J. Thornton

First and foremost, I am a husband and a father to a beautiful family that deeply enjoys hunting, fishing, and gardening.  I grew up hunting and fishing in south Louisiana and currently live in Lafayette, LA (the Sportsman’s Paradise).  Our rich heritage has blended well with my outdoor activities and it was only natural for us to take the bounty given to us by the great outdoors and develop amazing meals that our friends and family enjoy.

My hunting consists mainly of waterfowl and whitetail deer on both public and private land all over the state of Louisiana.  I am also an avid turkey hunter and focus mainly in Louisiana.  We own a modest deer camp in the middle of swampy southern Louisiana that you can find us at any time from October through February.  It’s our home away from home.  That being said, I still make it a point to travel out west to hunt our great public lands there.  I have hunted New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

Our fishing endeavors are mainly freshwater and inshore fishing in Louisiana.  Our targeted species are normally crappie (we call them sac-a-lait), bream, catfish, bass, flounder, speckled trout, and redfish.  We do try to make and annual fishing trip to target snapper, ling, mahi mahi, and amberjack.  We have also been known to fill our freezers with blue point crabs and shrimp mere miles away from our home.

In our backyard, you can find several fruit trees ranging from blueberries to figs to persimmons (my personal favorite) to satsumas.  In our summer garden you will find, banana peppers (used for my banana pepper mustard), jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Our winter garden consists of cabbage, carrots, and turnips.

All of this leads to preparing this wonderful bounty in our kitchen.  From fresh seafood to beautiful red meat harvested throughout the year, you can always rely on my wife and I feeding our friends and family from the bounty given to us by the land.

Outside of my hobbies as an outdoorsman, I am a Loan Manager for the University of Louisiana Credit Union.  My wife and I are both active in our church.  I am a proud USMC veteran, not to mention a 3rd generation veteran.