Pinch the Tail, Suck the Head

Good thing I have a family of foragers to back me up or I might starve.

We're on the last leg of our Western Odyssey, near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, visiting my parents. My friend Bill, who hooked us up with ice fishing gear last winter, was at the ready when we pulled into town with several crawfish traps and a bucket of bait. Thanks Bill!

I had big designs on a pond that turned out to be a bust, but meanwhile my boy Riley was already scoping out another spot and caught a crawdad by hand, making him the envy of several other neighborhood kids trying to net the feisty little beasts.

This one crustacean may be hardly a meal, but it was a big deal to an 8-year-old kid, who demonstrated good form in devouring his catch with Cajun gusto. And this one crawdad is also a sign of things to come. Stay tuned...