Mustangs Rule
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2021
- Messages
- 894
To those of us from Southern New England, The Berkshire Mts. were our miniature equivalent of the Rockies. Everywhere else the land had surrendered to the saw and plow. Everywhere else near all wildlife was shot off.
Only in the Berkshires was there a seed stock population of Black Bear, White-tailed Deer, Coyotes and Bobcats. Only there did you have to be careful not to get bitten by a Timber Rattler.
In the late 1960’s much further south, I saw my first deer track ever on the edge of a cedar swamp near my grandfather's dairy farm. It seemed magical and mysterious.
Regardless of the deer becoming locally near extinct, farmers could still easily get state permits to shoot them at will.
Up north in the Berkshires there were two brothers who had inherited their grandfathers hunting cabin on forty acres bordering state forest and a mountain stream still fill with small native brook trout. Below, the larger streams and rivers were stocked with an invasive species,,,,,rainbow trout. Upstream there was a large deep lake where the Brookies grew huge. By this time, then the mid 1970’s Canadian geese were common again in local lakes
The younger Brother remodeled the old cabin and added on. The older brother built a new small home.
The younger brother got their grandfathers 30-30 Winchester model 94. The older brother got his Savage 99 in 300 Savage. The model 94 had a vintage peep sight. The 99 had a fixed 2.5 x scope their grandfather needed as his eyes got weak.
The two brothers shared his Ithaca model 37 12 gauge with a full choke for geese and wild turkey.
The younger brother got married, had kids. His wife had a great garden. The older brother made a lot of hard cider, drank a lot of it and had a rotating schedule of women visiting him.
Both brothers were taught to hunt by their grandfather who was an absolutely crack shot up close on deer that jumped in front of him in the thick brush. Often Gramps knew the deer and the land so well he was busting them out of their beds.
No better rifles could have had for such fast and close hunting as the model 99 and the model 94. I have had and enjoyed both.
In late October there was always an annual fall Wild Food Harvest Party at the brother's place.
Every protein dish had to come from something wild caught or shot. Baked Brook trout (really a char), the best of young venison (no tough old bucks), grouse, wild turkey, and Canadian Goose breasts.
There was the gathering of hickory nuts, Sumac berry tea, baked rose hips, hand tapped/collected maple syrup and any and all foods from the garden, and enough cider, sweet and hard, to keep our heads lofty for days.
It was a grand feast, and during breaks from eating we ”wet a fly line” in the stream flowing by. And also, we took hikes up the mountain flushing grouse and jumping deer along the way. Typically, there would be a dozen or more adults and kids running around everwhere
Both the brothers had a Lange wood stove from Denmark. (see the links below) near all the cooking was done in or on one or the other stove. The younger brother had the larger 6302 model with an oven and on the sides were images of St. Hubert, the patron Saint of hunters and the father of modern conservation.
The little round stove has Diana of the side. She is the Pagan Goddess of the hunt. She rides in her chariot pulled by a team of Reindeer. Such fine stoves, and a fitting way to cook wild meats, honoring our ancient hunters' roots. We did the cooking with various hardwoods to add flare to the taste and scent.
This Wild Dinner gathering went on for full weekend, Friday evening to Sunday Afternoon.
We thought we would be having this Wild Harvest Fall Party forever, till many began getting some strange illness, that defied diagnosis, which turned out to be Lyme’s Disease.
My wife and I were spared it, luckily, we lived where there were next to no deer yet. My friends in the Berkshires loaded with deer and small rodents that carry Lyme’s were getting the disease over and over.
Hunters stopped hunting, hikers stopped hiking.
Below is a link from the Yale School of Medicine about the origin of Lymes’ disease, which is carried almost as much by small rodents as by deer.
The science is pretty sad and simple. Lymes had been hiding in the forest of my Native New England for 60,000 years, with predators large and small keeping the deer and rodent population down. With all the predators killed off, large and small, with the land cleared a perfect storm was created for what is an epidemic across much of North America.
Seeing so many friends get so sick, my wife and I left New England and returned west.
But before leaving New England however, I bought both of these Lange wood stoves and have been using them out west now for almost a half century.
I still do all the cooking of wild meats on them and have a Wild Food Harvest Parties most every fall.
And I still have that same 30-30 model 94 that I hunted eastern White tails with so long ago.
Mostly I use it as a saddle decoration in it’s leather scabbard when I am horseback riding in the back country, but I do so enjoy bringing it with me.
MR
https://castironstove.biz/2020/03/02/lange-6302a-wood-stove-fully-restored/
www.bing.com
medicine.yale.edu
Only in the Berkshires was there a seed stock population of Black Bear, White-tailed Deer, Coyotes and Bobcats. Only there did you have to be careful not to get bitten by a Timber Rattler.
In the late 1960’s much further south, I saw my first deer track ever on the edge of a cedar swamp near my grandfather's dairy farm. It seemed magical and mysterious.
Regardless of the deer becoming locally near extinct, farmers could still easily get state permits to shoot them at will.
Up north in the Berkshires there were two brothers who had inherited their grandfathers hunting cabin on forty acres bordering state forest and a mountain stream still fill with small native brook trout. Below, the larger streams and rivers were stocked with an invasive species,,,,,rainbow trout. Upstream there was a large deep lake where the Brookies grew huge. By this time, then the mid 1970’s Canadian geese were common again in local lakes
And there were Deer, lots of them Healthy Bucks too.
The younger Brother remodeled the old cabin and added on. The older brother built a new small home.
The younger brother got their grandfathers 30-30 Winchester model 94. The older brother got his Savage 99 in 300 Savage. The model 94 had a vintage peep sight. The 99 had a fixed 2.5 x scope their grandfather needed as his eyes got weak.
The two brothers shared his Ithaca model 37 12 gauge with a full choke for geese and wild turkey.
The younger brother got married, had kids. His wife had a great garden. The older brother made a lot of hard cider, drank a lot of it and had a rotating schedule of women visiting him.
Both brothers were taught to hunt by their grandfather who was an absolutely crack shot up close on deer that jumped in front of him in the thick brush. Often Gramps knew the deer and the land so well he was busting them out of their beds.
No better rifles could have had for such fast and close hunting as the model 99 and the model 94. I have had and enjoyed both.
In late October there was always an annual fall Wild Food Harvest Party at the brother's place.
Every protein dish had to come from something wild caught or shot. Baked Brook trout (really a char), the best of young venison (no tough old bucks), grouse, wild turkey, and Canadian Goose breasts.
There was the gathering of hickory nuts, Sumac berry tea, baked rose hips, hand tapped/collected maple syrup and any and all foods from the garden, and enough cider, sweet and hard, to keep our heads lofty for days.
It was a grand feast, and during breaks from eating we ”wet a fly line” in the stream flowing by. And also, we took hikes up the mountain flushing grouse and jumping deer along the way. Typically, there would be a dozen or more adults and kids running around everwhere
Both the brothers had a Lange wood stove from Denmark. (see the links below) near all the cooking was done in or on one or the other stove. The younger brother had the larger 6302 model with an oven and on the sides were images of St. Hubert, the patron Saint of hunters and the father of modern conservation.
The little round stove has Diana of the side. She is the Pagan Goddess of the hunt. She rides in her chariot pulled by a team of Reindeer. Such fine stoves, and a fitting way to cook wild meats, honoring our ancient hunters' roots. We did the cooking with various hardwoods to add flare to the taste and scent.
This Wild Dinner gathering went on for full weekend, Friday evening to Sunday Afternoon.
We thought we would be having this Wild Harvest Fall Party forever, till many began getting some strange illness, that defied diagnosis, which turned out to be Lyme’s Disease.
My wife and I were spared it, luckily, we lived where there were next to no deer yet. My friends in the Berkshires loaded with deer and small rodents that carry Lyme’s were getting the disease over and over.
Hunters stopped hunting, hikers stopped hiking.
Below is a link from the Yale School of Medicine about the origin of Lymes’ disease, which is carried almost as much by small rodents as by deer.
The science is pretty sad and simple. Lymes had been hiding in the forest of my Native New England for 60,000 years, with predators large and small keeping the deer and rodent population down. With all the predators killed off, large and small, with the land cleared a perfect storm was created for what is an epidemic across much of North America.
Seeing so many friends get so sick, my wife and I left New England and returned west.
But before leaving New England however, I bought both of these Lange wood stoves and have been using them out west now for almost a half century.
I still do all the cooking of wild meats on them and have a Wild Food Harvest Parties most every fall.
And I still have that same 30-30 model 94 that I hunted eastern White tails with so long ago.
Mostly I use it as a saddle decoration in it’s leather scabbard when I am horseback riding in the back country, but I do so enjoy bringing it with me.
MR
https://castironstove.biz/2020/03/02/lange-6302a-wood-stove-fully-restored/
6303 lange wood stoves - Bing
Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.
Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes
A team of researchers led by the Yale School of Public Health has found that the Lyme disease bacterium is ancient in North America, circulating silently in
medicine.yale.edu
