Yantis, Texas - When upland bird guide Cord Burnett loosed a brace of well trained pointers on a recent hunt at Hidden Lakes Hunting Resort near Yantis in East Texas, I did a double take when his little wirehair Jack Russell Terrier ‘Huckleberry’ hit the ground and quickly disappeared into the patch of standing sorghum, right behind the bigger dogs three times his size.
Jack Russells have no shortage of heart; they were bred to go into fox holes and dig out the quarry for fox hunters in England back in the 1800’s. Bred with long legs for their size, the little dogs could keep up with the bigger fox hounds; Huckleberry also does a great job keeping up with big running pointers!
Bird hunting was excellent at Hidden Lakes, as it always is and Huckleberry proved his worth as a flushing dog every time the pointers locked up on point. Cord would send little Huckleberry in and he would put the quail, chucker or pheasant in the air and, often beat the other dogs to the downed bird and make the retrieve. He has even made ‘water retrieves,’ bringing back upland birds that fell in standing water! On a couple of occasions when the game bird scent was really hot, I watched the little Jack Russell freeze in mid stride, just like the pointers. Whether he was actually ‘on point’ or just pausing in an attempt to locate the game bird hiding in the cover ahead is anybody’s guess but was acting just like one of the pointing breeds.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, my second hunt at Hidden Lakes, with my friends outdoors writer Bob Hood, owner Billy Burnett, and Billy’s son Cord, who served as guide. I might forget a few aspects of this world class wingshooting outing but I will never forget this little bundle of fur named Huckleberry that has the heart of a lion in a body nor much larger than a big jackrabbit!
For more information on hunting quail, chucker or pheasant at Hidden Lakes Hunting Resort, go online at www.hiddenlakeshuntingresort.com or call Billy Burnett at 903-714-7574
Listen to OUTDOORS WITH LUKE CLAYTON at www.catfishradio.com. Email Luke with hunting and fishing news at lukeclayton@prodigy.net
OUTDOOR TIP OF THE WEEK- Chances are good you have plenty of venison in the freezer from this past hunting season. If you enjoy eating corned beef, consider making ‘corned venison’ from your venison hams. Corning venison is really easy. I just finished transforming 8 pounds of venison ham steak into some of the tastiest corned meat imaginable.
The process is really very simple. The meat is cut into pieces weighing 2-3 pounds and brined a few days. To determine how long to brine the meat, use this formula: 1 day for each pound of meat plus a day; a three pound piece of venison can be brined (cured) in 4 days in the refrigerator. After the meat is brined, rinse off the excess cure and cook it in the oven to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. I learned this method from Mike Pullen with Frisco Spices (www.friscospices.com).
Mike is a storehouse of knowledge for anything to do with making sausage or curing meats at home. Feel free to contact him with questions at mike@friscospices.com. Order your spices or cures from the web site online.