Clash of the Titans: Northern California Pig & Deer | S3E11 | MeatEater

i've been hunting since before i can remember it's in my blood my bones it's who i am it's because of this pastime that i learned to cook out of respect to both the eater and the eaton on this episode i head to california with hank shaw who has an opposite but oddly similar story pank is a cook first who learned to hunt late in life in order to develop a more intimate relationship with his ingredients we're on my friend's ranch a place with a few columbia black tails a lot of wild pigs and a handful of small game species and we're hoping to obtain some fine fresh wild meat i'm stephen ranella to me hunting isn't only about the pursuit of an animal it's about who we are and what we're made of i live to hunt and hunt to live i am a meat-eater [Music] dove killing device hank sean i have had a sort of professional admiration for one another going back years and after a chance meeting last year we decided to finally plan a trip together to hunt and cook i made my way out to his end of the country the hills of northern california to go after columbia blacktail deer wild pigs and some small games my original interest in being friends with hank started when he reached out to me years ago i was impressed with him as a wild game chef who had a great blog hunter angler gardner cook striking up a friendship with the guy seemed like a surefire way to pick up some great techniques and recipes that i could use now i ain't going to tell you i don't think i've ever actually seen the deer on this property so you're saying this is a give me hunk but the thing i will tell you is this place is crawling with wild bears we're set up for a morning glassing session situated on a hill where we can bounce back and forth under a little bit of cover with good views of the surrounding hills oh i gotta i got a lone fat little pig man open the tree line yeah i see him pigs can be found all over this ranch but the more elusive thing to find and what we're really hoping to see are some columbia black-tailed deer oh i got a pack of deer dave yeah where are they at three of them i'll be damned i see him nice spot in tex thanks jeez there are four deer actually on that bench either there's a nice there's a buck in there yeah yeah sweet two bucks is it the two in the shadow the two that are fighting yep oh yeah i see antlers an encouraging sign and not just a couple does either there was at least one legitimate buck out there there's no catch in these deer now that they're heading into thick bedding cover but at least we've got a mark for where we can expect to see them later on we'll have to wait till evening before we have a chance to glass up some more deer i think for now we'll just start picking our way back toward camp and then um if we really put a lot of work into it and hunt really hard i think we might be able to work up a jack rabbit oh i don't know i i'm not above shooting jacks with a 270. you came a little high i'm assuming i'm i'm an expert at killing jackrabbits with large caliber rifles this time of year just for sanity's sake you gotta have something else to hunt during the midday doldrums so before the sun gets to its most brutal stage we decided to split up and see if we can rustle up some small game dove season is open it's quail season for bo we could also work up a jackrabbit there's lots of possibilities no matter what happens and who shoots it hank's cooking it [Music] i'm never happier than when i'm walking around with my shotgun i think it's just because i don't big game hunt enough where i don't feel at peace and at ease the way i do when i'm shotgunning [Music] jackrabbit [Music] [Applause] [Music] sitting there laughing at me right now oh well rabbits one me nothing [Music] sorry mr jack but you're gonna be lunch it's a young jackrabbit because he's very small these can get twice the size but young is tender so the stew that i make with this is from sardinia basically it's super simple it's got capers and saffron and onions and yeah rock capers and saffron to the to the camping site because i kind of thought we might get a jackrabbit so now jackrabbits are not generally considered to be good eating but hank's known for cooking critters that most people ignore and then turning them into mind-blowing meals i'm excited to see how his stew jack is going to stand up to the animal's general reputation our first day on the ranch has been rich right off the bat we spotted both deer and pigs and hank already put some meat in the cooler in the evening we head out to refine the buck that we saw this morning we set up where we should be much closer in order to make a stalk but the buck never shows [Music] just two more up here just getting kind of late we do see a few more deer scattered on distant hills but the closer ones are does as for the farther ones in the waning light it's impossible to tell if they're carrying antlers or not tomorrow's another day but one thing's clear if we want to catch these deer out feeding tomorrow morning this is the place to be [Music] at first light we're set up exactly where we should be things just feel right i got two deer over here oh yeah they're headed up that slow but they probably were going down getting water at night he's got waiting for our block to make his spirit oh i see him right uh that's another deer oh yeah so that's the bug there you go how far is that 475. a responsible hunter hank knows his maximum effective range and he doesn't even feel tempted to risk a shot he's got no business taking we plan a stalk to get a little closer i feel fairly certain that the buck will follow the same route toward his bedding area that he used the day before and i get hank set up to intercept him just go like creep up yeah just lay down in there just wait hopefully he'll do that same thing he did yesterday yeah all right i'll see you in a little bit i get hank all set at the edge of the opening and i back out i don't want to crowd this deer i want to give him every advantage but as soon as i back away i spot another buck he's about a mile away and i decide to make a move [Music] this landscape is not making it easy the steep angles of the hill the brush and shifting uphill winds all combine to make this a very difficult approach i don't think we made it up for your time here he is right here right here [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] man i think caught me in the worst position i was looking up there and they must have snaggled their way back down and being a left-handed oh man it's like the amateur hour here here on amateur television i think steve might have just got one one shot is usually a good sign okay sweet this is the first columbia black tail i've ever laid hands on and these deer are interesting because i have hunted sick of black tails 900 columbia blacktails 100 mule deer what they think now with modern genetics work is mule deer are kind of a brand new species in a historical sense you know maybe like around the time humans arrive in the new world like that's all the older mule deer are and they think that it was the result of hybridization between black-tailed bucks and white-tailed does when whitetails had a more western range and you know two attacks ominous like mule deer and blacktails are kind of lumped together they just have a arbitrary the i5 interstate five in california everything west of that is regarded as a columbia blacktail everything east of that regard as a mule deer but this guy could cross that corridor and he would become for hunting purposes he would all suddenly be a muler same deer we got a nice little summer coat [Music] it's blazing hot so i'm gonna get this guy in the shade for now before i start working on them [Music] hank just keeps waiting he found a perfect spot hidden behind a rock wind roaring into his face but the deer never show [Music] deer two me nothing i shot this buck straight on through the heart a good strong lethal hit but i'm suspicious the bullet punctured some other internal organs as well and his insides are likely a mess now in this case it's best to go with what's called the gutless method which leaves the inner organ lining intact the downside of that is it's hot you know so you want to work fast because those things are they're not getting any fresher in there i do my belly incision without cutting into the cavity and then remove one side of the high just like pulling over a winter blanket working on just this side you can remove the back hand the shoulder the neck and take the back strap out and even though i haven't gutted it gravity is pulling the insides down and there's just enough space to remove the rib meat without disturbing the innards there's a big bop fly larva that was in his nasal cavity that is a vicious parasite to carry around right there can you imagine living with that i mean it's not as bad as getting shot skinned but it's gotta be pretty bad [Music] lunchtime one of hank's favorites sardinian hair stew hank has promised to make a jackrabbit believer out of me and i have to admit a small degree of skepticism i've eaten quite a few jacks but have never found a way to make them something you'd want to share with anyone besides your enemies so what i got so far is i broke them up into serving pieces i've cooked it in some olive oil with a couple of onions that's it so far that's it so far i'm going to throw in some garlic and capers it's a water-based stew you don't add chicken stock or any broth and you see how there's already a sauce on this i mean it's already nice and brown after the last touches of saffron some wild california bay leaves into chili or two you leave it to simmer you have to braise it yeah you have to stew you can't chicken fry a hair after an hour and a quarter the meat will be falling off the bone hank finishes it off with some red wine vinegar made with grapes from his own backyard so really it's like a soup almost like it's pretty it's thin the broth is kind of the star yeah for sure that's ridiculous man super simple yeah all it asks of you is time that's one of the better things i've had in a long time actually i'm not just saying that some animals may be trickier than others to figure out how to cook properly but with each and every animal there's at least one way to be found to cook it right as far as i'm concerned this is it for the jackrabbit with bellies full of stew it's time to get back out and see if we can get ourselves some wild pork we've seen plenty of pigs while glassing for deer but pigs can be tricky a family group of pigs known as a sounder will often have multiple spots they'd like to bed down in multiple spots to use for water hank and i decided to set up in different areas where we saw pigs yesterday but it's far from certain that they'll be there today come on pigs show yourselves at least give this a chance here hank heads across the stream and part way up the opposing ridge i'm headed down to a grove of oaks in the valley floor [Music] sure enough it's not long before i spot a sow and a bunch of youngsters making their way toward the shelter of the tree line right now we got a down valley breeze but it's going to quickly become an up valley breeze pigs have a good sense of smell so i just got to try and stay downwind as best as i can everything seems perfect but suddenly something happens and they start to move out in a hurry [Music] i can't tell what happened there they all suddenly started running like they were getting spooked a little bit there we go we got another pig coming away [Music] this one was running and i shot him in the head you know to lead him a little bit so in order to make sure he gets split out right i'm gonna cut his jug there hank on the other hand is just not spotting any pigs he's coming up empty just heard a shot i think steve got me again no i got some work cut out for me now it's blazing hot out so first priority is to get these pigs in the shade and roll the guts out that was a pretty productive morning man we laid by i mean laid by a lot of meat i've got both pigs tagged into the shade and gutted but it's a lot to move since there's a ranch road not too far off i decide to head to camp and meet up with hank then we'll bring the truck down and take care of the rest of the skinning back at camp hauling two of these big pigs 100 or so yards to the truck sure beats hiking both of these guys out of here on my back [Music] i'm bummed that i was never able to get hank on the trigger for a buck or a pig but i'm still looking forward to sitting back and watching a master cook hank was able to take down only a young jackrabbit this trip but i didn't bring him out here for his own enjoyment he's here to give me some new ideas on cooking wild game hank's going to show me one of his most versatile wild game stews using our buck while that cooks he's got a pig heart dish that's a variation on the classic german jaeger schnitzel but first the venison stew this dish is by far one of my favorite dishes to do with anything and it's it's called chilendrone it's a spanish dish [Music] you can't rush this step this is one of the most important things especially if you're going to do a stew don't crowd the pan just take your time you get a nice brown and you get all this good stuff in the pan hank browns the meat and then uses some homemade wine to deglaze the pot all that charred brown stuff scraped off the bottom is going to add a ton of flavor to the stew building a stew is is basically you're building like a house and we've just built the foundation and everything sort of gets built up around it the blend of spices is what makes chilean drone what it is smoked paprika a heaping amount of regular paprika and then hank's special blend of rehydrated mexican chilies next some game stock this made from smoked goose then the last couple touches some white sage and california bay leaves but this is that's it i mean we just let this go until the venison that's it falls to pieces that's a lot man in the meantime we set the work on that pig heart so what i'm going to do is i'm going to clean this up and i'm going to make it into a you know like a schnitzel or a cutlet and what you're going to do is you're going to cut around so you can kind of open it up like a book you take this veiny stuff off just pretty it up because the point here is actually to make a piece of meat that somebody who might be scared of eating heart they'll like it they're like oh so good next step pound the meat flat [Music] and this that's the acorn flower the acorn flower i just like to add a little bit of a wild touch to it because these these pigs eat acorns probably shot him under an acorn tree he was already going under one exactly now we fry [Music] a traditional german jaeger schnitzel originated with venison oh yeah hunter schnitzel these are done a simple sauce of rehydrated morels and some onions it's really it's camp food you know it's kind of appropriate for where we are in my first camp trip hank look at that look at that that heart was just tender that big old boar is good man he's all right yeah three hours later the chilling drone is ready red food is always good you know what i mean and this is this king of red food again man that's tasty this is a good use of your deer man i'm sorry i didn't get one i just seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time the whole time no i was out there having good luck you are having bad luck yeah you know the gray buck that we saw you know it's still has no idea we were trying to kill him exactly in your mind you're already making chilling drone out of them but i'll tell you changed my mind like what i considered to be an educated dismissal of the jackrabbit and now i'm gonna go in and adjust that thank you i'm gonna revisit the idea of jackrabbits

Channel: MeatEater

Views: 2,139,660

Keywords: MeatEater, Meat Eater, MeatEater Full Episode, MeatEater Season 3, Steven Rinella, Steve Rinella, hunting, outdoors, hunt, Northern California Pig, Northern California deer, pig and deer, clash of the titans, pig hunt, deer hunt, season 3, episode 11, ep 11, Hank Shaw, Central California, California, CA, Columbia blacktail deer, wild pigs, small game species, cook, cooking, recipe, pig recipe, deer recipe, food

Id: N0UN-lwp_Ys

Length: 22min 19sec (1339 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 30 2020