Bill Marchel: Wild game is far more important than football game at this party

BRAINERD, MINN. — A week ago I dug through my freezer looking for wild game of one variety or another. I was preparing for Super Bowl Sunday.

What do wild game and the Super Bowl have in common?

For more than two decades, a half-dozen friends and I have gathered for a wild game feed/Super Bowl party. Each attendee brings a wild game dish of some sort -- a hunters' potluck.

Mostly we are Vikings fans so, of course, the food and beverage have over the years received more of our attention than the football game.

But when I clawed through my freezer last week, I realized it contained a scarcity of wild game. Briefly, I thought about buying a couple of chickens, and by using a fancy wild game recipe, I could camouflage the fact that the birds had never in their short lives seen anything but the inside of a barn. I reasoned I could toss a few shotgun pellets into my chicken recipe in case my friends became suspicious.

Instead, I grabbed a rifle -- a nifty little bolt action .17 HMR -- and headed out the door.

It was sunny, calm and mild -- a rare day in January -- and my intent was to secure a few cottontail rabbits. If I were successful, the rabbits would end up being my contribution to the Super Bowl game feed.

The first cottontail saw me before I saw it, and it quickly dived into its hole. I sat down and waited for 10 minutes or so to see if the rabbit would reappear, but it didn't. I moved on.

The next rabbit also spotted me first, but after running just a few feet, it stopped at the mouth of its burrow. I located the cottontail in the scope, took a step or two sideways to find an opening through the brush, and squeezed the trigger. My offering to the Super Bowl wild game feed would be cottontail rabbit.

I was hunting on my own land, a 70-acre chunk of real estate near Brainerd. Over the years I have implemented a number of wildlife enhancement projects on my acreage, and one of them was creating hideouts for cottontail rabbits. Mostly I have built brush piles by stacking logs and branches in locations next to heavy cover. Cottontails find refuge beneath the brush piles.

During summer, woodchucks often dig burrows under the hideouts, and the cottontails use them to escape cold and predators, especially during winter. But on balmy days, the rabbits can often be found sitting in sunny spots next to or on top of the brush piles, especially in late afternoon. But they are rarely far from their underground refuges.

A decade ago there were no cottontails on my land. Now, in my opinion, there is a surplus. The rabbits are destroying the very habitat I have created for them and other wildlife, mostly by girdling trees I have planted, and by nipping the re-growth from my past projects. Because rabbits, well, breed like rabbits, it was time to thin the population a bit.

The .17 HMR is a flat-shooting cartridge, wonderfully suited for small game hunting. Atop my rifle sits a 3x-9x scope, and I had sighted-in the outfit to hit dead on at 50 yards. I touched the trigger, and added the rabbit to my game bag.

A bit later, just as the sun was about to dip below the trees, I bagged one more cottontail. A few days later I added several more rabbits to the pot.

Our Super Bowl wild game feed goes back a long way. Many great-tasting dishes have been served, from grouse to goose, mallard to moose. Each year someone brings a wild rice casserole, and I remember one of the guys offered a desert made with wild blueberries.

As each tasty treat is consumed, we reminisce about past hunts, some close to home, others out-of-state. We remember hunting dogs, past and present, but seldom do we remember the final score of the Super Bowl.