimby

I got a questionnaire directed to landowners, probably because the land we own in Santa Cruz County has "agricultural" status. I answered everything the best I could, except for the last question that asked about my income. I replied that it was nobody's business. Bill Quimby

No. McElroy believed that mass would continue up the main beams, so the only circumferences measured were just above the burrs of each antler. He wanted to make measuring as simple as possible. Bill Quimby