Thought i'd move this night of frogs to another thread from the "Frog Point" How to.
Kirk, Tommy, Kirk's son and son in law (Drew and Riley) and myself set out last night on another frogging adventure.
Hot, Wet, and Rainy was the order of the night and add in the humid condition of the swamp, needless to say we were wet most of the night.
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Off to church... will post the result later and keep it short...
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Yummm!
I'll bet there is a batch o' legs there!
Enjoy the feast!
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
Our weapon of choice were the "Pitchfork" and we planned to give them a good testing hopefully.
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Things learned were that the smaller size 2 3/4" wide worked best and was structurally stronger although the larger was fine it would hang up in the tangles we were shooting through. I managed to hit a thumb size sapling and bent back one of the legs, it takes a lot of hand pressure to bend back in shape, tough metal.
So are you making those on a insert to screw in or are you gluing them in the shaft
The areas we have learned to prefer for frogging are the dead lakes or oxbows that litter the upper and lower Pascagoula River WMA the river rises and falls several times a year and fill these small dead lakes. Dead as in no current which produces an ideal enviroment for the frogs to breed and lay their eggs in. The frogs can get quite large here.
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Several were in the 12" and larger size range with these two being a bit larger :eek:
Jacob,
I posted a how to (Look for the "Frog Point" thread) the heads are Gorilla Glued into a aluminum insert the kind that has the threads all the way through GT in my case. The concrete re-enforcement wire used is just the right diameter to almost self tap into the threaded insert, just apply the glue and twist into the insert.
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The 5 of us reached the edge of Boggy Lake at around 9:15 PM and retired for the night at 10:45pm we all had several opportunities to make good on our shots, others just did a better job of doing it :rolleyes:
Tommy (Pascagoula Archer) killed everything he shot at, altough he did shoot more than once...twice...thrice...ok 4 times at one patient frog :laughing:
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Drew,
Admiring a couple of frogs, hand grabbed several, and took my bow away from me and scored on 3 for 3 shots just to add salt to my already sore wounds.
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All total, 27 frogs for a little less than 2 hours, not bad at all, not bad at all indeed!
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Nice job guys!! :clapper:
Lots of fun and fine eating cant beat that!
That my friend looks like a ton of fun!
Wow! Y'all wore them out! Looks like a blast. Great Job. :clapper:
Good Catch. Good eating :thumbsup:
Small game has always been one of my favorite forms of practice. Though close, you are forced to aim small and if I'll tell myself to pick a front leg or spot on the back i usually connect. Even these little critters unnerve me at times.
Yum Yum! Brings back some good memories right there. Congrats.
May go this weekend to redeem myself :pray:
How do you prepare them for dinner?
Glenn
Mmmmmmmm, I can hear the grease crackle and see the legs jump'n in the fry'n pan!!!
still waiting here for 7/15 when our frog season opens.. keep em coming.
Glen,
There are many ways to prepare them, me being from the South we lightly batter in a fish fry mix and with the grease hot we fry a golden brown.
On the other thread demonstrating how to make the frog points there was a French recipe posted that sounded delicious :readit:
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Hope its okay I'm posting this here but, finally got out today 96 degrees and no breeze,, boy this was tough because these frogs where skittish but I put on the waders and got into the lillys stalked around the edges of a couple weeded in small kettle ponds maybe 15' off shore looking up ahead towards the shore about 10yds ahead (any closer they would jump for the water)
my setup was the 52# Baraga I just bought here a couple weeks ago, Sitka spruce, 145gr blunts and Scorpio's slid onto the shaft.
I learned to not bring the back quiver next time and try a bow quiver, maybe tie off the arrow even though I was shooting towards the bank I'd then have to remove the back quiver, hang the bow on something and crawl under the over hanging brush to retrieve the arrow-sometimes with frog,, and don't forget that thermacell because I used no bug spray and didn't get one bug biting me.
I skinned the legs, coated with oil and did the shake n bake thing with onion, garlic&pepper and chili powders and letting sit in the fridge for a couple hours then either frying pan or grill decisions, decisions..
Ted,
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper: You did real good in daylight no less!
We hunt at night to breakdown there defenses and try and be the heat and humidity (useless). My mouth is watering again....
I started at 2:30 and got out at around 6, I tried another pond the day before and every frog busted me.. this time I move a little further from shore say 4-5yds away from the waterline then instead of looking right in at the shore I watched the edge of the water ahead under the bushes,, finding openings in the brush over hanging the water I would walk backwards into those openings very slow while looking up the edge of the water to about 10yds and I'd see them looking out towards the water and take shots then if I knew I could crawl in and get that arrow.
it was like stalking except your in waders 3' in the water trying to NOT fall over a stump or submerged tree. the frogs where under all this brush in the shady spots, walking behind them was impossible PLUS being in the water you where away from the ticks.
need to change a few things though, maybe shorter bow, bow quiver because the back quiver doesn't work in this situation unless its swung around and under your arm but then it gets wet when retrieving arrows and plus the Scorpios (Judo Springs) are hard getting back down in the back quiver, maybe put a 30' decoy string on the arrow, and never ever forget the thermacell,, I'll bring the camera to the next water hole maybe tomorrow.
fried them up in butter, then put a big sliced up portabella mushroom in the pan and added some water after they sucked up the butter.. once my daughter heard "frog leg" she wanted no part of it but gave in later because of the smell,,, wife and daughter both gave a thumbs up for this tasty before bedtime treat..
Looks to be a lot of fun. Love frog legs. Not had any since I lived back east, in the 80s.
I've read taht simmered in butter, garlic and white wine is also good... almost like some folks do soft shell crabs...
Ted, that is some hunt system you have there. I'd likely be in the drink soaked to my eyeballs! Or most of the ponds I USED to know, were 3' of muck!
Seems I don't know any ponds anymore or I'd be fishing for bluegills... Great read though, Ted!
it was cool getting to shoot the bow like this,, get cheap waders, get in the swampy water, go slow, shoot 5 to 10yds towards the shore at a 2" target @ 5 to 10yds with your stumping arrows,,, bring a few plastic supermarket bags to tie onto your wader strap but keep inside your waders cause the bushes will tear them open.
also thanks to John Langley for letting me post this here,, Johns got some night tricks I'm sure if anyone is headed out at night.
No problem Ted :bigsmyl:
I recommend to anyone if you've lost the "Fun Factor" of bowhunting and it seems things never come together in your shot opportunities try frogging!
Plus John, you can break away from small game whenever you want to blow some stumps apart and have some other fun,, a travel fishing rod (or Tenkara rod) in the back pack for some pre frog shooting popper casts might be fun, and this can be incorporated right into camping & hiking just pack in the waders all rolled up on the back pack and small back packing grill, light weight tarp or hammock,, its endless and puts a whole new spin on "there's nothing to hunt or do"
I guess the heat is an issue so maybe late afternoons only,,, I can't this enough but always bring the thermacell.
ttt
I'm relatively new to tradgang! My friends wife needs to see this thread... she thinks we're crazy. We used my longbow the other day to harvest a handful of the long-legged critters!