Hunting Success

My BIL has been coming out deer hunting for the 3rd year. The first year he got a nice doe and last year nothing. Yesterday he got a really nice 6 point buck. Unfortunately I don't have a pic as I forgot to grab my camera on my way out the door to go help him bring it up. There are 2 gates to go through to get to the woods so I go along and help by getting the gates.

I couldn't believe how much damage had been done to the fence in the last week. I had to go back out early afternoon and spend an hour doing repairs. I'm glad it wasn't rainy like today!

One less deer to be demolishing my fence! One less deer to be in my yeard eating out of my garden! BIL? He was a happy hunter and now has a couple stories to share!

Eight more days of hunting season and all the shooting will be over! Peace will resume.

Opening Day - 2010 Deer Season

Over the weekend it sounded like a war zone here. For some insane reason people seem to think that they are getting the deer moving by standing around just shooting. Why? They are already moving due to bow season and the time of the year. It coincides with their rut period and the bucks on the move for reproduction. This shooting isn't target practice. There is a rhythm to the shooting when target practicing and I hear that also. The deer are also on the move due to the amount of target practicing which started a couple weeks ago.

The season starts at 7 am and boy did the shooting start up for a bit! My BIL comes out to hunt gun season and we let a neighbor down the road do bow hunting. This helps keep people off our property as we ask these 2 guys to please run them off. There's a hill that goes down to the woods. When people come onto our property from the back they don't know that and have (multiple times) shot and had their shot come up into our yard and it's low. Our house has been shot and thankfully it didn't come inside. I hate standing at the kitchen sink morning or evening due to the risk. We've had some close calls. I had a bullet whiz by my legs when hanging laundry one year and boy did I dance and squeal! I also worry about my goats and horse getting shot.

So I'm doing my annual avoiding the treks to fix fence, etc where I have to go out into the pastures or anywhere near the woods. I avoid being outside close to dark due to the stray shots from over zealous, excited hunters who forget to think. I keep the critters up close.

I also wish the deer (pic above) would stay out of the pasture there as they are right next to the driveway and close to the house! They also come right into the yard.

The herds here in my area are reported to be quite large this year. So I hope being the economy has been really bad and our job loses some of the worst in the nation the last 12 years that the hunters are able to cull a LOT of deer. It's better for the deer over the winter trying to keep fed and means reduced car accidents. High deer numbers are horrible on the farmers' crops as they really do eat a significant amount of them.

Oh, no, I'm not wearing the same orange shirt for 2 weeks! I have several as they sure seem safer to wear out there in the back yard! They were super cheap buys from the GoodWill Last Chance store for $1 each!

I need a countdown banner for the number of days left in deer season! (Only 15 days left after today!)

Good Bye September!

Where did it go? It just seemed to have flown thru and I couldn't "turn around" fast enough to keep up with it!

Hello October! I hope October can go a bit slower! I have tons to do outside preparing for Winter. We're ready to make our annual trip up North in a few days to bring home a Winter's supply of apples, squash, potatoes, onions, etc from 2 orchards we frequent.

I'll be surprised if we don't have a frost tomorrow night that will be followed by a Monday am heavy freeze. That will finish off the growing season! I have the rest of my ripe and almost ripe tomatoes picked. I need to pick the better green ones tomorrow and can the ripe ones. I HOPE that the tomatoes that managed to rot before picking will sprout lots of tomato plants in the Spring. They were really nice tomatoes and produced lots! Volunteer plants have done well for me in the past.

I have brussel sprouts that aren't as developed as I had hoped. I hope covering them will keep them safe.

Deer season started today for the bow hunters. I hope that several are taken from the herd that is around here. They cause a lot of damage and we have a very high number of car/deer accidents around here.

The trees are turning color fast and a lot of leaves are dropping. The ride North and back should be very pretty!

Another sign of the seasons changing.... I've drug out my "long johns" and sweat pants! Chalk it up to "a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do"!

Sunday on a Country Road

It's been a busy day. Today has been opening day for firearm deer season so it sounds like a war zone out there ALL DAY!!! Last night was the end of bow season and we have a nice neighbor we allow to hunt on our property. He got a really nice buck and brought the liver and heart last night along with his news. Today he brought his trophy and the neck for us to cut and package. We'll have 10 meals out of this and more if we have left overs. We'll also have a nice soup broth from the neck bones too. Tonight was liver and onions which we both love and greatly enjoyed. This same neighbor also comes and helps us with our firewood which is a great blessing considering our health issues. So it's a win-win situation. An added benefit is he keeps others off our property which we hope keeps the livestock safer! Then today my BIL came for gun season and saw a big buck but it got scared off before he got in a good range for BIL to take him.

We did have an interesting few moments with opening day. I happened to look out and our front yard had several deer nervously milling around before deciding which way to run. There were 7 does. When they took off one missed the jump over the fence and got all tangled up in the woven and hot wire and took a spill. Being a fence row with rocks she had a hard time righting herself as she was trying to run and catch up with her herd.

I did end up with the electric fence on the other side of the house demolished so the deer were threw there too. I got that fixed but boy they can sure twist that wire up and all 3 strands also "braided" together. I sometimes wonder if my horse is bummed while standing and watching me fix it so she doesn't have an escape route.

When my BIL got done hunting he had a surprise for me! He found a tire kicking around his place that fit my wheelbarrow! HALLELUJAH!!! I was cringing at the price of a new one and had been looking for a used unsuccessfully. He also had an extra air compressor that can be attached to a car or garden tractor battery! I felt like a kid with 2 birthday or Christmas presents and both are used items! Sometimes the little things mean the most! He also "made my day"! He helped hubby pull a pulley and gear off a motorized "contraption" hubby has made from some used garden tractors for his walnut cleaning.

I've added 3 pics of various places on the country road I live on. The leaves are now gone and yet I just took these pics! Winds and rain do that.

I thought you might enjoy them. They remind me of when hubby and I were late teens and young adults. Back then it was a "thing to do" to go for a Sunday drive and enjoy the views.

We use to do that and take a picnic lunch to eat while we were out and about on our Sunday drive.

Later we continued those drives and looked for property after we were married.

We often see deer in several places and yet the road is probably only 3 miles long.



Our place is on the dirt end of the road. Being there is a county line/change in the middle it's paved South of us in the next county.

Another time I'll post a few more country road pics.

It's an attractive road if you want to call a road attractive! I guess being a country girl I just enjoy the country look!

My Nigerian Dwarf buck is in 7th heaven again. Several of the junior does are in roaring heat and all clamboring for his attentions. He's all kissy faced and blubbering his goatie talk to them while trying to coax them through the small holes in the partition between pens in the barn. I'm ruining his full enjoyment of the situation for another 6 weeks or so as I want them to have a little more size and maturity before they are bred. It wasn't such a peaceful chore time tonight with all the commotion the girls are causing while trying to be in the best spot to win Nipper's attention and his noise-making trying to lure them to the other pen! Usually milking time is quiet and a great time for contemplation, pondering things, making plans, and hoping I can get all the outdoor work done before the snow and ice hit full time for the winter. That can be any time!

While in the barn I found a surprise today too! I have 2 hens who needed time away from their flock to recover from being picked on and mated too much. They are in with the adult goats. Low and behold they have started laying again! I found 4 green eggs behind the chair in the stall where they have a peaceful spot and can get away from the goats. It's a broken chair that I took out to use to sit in while bottle feeding kids and I'm keeping it out there! One of my new hens I just got has started to lay also so I found a nice large brown egg in her box too! I wasn't expecting any eggs til spring and today I found 5! Maybe Easter is closer than I expected?

Then I headed to the house to take care of my milk and for supper. What a busy day and with some moments that I greatly enjoyed and appreciated!