Yeah baby! Tomorrow is the first day of my holiday which lasts till the end of this month, in other words till the end of the grouse hunting season in Finland. I have made some preparations for the coming hiking trip 🙂
First of all, during the previous weekend we were searching grouses with my friend from the military service and with his friend. I lured a hazel grouse and my friend shot it. We cooked the bird on a campfire, and I was really amazed how easily one can make a five star dinner by using just only a couple of ingredients! In a forest, I have used to cook my game with an aluminum pan and used ordinary seasoning. Instead, my friend used only sea salt, black pepper, and young sweet cognac for frying the grouse in a cast iron pan with butter and onions. It was delicious! That is why I borrowed a cast iron pan from my mother, “lubricated” it by frying some bacon in it, and tested it with the hare I shot and some hazel grouse wings and legs. The hare was tough. It seems that mammals should be braised for a longer time for tenderizing them. Instead, I managed to replicate the sweetness of the hazel grouse wings and legs! In my cognac there is 13 g of sugar in one liter (same as in my friend’s cognac), which gives a little caramellizated taste for the meat. Furthermore, the cognac is sold in plastic bottles, so that it does not break so easily. So, now I know how I will cook my coming game, if I manage to catch anything.
Secondly, during the previous weekend I managed to sneak right under a wood grouse in a dark forest! Unfortunately, I did not saw my iron sights anymore in the darkness, why I just goggled the black body of the bird under the same pine it was sitting in 😀 Finally, it flew away, and I decided to carry a shotgun during the coming trips. During the coming hiking trip I will search a new wood grouse for myself, like I did a couple weeks ago, but now with a more confidence (and with the shotgun). Many thanks belong to my father, who taught this hunting tactic of our family to me, as I think I have finally learned it 🙂
Thirdly, I told how I managed to ruin my DIY iron sights of my Winchester. I made some new fine adjustments and used more metal glue for securing the sights. Finally, I used a metal sheet for making cute protective ears for the front sight. Now, if I hit the barrel on something, the front sight should not be damaged so easily anymore.
That is all today folks, here are some photos from the hunting club’s lean-to, where I cooked the cognac hazel grouse and made a couple of test shots with the freshly adjusted iron sights of my Winchester 🙂