Submitted by Founder of Rocky Mountain Sportswomen, Elena Reynolds.
2020 archery season has been an adventure so far. Though I haven’t had any success filling my big game tags yet, I’m proud to say that I’ve been successful with a few grouse! Dusky, also known as Blue Grouse live where the elk live and their seasons cross over, which makes them convenient for camp snacks. Before getting into the recipe, I just want to share my stories of these grouse, and my first bow kills.
My first grouse was on opening day of archery season. I walked around a new area, and just had this sort of mood with me where I was excited, happy, motivated, and ready to get out the woods. I ended up seeing a few deer that day, but couldn’t get any shots. After taking a rest and finding some rubs and game trails, it was getting close to time for me to head out and pick Ellie up from school. As I was hunting my way back to the truck on an old, old logging road, three grouse spooked to my left and flew up the hill a little ways. After their surprise, I decided to see if I could get one down. One of the grouse had already flown into a tree and the others were still on the ground. As I made my way up the piney hill, in search of the two remaining, one flew off into the other direction into a tree. Knowing there was still one on the ground, I slowly crept around a couple trees and found her standing there tall and alert only 10 yards in front of me. I loaded my small game arrow that I keep in my quiver for situations like this, pulled back my Mission Switch bow, and set my sights on the target. Still being a fairly new hunter, this was actually the first time I had ever drawn my bow on something other than a practice target. I took a deep breath, and confidently pulled the trigger. WHACK! Perfect shot. I was stoked and only slightly shaking of excitement (I can’t imagine what it’ll feel like when I finally get a big game animal). I ran up to the bird that was still alive, but immobile, and ended it’s life as quick as possible. The only experience I’ve had with this before is when I killed a monster tom turkey back in Missouri in 2017, so it was a little intimidating doing it alone. You can read my first turkey hunting story here. I was so proud of myself, took a few photos, and grabbed the warm feet of the Dusky Grouse to head back to the truck.
A few days later, we spent the weekend at the camper as a family while Jesse was hunting an area where he had seen some elk. We did a lot of family exploring on some new dirt roads. Ellie and I left Jesse at his spot for the evening, and as we were driving back to camp, we saw five grouse walking around some fallen timber about a hundred yards off the side of the road. With excitement, I pulled over, got Ellie out of the truck, ran to the back to grab my bow and release. I loaded my small game arrow once again and took Ellie with me to make a stalk on these mountain chickens. She was into it. She started whispering and pointing out where the grouse were. I pulled my bow back, aimed, and WHACK. Another perfect shot. This time the grouse died pretty quickly and I didn’t have to finish it off like the last. I was only expecting to get the one for the evening, but the other four were still roaming around as if nothing had happened. So I decided to recover my arrow, reload it, and aim for another one. I took the shot, but missed this time. Only having broad heads left in my quiver, I decided to risk losing one and take another shot. This time I hit the bird right at the base of the neck. Ellie witnessed the whole thing, and I think she was really excited about it. We loaded up the birds and my bow in the back of my truck and headed back to camp to clean them up. Raising Ellie to be a hunter is a dream. She knows exactly where her meat comes from, and she’s intrigued by the pursuit with a bow. As she gets older, it has been more fun taking her out, since she understands what we are trying to do. One day she’ll get her first grouse, and I can’t wait.
We decided to save the meat from the last two grouse for our next elk camp with our friends and their young daughter so that they could get a good taste of wild grouse. This is where the elk camp grouse nuggets come into play.
This recipe is super simple, but I feel there’s enough detail to share that you may learn something! Though it’s somewhat labor intensive, there’s limited ingredients, and the flavors are so perfect, it’s worth it. These are literally the best nuggets I’ve ever had.
Ingredients:
-Zatarain’s Fish Fri Mix (it was the only thing we had in our pantry when we were packing for camp. Plus it’s easy for camping)
-Two Eggs
-Half & Half
-Vegetable Oil
-Two Dusky Grouse cleaned and rinsed
Directions:
After skinning and cleaning the grouse (which is a whole other blog in itself that will come with time), cut up as much meat as you can get off of the bird. I cut out the breasts, and salvaged as much of the leg meat as I could. Once the meat is all off the bones, I cut it up into little nugget sized strips and bites.
Pour the Zaterain’s Fish Fri mix into a dish and dip each piece of meat into it, covering the whole nugget.
Whisk together the two eggs with about 1/4 cup of half & half in a bowl. (In all honesty, I’m not sure how much half and half I actually used, I just kind of eyeball it. After all of the nuggets are covered with their first layer of fry mix, dip them into the egg mixture then back into the Fish Fri mix for a second layer.
4. In a large stovetop pan, pour in your vegetable oil until there’s about an inch and a half of oil. Turn the heat on and let the oil get hot. A way I have learned to tell if it is hot enough is to flick a couple of crumbs from the fry mixture into the oil, and if it starts sizzling, the oil is ready! When the oil is ready, turn the heat down just a little bit to maintain that heat, but not burn the nuggets.
5. After all of your nuggets have been dipped in the egg mixture and received their second layer of dry mix, start throwing some into the oil. Don’t overcrowd the pan. I made sure there was enough space between all of the nuggets to evenly cook. I typically will flip them about three times in the oil until they look nice and brown and crispy.
6. I did several batches of frying like this with the two grouse and placed them all on a plate with a paper towel to soak up some of the excess oil.
7. Once all the nuggets are done, serve them up with whatever sauces you love!
These grouse nuggets are fun to share and are sure to turn everyone on to wild grouse meat. They are even kid approved! The Zatarain’s fish fri mix has a hint of spice to it, but Ellie loves that kind of stuff and she kept coming back for more and more with a little bit of ketchup.
Again, this is the perfect snack or appetizer at elk camp that’s sure to put a smile on everyone’s face! Enjoy!
If you have a wild game recipe you would like to share with us to be posted on our website, feel free to contact us! Provide us with the ingredients list, instructions, and if you would like, a quick story about the harvest and/or the recipe.