Woman Midwest-style

STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS Fresh green peppers and deerburger easy meal.   We all like the gooey melted cheese and bacon!       2 LBS. GROUND DEER BURGER 1/2 ONION 2 EGGS 1 CUP CRUSHED CRACKERS OR DRIED BREAD CUBES 1 CUP COARSELY CHOPPED PORTABELLA MUSHROOMS 4 BACON SLICES 4 SLICES SWISS OR PROVOLONE CHEESE 4 LARGE GREEN BELL PEPPERS SALT and PEPPER GARLIC POWDER Mix burger, onion, crackers, eggs and seasoning in large bowl with fork, then mush thoroughly with hands.  Set aside. Cut off pepper stems, remove seeds, rinse. Cook bacon half done, tear in half.  Save drippings.* Brush bacon drippings on bottom of a baking dish (I prefer a 2 qt casserole dish), fill the peppers 1/2 full with meat mixture.  Next layer mushrooms, bacon and cheese.  (Layer cheese first if you prefer gooey, as in the photo below).  Shake garlic on top. Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes till cheese is golden bubbly.  Let rest five minutes. *Deer burger has no fat unless

Big Creek  It's a wonder there's any game in these woods at all bein's it's overrun by the locals during gun season.  It's a little wicked wilderness so thick with brush you can't see past thirty yards..   But big deer abound in river bottoms and its hillsides, often coming into the upper fields to feed at night. And flocks of turkey roost in the tall oaks and sycamore trees in the surrounding flood-prone bottoms that more resembles a swamp than a creek.  We were after those birds.     A few years back in the fall, I guess my husband just wanted to show me around so he motioned me to stay close -- we didn't split up.  Alright by me, I didn't want to wander by myself till I knew the area better.  Those bottoms are too easy to get lost, gave me the creeps.   We hiked down the bare path winding into the creek basin, shotguns in hand,  turkey hunting in the swamp during a dry spell.  Obviously Ed knew the way, he was surefooted, not slowin

  The heat of summer is entrenched, and the 4th of July signals to bow hunters the summer 'break' is half-over. I'm thinking of cool relief of autumn. By October, deer return from timber to fields under moonlit nights, they'll migrate earlier without dusk's cover.  2013   Summer's humidity was relentless. But Fall bow season had begun even as u ncomfortable heat hung on. One humid afternoon, Ed and I opted to drive to hunt Urich Conservation Area prior to gun season's crowd chased off all the deer..... afterwards, it would be futile to hope for a modicum of success in Urich's small area. We loaded the Jeep with his climber stand and the ground blind I use, and an assundry of other supplies necessary including the small homemade deer cart. The usual mass mayhem of traffic kept us from making significant speed to Urich conservation area. Since the freezer was nearly empty, the woods and wild beckoned us both as necessity. Pulling into