Rick Windham Outdoor columnist

Today is a pseudo-religious holiday in Nebraska. It is the opening of the firearm deer season and that is a serious occurrence for hunters.

Good luck to all the hunters who are in the field this morning!

My deer season not only involves hunting, but it is also a time for camp cooking. My camps are usually in the same area where I'm hunting, so I make the meals for everyone in camp and test out a few new recipes for my next cookbook.

If you are an accomplished camp cook, frying things over a fire or making soups, stews and chili is relatively easy. It gets a bit more involved when you need to make cornbread or bake a pie? That can be a challenge.

You can bake things in a Dutch oven or make a reflector oven next to the campfire, but for many years I have used a Coleman Camp Oven. It is a lot simpler this way.

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Whoever engineered this contraption had their head screwed on right that day. They are amazing and work very well.

A few years ago, I was in camp with a couple of my regular hunting buddies. For the evening meal I was making my red sweet chili as the main dish and a cobbler for dessert. One of my partners commented that it would sure be nice to have some cornbread to go with the chili.

I was way ahead of him and pointed to an aluminum box I had sitting on my Coleman camp stove and told him we'd have cornbread. "How are you going to make cornbread," he asked.

I opened the door on "the box" and showed him three small bread tins filled with my cornbread batter, sitting on the rack in the oven.

The Coleman Camp Oven is roughly a 14-inch cube with a door that opens to reveal a baking rack that can be adjusted to three levels.

You can set the oven on any propane or liquid fuel stove to provide the heat. I've even tried setting my oven on a grate over a campfire. It worked, but it was harder to regulate the internal temperature. On a camp stove it is easy to maintain the temperature you want.

There is even a handy thermometer built into the door so you can easily keep an eye on it. And when you are done with your baking, the stove collapses down to roughly a 14-inch square that is about 2-inches thick for easy storage and transport.

In addition to cornbread, I have made pies, sweet rolls, various pastries and baked things like meatloaf and chicken parmesan with my Coleman Camp Oven. It is quite versatile and my campmates never object!

The Coleman Camp Oven was out of production for a while, but Coleman must have gotten enough feedback from customers that they are manufacturing it again. The cost of a new unit is around $50.

About eight years ago, I found another camp oven that I field tested, and it works equally well. It is the Fox Hill Corporation Camp Oven. It is designed very similarly to the Coleman oven, except it does not collapse for storage.

It stays as a rigid in a 10-inch by 10-inch box. There is a handle on top to lift the interior baking chamber. A wire cage is suspended below the top/lid and can hold two 9-by-9 inch baking pans. This unit also has a built-in thermometer on the front.

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I like the cooking arrangement because I can cook more at one time. When I was initially field testing this oven, I made lasagna in one pan and an apple crisp dessert in the other pan. It impressed the camp that evening!

Unfortunately, I don't think this unit is made any more, but I do see them pop up on eBay and Etsy occasionally.

I hope you have a great hunting camp to start your deer season!

Telecheck

Since we are getting ready to go deer hunting, beginning with this firearms deer season, hunters will have the option to electronically report their deer harvest or take their deer to a check station.

While checking in deer is still mandatory, hunters may do it either in person at a check station or via Telecheck.

Traditionally, hunters were required to take their deer to a physical check station during the firearm season while deer harvests during the remainder of the year were reported through Telecheck.

The Telecheck option has worked well so the program has been expanded.

Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance will be conducted in eastern deer management units during the firearm deer season.

However, hunters may choose to not have their deer tested and use Telecheck. Telecheck is a free service that allows hunters to check their deer from the field or at home, by telephone or online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Telecheck was introduced in Nebraska in 2010 to save time and fuel costs for hunters. It also allows NGPC biologists to obtain harvest data faster than ever before.

For more information on Telecheck, to view a map of check stations, or to access the online reporting form, go to outdoornebraska.gov/hunt/telecheck.

A QR code has been added to deer permits to scan with a Smartphone and take hunters directly to the Telecheck page.

Tout Bird Club

The Tout Bird Club will have its next meeting Monday at MPCC North Campus, 1101 Halligan Drive.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in Room 202. Thane Dinsdale, an avid birder from Omaha and will be talking about raptor identification.

Dinsdale has made presentations at Fontenelle Forest and at a Nebraska Ornithologist's meeting. Call Boni Edwards at 308-530-0162 for more information.

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