Bowhunting continues… Saturday I woke up with a bit of a hangover, regardless I wanted to hunt- it was a beautiful day, the weather was warm, and I had a good feeling about things. I had a few hours before I needed to be somewhere so I set out into the woods with my hopes high. I climbed up into my treestand, settled in, and began the waiting game. The next thing I knew I was nauseous. Very nauseous. Maybe because I was wearing insulated camo coveralls on an 80 degree day, the tree was ever so slightly swaying me back and forth, mosquitoes were nipping at my face, and suddenly all those pumpkin martinis from the night before began resurfacing. I kept dwelling on the potential agony of vomiting from 25 feet in the air and soon enough decided to retreat. Just when I was about to pack up, I saw it. Beautiful and big, a turkey was moseying around in the field behind me!

Winner, Winner, Thanksgiving Dinner!

Ok so it’s not the monstrous buck I was hoping for, but its MEAT!! A plump, juicy, perfectly browned, roasted Thanksgiving turkey surrounded by all the traditional fixings flashed before of my eyes. And with that, I clutched my bow, attached the release, drew back the string, lined up the site with the target… and BAM!!!!! There went my hot-pink razor-sharp arrow… right into a tree limb. A %$#@$  &%#-ing tree limb!!! The turkey, completely unphased by me and my worse than amateur archery skills, continued pecking the ground as if nothing had happened. Before I could reload he walked off into the adjacent swamp. I grabbed my gear, climbed down from the treestand and stomped out of the woods like a 2-year-old being deprived candy. Store-bought ham for dinner. >:(

Recipe

Yeild: 2 servings

2 ham steaks

1 apple, peeled cored and diced

1 small onion, diced

1 T. butter

1/4 c. apple juice or cider

2 T. brown sugar

1 t. spicy brown mustard

Cook the ham by either grilling, baking, or pan frying it. I bought the pre-cooked ham steaks and baked them so they were just heated through and browned. On the stovetop, over medium high heat, saute the apple and onion in the butter until tender. Add the apple juice to deglaze the pan, then add in the brown sugar and mustard and stir til combined. Continue cooking, allowing the sauce the reduce and thicken. Spoon the apple mixture over top of the ham steaks.