April, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
175 
unless you lug along a roaster as big as 
a wash boiler, and this is impractical. 
On one trip we had a big roaster, and 
roasted a young gobbler complete with 
sage and oyster dressing, just the way 
you would at home. About the best 
method of cooking a turkey in camp is 
to slice up the breast and either broil 
or fry it, and pot roast the balance in a 
dutch oven. 
Old gobblers have a strong, gamey 
taste, and are not such good eating as the 
younger ones or the hens. Soaking over- 
night in vinegar water will eliminate 
much of the strong taste from the old 
ones, and will improve the younger ones 
and the hens, as well. A young gobbler, 
or hen, stuffed with a good cornbread and 
sage dressing and roasted to a turn will 
cause you to pass your plate for more. 
To set off such a dish properly you want 
all the trimmings which ordinarily go 
with roast turkey. 
N EXT to turkey I prefer quail. I 
do not like to eat them the same 
day they are killed, as they are 
stringy; but place them on ice, or let 
them hang in the cold, overnight, and 
they are ready for the frying pan — and 
frying is the best way of cooking them, 
beyond doubt. When frying put plenty 
of lard in the pan, and have it good and 
hot before putting them in, and place a 
cover over the pan while they are cook- 
ing. Brown them nicely and they are 
ready to be eaten. 
Here is a fine dish which has parts of 
the quail as its meat content: Cut the 
wings and legs from at least half a 
dozen birds, and save the giblets when 
drawing them. Place a stew pot on the 
fire, about half full of water, and when 
it boils drop the wings, legs and giblets 
in, and let them boil for twenty min- 
utes, at a brisk pace. Then add suffi- 
cient rice for the number to be served, 
three good sized Irish potatoes, which 
have been diced into half inch cubes, and 
finely chopped onion. Let this boil for 
about ten minutes, at full steam. Then 
rake all fire from under the pot, but a 
single flame, and let the pot simmer 
along for thirty minutes. When your 
flame dies down add another dry chip to 
keep it going, and stir the pot from time 
to time. After it has simmered for the 
time stated, add a good sized chunk of 
butter and season to taste with salt and 
pepper. It should be allowed to simmer 
for another ten minutes, when it will 
have simmered down to a very thick stew, 
and can be taken from the fire and eaten. 
If you choose, make some good dump- 
lings and drop them in at the proper 
time. This adds to the dish, which is 
mighty appetizing, when properly made, 
and one that will stick to your ribs. We 
usually have this at night, and eat what 
is left over for breakfast, cold. This 
same dish can be prepared with other 
small game birds and squirrels as the 
meat content. Squirrel is excellent, but 
the other birds are not nearly so good 
for this purpose as quail. 
Frying is the best way to cook the 
balance of the small game birds, while, 
of course, roasting is the proper way to 
fix up a wild duck. I am not crazy about 
wild duck, preferring a mess of quail any 
day, and I have tried canvasback and 
mallard along with the rest of them. 
It goes without saying that bass are 
best fried, though you can stuff a big 
one with dressing and bake it as you 
would a fowl. Both ways are excellent, 
but I prefer them fried nice and brown. 
A good way of preserving your fish 
when on a trip of a couple of days’ dura- 
tion is to scale them, cut off the head 
and tail and cut the fins out by the 
roots, as you might say, then split the 
fish wide open, wipe them dry and salt 
lightly, but thoroughly. If you are out 
for several days it is well to salt them 
a little heavier and remove all of the 
bones possible. After arriving home, and 
before frying them, soak them in cold 
water for about twenty-five minutes. 
This will remove the saltiness, and when 
they are cooked you will be unable to 
tell that they have been salted. Some 
people salt and smoke their fish before 
bringing them in, as they will then keep 
for some length of time. 
When I go hunting I always take along 
some grits, and both Irish and sweet 
potatoes. Grits go well with gravy for 
breakfast, and when cold can be sliced 
up and eaten that way or can be fried. 
Irish potatoes go well either boiled or 
sliced up and fried. Sweet potatoes when 
cooked in camp are best roasted in the 
hot ashes, and for this reason you should 
try and get potatoes about two inches in 
diameter and about six or seven inches 
long. This means that you will have to 
pick them over, when buying, but this 
size is much better for roasting pur- 
poses. i 
T HE Florida hunter does not have to 
worry much over the clothing ques- 
tion. Situated in the semi-tropics, 
its temperature is usually very mild 
throughout the year. Even in winter the 
days are usually warm. In fact, some 
of the hottest days in the year seem to 
come in December, and, though there are 
cold spells from time to time, they do 
not last very long, and are not severe, 
but, on account of the dampness, you will 
feel the cold and want warm clothes for 
the time being. 
Only light clothing is required, but a 
good sweater should be taken along to 
wear in case of a cold snap when a flannel 
shirt will also be more comfortable than 
V. 
Some typical hunting country in Florida, where pines and palmettoes form an ideal cover for many varieties of game 
