Baked Beans and Sausage (Beanie Weenies)

This is an extremely easy recipe for a more-mature style of old fashion beenie weenies.  It's so easy it can be cooked at home on a stove, on a grill, in a smoker or cook it up like a true mountain man, over a camp fire on your next camping trip!

You only need two things: 1. Bush's Baked Beans (Original).  2. Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage (Any Flavor).

I cook it in an iron skillet and in a charcoal smoker. When you get your grill ready simply empty the can of beans into the skillet.  Cut the sausage up into 1/8" or 1/4" circle pieces.  Then place the sausage pieces over the beans like a pizza.  Don't completely cover the beans so the smoke can still get to the beans.  Close the smoker and let it cook for around 20 minutes.  When the beans start to lightly boil and the top of the sausage looks a little crisp, you're done!

It will be one of the best things you've ever put in your mouth, guaranteed.  If the "great outdoors" had a flavor, this would be it!  Although cooking in an iron skillet doesn't really contribute to the flavor, it sure as heck makes you feel more like a man!

Serve as is or mix it up in a bowl as shown in image.

By: Anonymous Contributor

Camping and Hiking in Mount Magazine State Park

A few weeks ago HarborWare management and friends went on a little company "bro trip" to Mount Magazine, the tallest point in Arkansas.  We hiked, camped, ate burgers and hot dogs breakfast-lunch-and-dinner, talked about aliens and government conspiracies till 2am every night… you know, typical manly stuff.  We all would agree it was definitely a highlight of the summer.

The park is one of the cleanest and friendliest state parks I have personally ever been to.  The same park rangers that drive around and will hangout with you at your campsite at midnight could also be your server at the local restaurant.  We hiked for miles and miles through the trails and I don't think I found a spec of trash on the ground anywhere in the entire park.  The park also exhibits the most breathtaking views Arkansas has to offer.  It's definitely worth the trip if you live anywhere near southwest Arkansas.

By: Dave Darr

Submit a Story to Earn Free Stuff

Who doesn't like free stuff, right?  I can remember years ago watching David Letterman and an experiment he did.  Outside of a downtown New York door he sat out a small basket filled with ordinary rocks. Beside it was a sign that read "Free Rocks."  They hid a camera near by and sure enough people who walked by stopped to grab a few rocks, as if they were scoring some special loot!

Well with that being said, we will be giving a away some free goodies for anyone that submits a Product Review, Fishing Story and Boating Story and it gets published.  Free stuff could be Key Chains, Stickers, T-Shirts, Store Coupons or anything else we find lying around... except for rocks.  On the right sidebar of our Blog you will see a small Submission Form, simply put your story in there and submit.  We'll contact you by email if it's published.  300 Word Minimum (about 3 or 4 paragraphs).

Gigging for Suckers, Southwest Missouri’s Little Known Outdoor Activity

It was a frigid cold January night and my father-in-law convinced me to accompany him on a quest for the holy grail of suckers.  Armed with a long stick that looked more like a smaller version of Poseidon’s spear, he was determined.  I am always up for an adventure and was definitely game for catching fish by plunging a spear into the water!  Although I secretly wandered if this quest was something similar to a “snipe hunt” and the real sucker was me.

Believe it or not, suckers do exist, although there is nothing special about them.  Gigging for suckers originated in Southwest Missouri; today it’s not nearly as popular.  Suckers are a relatively small, bony fish that are nearly impossible to cook and eat by the novice.  You also have to endure some harsh winter elements just to catch them.  However, as one suckerette might put it, gigging for suckers is all about the hunt.

The reason you gig for suckers in the middle of the night in January is because this is when the creeks and rivers are most clear.  It’s also the Missouri government mandated gigging season.  Suckers come out at night and sleep in large vulnerable packs, making them far too easy to catch.  The most dedicated suckerette will weld a guard rail around his jon boat and attach industrial spot lights pointing down into the water, illuminating all of the helpless victims.  My first time gigging was on one of these well-equipped jon boats.

By the time our boat came upon the first school of suckers, it was late and I was too cold to even care, it was around 15 degrees after all.  I was thinking this silly fish is so unimportant that the only season it is granted is in the dead of winter.  However, amid my debbie downer syndrome, with the first throw of the spear, we pulled one in.  Let me tell you, the excitement and adrenaline you feel while holding this stick with a flopping fish on the end is beyond explanation!  Within the first hour we were spearing and pulling in fish of biblical proportions.  When the night came to an end we had buckets of them.  For us, it was only appropriate to clank a drink in a ceremonial manner to christen our catch.

Unfortunately our night of entertainment had to be at the expense of the suckers’ pain and suffering.  This is a sport definitely unsanctioned by PETA.  We did attempt to cook the fish the following day so it wasn’t completely in vain.  Cooking suckers is an art; we failed miserably and wound up eating Captain D’s instead.  Gigging for suckers was one for the record books and is definitely something everyone should try.

By: Dave Darr