Cooking in the West

When I see all the pictures of trophy deer, elk, and moose that people have shot and posted on social media, I start missing my hunting camp experiences. Hunting camp cooking was a delightful experience!

I got up at 3 a.m., tried not to singe my bangs lighting the kerosene lamps, fired up the wood stove, cooked all day, prepared elk heart appetizers, waited anxiously for hunters to arrive several hours past the optimum serving time of the entrees, and packed 50 gallons of water 2 buckets at a time up a steep ravine--and that's the good part! The challenging part was fending off wild animals!

This is not a grizzly bear story. It is the story of a maniacal squirrel. It happened a few years ago in the Scapegoat Wilderness when I was cooking for the K Lazy Three. The first night, I had a visitor who plagued me until I rode out of camp. As soon as I switched on my light the first morning, I heard rustling in the boxes. A large squirrel popped its head out and glared steadfastly at me. I politely asked him to leave, but he bared his gleaming incisors and kept munching a hunk of bread. I knew instinctively that I was not dealing with an ordinary squirrel.

When my boss, Brett Todd, came to the cook tent, I made the mistake of telling him about my close encounter with the rabid squirrel. He assured me that squirrels are not nocturnal, so it was probably a pack rat. In fact, they had heard a pack rat in the guide's tent during the night. I think that was somehow supposed to make me feel better.

All day long, the psychotic squirrel raided the cook tent. When I would throw something, he would retort in unmistakable squirrel curses. I vowed that I would have the cheeky varmint shot. Unfortunately, no hunters showed up before dark, so the squirrel would live another day, because even though these hunters had every other nifty hunting gadget sold in Cabela's, they had no night vision scopes.

That night Guy Gravert, one of the guides, mentioned that the pack rat had hauled off his toothbrush. The gleaming incisors of the squirrel flashed in my mind's eye, and I surmised that my squirrel was being mistaken for a pack rat. The kleptomaniacal squirrel raided the cook tent by day and the guide's tent by night! He absconded with Guy's long johns and was briefly suspected in the disappearance of a pair of pants.

By the fourth day, O'Squirrel bin Laden and I were carrying on a dialogue. I felt evilly schizophrenic as I chattered conversationally with him in an attempt to lure him within range of my Dutch oven lid. The hunters began to avoid me so they wouldn't have to explain again why they were reluctant to shoot the camp mascot with a .338 Weatherby.

Finally on the last morning, when the carnivorous squirrel eviscerated the packer's unguarded lunch in seconds with his freakish razor-like toenails and fangs, the others began to realize that perhaps I had not gone stir crazy from all that cooking under extreme conditions. As we rode out of Meadow Creek, his eerie taunts filled the frosty air, and I think Brett even shuddered!

"WAR" editor Terra Ochsner sent me a review of some beef recipes I ran a month ago. The following review is what dedicated "WAR" reader and golf aficionado, Mike Seyler, of Kersey, Colorado wrote. Mike is also Terra's father. Thank you, Mike, for the review and also for submitting these recipes! Please send us more!

Mike's review:

"I cooked the Beef Bombs and Easy Beef Stroganoff from the October 17, 2024, edition for dinner recently. The beef bombs only take bout 10 minutes to prepare and cooking time is 20 minutes. They turned out very good. I would definitely make them again! The beef stroganoff is also very easy to make and does not take a lot of time – 20 minutes from start to finish. The stroganoff was good as well. Both recipes make enough to feed a family, and I would highly recommend them both!"

Stew Meat Gravy Over Noodles

1 lb. stew meat

10.5 oz can French Onion soup

1 packet brown gravy mix

Pepper to taste

Wide noodles

Put meat in a slow cooker. Pour soups, gravy mix, and pepper in a bowl and mix together. Pour over stew meat. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours. Serve over cooked noodles.

Old-Fashioned Goulash

2 T olive oil

2 lbs ground beef

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 large bay leaves

1 C beef broth

2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

2 15 oz cans tomato sauce

2 t. Worcestershire sauce

2 t. seasoned salt (Johnny's)

1 t. black pepper

2 t. Italian seasoning

1 T paprika

3 C uncooked small elbow macaroni

Heat Dutch oven or soup pot on medium/high. When hot, add the oil, then ground beef, cook until brown, and drain. Add diced onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Cook 4 minutes stirring occasionally. Add broth, diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and paprika. Stir well. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Stir in cooked macaroni.

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas

4 medium chicken breasts

1 package of big tortillas (10 total)

2 cans Hatch Green Chili Enchilada Sauce (or your preference)

1 4 oz can diced green chilis

3/4 C sour cream

1/2 t. cumin powder

Small handful of chopped cilantro

1.5 lb pepper jack cheese – shredded

Cook and shred the chicken. Put the chicken in a large bowl, add 3/4 C of enchilada sauce and small handful of cheese, green chilis, sour cream, cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, and mix it all together. Put the chicken mixture into tortillas and roll them. Place in greased casserole dish. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Add the rest of the cheese and cook for five more minutes.