If I have been a little quiet on this blog lately its because I've been spending a lot of time preparing for a hunting expedition to Florida in September. At long last, the serious alien hunting tour is going to start.My father-in-law and I are going to be sharing the driving duties during the two day trip to Boca Grande. I'll be spending two days hunting green iguanas, black spiny-tailed iguanas and monitor lizards with George Ceras. George is a professional hunter who has removed over 16,000 invasive iguanas from Boca Grande. We will first be hunting the streets and backyards of Boca Grande, followed by a trip to a bird sanctuary where some of these invasive species represent a serious threat to native nesting birds.
We'll spend a day in the kitchen working with a professional chef on recipes for these lizards before driving down to the Florida Keys, where invasive salt water fish are on the menu. For three days I'm going to pursue lionfish and other ecologically disruptive fish with both rod and spear. We are still trying to get a good spearfishing guide lined up for the lionfish, so if anyone who wants to help out with that would send me an email then I would appreciate it.
Other fun stuff coming up in the next few months includes a wild boar hunt on a farm in Georgia, and a new event for Slow Food NYC in October where we're going to be introducing people to the idea of hunting Canada geese for food as an alternative to rounding them up and gassing them. I'll be working with a professional chef at that event to serve everyone simple, practical recipes for geese that prove their edibility.
If I return from Florida with sufficient iguana meat in the cooler then I am hoping to accept an offer to put on an iguana barbeque (Carolina style) event at a bookstore here in Charlottesville. If the event happens, it will involve a reading from 'Eating Aliens', a presentation on locavore hunting and iguana barbeque for everyone to try.
[Photo used courtesy of Papaija under Creative Commons license]
5 comments:
You're not going to hunt any of those really really big invasive snakes they have down in Florida?
Any plans for nutria hunting in Louisiana?
@Dave,
Yes, I am. However, the pythons tend to be really hard to find even in areas where they are pretty dense. My odds of getting a big reticulated python during the 2 days when I'll be hunting reptiles are maybe 50/50, according to George Ceras. So maybe I'll luck out and maybe I won't. If I don't get any on this trip then I'll come back in the Spring with a solid week budgeted for them.
Nutria in LA are definitely on the agenda as well. I haven't started scheduling it yet, but I'm going to need to find a good local hunter to work with.
Sounds fabulous! Any plans to come to AK for a hunt? We've got some neat invasives like Elk...
More likely are Belgian Hares and illegally introduced Northern Pike in Interior lakes.
Liking the blog very much.
Hodgeman,
I would really love to take a trip through Alaska for this project. Its probably not in the budget just for the book, but if the TV show gets picked up (in development right now) then that would be a great destination for me to go while spending someone else's money.
Meanwhile, if you know someone who could act as a guide to get me onto some invasive hares, etc. then please send me an email at jack.landers@gmail.com. Literally tonight I'm supposed to be writing an outline of an entire season's worth of episodes and I'd love to have some names to start with for an Alaskan episode.
The elk would be great, but I'd need to learn more about how they are being managed. I'm trying to avoid including any invasive that is being managed as a game species (like oryx in New Mexico). That said, I'd love to go on another elk hunt.
Sounds really cool and congrats on the project. Good luck on the hunt Jack
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