Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

288 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTwater drips as the ice melts. No ice or watercomes in contact with what you carry.If you have no ice, and yet wish to transportyour catch a considerable distance, try the followingmethod recommended a good many years agoby Colonel Park (he says It is also a good way topack venison). Some of my correspondents haveenthusiastically given me credit for inventing it,but I got it out of a little Sportsmen s Handbookby the above-named gentleman, printed, as I remember,In Cincinnati, of which I have seen butone copy. For brevity's sake, I paraphrase thedescription.—Kill the fish as soon as caught; wipe them clean and dry;remove the entrails; scrape the blood off from around thebackbone; remove the gills and eyes; wipe dry again;split the fish through the backbone to the skin, from theinside; fill this split with salt; spread the fish overnighton a board or log to cool. In the morning, before sunrise,fold the fish in dry towels, so that there is a fold oftowel between each fish and its neighbor; carefully wrapthe whole package in a piece of muslin, and sew it up intoa tight bag, and then in woolen blanketing, sewing up theends and sides. Now put the roll in a stout paper bag,such as a flour sack. " Fish prepared in this way can besent from Maine to New Orleans in August, and will remainfresh and nice."Sugar, as It has antiseptic qualities, is a goodpreservative. Doctor O. M. Clay gives the followingprocess for keeping trout a week or two:"Clean well; remove heads; wash thoroughly; dry withcloth. Cook a syrup of sugar and water until it begins tocandy. In this dip the fish, one at a time, and lay them ona board to glaze. Pack in a box. Before using, soak overnightin cold water."To dry fish for future use: split them along theback, remove the backbones and entrails, and soakthem in a weak brine overnight. Make a conicalteepee of cloth or bark, suspend the fish in it, anddry and smoke them over a small fire for a coupleof days. This Is tedious, as the fire requires close