Heidi Comes Home.

Well we picked Heidi up from Mark and Alisons the other week at 9 weeks old, (thanks for the hospitality Alison), which gave us a seven hour drive back home. I have to say Heidi travelled back with no problems and is still treating being in a vehicle as second nature. She is small in frame and when we first met she was not the boldest in the litter, but very inquisitive, which is just what I was after. She is now becoming more and more confident every day and her boldness is increasing, but sticks to me like glue everywhere-perfect. Nothing seems to phase her, machinery sounds, bangs, people etc., all taken in her stride. Even in this grim weather, we're having great fun dragging liver around the garden and just intending to take things steady with her, not too much too soon. In future she will be working on Fallow, Roe and with caution, Muntjac.

Myself with Heidi's mum, Kremi.

I should just give a mention to Pete Garraway from Deertrackers, who kindly let the wife and I visit him last year to have a really close look at the breed, and answer a lot of questions. It was he who kindly put us in touch with Mark & Alison (www.paintandpins.com). After a few talks we were put on the list for a pup, sadly missed out on the last litter, but were lucky this time. I cannot thank Mark & Alison enough for all their help and support, and although they bred the pup I am trying to avoid the word 'breeders' as they are much more than this. Their knowledge and passion for the breed, keeping the lines as pure as possible, and ethics behind everything they do is to be acknowledged. Talking to Mark, his knowledge on scent and tracking is priceless and I would like to thank him for his guidance.

Heidi with her favourite toy!

Our Bavarian Mountain Hound - Heidi

Being a contentious deerstalker, I consider it my duty to have a trained dog, that can track a wounded deer due to a misplaced shot taken by myself or another person, and humanely dispatch it. Also that it would would be possible to follow up a poor beast hit by a vehicle, and do the same.
My old dog is now into retirement years, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to choose a breed that fits my specific requirements. That is solely for the purpose of tracking deer, not a general purpose dual role gundog. For this reason, after extensive research, I decided on a Bavarian Mountain Hound.
The Bavarian Mountain Hound (Bayerischer Gebirgsschweisshund) have the finest nose for following ground scent and trail; they are firm on scent, have a strongly developed will, to follow a trail and readily give tongue on scent. They were bred by Baron Karg-Bebenburg, Reichenhall around the 1870's from crossing the Hanoverian Scenthound, which were considered too heavy for rough an mountainous ground, with the Red Mountain Scenthounds. These Bavarian Mountain Hounds eventually became so popular that today they are considered the classical scenthound for the professional hunter on the continent.
So here we have our new pup 'Heidi' at 8 weeks old. She was bred in the UK, from the 'Zerno' kennels of Mark and Alison Montgomery in Cumbria, who I can only say are two of the most professional people I have ever met, especially when it come to the well being of this breed in the UK.

Heidi, (Zerno Cherub) is Kennel Club registered and is one of 10 pups, 6 bitches and 4 dogs. If anyone is interested her pedigree can be seen here: http://www.bazabgs.com/baza.php?op=show_tree&dog=13978
Over the next few days, weeks, months I will try to show Heidi's progress. I must stress however that I have never trained a dog purely for deertracking, and have taken on board everything that I have gleaned from those that have, and from books.

Venison Ham

Okay, here it is. After three months of waiting, the venison ham is ready. This project was always meant to be an experiment, so instead of using a large haunch from a fallow, I started small with a muntjac haunch.
The first part of the process was to 'salt' the haunch in a bowl. This was done using table salt and gently covered the joint all round.

This salting process took about three weeks, and initially the salt was replaced every couple of days until the moisture stopped leaching from the joint, which in reality was about two weeks, and then left with a covering for around another week.

Finally the joint was removed and any excess salt was brushed off, and the smoker was made ready. I decide to smoked the joint, thinking this might give it a better flavour and assist in the curing process.

For a fuel source I used Cherry chips. the intention is to cold smoke the joint as we do not wish to cook the joint, but just to add flavour.

A careful eye was kept on the temperature, and made sure that the chips did not need replenishing. I got it just about right and smoked for about three hours.
Once finished smoking, the joint was wrapped in muslin and hung in a cool airy place. In this instance our pantry was used.
After three months of hanging this is the result.

The 'ham' was taken out of the muslin and as much salt crusting as possible was brushed off. The ham had become completely set and was as hard to slice as parma ham, and because of its texture was best to slice very thinly.Once sliced I trimmed off the salt crust.
The flavour was very tasty and quite a lot like jerky, but I must say it was a bit too salty. I found the best way to eat it was to cut it into thin strips and have with a beer or whisky, very similar to how you would have dried squid as a snack with a drink. Even though it was a bit salty tasting it didn't last long!
What would I do next time? Well now I know that the principle works I would use a larger haunch, probably not use as much salt and possibly only carry out this process for two weeks. I might also consider hanging it for two months instead of three, but weather and temperature might play an important part in this. If I have not covered everything or you want to have a go, but are not sure about something, contact me and I'll try to help - good luck.

TERIYAKI VENISON LIVER WITH GINGER

I have to say that my wife, Mrs Yabanjin, is very clever in the kitchen, and the other day came up with this great way to cook venison liver, (it will probably work with all types though). This recipie uses one Muntjac liver, so I guess about 1/2 kilo.

Ingredients:
1 Venison Liver (Muntjac size).
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil.
4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce.
2 Tablespoons Sugar.
3 Tablespoons Grated Ginger. If not grated the very finely chopped.

Method:
First cut your liver into suitable sized pieces.
Heat up your frying pan then add the oil.
Then add you liver and just brown off the outside-don't cook it through yet!

The next stage is to add the soy sauce, sugar, ginger and stir together. At this stage you can just about cook the liver.
Reduce the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes whilst stirring gently, reducing the sauce to make it thicker.

Enjoy.

Ammo/Torch Pouch

Someone has probably had this idea before but there you are. I was filling up my new ammo pouch which holds ten rounds, thinking ten's a bit excessive, (my last one held seven), and it struck me that I had a mini maglite laying around, that would fit in one of the elastic retainers perfectly. Not only is it useful having a back-up light with you when stalking, but seemed like a great place to store it.

NIGGELOH RUCKSACK STYLE RIFLE SLING

If you've been in the situation where you have nailed a big beastie, and you have a long drag to get back to your 'recovery' vehicle. Its raining, you're carrying your bino's round your neck, the ground is up and down with very little grip under foot, what keeps happening? Yes, your rifle keeps slipping off your shoulder wherever you put it, and you just get more and more frustrated. Okay, you can place your rifle diagonally across your shoulders, but normally this is a bit tight and uncomfortable because you can't be bothered to re-adjust the sling.

Well this is the answer. The Holy Grail of rifle slings, its a great new idea from Niggeloh.

A rifle sling that securely straps your rifle to you back and can be quickly unhitched and swung round ready to take a shot. The shoulder straps are neoprene lined for comfort, especially if you have a fully spec'd weapon eg: moderator, H/D barrel, bipod etc., and the great thing is that it can also be used as a conventional rifle sling.

The sling swivel attachments are fantastic and have a solid metal switch closure mechanism as well as a velcro strap over attachment.

This is the best sling I've ever owned and would thoroughly recommend it.