Wild Pheasant and Chukar Terrine

So this is what my portion of the meat went to.  Pheasant and chukar marinated with gin, bay and preserved meyer lemon peel.  Made into a terrine with mustard seed, celery leaves and onion.  Served up at the restaurant with cornichons and a dijon mustard.  Can't tell if was legal to serve it at the restaurant but the people they likey.

Fred G. and Cliffy Squirrel Hunting

Cliffy took this one down good!  He dropped it just as it was going for my throat.

Motor!

So today I come home from work and my awesome neighbor Chris (who is really a secret agent with some shadowy branch of the U.S. Govt. Shhh.) tells me he has a 2 1/2 hp engine to try out on the boat. It's small but I think that I don't need some big honkin' engine to get up and down the river. Plus this thing weighs about 40 pounds and has an internal gas tank, runs like a top and fits perfectly. I'm ready to hit the water right now! Sweet!

That's 'Captain DaFolder' to you.

The H7HT proudly announces a second boat joining the fleet. First it was Cliffy and his fishing machine and now the Idaho chapter has a boat too. This one will be dedicated to slaying.

You are looking at a 1970 Hewes Craft 12' aluminum boat made sometime in the 70's with a very sturdy homemade trailer. The Slavic chap that sold it to me had removed the bench seats and built elevated seats with tons of storage and a platform in the front for Peat. I am now in the process of stripping down both boat and trailer for their new paint job. The boat will retain the seating arrangement with a few tweaks for slaying and both will get a custom paint jobs after a good cleaning.

Next on the list is a motor and perhaps a truck to pull it with. In the first photo you can see Big Betty is still waiting for the nice man from Montana to come and get her and give me some cash money to further the dream of boat ownership.

GBCH

A Bird In the Bush Is One In Hand

Oregon chapter went upland game hunting today.  First time for this writer and current expert.  We started off our journey on the way to Madras on rt. 26 by hitting a patch of black ice.  The same stuff being from the East coast I never gave any merit to, for god sake they have something called frozen fog here too.  Were driving along going straight and not speeding when out of nowhere we started doing 360's for about 100 yards on the other side of the highway before coming to rest 4 inches from a Jersey barrier.  After a few fist pumps and high five's with a few laughs thrown in we were back on our way.  

We arrive in Madras at 9 a.m. and meet Jim our guide for the day and his 10 dogs.  Were hunting a preserve which means Jim raises the game birds then plants them in the fields for guys like us to fold.  We get the rules: don't shoot the dogs, don't shoot Jim and have fun.  The day was perfect as you could see from the pictures.  We load up the guns the dogs are let loose and were off.  We purchased 16 birds total, a combination of chukar, quail and pheasant.  A little nervous, never having shot upland birds I didn't really know what to expect, plus I sure the hell didn't want to shoot a dog.  Quickly the nerves were settled when a pheasant jumped and I literally shot its head clean off.  Jim was quite impressed needless to say, I killed it without getting any bb's in the meat.

Cliffy soon was on the board and we were dropping birds left and right.  The dogs did their job well and we did ours.  Cliffy and I made quick and swift work of the morning, we had Jim and the dogs until noon but we already shot our bag and it was only 11. So Jim took us up to an area where some other jokers hunted yesterday and missed some of their birds and we cleaned up their birds too.  

One thing I learned along the way that morning was the shot size was way too big.  I was shooting 5 shot 3 inch shells, I thought go big or go home, right?  Well there was on instance when a chukar jumped and I literally vaporized it.  Cliffy said that it looked as though I shot it out of my gun it was moving so fast after I hit it.  1300 feet per second fast.  The dogs being Experts in their own right, retrieved the carcass what was left of it.  Jim held it up and we all laughed.  Jim called it tenderized dog food, it was just that dog food.  The dogs all ate it then thanked me with a lick on the leg.  

An awesome morning that started off with screams ended with feathers flying everywhere in my back yard.  Remember Jim said have fun and fun we had.  It's something I would do once a year but I would also like to walk some public land and try my hand at wild upland hunting.  

If you were a duck......

you would be scared!

Almost Time

Time to dust it off, should be interesting this year.

2011-2012 Totals

The Totals

Fred G.
Misc: 9
Greenie:3
Total: 12

Bob DaFolder
Misc: 3
Greenie: 1.5
Total: 4.5

Cliffy V.
Misc: 6
Greenie: 3
Total: 9


Greenie
Shots taken at me and missed: 42

Props To All My Peeps

Just want to give a shout out to all my peeps who have been giving me the love for earning the 2011-2012   Expert title, thanks.  The picture show has been awesome, thanks.  I would like at this time to thank some of the sponsors for whom this would not have been at all possible.  First and foremost I would like to thank the Jameson Whiskey company, without their support this year would not have been as successful as it was.  My gun was loaded and was I.  Benelli firearms for their awesome firepower.  Black Cloud ammo, without you the ducks would have never rained down.  SouthWest airlines, for getting me to and from the great state of Idaho safely.  Without that trip I may have never secured the title of Expert.  Last but not least Hodgman wader company, you kept me dry all year.  Thank you  everyone, we'll see all of you next season where I hope I can make all of you proud and retain the Expert title.  

You say goodbye, I say hello.

We certainly have had our good times together. Quality time at the fuel pump filling not one but two tanks. Maxing out at 65mph in 5th going down hill. Sliding recklessly over the center divider even with 4 wheel engaged on those snowy roads. And let's not forget those trips to see our friends at Reccos Auto Repair time and time again for little things like new clutches and computer brains. Yes indeed, they have been heady good times, but now it's time to say goodbye.

It's with a sad heart that I put you, ole' Big Betty, up on 'The List' last week. At first I asked merely for a trade of reasonable proportions. Maybe something that didn't have a clanging transmission that seems to be ready to fall out of your 195K mile frame. How about something that gets more than 9mpg on the highway, or maybe a trade that doesn't invoke panic to drive over the pass. All I received in return was the ever popular 2nd party title and the unregistered bucket. And then there's the 150 mile drive on my part to see your grainy photo of a trade. Phooey!

But then salvation! Some guy from Montana with a supercharged 5.0 from an F150 Lightning he wrecked and who wants to drop a new tranny into your tired frame. His kids are begging him for a cool looking lifted truck to pull the family boat with, not the old wimpy truck they have now. This is the kind of thing you are great at! Looking cool, looking mean, looking GOOD! I think you two will make a great pair. Plus, he's bringing cash money to help ease my pain. I'll miss you ole' Big Betty.

Hello Duck Hunting Boat!
I think we will get along just fine. As Mitch once said, "You can just forget about that other one cause now you got this fine looking jewel sitting right here by you." Ain't that the truth. That's the plain truth.
So now the search begins for the perfect duck boat. Let's forget about the fact that I have nothing to pull you with. Time alone will take care of that. I'm even selling off some old stuff I don't need to put money into the kitty for you. Willy has even put his mini RV up for sale to kick in some dollars for you, knowing full well how good his dog Peat will look sitting on your bow riding off into the morning darkness in search of ducks. I can't wait to meet you. We are going to be good friends. Good friends.



GBCH

Even More Random

Fred G's first day on the Deschutes! Look at that Marmot wading jacket and all that slack in the line! Talk about a dead drift... HA! "Me Fred, me hunt trout".

Kinda Random, eh?

2011/2012 random hunting pic..take 2

2011/2012 random hunting pic..take 1

Crazy Andy.....where is he now?

I don't know if you read or saw the movie "Eat, Prey, Love", but it was set in the island of Bali ( which was really impressive). Ubud, which is in the center of the island has really friendly people and everything from the artwork and dance to the Hindu culture is really intertwined with daily life....still very geniune. Surprising, considering the amount of tourist they recieve. however.....It seems that "Eat, prey, love", has drawn more tourists to the town.

In the movie, there was a yogi-master guy who played himself. Before he would charge 100,000 rupiah (10 dollars) to sit with him for readings or whatever the term is. Now, I hear he charges 1,000,000 rupiah per person...and the line waiting to see him each morning is long....winding around looking to have a seat with him.

Today Ira and I are taking a boat to the second island....it drops us off about 10am and picks us up at 3:30. That island is the smaller Gili Meno. There is even a smaller island called Gili Air....each island lets you feel more and more like Robinson Crusoe....

Were taking snorkling gear and there looks like there is a small lake in the middle of the island also....should be interesting. This is the last full day here, then I'm heading back to Ubud. I hadn't planned to, but since it is so nice.....I will spend my last day and half there before heading back to Thailand.

I'm back in Bangkok for a day before traveling up to the northeast part of Thailand and then hopefully over the border to Laos. From there I'm not sure yet....I have to do a little more research to see if I can go inland from there or down the Mekong for a few days to a village called Luang Prabang. I have been there before and it really is a cool little town.....very relaxed and a world heritage site.

I have attached a photo from Gili Meno the second island out of three in the Gilis......we did a day trip there....really beautiful.

I'm not sure if I told you this already, but when I arrived back in Ubud....and returned to the same homestay...the mom was really surprised to see me again. The had just finished a ceremony for one of the children. She made me a dish of the leftovers.....fresh roasted pig and rice and vegtables.....really nice. They took me to the airport as well.....really nice family.

I flew from Bangkok to Chang Rai this morning. I had a nice day traveling around Bangkok yesterday...going to a few markets. There are canals all around Bangkok with boats that the locals use to avoid the terrible traffic. They cost very little....50 cents or less. There a great window to see how locals live along the canals as well as the people who travel on them. There are plastic tarps on the side of the boats and passengers raise them up when boats pass-by.....to avoid the spray from the wake.

I guess that there was a bombing not too far away from my travels yesterday. There was a story that an Iranian tried throwing a bomb.......but the bomb ended up blowing both his legs off.....and the limbs ended up in a school yard....they have caught most of the people involved. I flew out this morning expecting serious security, but it seemed normal.

I'm close to the border of Laos now...just a few hours away. I will take a local bus to the crossing tomorrow. From there I was thinking of taking a boat down the Mekong for a few days, but decided to head inland to the northern part of Laos instead.......it seems to get relatively few tourists and is really beautiful.

I still have about 2 weeks to explore...taking my time to hopefully get off the touristy stuff. Chang Rai, where I'm at now is very relaxed and easy going. When I checked into the guesthouse here the lady gave me back way too much money by accident. I walked back and looked down at the money and she realized immediatly what she had done...and gave me a wai...the bow with her palms clasped together.....and thanked me.....good karma I feel...

Hmmmmm.

Spending the day today talking myself out of a rescue Toller. You see, there's a Toller mix over in Spokane and she looks to be a beautiful dog. Problem is, well the problems are on many levels. For openers I want a puppy so I can be the one to teach it my habits, good or bad, and so that it can learn to leave our chunky and terrified kitty alone. Then the issue of working all the time and not knowing what we would do with a dog while we are gone during the day. Can't really leave it outside tied to a tree can I? What about food and vet costs? I need money for a new bathroom and maybe a vacation for Heston's sake, dogs eat money and poop, well, poop. Why did someone get rid of this dog? Is she a terror, a biter, a basket case? And what if the dog is gun shy or won't retrieve? Maybe won't play ball? See all these questions.

But then again.......

Sweet Smell Of Victory

Well it was the sweet smell of something after the Giants win over the Patriots.  The looser, Maggie, lost the bet of a 30 minute foot massage after a paraffin dip.  Here she is rubbing the feet right after the big win.  She also had to make cocktails during the massage.  Go Blue!

Post Game Gumby

I found Gumby the next morning surrounded by 

peanut shells face down in a pile of his own vomit.

The win over the Patriots seemed to be too much.

Superb!

Big thanks to all the Giants fans that have supported me through this tough season, especially all those that have contributed to my wikki cabinet this year.

Fred G, thanks for the Knob Creek and Woodford Reserve.
Cliffy, for the Crown Royal and more Knob Creek.
And of course Angela, for the impending Kettle One.

Of course none of this would be possible without the exceptionally questionable play of the N.Y. Giants. Their ability to win while looking like they are always about to lose has made all this happen. Go Eli! You are my favorite sideline mouth-breather.

Hi Nanny.

Skiing! Better than hunting? I think not.

But still pretty darn cool. You can see my cabin from the valley photo, looks great eh?

The new whip.

Behold the new Volvo that is now parked in the driveway of the DaFolder cabin. This is the 1998 Volvo V70 XC. It has all wheel drive and lots of skittles mashed into the carpet under the seat cushions. It also happens to be the newest addition to the fleet here in Idaho.* Don't worry, Big Betty is safe from Craigslist for the time being and will continue as the vehicle of choice for trips to the dump and forays into the wilderness. It will not however, consume mass quantities of petroleum on a daily basis freeing me to spend more money on important things like say, Oatmeal Creme Pies.
Welcome to the team new Volvo!

Are You Ready?

For Some Football?

Apple Cider Brined Duck

Apple cider brined duck smoked on the Big Green Egg with
 mesquite and pear wood, ready for the Super Bowl

Over night in brine

  

On the grill

3 1/2 hours later

Day Nineteen, The End

We knew going into the last day it was going to be interesting.  Cliffy only being down one duck, water up and the possibility of having a third hunter with us who could possibly change the scheme of things with one pull of the trigger.  Well, thank Heston the latter is a pussy and needed some beauty sleep on the last day of hunting, the last day.  So that only left two things to contend with, Cliffy possibly tying or exceeding me in the duck count and of course the water.  Of course the last day of the year always falls on a Sauvies day, so naturally we decide to go out to the Old Spot and try to find a dry spot on the point and a place where we could shoot a duck and actually retrieve it even if we were to need the assistance of TJ.  

Yo Fred G. save some for me!

Knowledge and math.  Five plus three equals eight, it's at 12 now last time we hunted the point with a lot of water it was at about eight so now it's 4 feet over the time we were out there standing in water, so with the knowledge we have of the area we are going to be able to find the perfect spot, you get the picture.  We wade out in waist high water and find an ankle high oasis, sure the water is up but we find the further we move towards the center of the point it's really only three feet flooded!  The Best. Throw the blocks out not once but twice, this is where the controversy comes in, and I make an awesome blind.  

Ducks are flying everywhere!  Mallards and Pintails.  Showers of rain on and off with a little wind, the weather is perfect.  A set of Mallards come in from the left gear down and I fold, splash lands right in front of the blind, easy peasy.  I break my season high, I am psyched Cliffy is not.  Here comes the controversy.  Cliffy normally sits on the left hand side, this set came in perfectly from the left hand side.  After throwing out the blocks the first time I didn't like the set up, so I moved my blocks and told Cliffy to move his and while he was moving his I built the blind and put myself on the left hand side.  Honestly I didn't know we had assigned seating.  Sorry.  Then another set comes in from the left, you get the picture, BAM! I fold the green heads woman.  More words are exchanged he's even making up rules now!  If they come in from here blah blah blah blah............  Ask him about the set that came in from the right full gear down, the vision of the green heads with its gear down silhouetted with morning sun will forever be engrained in my mind, a true vision of beauty.  We had ducks circling our spread all morning I think with more cover we would have had more shots.  The last day turned out to be the best day, sure I shot two ducks to set a high bar, but that was not the reason it was the best.

A message from Bob D. (former 'Expert')

Alright, alright already! I'm posting, now stop bothering me.
It's difficult OK? My hunting season is over, over I say! Doesn't anyone realize how hard it is for me to sit here and think about making up some banter about how happy I am for the Oregon Chapter and the fact that they are still having the time of their lives, out in the glory of the duck blind. Waking up early for only one reason. Able to experience the beauty of raw nature. The potential of not only seeing the majestic flight of ducks but also being able to shoot them down if they so desire. It's killing me for Heston's sake. It's OVER!

On my days off I sleep late and watch a movie on DVD. Maybe I'll clean the cabin some. Sometimes I think about going outside and doing something but then I realize....It's over. Nothing fills the void, cookies help but nothing fills the hunger for that moment when the ducks fly close enough in the quiet hours to hear their wingbeats in the darkness. When the sun rises over the mountainside and illuminates your decoys for the first time. The chill of the air and the smell of oil and gunpowder from your Benelli mix to give you an olfactory sensation unlike anything else. And if you are just lucky enough that day, a greenie will fly within range and give your adrenaline a boost that nothing else can, not even a brownie muffin with a peanut butter cup center.

So yea, I'm not posting a lot, arrest me. Maybe after a few weeks of skiing powder and celebrating the Giants win over the hapless Patriots I will be in the mood but for now all I can do is wait. 287 more days.

287 more days.
GBCH.

Last Will and Testament

I'm so pretty

I Greenie here by give my last will and testament.  Being tomorrow is the last day of the season one of you bastards might get lucky and cill me.  That is a good one huh?  I'm only pulling your proverbial leg bitches.  There is no way one of you lame ass bitches could take me down.  Listen here's the truth, let me lay it on ya.  I'm still in town, as a matter of fact I saw Fred G's. fat ass walking around the reservoir this morning, wearing his orange shoes, all though very stylish very GAY!  I saw him mouth wide open and drooling as he "power walked" around and around astonished by all of us just hanging out.  I'll bet he's eating a banana right now.  Tomorrow is our duck song, come Monday we will be partying like it's 2005, all though I really don't know anyone that old, at least no hen's, heh heh heh, you get my drift.  I would wish you luck for tomorow but how would that look?  I quack in your general direction.

Bob's New Car-Boat?

Just needs paint and a license he says

I See You!

My friends and I flying in to poop on you.

You scared the poop out of me on Sunday.  How do you fools know about the super secret spot?  I was bringing my new "friend" out there for breakfast and I wanted to "show" her my super secret spot and there you fools were!  But did you notice how I put that spell on you so you could not pull the trigger?  I did that weeks ago when I flew by you and you missed me, there is only one way to break that spell.  You fools just sat and watched as we ate and I made my moves on her. I don't even know her name, some dudes sky busted her old mans ass out at Sauvies last week, I was just "looking" out for her.  

I am surprised you fools are still making attempts at me and my comrades, with the water so high we could go anywhere and avoid looking at your stinking asses, and by the way you do stink.  I am off to Cabo now have fun next week, if you even get your lazy asses out of bed.  Oh yeah by the way, New England by 28 points.  I quack in your general direction!

Day Eighteen Oregon

Hit play and enjoy some Mr. Cash while you read on.

Hunting continues here in the great state of Oregon, and water is up as expressed in the lyrics embedded in this song  "5 Feet High and Rising."  North unit flooded.  Old Spot flooded.  Old New Spot? who knows but I'm assuming flooded.  Not being a Sauvies day we need somewhere to go, it's the second to last day we'll be hunting for Heston sake!  We'll knowledge is power my friends, I got a secret little spot that is perfect.  It's only good when it floods and usually only waste high so retrieving birds is not an issue, only question is would there be birds.  We come upon the spot with a lot of time to spare, gives us time to build some personal blinds and set the best looking blocks out.  Strong winds from the East with light showers is how we started the morning off.  A few pre-shooting fly by's was a great sign as well.  Time to kill.  Some ducks swim through our spread and Cliffy thinks our blocks are being swept away by the gale force winds.  Then Greenie himself flys in with a guest, they circle and then land about 30 yards out.  I know what you all are saying "30 yards out that's close enough to take them down Fred G.!"  It's like he put a spell on me, I looked into his eye and saw a bright light and I could not pull my trigger, I froze.  So he hung out for 15 minutes and chilled and ate some breakfast with his guest.  The wind and rain both picked up walks were necessary to warm up.  I hiked down to the river to check it out.  It's up to the high bank, same place it was a year ago when Bob and I hunted out there.  I got back and Cliffy made his way out.  Well wouldn't you know it as soon as he leaves a Pinny flys in, close enough I could have hit it with a baseball.  Again, there was like a JarJar spell on me, "pull the trigger you don't want."   Well now the rain and wind are in full force, nothing is flying and the biggest, not the best, sammy's couldn't even entice ducks to fly, we call it.  Today was perfect, well almost, wind, rain, slightly cold, just too much darn water out there for ducks to settle into.

Good Ole Days

No helmets, no knee pads, scared?

Do we look scared?

The Best Sammy Of the Year

Picture does not represent actual sandwich 

I know the season in long from being over, but I'm awarding 

the best sandwich of the year. Cliffy today made:

Toasted Bagel

Ham

Cream Cheese

Avocado

Fried Egg

Day Seventeen Oregon

Breaking Weather Alert!  That has been the news for the past three days now, just what Heston ordered.  Sunday morning hunt is going to be awesome.  Rain and snow with freezing temperatures, bring it.  I wake up with much anticipation today is going to be the best hunting day ever, for Heston sake we have not hunted in any weather all year.  Old spot is where we are heading the weather will bring many ducks. I'm in the basement packing for the freezing cold weather, electric gloves, extra hand and toe warmers, big boy jacket and warmer hat.  Are you picking up what I am putting down?  The weather is suppose to be really bad.  

Cliffy picks me up and it is unseasonably warm and dry.  We make it to the parking lot with one other truck in the lot.  Out at the water four guys are setting up a mass of duck and geese blocks and building a massive blind at the Old Spot, so we head for the island.  A little side note on the wade out to the island in thigh high water,  I spotted a 3 foot sturgeon swimming in front of me, it didn't even care.  Were set and even looking pretty good with what little cover is around.  It is starting to get cold you can feel the front moving in.  45 minutes into the hunt snow and rain start, finally.  A few passes of ducks and some shots taken and misses had.  Breaking Weather Alert!  As I sit here writing the news is on, they are talking about closures, it's not even snowing.   It feels good to be seeing ducks, actually taking shots.  A Bufflehead is swimming through our spread, Cliffy asks if he should jump it.  Knowing he is just one behind me I say "hey if you want to shoot a bufflehead go ahead."  He jumps and so does it, he jumps and wings it and its swimming away fast.  Cliffy jumps in the water he's after it.  After another two shots he retrieves it, he's a good 100 yards out there now, good retrieve Cliffy. 100 yards out remember that.  He's back I look at it and note the golden eye's, I tell him it's a type of bufflehead called goldeneye.  It's a nice size duck.  Conditions are going to get worse as the night goes on!  Needless to say I'm not that happy, I'm happy for him but not happy for me, were tied for the expert status.  Geese flying right over our heads, I shoot and did nothing but made it flare.  I'm trying.  If I had some double W I may have folded it.  

Pintail just before I folded him.

A pintail fly's through the spread and heads away from us.  As he is flying away he has a second thought, he decides to come back and join the party.  I start singing under my breath "I told you once you son of bitch I'm the best there has ever been," as soon as I said "been" I pulled the trigger and splash is the next sound we heard.  Expert I am.  Believe it or not the sun comes out, sky turns blue, blocks are floating away due to rising tides.  A bush that Cliffy was using as a water marker was now submerged.  It's 10:30 and high tide is expected at 2.  Time to call it, that 100 yard retrieve would have been impossible.  36 degrees current conditions.  The water is up, "what's the water level Fred G." you all ask.  "3 feet high and rising" I say.  I'm towing my bag behind me Cliffy decides to wear his.  He's in front of me and all of the sudden I hear "I'm taking water on!"  Damn I think I'm next, but due to my massiveness I averted the soaking.  On our way out we pass the guys at the Old Spot, no shots had by them, finally we are the ones making all the noise.

Wild Rice From Idaho's Lakes

By SUSAN HERRMANN LOOMIS Published N.Y Times: July 19, 1987

Al Bruner dons ear protectors, sunglasses and a baseball cap, steps into his airboat harvester named Heron and roars away. It's August in St. Maries, Idaho, a tiny town just an hour and a half from Spokane, Wash., and the wild rice harvest is on
.
The airboat, a metal skiff with a huge V-8 engine and a wooden propeller mounted on the back, a long trough with a high net backing on the front, called a header, is nearly lost to view in the tall, pale green rice plants. A plastic pipe across the header strikes the rice plants, tapping kernels into the trough. Some of the stalks are late bloomers with a few dainty purple and yellow flowers still on them. The flowers will turn into rice kernels within days, then take a few weeks to get fat, green and milky, and Mr. Bruner will return to harvest them.

Harvesting requires intense concentration. The boat is heavy in the back, and driving it is like being in a constant skid. At 12 miles an hour it wouldn't take much to capsize it. And it requires skill to avoid the many huge muskrat houses, the tops of which stick above the water like icebergs.
The airboat's noise doesn't seem to disrupt the blue herons, osprey and kingfishers that build nests nearby and feed on the rice. They take flight, and minutes after the boat has made a swath through the rice, they're back.

Idaho isn't the first place one might look for wild rice. Minnesota, perhaps, or Canada or California. But a company called St. Maries Wild Rice Inc. is transforming marginal Idaho farmland into swampy, rice-producing acreage. And this year it will harvest 100,000 pounds of the toasty, wild grain from 400 acres. That's less than 2 percent of the wild rice produced in the United States. But the Idaho rice is long and plump and classified grade A under industry specifications. Mr. Bruner and Jeffrey Baker, owners of St. Maries Wild Rice, are taking aim at the gourmet market.
St. Maries (pronounced St. Mary's) is a logging town surrounded by lakes and low fir-covered hills with rugged trails into the high country. About six miles out of town on State Route 5 is Heyburn State Park, where the shadowy St. Joe River, proclaimed by a sign nearby as ''the highest navigable river in the world'' (officially defined as a river deep enough to float a six-inch log to market), extends, tree-lined banks and all, far into Benewah and Chatcollet Lakes.

The main street of St. Maries is bordered by dusty-windowed storefronts and taverns that look as if they haven't changed much in the last few decades. The high point of the year comes in August when the town holds a festival called Paul Bunyan Days and residents stage log-rolling contests in the town swimming pool and a parade down Main Street.

The area is popular with sportsmen who hunt ducks and geese on nearby lakes. Elk roam a few miles out of town, and roofs sprout huge elk antlers. Stuffed ducks and polished rifles are common elements of interior design. The area is also popular with bird lovers who come to see one of the largest concentrations of osprey in the country, blue heron, even bald eagles, which winter near St. Maries.
For a while the birds almost disappeared, but they're returning, and the owners of St. Maries Wild Rice like to think that their crop is part of the draw. It's not the entire reason they go to the trouble of flooding fields, inventing harvesting machinery and bucking tradition in a conservative area where regional cuisine runs to deep-fried chicken and long, snaky french fries called curly fries. As Al Bruner put it, ''It's the icing on the cake.''

But thanks to the waterfowl, St. Maries Wild Rice came into being. In the early 50's, some sportsmen imported seed from Minnesota and threw it into Lake Benewah, hoping it would provide feed for the waterfowl. By 1980 the rice, which isn't really rice but an aquatic grass, was choking the lake along with other aquatic weeds. In 1982 when Mr. Bruner and Mr. Baker expressed interest in the rice as a cash crop, the Idaho State Department of Parks and Recreation, which has jurisdiction over the lake, opened the harvest to bids. The bid was awarded to Mr. Bruner and Mr. Baker, provided that they help rid the lake of weeds while harvesting the rice. They developed and built an airboat and invented a Rube Goldbergesque underwater mower for the weeds. Their first harvest netted 6,000 pounds, which they shipped to Minnesota for processing.

Since 1984 St. Maries Wild Rice has had its own processing plant just outside of town. There the rice is cured outdoors for more than a week. Then it is roasted, hulled, cleaned and graded as it passes through a series of jostling machines. Finally it is stored in 100-pound sacks. Much of the rice is packaged in eight-ounce boxes with a stylized blue heron on the front. The rest is sold in bulk in the United States and Canada.

The wild rice enterprise, which employs eight people during peak season, has become a source of local pride. Graydon Brown, owner of Benewah Resort on Lake Benewah, like many others, feels that rice will be the industry of the future. If true, that is good news for a town dependent on an ailing timber industry.

A Word From Your Leader

here we are chillin by the pool

Hello Bitches.  Poor poor Bob, I have not seen him in a long time because I left My Own Private Idaho weeks ago.  I left with a bad habit but now I am in California at the Betty Ford, the pool is really nice.  On my way I passed the other two fools in their rice burner, I am hysterical!  Rice burner and they were going to the rice fields! HA!  I haven't eatin at that dump in years.  Anyway you saw me right after the package store, you almost hit me but you couldn't even do that right even though I was wasted, Beyotches! With MLK day almost here only means one thing sun and fun, I even brought that widow with me I forgot her name, matters the mo, still going to pro create with her.  You bitches made a good run this year well at least some of you did, Bob sucks, what!  what did I say?  Bob sucks!  There I heard it again.  My cousin Filbert, yeah he's a little bit of a nut, (I kill myself) should be coming through in the next couple of weeks, I gave him a message to give to you beyotches.  I quack in your general direction.

ps. how ironic that I make the 1,000 post, you bitches are lame!

Who Don't like Rice?

Colusa Rice Fields Part I:

Leaving at 3 in the morning only meant one thing to me, who needs sleep?  I text Cliffy and let him know my situation "hey if you're up and want to leave early come on by I'm not going to bed."  Cliffy shows up a little earlier and I did not spend the few hours waiting  to my advantage, it hurt.  I make it maybe 45 minutes down the road before I pass out, it's then I got my 4 hours of sleep.  I awake a little hung at some gas station in South Medford, what a beautiful city.  Next stop is the Liquor Expo just over the border to buy some provisions at rock bottom prices.  We make it there just as they are opening at 8 a.m. Cliffy hands the keys over to me and with visions of an afternoon slay in the goose fields I put the pedal down and in a little less than 4 hours we are now in Colusa, an hour before our scheduled arrival time.  Gives us some time to choke down a burrito and have the state of CA bends us over for a 4 day hunting permit.  $105.00 worth of bending over.  The great state of Idaho for example only charges $35.00 for 3 days.  We hook up with Cliffy's buddy Brennan and we follow him outside town about 15 miles through farm land to the duck club. 

Mt. Shasta on the ride down

The duck club consist of lets say eight "teams" we'll call them.  Each "team" consist of four guns for as you all know equals 32 hunters.  Each team also has some kind of trailer at this space along the rice farm, Brennan and Kevin's being the largest of them all.  Equipped with a small kitchen, three beds, a head, a huge fire pit, a Little Red Ranger ATV, and a deck off the back over looking the rice fields.  Each team is responsible to set up one of the blinds with decoys and maintain with grasses.  In the morning the team leaders meet a hour before kill time and have a drawing at the "club house".   The club house is where you are suppose to check in and out of and log what you killed and where.  The first person picks which blind they want and so forth until everyone has a blind for the day, this way you're not hunting the same blinds every day and you get different looks.  The blinds are "pit" blinds dug into the ground, some are island like in the middle of flooded fields and some are between the rice fields on the burm.  Most house 3-4 people very comfortably they have small fences lined with grasses that pop up and down. When you arrive at the blinds the decoys are already set up with about 10 dozen decoys.  Each blind is approximately 500 yards apart.  There are also a few fields that have not been flooded strictly for geese, from my impression are just open to anyone who wants to hunt the as long as they are a part of the club.  You travel on ATVs along the water ways from 1-2 miles.

Nearby, the 4,500-acre Colusa National Wildlife Refuge is one of six refuges in the Sacramento Refuge Complex located in the Sacramento Valley of north-central California, and is considered one of the most important wintering areas for waterfowl in North America. Pheasant and waterfowl may be hunted during certain times of the year. Other local refuges include the Delevan National Wildlife Refuge near the town of Delevan and the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near the northern border of the county.

California is the largest producer of short and medium grain rice in the United States. In total, the state's rice industry produces more than 2 million tons of rice annually making it the second largest rice growing state.   Over 95 percent of the California's rice is grown within 100 miles of the State Capitol. For the rural Sacramento Valley communities of Colusa, Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties.