SWEET (and sour) HEARTS

Sitting around the campfire with cigars and libations after a day's hunting at Stuyvesant Outdoor Adventures in New York State, we were discussing venison recipes. I mentioned making pickled deer hearts one year after collecting a half dozen from successful club hunters back when we had doe days.

I didn't think the results were all that great, but one of the guides at the lodge says he likes this recipe for sweet and sour deer hearts.

2 hearts

2 tbls flour

2 tbls fat

2 tbls salt

6 tbls vinegar

2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp pepper

3 cups water

1 small onion, chopped

Clean hearts, remove membrane and large veins. Cut hearts into 1/2 inch cubes, brown flour in fat, add meat and remaining ingedients and summer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Serve with noodles.

JCAA ASKS ANGLERS TO TAKE SURVEY

The Jersey Coast Anglers Association would appreciate if saltwater fishermen would participate in surveys to help determine the future of our fisheries.

Run by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, one is a general survey while others are species specific, such as for fluke, sea bass, porgies, bluefish and others.

Go to www.mafmc.org/vision.

ATTENTION TRAPPERS

A "New Jersey Furbearer Management Newsletter" will be published quarterly by the NJ Fish and Wildlife Department's Upland Game and Furbearer Project.

The newsletter with info relevant to these species and of interest to trappers will be put out quarterly in PDF format on the www.njfishandwildlife website. The fall 2011 issue should be there now.

KEEP ON SHUCKIN'

The oyster catch season in Delaware Bay has been extended to Nov. 30 according to the DEP.

Many shellfish beds had closures after Hurricane Irene. The season could run into early December if quotas have not been met and water temps cooperate.

At 50 degrees oysters pretty much clam up (sorry) for the winter.

Also the DEP has OK'd commercial oyster harvesting on Saturdays during this regrouping after the storm. Oyster hauls normally are only Monday-Friday.

According to DEP there are some 40,000 bushels out of a quota of 90,000 left to harvest.

FEATHERS FLY OVER FASHION

We came across an interesting article in the NY Times Digest, a mini version of the paper slipped in early morning under the doors of guests of the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid, NY.

It seems some customers at fly shops are not there to buy feathers and fur or other materials to hand tie their favorite fresh or saltwater creations.

Nope, it's women who are looking for brightly colored plumes, hackles and saddles to decorate their hair.

Some shops in trendy upscale areas have had their supplies depleted by the ravaging hordes of women, much to the dismay of serious fly fishermen.

Choice hackle comes from chickens that are genetically bred to produce quality material for fly tying.

This is a revolting development, and hopefully only a fad, like most fashion statements.

GETTING THEIR ROCKS OFF

Rock on! That would be four million cubic yards of rock from dredging operations by the Army Corps of Engineers is being dumped on nine New Jersey reefs. The program started last month and is expected to take three years.
The reefs getting from baseball to boulder size chunks of shale, sandstone and granite are Shark River, Alex Carlson, Garden State North, Atlantic City, Great Egg, Townsend Inlet, Wildwood, Deepwater and Cape May.

A FIRST FOR THE REEFS

The sinking of the destroyer (didn't they call them "tin cans" back in the war years?) Arthur W. Radford marked the first time a warship went down off our coast for the artificial reef program.
Sunk on August 10, the ship is on the bottom 28 nautical miles southeast of Cape May at the Del-Jersey-Land reef in 130 feet of water at the coordinates: N 38 30.850' W 74 30.656'
The ship is 563 feet long, 55 feet at the beam and displaces more than 9,000 tons.
It's expected to last 100 years as a fish hotel and scuba diving site.