Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) Weekend Was Great!

This weekend I particiated in a BOW weekend which was FANTASTIC!  I just learned so much and gained alot of confidence in activities I was a bit nervous about before.

I left Friday morning on a boat up to Haines - about a 2 1/2 hour ride.  The weather was great - no rain and the sun came out for awhile, plus the water was calm.  The first day was spent getting to know the layout of the Rainbow Glacier Bible Camp, unpacking my HUGE backpack, and finding where we were supposed to go.  After getting settled and having lunch, my first class was Dutch Oven Gourmet.  There were just 8 students in the class - each pair prepared 4 dishes.  Our table made biscuits, a caribou roast, scalloped potatoes, and coconut cream cheese cake.  Wow!  Everything turned out great - nothing was burned and it tasted yummy!  I can't wait to show Rod's brother Jeff, who is very into dutch oven cooking, what I can cook now!

I had 2 classes on Saturday - Field Dressing and Salmon Fishing.  We cut up a deer in the field dressing class - 4 students in the class and it was all hands on.  They gave us each a buck knife to take home.  I learned what parts were what and how to take care of the meat so you have great tasting meat when you get it home.  The woman instructor hunts moose each year with another woman and she explained a bit about how you deal differently with a moose vs. a deer.  The other instructor was a guy and he was very patient with us and explained everything in detail - they were both great teachers.  Then in my Salmon Fishing I learned about trolling gear and what is needed, how to set it up.  Then we went out on boats and got some practice - wrong time of year at that spot for fishing for salmon, but at least we got some practice.  We saw some seals - and a bear on the beach.

Yesterday was the last day - and the class I was most intimidated by - Chainsaw.  I was nervous because I've never handled a chainsaw, started one or really been around one being used.  So it was all new.  The instructors were a husband and wife who own the Saw Shop in Haines.  They were great teachers, which put us all at ease.  We were given safety gear - hat, safety glasses, ear protection, gloves and chaps - all to take home!  Cool!!  They went through how to start them, and we started them ourselves.  We practiced cutting slices off of logs - from top down and with an undercut.  Then we learned how to change the chain, how to sharpen the teeth, rotate the bar, etc.  The last thing we did was simulate cutting down a tree.  He stood up 6' sections and we made the face cut and back cut and made them fall down!  And mine even fell the right way  :o)

The Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) began in Wisconsin.  The program in Alaska is sponsored by the Department of Fish and Game and the Outdoor Heritage Foundation.  There are BOW workshops in 45 of our 50 states, Canada, and other countries too.  You should find out if there is one near you and participate.  It was a fantastic weekend and was great to meet a bunch of ladies who wanted to learn stuff just like me - and most of them were from Juneau.  I was so happy to see so many people volunteering their time and resources to make this weekend happen - they put ALOT of work into it.  I only took a few pictures because most of the time I was busy doing something, but they had people going around to take pictures and I will get a copy of all of them in a couple weeks...until then here are mine:

Moose Hunt

I found out I won one of the Gustavus moose permits for this winter!!  I have alot of work to do before the hunt which is from December 1 to December 10.  This will be my first hunting trip, so I will be practicing at the shooting range alot between now and then.  I will also need to work on getting in shape as it will be a workout getting the animal back to the road - no motorized vehicles allowed off the road.  Rod and I will be taking a trip over there to check things out and find out where the hunt area is.  I'm really exciting, but nervous too since this will be my first time and this is a big deal - it will be our meat for the next year.

Tanning Bear Hide - Entry #2

The hide is done with the Borax solution - been in for five days last night.  I took it out and worked more of the stuff off, but it started raining hard so I was only out there for 45 minutes.  I put the hide back in the plastic tub and just filled with plain water.  Tonight I took it out again and worked some more.  I think the soak did make it a little easier to get the stuff off.  I used a butter knife for some of it - pulled with my left hand and ran the knife in long strokes against the connecting tissues to separate it from the skin.  I also used a sharp knife for part of the time.  I found it easier to grip the fat without gloves.

It was a beautiful evening and I had the radio playing country music.  It was relaxing to just work on the skin, bit by bit.  I didn't get everything off yet, but made good progress in the 2 hours I spent on it.  I made a new solution for it of 10 gallons of water with 1/4 cup of lye mixed in and then immersed the hide.  It should soak in it for a couple days or until the hair comes off easily.  It should be stirred frequently.  I'll check tomorrow night and see if the hair has loosened.  Here is what it looked like tonight before I put it in the lye solution.

Here is a closeup of the skin.

I'm going to need to find a wooden barrel or some sort of non-metal, non-plastic container for the tanning solution when I get to that point.  Closest I've come so far is to get one of those half whiskey-barrel wooden planters and plug the hole somehow.  Maybe I'll get lucky and find one at a garage sale on Saturday morning...

Tanning Bear Hide - Entry #1

I began my hide tanning project last Friday.  First I thawed the hide, since it had been frozen since we skinned it.  I laid the hide over a sawhorse which will be my fleshing beam.  I worked for about 2 hours on getting some of the flesh, fat and membrane off of the skin.  That is not easy work!  I used a knife and was very careful, but nicked the skin twice.  That is why I'm practicing!  I got alot of the big stuff off, but that membrane that covers the whole skin, that stuff is really hard to get off.  Next I prepared my borax solution - 8 oz. borax dissolved in 8 gallons warm water.  I am using a 18 gallon rubbermaid tote for my container.  I immersed the hide in the solution, put on the lid and put it in a cool spot outside.  It will soak in this for 5 days, so tomorrow I will proceed with the next step.

Spring Bear Meat and Tanning Hide

The spring bear hunt was successful!  We all spent last Sunday taking care of meat - skinning, trimming and grinding burger.  Rod grilled burgers so Jordon could taste it - he really liked the meat.  We did a good job getting all the fat and silver skin off the meat which really makes a difference in the taste of the final product.  Anyway, Rod said the hide isn't in really good shape, so wouldn't be worth making into a rug.  Though we might find out about a head mount...  Instead of wasting the hide, I decided to try tanning it.  I need to do some more reading and get together some supplies and hopefully can start it this weekend.  This will be my first tanning project - anyone have any tips?

Wanna See a Nice Fish?

Rod and his nephew caught this King Salmon today.  How exciting!!

Even though it was raining and a little windy, they said the water was nice when they got the boat launched.  They left around 11am and were back at 5pm, so were gone for 6 hours.  According to Fish and Game, the average rod hours to catch a King Salmon last week was 64 hours, so they did very good for the first trip out!  Too bad they didn't have a derby ticket....the fish weighed about 25 pounds and was 36 inches long.  Maybe they would have won some money!

Jordon seemed pretty happy to finally be able to go fishing.  He has been here since Thursday and this is the first trip on the boat.  Rod bought a new outboard and wasn't quite done getting it all rigged, so Jordon helped for a couple days and was getting pretty bored.  We took the boat out on her maiden voyage on Saturday afternoon - it really goes!  I was so glad to see them lift that fish up when they returned today - made all that waiting worth it.

The fish was almost too big for my counter.  I filleted it and vacuum packed it - put one half in the freezer for Jordon to take back to Idaho and the other we will cook up tomorrow.  We would have cooked it tonight, but Rod had to go to work.  Tomorrow they are going after halibut and will see if the crab pot has been productive.  I might go too, haven't decided yet...

Canned the Rest of the Moose

I got up early and worked on canning up the rest of the moose meat.  I put a large pot on the stove with some water and brought to a boil.  I then added the meat just long enough to warm it up.  I packed the meat into pint jars and packed it down a bit then filled with the broth, leaving 1 inch headspace.  It made 11 pints of meat and I filled three more pints with just broth.  I processed them at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes.  All of the jars sealed!

We had a jar for dinner tonight.  I cooked some large macaroni noodles, then made a gravy with butter, flour and the broth from the canned meat, plus some of the extra broth.  When the gravy was thick, I added the meat to heat it up.  It was so tender, it just fell apart in the gravy.  Oh man!!!  It was so good!  All Rod could say is that we should have canned more.  And the best part - it is quick and easy!  I wonder if canned venison will be this good...

Here are the total amounts we got from the moose (half of moose).  We packaged the steaks about 3 or 4 per package - good size for us with enough for leftovers for the next day's lunch.

2 - Backstrap Roasts
1 - Tenderloin Roast
6 - Backstrap Steaks
3 - Tenderloin Steaks
1 - Backstrap Breakfast Steaks
2 - Tenderloin Breakfast Steaks
3 - Stew Meat (1 pound)
1 - Sirloin Tip Roast
2 - Top Round Roast
2 - Bottom Round Roast
4 - Other Roasts
3 - Top Round Steaks
1 - Top Round Breakfast Steaks
6 - Sirloin Tip Steaks
3 - Eye of Round Steaks
2 - Bottom Round Steaks
1 - Jerky Meat (2 pounds)
30 - Burger (2 pounds)
5 - Canned Stew Meat w/tomato juice
6 - Canned Stew Meat w/beef broth
11 - Canned Meat in broth
Total: 130 pounds

Done with the Moose Ahead of Schedule!

I worked on the hindquarter today - it was HUGE - 84 pounds with the bones!  It was all I could do to carry it into the house and get it up on the table to start cutting up.  I used my knife in the pictures as a guage - it is 10 inches long.  Oh, yeah, that is my new Wusthof boning knife - just for cutting up meat.  It is a very nice knife with a good feel for my hand and is heavy and easy for me to use.  It sure makes a difference when you have the right tools.  I already love it!

I first trimmed up the shank (leg), then worked on the sirloin tip roast (pictured on the left above).  I was able to get quite a few steaks out of it, which is what Rod really wanted.  I then cut out the femur bone and was left with 5 big pieces.  The 3 pieces in the middle are the Top Round, Eye of Round and Bottom Round.  The other 2 are part of the shank.

I was able to finish trimming and cutting these up before Rod got home tonight (only sliced a finger once).  We ended up with 59 pounds of meat - woohoo!  That makes about 130 pounds total.

We decided to go ahead and grind up the burger tonight, instead of waiting until tomorrow.  We opted to not add any fat, just plain.  We were able to borrow an electric grinder - WOW - that was such a big timesaver!  It took 35 minutes start to finish to grind all the burger (didn't weigh just the burger, but probably 50 pounds).  Then I vacuum packed it all.  Here is the burger after the first grind - course.  We then put it through a second time with the fine plate.

So we are all done - except I do have a couple ziploc bags of meat that I saved to can.  I will probably do that tomorrow.  I can't wait to be done with it already!  I would do it again, though.  Hopefully Rod will get a deer and we can get some more experience cutting meat.  Too tired to even cook dinner tonight - we had applesauce (homemade, of course)!

Finished with the Front Quarter

After dinner tonight, Rod and I finished trimming the meat.  The majority of this will be burger, but the shoulder meat we cut into stew meat.  We ended up with 28 pounds of meat.  So we are up to 70 pounds total so far.  Tomorrow I will work on our final piece, the hindquarter.  We've been guessing how much more meat there will be...  I think the sirloin tip roast weighs at least 30 pounds!  If we get another 55 pounds out of the hindquarter, that will make 125 pounds total meat.  Spread over the next year, that gives us about 2 1/2 pounds per week.  Not too bad!

On to the Front Quarter of the Moose Today

Today I'm working on butchering the front quarter of the moose.  With bones it weighed 58 pounds.  Yesterday we got 22 pounds of meat from the neck - that was ALOT of work, but we don't want anything to go to waste!  We'll see how much meat I get today.

We didn't get a weight on the entire animal before they skinned and cut it up.  They think it weighed between 750 and 800 pounds.  The hide probably weighed 100 to 150 pounds.  We didn't keep it - Nick did.  If I knew how to tan them, I would have kept it.  That is something on our list of things to learn - how to tan a hide.  I've seen books on it, so I'll have to get one.  In high school, I took an art class in Alaska Native Design.  Our teacher, Mrs. Collinsworth, tanned a deer hide and we made moccasins - mine has rabbit fur trim.  I wish I could have learned to tan from her.

I put a bid in on a Country Living grain mill - hand crank - on ebay this morning.  The auction included the nut/bean auger, an attachment for flaking grains, and an extra set of grinding plates - $550 total retail when new.  I figured I'd like to pay half price, so I bid.  I was outbid by about $100.  Oh, well.  It just wasn't meant to be this time.  I'll keep looking 

Grinding Burger without Fat?

Today it's Moose Burger

Day 2 of butchering the moose - I'm working on the neck.  It weighed 60 pounds before de-boning, so it will be interesting to see how much meat we end up with out of that.  I worked on getting it off the bone this morning and this afternoon working on trimming off the fat and sinue and stuff.  I cut some pieces into 2" long chunks for canning - I want to try canning some of it.  Rod's mom says that it will come out so tender and yummy that we won't want it any other way.  A friend from work says her family uses canned venison in stroganoff or in tacos - sounds good to me! 

The video we bought that teaches how to bone out and process a deer is called "Boning the Deer Carcass" by Larry Metz.  Says it applies to any big game.  If you want to check it out, it is on their website:  www.lemproducts.com.  They carry all sorts of grinders, sausage making supplies, knives, seasonings, etc.  The video has been very useful and given us the confidence to butcher this moose ourselves.  It is even interesting just to know where certain cuts of meat come from on the animal!

I called a couple grocery stores today looking for some pork fat to mix in our burger - one was out entirely of pork and beef fat - the other had some pork fat that Rod is picking up on the way home from work.  There was a big moose opening over in Gustavus that just ended Friday, so that is why the fat was harder to find.

I think dinner tonight is going to be a salmon casserole or salmon loaf with some of our canned salmon. 

Rod Brought Home a Moose!

Rod went hunting this weekend for his cow moose and was successful!  He left Friday afternoon with Nick and Don from work and got back yesterday.  I was thinking they would call off the hunt because the weather was really bad Friday morning, but by noon the wind had let up and it stopped raining.  Saturday we had no rain and the sun was actually out for awhile.  It rained on Sunday, but not really hard until after they got back.  They stayed at Nick's cabin up north of here at Berner's Bay.  Sounds like they had a good time - Rod said it was the trip of a lifetime!

I got to see them lift the moose out of the boat with the forklift and they skinned and cut the meat into more manageable pieces.  Rod and I decided to butcher the meat ourselves, so here starts the fun part.  We have a video on how to butcher a deer - but, wow, a moose is SOOOO much BIGGERRRR.  But I guess the cuts are all the same.  Look at how big it is in this picture - Rod is on the left and he is 6 foot tall.

I have taken vacation from work this week, so I will be busy during the day working on getting the meat cut and packaged.  Rod took off early today and we brought home just the loin section - the backstrap and tenderloin.  We spent a couple hours cleaning up the cuts, deciding what is steak, roast, stew, burger.  The nice thing about cutting your own meat is that you decide how much of each cut you want.  Rod wants steaks, I want plenty of burger.  The piece we brought home weighed 48 pounds with bones - we ended up with about 20 pounds of trimmed meat.  Here is what we got to add to the freezer today:

I think we are well on our way to supermarket independence for our meat this year.  I bought some Coho salmon Friday from a local fisherman to fill up the freezer.  We already ran out of smoked salmon we did last month, so we will have to do another batch.  I cleaned out the freezer, organized and took inventory.  Isn't it such a good feeling to have a full freezer?

Dinner tonight was backstrap steaks, steelhead fingers with tartar sauce and garlic alfredo - YUM!!!

King Crab is Wonderful!

A friend from work took us out on his boat today.  We went to his float cabin up the river where he will be taking Rod on his moose hunt.  On the way back, we stopped and checked crab pots and rebaited them.  We got 3 King Crab - he said that wasn't very many, that the crab had moved this week because of the tides.  We cooked them up tonight and stuffed ourselves!  The rest we will crack and vacuum seal for the freezer.

Here is Rod with one of the crab:

Also, just had to share Nick and his HUGE frying pan - WOW!