Page 61 - Flathead Beacon // 9.9.15

MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
OUTDOORS IN BRIEF
GLACIER-TWO MEDICINE ALLIANCE 2015 FALL GATHERING
The Badger-Two Medicine is a familiar
place to Bill Cunningham, the Keynote
speaker at the Fall Gathering, an annual
educational event focused on conserva-
tion issues in the Badger region. Cun-
ningham has authored several books and
articles about these wild lands, taught
university wilderness field courses in
them for 20 years, operated a backpack-
ing outfit in the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Complex for 40, and served as the first
Conservation Director for the Montana Wilderness Association. The Fall Gathering also welcomes speakers Tyson Running Wolf, Blackfeet tribal business council member and secretary; John Weaver and Keith Auene, biologists at the Wildlife Conservation Society; and Dr. Kend- all Flint, president of the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance. Topics will include Blackfeet culture, Vital and Sacred Lands, initiatives to reintro- duce wild bison, and other innovative wildlife conservation strategies.
The program runs from Sept. 18-20. Presentations will be held at the Blackfeet Community College on Friday and at the Rising Wolf Ranch outside East Glacier on Saturday and Sunday. There will be a live and silent auction and live music on Saturday, and two guided hikes on Sun- day. To sign up for events or for more information visit http://www. glaciertwomedicine.org/
Going on an adventure? If you would like to be featured in “Mountain Exposure,” email information to [email protected].
OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING BIRDS LEFT OVER
JIM HARRISON ONCE WROTE that hunters should rummage through their freezer at summer’s end, tallying up the number of birds left over from the season before. We are obliged to subtract the quantity of freezer burnt, wasted game birds from the allot- ment we are allowed to kill in the com- ing fall.
Just typing the words “coming fall” goes a long way toward easing my weari- ness of the lingering summer heat.
Fortunately, the number of wasted birds in my freezer is slight. There’s one whole chukar, double wrapped in foil and a zip lock bag, buried in the back. I sus- pect the flesh of that bird will be just fine. I think I’ll simmer it with some green chili for tacos or maybe enchiladas. It’s just one chukar so I’ll need sides for a full meal.
More problematic is the tub of fro- zen coq au vin left over from December. After a particularly good run on the chu- kar grounds I had enough birds to make a pot. I ate on it for a while, and shared some with friends, but I still reached my saturation point with quite a bit remain- ing. I froze it, then forgot it. By the time I remembered the frozen tub the weather had warmed and the thought of stew, even one this delicious, had lost its appeal.
I think I’ll thaw it and fish out the bird meat and lardons to feed Doll. Maybe that will help get my bird dog out of her own summer doldrums and ready to hunt.
There’s good news on the coq au vin front as I received affirmation of my long- held belief that cheap wine is the way to gowhencooking.We’veallheardtheold canard that you should never cook with a wine that you wouldn’t want to drink. Well, coq au vin calls for pinot noir, maybe a couple of bottles depending on the size of your pot, and the tasty Oregon pinots I like will set you back at least $25 a pop.
That makes for an expensive pot of chukar.
A foodie website I recommend, www. seriouseats.com, dispelled the “only cook with the good stuff” myth, testing a vari- ety of wines in side-by-side preparations of pan sauces, reductions, and as the braising liquid in coq au vin.
What the testers found was that as long as you stayed away from “cooking wine products,” which aren’t really wine at all but instead weird chemical con- coctions, the results varied subtly if at all. The long cooking process of a coq au vin braise dramatically transforms the flavor compounds in wine to the point where a boxed red is no better or worse than expensive hooch.
So I say save the pricey stuff for drink- ing and cook with Two Buck Chuck.
In any event, with Doll and I finishing off last fall’s bounty, we will enter this year’s season with a clean conscience and a full bird allotment. I’m now taking the initial steps to get ready for hunting sea- son as I was out on the Bench yesterday evening with the Elk Hunter; scouting out some of my favorite chukar ravines. The Elk Hunter and I like to walk and talk out there, though she interrupts me whenever she spots something more interesting, be it a cool rock underfoot or the fleeing rump of a stotting mule deer.
She apologizes. We laugh. I say some- thing. She interrupts me again. There are lots of shiny objects worth noticing out on the Bench. I’m happy to have her pick them out for me.
We weren’t the only ones laughing. Toward dusk, chukar assembly calls echoed off the cliffs. The birds sound almost like turkeys, but not quite so over the top. Then I noticed my own shiny object scattered under the sage: piles of chukar poop.
I smiled. Fall can’t come soon enough.
Rob Breeding writes, teaches and watches his kids play soccer when he’s not fishing or hunting. He lives in Kalispell.
PAINFUL TOENAIL? PAINFUL CORNS?
We Offer Permanent Relief!
Simple procedures for permanent toenail removal & toe surgery for permanent relief of painful corns.
SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
61
Certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery
95 INDIAN TRAIL RD. KALISPELL 755-1300 • www.glacierfootandankle.com
ERIK PLOOT, D.P.M.
Podiatric Physician and Surgeon