Camp Coffee; Thoughts On Achieving The Perfect Brew

When it comes to drinking (and enjoying) a hot cup of coffee there’s two basic types of people in this world.   First, there’s the individual who thoroughly enjoys the steaming hot beverage seemingly savoring every last sip.   On the other hand, there’s the person who probably wishes they liked coffee but for whatever reason could just never acquire a fondness for the taste.

That being said, if you love coffee this blog posting is for you.   If, however, coffee drinking isn’t your bag…well, maybe your time is then better spent moving on to the next blog topic.IMG_0593

Truth is, for many people coffee plays a very important role in our enjoyment of the outdoors — particularly during hunting seasons when the thermometer starts taking a plunge.   My day-pack almost always contains a thermos of just regular black coffee.   No cream or additives for this coffee drinker!

Indeed, my earliest childhood memories of time spent outdoors with my dad and uncles often had a coffee component to it.   They were from “the old school” where 9:15 a.m. meant time for a fifteen minute coffee break.   That usually meant a beat-up old thermos bottle was often viewed as essential equipment for the day, much as the tackle box or the shotgun.   Oddly enough, as a young child I viewed their coffee drinking habit almost as a strange ritual — a necessary time to take a break no matter what they were doing.

As I got older I grew to develop my very own coffee drinking rituals.   One of my favorite times to reach for the thermos was after bagging a game animal.   Once the animal is recovered, I will often sit near it, pour a cup of java, and soak up all aspects of the experience at hand.   In effect, the coffee somehow serves as my catalyst to indelibly etch the details of that moment into my permanent memory.

Okay, so there’s coffee…and then there’s CAMP COFFEE.   The latter being a splendid brew simply not to be duplicated coming from a convenience store.   Nope, camp coffee is cooked outdoors, often over an open fire, but always miles away from a kitchen or some restaurant coffee maker.   In fact, by nature camp coffee needs to be cooked atop a cracklin’ campfire or perhaps a portable camp stove — no exceptions.

So, are you ready for my camp coffee recipe?   Here it goes:

Inside a 36 cup coffee boiler (that would be a coffee pot with no innards) bring the water to a rolling boil.   While the water is heating, take a separate container mixing one egg (the entire egg—shell and all), one heaping cup of freshly ground coffee, and one-half cup of water.   Essentially, you will be making a paste-like sludge mixture having the consistency much like wet potting soil.

Once the water is boiling in the pot…add this entire mixture of coffee and egg into the boiling water.   Let it boil for an additional two minutes and then remove the pot from the fire.   Finally, (and this is important) take one cup of COLD water and quickly pour it into the coffee pot.   The cold water helps settle the coffee grounds to the bottom of the pot, assuming everything was done correctly.   If there are still some grounds floating…then skim them off carefully before serving trying not to unduly agitate the contents on the coffee pot’s bottom when pouring.   The result is a unique camp coffee lacking much of the bitterness (removed by the egg) but with every bit the full coffee flavor remaining.

Now, in case you’re wondering…this strange egg coffee concoction has been around for several generations.   I believe it was made popular years ago by Scandinavian women who often served it in church basements for those special social gatherings.   Still, I’d like to think egg coffee was eventually perfected by sportsmen who realized it would make the perfect camp coffee brew.

© 2009 Jim Braaten.   All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

Pheasant Season Underway; Better Hunting Still To Come

The 2009 Minnesota pheasant hunting opener got off to an uncharacteristic start.   Never before can I remember dealing with blustery winds, a dusting of snow, combined with a wind chill factor that teased more of a November deer hunt rather than early October pheasants.

My game plan for the day was simple.   I planned to hit a few grassy ravines on my farm first and then head out for some road hunting — not for pheasants, necessarily.   Rather, I was just doing what any good Field Reporter should do.   I was out looking for other pheasant hunters so I could interview them and report on their day spent afield so far.

After logging nearly 50 miles on my truck traversing the back roads south of Northfield toward Kenyon, I made a very keen observation.   The pheasant hunters appeared to be in hiding almost as much as the pheasants.   That’s right…for 2 1/2 hours of driving I witnessed a grand total of zero pheasants and zero pheasant hunters, as well.   At one point I fumbled for the hunting synopsis just to see if I had the correct day.   Yup, page 42 confirmed it…October 10th was the beginning of pheasant hunting here in Minnesota, but from my accounting it seemed almost as though somebody forgot to tell the pheasant hunters.SLD_142

I guess what was most surprising is the fact I didn’t witness a single other pheasant hunter out and about.   On most opening days you’re bound to see some hunters anxious to get the dogs out, but not yesterday.   Indeed, in my little section of Minnesota the 2009 pheasant opener didn’t experience much fanfare…but that’s okay.

Unless you’re a hard-core upland bird hunter, I sense the opening day of pheasant hunting here in Minnesota doesn’t take on the same degree of importance as other “opening days.”   First, the pheasant season is long and most hunters recognize that better hunting is likely still yet to come.

A big factor influencing pheasant hunting involves what is happening in the agricultural zone.   This year, at least in my area between the Twin Cities and Rochester, farmers have had some slow going getting into the fields.   An extended period of moisture recently has slowed the soybean harvest.   In fact, I’d estimate that currently only about 30 percent of the soybeans have been combined with probably less than 2 percent of the corn.   Until we get some decent drying days so farmers can get back into the fields, it might be slow going for the next several days.

During yesterday’s travels I did take note of a thriving turkey population.   I witnessed no less than four flocks (between 15–20 birds each) all on woodline edges eating in unpicked soybean fields.   I also observed several instances where wood ducks are still holding on many of the small river systems of southeast Minnesota.

In closing, I’m sure the cold weather and poor prospects for decent pheasant hunting kept many hunters out of the sloughs during the opener in my region.   Furthermore, because we have fewer birds this year compared to previous years it only makes sense that hunters are waiting for more crops to be removed to concentrate the pheasants.   Fortunately, those days are soon coming and then pheasant hunting activity will surely improve.

© 2009 Jim Braaten.   All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

Can We Go Home?

There’s a four-word phrase I dread hearing when I spend time outdoors with my 12–year old stepson.   If there’s a sudden lull in the wildlife action, inclement weather begins making conditions less than ideal, or perhaps some other life distraction occurs, I brace myself for the inevitable request:  “Can we go home?”

Last Saturday duck hunting was a perfect example.   The waterfowl action was slow, he hadn’t gotten to fire his gun yet, and 75 minutes into the season he turned to me uttering that sickening request.   I’ve heard it now during deer hunting, duck hunting, fishing, trail hiking…you name it.   Just about every outdoor activity is fun at first, but eventually boredom sets in with distractions pertaining to something else he’d rather be doing.

I’m going to be honest in saying I’ve struggled with this dilemma.   When I was his age you couldn’t pull me out of the woods.   But that was 35 years ago and times have most certainly changed.   There weren’t nearly the number of distractions in life then that a kid now faces today.

Cell phones, computers, instant messaging, video games…these are all distractions of an electronic age that are not consistent with enjoying the realistic solitude of an outdoors lifestyle.   Take, for instance, the Cabela’s Big Game Hunter video game.   Sure, it’s a great video game in its own right…but when a kid starts up the game how long do you think it takes before a trophy animal appears?  Three minutes?   Maybe seven minutes tops?

It’s easy to see how society has conditioned our youth to yearn for immediate gratification.   Waiting three minutes to start whacking at a duck that appears on a video game is acceptable.   Waiting an hour or more for that same real-life experience in the duck blind begins to push a youth’s tolerance for being patient.Icefishing04

We live in a world in which we expect things to happen almost immediately.   Hungry?  There’s a fast food lane over there which will begin satisfying an appetite in minutes.   Need an oil change…there’s a quick lube!   Need a doctor’s diagnosis…there’s a walk-in clinic.   It seems no matter what we need in life there’s an option that fits our fast-paced lifestyle.

So, how do we keep our youth “engaged” in the sometimes slower-paced outdoors lifestyle when life circumstances can so quickly “disengage” them by their looking for other more exciting options?   Frankly, there’s no simple solution.   I suspect, however, the first step is to realize that how each of us spent our younger years does not necessarily parallel with how today’s youth is apt to enjoy the outdoors.

Sure, it gets frustrating as a parent to provide the opportunities to be outdoors and then not always witness their enjoyment derived from the experience as we would expect it.   Yet, when you choose to take a child along outdoors I firmly believe the primary goal ought to be simply exposing them to the experience.   As hard as it may be to remember, when you hunt or fish with a youth it’s their experience that matters…and not necessarily the one you as an adult were hoping to fulfill outdoors.

The way I see it, many facets of our cherished outdoor heritage are now at a pivotal moment.   If we hope for future generations to carry on the same level of spirit we’ve put forth toward hunting and fishing we need to involve more youth by getting them outdoors and involved.

Even if it means occasionally hearing the words— “can we go home” —at least it reminds us of one important thing.   We succeeded at getting the youth outdoors experiencing nature and those moments will never be taken away from them.   What matters is not the length of the outdoor experience, but rather that the outdoor experienced occurred at all.   Plant the seeds and eventually good things will likely grow.

© 2009 Jim Braaten.   All Rights Reserved.   No Reproduction without Prior Permission.