Fall hunts are on the horizon, and seasonal preparations for outdoorsmen are well underway. Typical harvest seasons only last a couple of weeks, with the finale closing in mere moments, but the journey from season to season is where the true memories occur.
The time spent preparing for a hunting season indulges in both physical and mental exercises. Building strength and endurance for hiking and field-dressing animals is important for a successful hunt. Preparing for a hunt is similar to getting ready for a marathon. The overall feat of a race isn’t built during the single run, but instead over months of cross-training and building upon small successes and failures. Race day may very well be the goal, but real personal accomplishments happen each day when building dedication, consistency, and discipline.
Off-season exercise can be found in gyms, on local hiking trails, or during scouting trips. Preparing physically for a hunt is also a great time to experience new exercise interests, such as weight training, cycling, swimming, or even Zumba! The type of exercise isn’t important, but it should be enjoyable, something you can be consistent with, and get your heart rate up.
Mentally prepping for hunting season is also important. The elements while out hunting are unpredictable and ever-changing. Even the best-laid plans for a hunt can be foiled by an unexpected October blizzard or, even worse, an unexpected October heat wave. Scouting and creating hunting plans are important, but make sure to develop several plans. Creativity is the first thing to go out the window when you are tired, wet, cold, and on day six of a hunt where you haven’t even seen a raven, much less a deer or elk. Having an entire book of hunt plans helps to keep you from defaulting to the worn-out hunter plan: drive the roads until you think of something better to do. Spend the off-season learning about the area for your fall hunt. Study Google Earth, talk with other hunters who have been successful in the area, go visit the area and put in a few miles exploring. Above all else, enjoy the process of getting creative with your hunting plans.
Also, while you’re fully immersed in your preseason journey, take a minute to enjoy the fruits of last season with this wild game bone broth French onion soup recipe.
Lindsey Bartosh is an eighth-generation Moab girl who loves hiking, hunting, fishing, cooking, writing, photography and working on her website: www.huntingandcooking.com.
Ingredients
Wild game bone broth ingredients
- 3-4 bone pieces from wild game
- 3 onions, cut in half
- 3 large pieces fresh ginger
- 6 carrots
- 6 stalks celery
- 4 star anise pods
- 8-10 whole cloves
- 3-4 bay leaves
French onion soup ingredients
- 1 pint bone broth
- 4 large onions, sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup wine, red or white
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 12 cups water
- 1/4 cup sherry
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 French baguette, sliced
- 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
Instructions
Bone broth
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- On large baking sheet, place bones, onions, and ginger. Roast for 1 hour.
- Place roasted bones, onions, and ginger into a large stock pot over high heat. Add carrots, celery, star anise, whole cloves, and bay leaves to the pot.
- Cover everything with water. Depending on the size of the stock pot, this could be up to 24 cups.
- Bring to gentle boil and then reduce to simmer. Simmer for six hours, or until the liquid is reduced by three quarters.
- Strain liquid through fine mesh sieve. Remove any floating fat.
- Store in pint size freezer containers. When ready to use, add salt and water.
French onion soup
- In a heavy-bottomed ceramic dutch oven over medium heat, add the olive oil and tablespoon of butter. Once butter is melted, add the sliced onions, stirring to coat the onions in the oil.
- Let cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally to keep them from burning to the bottom.
- If the onions are cooking too quickly, reduce the heat to medium low.
- After ten minutes, sprinkle onions with the tablespoon of salt and the sugar. Cook thirty minutes more, until onions are golden and caramelized.
- Deglaze the pot with the cup of wine, white or red will work for this recipe, and be sure to scrape the browned pieces from the bottom of the pot.
- Add the pint of wild game bone broth and 12 cups of water.
- Bring to a gentle boil and add the Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Reduce heat and simmer for thirty minutes. If you like your soup a little thicker, you could add a little diluted corn starch, about a tablespoon dissolved in a quarter cup of water.
- Add the quarter cup of sherry.
- Toast the French baguette slices in a 350 degree oven for 5-7 minutes.
- In individual ramekins, add a cup or so of the onion soup. Place two to three slices of the French bread in the soup and then top with shredded gruyere cheese.
- Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the broth is slightly boiling.
- Enjoy!
