Owl stew

Angel, your Mom and I must have attended the same school! I remember that recipe for Elephant Stew being popular in the 50's. I suspect that my friend's mother gave it to her even back then. I can't tell you how much fun it was in those days.

In the 60's I moved to Texas. I had a friend or two there whose husbands were real cowboys. I could just imagine this one fellow sitting at a campfire telling his stories while contemplating his well-worn pipe. "Ah, yup. We'uz out on a roundup and driving them cattle to the stockyards for sale. L'il past halfway inta the drive, we'uz tired of bacon 'n beans. Me 'n couple o' the boys decided to catch some stewin' rabbit. Ummm, yup. So we'uz ridin' back a ways lookin' fer some small game...an' this is 'way before all these people moved out here ... ther's nothin' but scrub and dust out there. Well, ya know it's been a couple'a hours now, an' ol' Cookie [that's the cook] would be mighty upset with us. An' ya know ya cain't go back empty handed or we'll ne'er hear th'end o' it. We'uz jis discussin' what t' do when this big ol' owl starts hootin'. Ummm, yup. Now Slim was our best shot, so we tol' him t' have a go at it first. Don'cha know, he gits that ol' bird on the first try! Ummm, yup. First try, he did. We took 'im back t' camp, where Cookie already had the beans simmerin', and the last few carrots and potatoes and onions and what was left 'o the fatback. Now, don'cha know, them cowboys was mighty hongry by then. Ummm, yup. But we hadda clean up that bird. One cowpoke wanted the skin 'n feathers fer an ol' Indian friend, so he skinned it. Someone said OWL?, but we tol' him it tasted a lot like rabbit. Now, the ol' bird didn't smell all too good, but we figured that would change when he got in th' pot. Cookie cleaned up the meat and we all played with the owl chits fer a while. While it cooked, Cookie would taste it Ummm, yup. By now it 'uz real dark an' the moon 'uz high an' the boys were MIGHTY hongry by now. So the meat, be it tender or not, we all dug it. Well, I'll tell you there was nothin' to describe the taste o' that meat. Kinda like it smelled. But bein's so hongry, they 'et the stew and chucked the meat to th' coyotes. Ummm, yup. Well, we got our share o' ribbin' fer that episode. Don'cha know, tho', that we didn't see no reason for all three o' us havin' ta take it forever. Nope. Slim really cain't deny he's the one who shot that durned owl. So's we tol' Cookie 'n the boys that it's gittin' dark 'n all, Slim thought it 'uz a big ol' jackrabbit up there'n that tree. Ummm, yup. Best rabbit stew we ever et."

Note: "Ummm,yep" was when this guy was simultaneously pulling on his pipe, and letting you know there was more story coming. And he spoke slowly, ummm yep, and had you on the edge of your seat!